Just like web services, business processes can be stored in public repositories to be shared and used by third parties, eg, as building blocks for constructing new business processes. The success of such a paradigm depends partly on the availability of effective search tools to locate business processes that are relevant to the user purposes. A handful of researchers have investigated the problem of business process discovery using as input syntactical and structural information that describes business processes.

Abstract: In this paper, we study family business portfolios and illustrate ownership that connects family and business systems. Traditional family business research has assumed the one family/one business concept to be the main model. This study builds on the ideas of modern portfolio theory and behavioural finance theory and suggests that the portfolio evaluation criteria of risk and return coexist with the basic family-based evaluation criteria of obligation, securing succession, or family unity. This longitudinal case study and case analysis suggest that the family can be seen as a viable governor for the business portfolio and that the family portfolio development can be characterised by the complex set of portfolio evaluation criteria, including the needs of the individual family members to the contingent needs of the distinct businesses. The paper concludes with a redefined collection of portfolio management criteria identified and suggestions for further research on the subject.

Business objects are object-oriented representations of the concepts of interest in an organization, such as activities, resources and actors. Business objects collaborate with one another in order to achieve business goals, showing different behavior and properties according to each specific collaboration context. This means the same business object may be perceived differently depending on the business objects it is collaborating with. However, most approaches to business process modeling do not separate the collaborative aspects ...

This article analyses the process of succession in three large Chilean family businesses between c.1860s-1940s, whose combined wealth was 10% of Chilean GDP. Although there is no general theory of succession planning in family firms, the most common reasons for why succession fails or succeeds have been identified in the specialised literature. We have contrasted the evidence we found in our three case studies against the theories available. The theories underpinning effective successions are supported by the case studies under analysis: timely selection and training of a competent successor; a reduced number of heirs; strategically arranged marriages; and family harmony. Some of the theories behind succession failure are also borne out by the existing evidence: family rivalries; adverse external economic shocks; conflicts between the family and the government; lack of commitment on the part of the heirs to the continuity of the business; unskilled successors taking over; early deaths from illness. Two further underlying elements can be identified from the Chilean case studies: fragmentation of the capital of the group; and the fashion for family members to spend time in Europe as rentiers

Grameen bank, founded in 1976, has both pioneered the development of micro-finance, and created nearly 30 businesses designed to alleviate poverty. The article traces the gradual development of Grameen's expertise in formulating social business models, which require new value propositions, value constellations and profit equations, and as such, resembles business model innovation. The article presents five lessons learned from this experience: three are similar to those of conventional business model innovation e challenging conventional thinking, finding complementary partners and undertaking continuous experimentation; two are specific to social business models: recruiting social-profit-oriented shareholders, and specifying social profit objectives clearly and early. We suggest these new business models e where stakeholders replace shareholders as the focus of value maximization e could empower capitalism to address overwhelming global concerns.

Tras las huellas del famoso e influyente erudito alemán Alejandro de Humboldt que visitó México en 1803, encontramos varios individuos alemanes que se dedicaron al estudio de las culturas prehispánicas y coloniales tempranas. Los más conocidos son los científicos Eduard Seler (1849-1922) y Cecilia Seler-Sachs (1855–1935). Eran contemporáneos de Francisco Plancarte y Navarrete y pioneros en el campo de la arqueología mesoamericana, y en los estudios de las lenguas indígenas, las escrituras, la iconografía y la religión prehispánicas. Su legado comprende la obra monumental de “Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur Amerikanischen Sprach- und Altertumskunde” y una colección de trece mil objetos que llevaron al Museo Etnológico de Berlín. Eduard hizo un inventario de 10,123 objetos en el Museo Nacional de Antropología. Existen extensas publicaciones de Humboldt y de los Seler, pero poco se sabe de los alemanes que estudiaron y coleccionaron en México después de la salida de Humboldt en 1804 y antes de la llegada de los Seler en 1887. La ponencia refleja las relaciones entre los Seler y Plancarte, y va a echar una mirada hacia atrás, evocando las obras de estos alemanes que no eran científicos ni religiosos, sino comerciantes, artistas, mineros o simplemente viajeros aventureros.

This collection investigates the wide array of local antiquarian practices that developed across Europe in the early modern era, c. 1400-1700. Breaking new ground, it explores local concepts of antiquity in a period that has been defined as a uniform 'Renaissance'. Contributors take a novel approach to the revival of the antique in different parts of Italy, as well as examining other, less widely studied antiquarian traditions in France, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Britain and Poland. They consider how real or fictive ruins, inscriptions and literary works were used to demonstrate a particular idea of local origins, to rewrite history or to vaunt civic pride. In doing so, they tackle such varied subjects as municipal antiquities collections in Southern Italy and France, the antiquarian response to the pagan, Christian and Islamic past on the Iberian Peninsula, and Netherlandish interest in megalithic ruins thought to be traces of a prehistoric race of Giants.