Malcolm Lowry was a ferocious malcontent, freewheeling to self-destruction with the help of mescal, cooking sherry, even bottles of skin bracer …

Decision making is a complex phenomenon which normally is deeply integrated into social life. At the same time the decision making process often gives the decision maker an opportunity for conscious planning and for taking a reflective stance with respect to the action considered. This suggests that decision making allows creative solutions with a potential to change the course of events both on an individual and a collective level. Given these considerations, we argue that in order to more fully understand decision making the perspectives of different disciplines are needed. In this volume we have attempted to draw together contributions that would provide a broad view of decision making. Much work has been carried out in the writing and editing of this volume. First of all we would like to thank the contributors for their efforts in producing interesting and important texts and for their patience in the editorial process. Each chapter was edited by two or three reviewers. These reviewers are listed on a separate page in this book. Our heartfelt thanks go to them for their time and for their incisive and constructive reviews! We are also grateful to the publishing editors at Kluwer Academic Publishers, Christiane Roll and Dorien Francissen, who have been generous with their encouragement and patience throughout the editorial process.

The study of Information Systems (IS) design is an essential part of the education of IS students and professionals. The purpose of this book is to provide a thorough reference on Design Science Research (DSR), and it comes from two authors closely identified with DSR – Alan Hevner and Samir Chatterjee. As founders of the Design Science Research in Information Systems and Technology (DESRIST) annual conference, and as leading educators and researchers in the field, these authors, along with several invited contributors , are uniquely qualified to create this easy-to-read, easy-to-understand, and easy-to-apply text/reference.

This book enables readers to develop their own creative thinking and their teams' creative problem-solving skills to generate novel, useful and surprising ideas. The vast majority of companies believe that a culture of innovation and renewal impacts performance and ultimately business results. In contrast, many managers feel ill-equipped to promote a culture of creative endeavour for this type of work-environment and lack the know-how to put it into practice.

This collection of essays presents insight and methodology that are highly relevant for readers today as they consider the future of the world they live in. Experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic, people have realized how fragile the current economy is and the necessity for reconstructing the socio-economic system. That system, which was considered the default for so long, was succeeded by the analytical framework of economics and regional science. The contents of this book are diversified, as are the achievements of Prof. Yasuhiro Sakai, to whom this volume is dedicated, and cover a wide area from mathematical and experimental economics to conventional and emerging fields of regional science. Some are timeless topics that have had new life breathed into them.

This collection of essays presents insight and methodology that are highly relevant for readers today as they consider the future of the world they live in. Experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic, people have realized how fragile the current economy is and the necessity for reconstructing the socio-economic system. That system, which was considered the default for so long, was succeeded by the analytical framework of economics and regional science. The contents of this book are diversified, as are the achievements of Prof. Yasuhiro Sakai, to whom this volume is dedicated, and cover a wide area from mathematical and experimental economics to conventional and emerging fields of regional science. Some are timeless topics that have had new life breathed into them.