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This chapter presents “what we know” about the application of technology to instruction for students with learning and behavioral disabilities. Information is presented on research-based effective practices in technological interventions for teaching specific academic skills, delivering content at the secondary level and using technology as a tool for assessment. The chapter concludes with a discussion on Universal Design for Learning and the promises this paradigm holds for educating not only students with special needs, but all learners. The chapter begins where parents and teachers typically begin: the consideration of technology.

One of the keys to success in the digital economy is the appropriate management of human capital. Because of sweeping technological changes, old behaviors of human capital management may not be suitable in the digital domain. Traditional businesses will need to evolve and radically transition themselves into an electronic business mode. This study implements a rigorous qualitative case study methodology to examine an electronic business corporate entrepreneurship team within a large, traditional business. Faced with the need to work at “Web speed”, this group had to adapt quickly, both to complete its task on time and to master a steep learning curve. This process is examined systematically, in order to examine the major research question: “What are the changes necessary to support the transition of a new venture creation team as it moves from the traditional domain into the digital economy domain?” Through in‐depth interviews, this study examines the transition process, drawing conclusions that may have far‐reaching ramifications for both practice and theory in human capital management.

This chapter describes the efforts of a team of health care workers to make a sub-acute health care facility (SCF) serving profoundly damaged children into a high reliability organization (HRO). To obtain this goal, the health care team implemented change in four behavioral areas: (1) risk awareness and acknowledgment; (2) defining care; (3) how to think and make decisions; and (4) information flow. The team focused on five reliability enhancement issues that emerged from previous research on banking institutions: (1) process auditing; (2) the reward system; (3) quality degradation; (4) risk awareness and acknowledgment; and (5) command and control. These HRO processes emerged from the change effort. Three additional HRO processes also emerged: high trust, and building a high reliability culture based on values and on beliefs. This case demonstrates that HRO processes can reduce costs, improve safety, and aid in developing new markets. Other experiences in implementing high reliability processes show that each organization must tailor make processes to its own situation (e.g. BP, U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazards Board, Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Navy Aviation Program, and Kaiser Permanente Health Care System). Just as in the flexibility called for in organizing for high reliability operations, flexibility is called for in deciding which HRO processes work in specific situations.

This paper articulates the significant value of the role of the Chief Customer Officer, namely in the CCO's ability to create and leverage customer strategy.

The paper offers a view of the evolution of the CCO over six years based on recently completed in‐depth interviews with more than 50 CCOs at Fortune 500, mid‐cap, and smaller companies.

The article describes the three most common reasons why CEOs hire Chief Customer Officers. The CCO role is evolving and rapidly increasing in complexity, defying simple categorization that was possible six years ago. CCOs can be classified in two dimensions according to their customer accountability and the organizational authority of their role. CCOs share three common goals: drive profitable customer behavior, create a customer‐centric culture, and driver corporate and customer strategy. Also discussed are the most critical factors that must be in place to ensure CCO success.

While the sample size of 50 out of 300 is representative, the CCO role is evolving quickly and is adapted as necessary within each company to fit the specific organizational needs.

The majority of the material is new. This research begins to codify the most critical factors in the CCO role to provide structure for CEOs and Boards considering installing a CCO. CCOs should evaluate their key performance indicators to ensure they are tied to profitability so as to better justify and defend their value. Growth companies must bear in mind the need to migrate the CCO from line ownership to process ownership to properly manage complexity.

Umbrellas always sell well when it is raining. After a major hurricane hit Miami last year, Home Depot shipped in plywood from nearly every store in the southeast and still couldn’t keep up with the demand. Profiting by creating natural disasters is, of course, the stuff of comic books and spy novels, but recognizing and satisfying unmet needs is the key tenet of the demand chain.

This article explores the methods and benefits of creating an executive‐level position accountable for maintaining and enhancing the value of the customer base as an asset. This position is referred to as chief customer officer (CCO). The article is based on the author’s recent study of companies with a CCO, including Sun Microsystems, Cisco, Hewlett‐Packard, Unica, Monster.com, Fidelity, The MathWorks, and others. The study was conducted using personal and telephone interviews with executives with the defined function, whatever their actual title. The interviews were supplemented with documentary material. The CCO, by whatever title he or she may go, uses various methods to continually gather customer insight, to disseminate that insight throughout the organization, and to drive change so that the organization consistently meets customer needs quickly and profitably. To do this, a CCO needs sufficient authority and respect across divisions and functions, and needs to be held accountable for measurable results (although they may not be the familiar metrics). Three types of CCO are the generalist, the service‐revenue driver, and champions by committee. This article addresses executives in companies frustrated by declining prices and margins, decaying sales, lackluster market performance, and unprofitable customers. Such problems reflect a lack of customer insight, or of ability to act on it, and call for the creation of a CCO role specifically tasked with gathering such insight and using it to drive company change and initiative.

The purpose of this study is to describe one advanced manufacturing company’s efforts to build a channel of skilled workforce by developing an apprenticeship programme with high schools.

Using a qualitative case study approach, the authors interviewed the members of the organisation to gain insights into opportunities and challenges they faced in addressing their skills needs.

The analysis showed that the collaboration and commitment of stakeholders were essential to the success of the programme. Furthermore, flexibility in employer’s expectations to allow for career progression was critical to motivating students to continue in the programme. A positive impact of the programme on overall employee morale and organisational culture was revealed.

Although the findings may be relevant to other similar organisations, they may have limitations in their applicability to other contexts.

The study holds promise for the field of human resource development, as practitioners and scholars can benefit from the renewed interest in youth apprenticeship to identify how their activities within and outside of the organisation can build and retain the human capacity needed for organisational performance and competitiveness.

Employer–education partnerships have been touted as a solution to the skills gaps in industries. However, there is very little literature on employer-initiated apprenticeships focused on youth in the USA. Industry–education apprenticeship programmes offers employers an opportunity to address the skills problem in ways that meet their need.

The chapter Technological Advances in Special Education provides information on advances of technology and how such technological advances have influenced students with disabilities and special education across the globe. The chapter presents technological advances that benefited students with disabilities in developed countries as well as potential technologies to support students with disabilities in developing countries. The scant exiting literature on developing countries suggests some universal themes regarding technology for students with disabilities including access and training. Additional attention and research is needed on assistive technology to support students with disabilities in both developed and developing countries, with recognition that what works is developed counties may not work in developing.

This paper aims to explore the potential explanatory mechanisms linking leader–member exchange (LMX) and a perceived supportive environment for corporate entrepreneurship. Specifically, this paper develops and tests a hypothesized moderated mediation model of the relationship between LMX and a perceived supportive environment for corporate entrepreneurship through psychological empowerment as conditional upon the level of control orientation.

Data were collected from a sample of 682 full-time working adults in the USA and were examined in a moderated mediation model in PROCESS.

The findings suggest that higher LMX augments perceptions of a supportive environment for corporate entrepreneurship with a mediating role for psychological empowerment and a moderating role for control orientation on that conditional relationship.

This research suggests that high quality LMX relationships may enrich the human capital of firms, helping them to innovate and outperform competitors in the context of modern competitive dynamics. The study findings are limited by several factors including a cross-sectional design and a student-recruited sampling approach.

The study offers unique contributions to the leadership and entrepreneurship literature by being among the first to empirically investigate the relationship between LMX and a perceived supportive environment for corporate entrepreneurship as mediated by psychological empowerment and moderated by control orientation, yielding important insights regarding effective leadership practices for facilitating innovative behaviors and corporate entrepreneurship.