Acknowledgments
Publication of this work was made possible in part by the University Libraries at Virginia Tech through its Open Education Initiative, which provides development assistance and financial support to Virginia Tech faculty who wish to use, create, or adapt openly licensed teaching materials to support student learning. The University Libraries also contributed faculty and staff labor. Lori Anderson’s, Dirk Buengel’s, and Joseph Simpson’s contributions were further supported by the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech.
Lori Anderson and Anita Walz, co-primary investigators, are grateful recipients of the 2024 University Libraries’ Collaborative Research Grant. They thank the University Libraries at Virginia Tech’s Center for Digital Research and Scholarship for their generous support of this project.
Lori Anderson, Dirk Buengel, and Joseph Simpson are indebted to their colleagues in the Pamplin College of Business, acknowledging that they are “standing on the shoulders of giants.” Prior collaborations between the University Libraries at Virginia Tech and the Pamplin College of Business produced the adapted textbooks Fundamentals of Business (2016) by Stephen Skripak, now in its fourth edition, and Reed Kennedy’s Strategic Management (2020) in addition to numerous texts and other learning resources in a variety of disciplines. Steven Skripak’s and Reed Kennedy’s work was visionary. Kennedy and his collaborators (Eli Jamison, Joseph Simpson, Pankaj Kumar, Ayenda Kemp, Kiran Awate, and Kathleen Manning) were pioneers and paved the way for this book; they continue to inspire others in the Pamplin College of Business and in other disciplines to produce open textbooks and other openly licensed, customizable learning resources. Lori Anderson, Dirk Buengel, and Joseph Simpson would like to further acknowledge the early work on the project of their colleague, Richard Curtis.
Peer reviews were generously provided by two Pamplin colleagues—Pankaj Kumar (professor, Virginia Tech) and Manisha Singal (professor, Virginia Tech)—in addition to one colleague who wishes to remain anonymous.
Lori Anderson further acknowledges the support and guidance of Associate Professor Pankaj Kumar of the Management Department.
Lori Anderson also acknowledges the leadership support she received throughout this project, especially from Ron Poff, Assistant Department Head of the Management Department, and Devi Gnyawali, Department Head of the Management Department. Finally, Lori Anderson extends her gratitude to the talented support of three brilliant graduate students: Claire Lympus, Anthony Brozey, and Sabrina Duque-Lewis.
The cover art for the book is an original work designed by Claire Lympus, a Virginia Tech graduate student whose talents include both business analytics and art. The cover design was by Kindred Grey.
