Book Description

How do firms like Hewlett-Packard, DuPont, Dow Chemical, IBM, and Texas Instruments routinely convert the ideas of their employees into profits that sustain the corporation?

How can buyers and sellers calculate the assets of the acquired firm in a merger or acquisition?

How can an organization affect the firm's stock price using the leverage of intellectual assets?

Identifying a firm's assets, especially its intellectual assets-the proprietary knowledge expressed as a recipe, formula, trade secret, invention, program, or process-has become critical to a company's overall vision and strategic plan and essential in such transactions as stock offerings or mergers. In the era of the knowledge-based company, where the firm's genius and future lies in its ideas, a firm's collective know-how has become a measurable commodity-and as much a part of its bottom line as the condition of its cash investments, plant, and equipment. Extracting and measuring the real value of knowledge is essential for any corporate head who knows how high the stakes have become for corporate survival in the information age-where the innovative idea is as good as, if not better than, gold! Value-Driven Intellectual Capital is a corporate and financial executives' handbook to the new world of intangible assets-what they are and how to convert them into cash or strategic position. Written by one of the seminal thinkers in the field, and the key organizer of the ICM Gathering, a group of leading-edge knowledge-based companies, Value-Driven Intellectual Capital explains the new, boundary-expanding world of intellectual assets-where translating an innovative idea into bottom-line profits involves a tightly focused strategy with clear directives for making it happen. A blueprint for turning corporate knowledge, know-how, and intellectual property into a sustainable competitive weapon that will build a firm's reputation and market share, this practical, insightful book outlines:
* Basic concepts underlying IC (intellectual capital) and corporate value creation
* The linkage between IC, business strategy, and profits
* The different kinds of value-including qualitative and quantitative -firms realize from their IC
* Activities required to produce the value firms desire from their IC
* Methods for calculating the dollar value of companies-for market capitalization and mergers or acquisitions
* An economic model of an IC company

The book's appendix is a valuable distillation for corporate and financial executives, managers, researchers, and analysts of IC's basic working concepts and definitions, including the principles underlying value creation and value extraction, the concepts and strategies used by successful companies, the sources of value for knowledge companies, and the mechanisms used to convert that value into real profits. And since it is managerial talent that turns intellectual property into business assets, the book provides an arsenal of key concepts, methods, and processes for aligning with and using intellectual property as an active element of a firm's business strategies. It concludes with a discussion of how value is extracted from human capital, focusing on its elusive magnetic core: creativity and productivity. In an era in which firms are increasingly accountable to shareholders and success is judged solely by stock price, knowing how to measure and extract the value of a firm's intellectual assets has become one of the most critical and essential skills needed by CEOs today. Reflecting the most innovative thinking from some of the most sophisticated firms in the world, Sullivan's Value-Driven Intellectual Capital is a manifesto, a clarion call to excellence for any corporate or financial executive, merger and acquisition partner or investor who understands how much future corporate survival and success depends on the simple enduring genius of a good idea and the need to convert those ideas into corporate value.

Visit our Web site at: www.wiley.com/ ... Read more

Reviews (10)

An Excellent Teaching Tool within the Corporate Setting
An important story to tell. Pat's new book is both an eye catcher and recipe for success. "Value Driven" takes the subject matter out the hypothetical and moves it into the real world where the bottom line counts. This is definitely suggested reading for any business manager charged with the responsibility extracting maximum value from the firms intellectual assets or more broadly, intellectual capital.

Written in a down-to-earth fashion, this is the first book of its kind to outline a roll-up-the-sleeves systematic approach to choosing the best options to leverage the firm's intangibles. Dr. Sullivan draws from his own experience as a leading consultant on the subject as well as that of companies who are recognized leaders in intellectual asset management.

As a practitioner, I will use this book within my own firm to help guide our business leaders as they wrestle with how to better manage their IA portfolios in order to achieve maximum shareholder value. A daunting task viewed by many, managing intangibles is made workable, providing a disciplined and systematic approach is adopted as Sullivan describes in his book.

Outstanding and thought provoking
I found this book to be extremely valuable in thinking about intangible assets in a new light. The use of charts and diagrams was especially helpful for me to grasp the value extraction concepts. This book will be valuable for anyone trying to realize value from the intellectual capital within their organization.

Non-Quantitiative & of Limited Value
For individuals actually interested in quantitative measurements of intellectual property value, this book is largely a waste of time. The text is full of a lot of business school "value creation" idealism and has little practical value in my opinion. Indeed, for those really interested in valuing intellectual property and intangible assets, see the associated book by Gordon V. Smith and Russell L. Parr. This text has everything you are looking for and this book is unnecessary.

Good quick Introduction
This book has its good points and its bad points. The good thing is that it is very well written, concise and easy to read. It brings important points to light and is a good start at dealing with a large complex issue. The bad aspect is that the book tends to rely on the experience of the author in developing the models that are at the heart of the book, rather on validated and tested truths.

A good place to start....

An invaluable introduction to IC Management
"In 1999, CEO Magazine and Arthur Andersen hosted a roundtable luncheon for CEOs interested in discussing intellectual capital (IC) and its impact on the firm as we know it. The luncheon drew 17 CEOs representing both manufacturing and service industry companies. All were intrigued by the potential hidden value that the intellectual capital perspective suggests lies untapped within their businesses, but none knew what kinds of value they could obtain from their company's intangible assets or how they might go about it. They just knew that there was hidden value in their companies and that it was somehow wrapped up in the thoughts, skills, innovations, and abilities of their employees. They wanted to learn more about this value: how to harness it, direct it, and extract value from it. This book is written for those CEOs and for anyone else who wants to know how to extract the hidden value that resides within the firm's intellectual capital. As of this writing dozens of firms actively engage in extracting value from their IC. The people directing the activities for these firms have formed a community (called the ICM Gathering) to share their ideas and success stories. With the expectation of a very few proprietary bits of information that could be useful to competitors, these firms are willing to share their knowledge, and this book draws heavily on their experiences. The purpose of this book is to help businesses profit from one of their most important assets, their intellectual capital" (from the Introduction pp.3-4).

In this context, Patrick H. Sullivan divides his book into three major parts as follows:

I. The Relationship Between Intellectual Capital and Corporate Value (Chapters 1-4). In this part, he basically:

* defines and discusses intellectual capital and its importance, and outlines some of the basic concepts underlying corporate value.

* describes a three-dimensional IC framework that reveals the IC aspect of the firm, and outlines the four key elements of the IC framework.

* discusses the kinds of value that intellectual capital provides to the firm, including direct and indirect, offensive and defensive, and internal and external value.

* discusses the ways managers may determine which activities are required to produce the firm's anticipated IC value.

II. Valuing Knowledge Companies (Chapters 5-7). In this part, he basically:

* discusses the concepts that underlie determining the amount of value that intellectual capital has for an organization.

* discusses the quantitative value of knowledge companies in two different kinds of situations: the value as a going concern (the stock market value), and the value in a merger or acquisition scenario.

* discusses the following questions: When determining how much to pay for a knowledge company being acquired, how does the potential purchaser make the calculation? Is the frame of reference an accounting or financial one? Or is it an intellectual capital one?

III. Managing Intellectual Capital (Chapters 8-12). In this part, he basically:

* describes the key elements involved in extracting value from intellectual property, including key decisions and decision-making processes, including who is involved, what information is needed by the decision-makers, what work processes are necessary to provide this information, what databases are needed to store the information, and how each decision will be implemented.

* discusses the similarities and the differences between intellectual property and intellectual asset and the implications this has for the intellectual capital management process.

* describes the relationship between knowledge, knowledge types, and intellectual capital, and introduces the relationship between knowledge and profits, the concept of value creation and value extraction.

* discusses management of the firm's core human capital and how they may be best employed.

* identifies the steps required of companies that want to implement and intellectual capital management capability.

In addition to these three parts, to reinforce the reader's knowledge, he discusses basic intelectual capital management (ICM) concepts and definitions, and provides a brief overview of the evolution of ICM as a working discipline in the appendix.

I highly recommend this invaluable study to all executives and HR practitioners. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Good simple real life example
It is a good book for beginner as well as people who have some accounting background. The book provides simple real life example that is easy to understand. ... Read more

Book Description

Now translated into 11 languages! This reader-friendly, icon-rich series is must reading for all managers at every level

All managers, whether brand new to their positions or well established in the corporate heirarchy, can use a little "brushing up" now and then. The skills-based Briefcase Books series is filled with ideas and strategies to help managers become more capable, efficient, effective, and valuable to their corporations.

Managers in all types of organizations and environments must be able to prepare, or at least understand, a realistic and results-oriented budget. Budgeting for Managers­­rich in practical techniques and examples­­walks the reader through the entire budgeting process, from basic financial concepts and their use in creating a budget to methods for tracking actual spending.

Book Description

This new series of fifteen books - The Food Service Professional Guide TO Series from the editors of the Food Service Professional are the best and most comprehensive books for serious food service operators available today.

These step-by-step guides on a specific management subject range from finding a great site for your new restaurant to how to train your wait staff and literally everything in between. They are easy and fast -to-read, easy to understand and will take the mystery out of the subject. The information is "boiled down" to the essence. They are filled to the brim with up to date and pertinent information.

The books cover all the bases, providing clear explanations and helpful, specific information. All titles in the series include the phone numbers and web sites of all companies discussed. What you won’t find are wordy explanations, tales of how someone did it better, or a scholarly lecture on the "theory". Think of them as "Cliff Notes TM" on the subject matter.

Every paragraph in each of the books are comprehensive, well researched, engrossing, and just plain fun-to-read, yet are packed with interesting ideas. You’ll be using your highlighter a lot! The best part aside from the content is they are very moderately priced. You can also purchase the whole 15 book series the isbn number is 0-910627-26-6. You are bound to get a great new idea to try on every page if not out of every paragraph. Do not be put off by the low price, these books really do deliver the critical information and eye opening ideas you need you to succeed without the fluff so commonly found in more expensive books on the subject. Highly recommended! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great Book
Great Book! I Found These step-by-step guides easy-to-read, and easy to understand! The books are packed with information. They reminded me of "cliff Notes" from my college days.The information is comprehensive without the fluff you find in so many of the more expensive books out there on the subject. The books are also packed with resources such as phone numbers and the web sites of the companies they are discussing - there is no "theory" just great information. ... Read more

Book Description

Are you limping towards the big three-oh one minimum payment at a time?

Are you "on your own" but still asking your parents for cash each birthday?

Do you crumple up your ATM receipts to avoid looking at the balance?

Are friends in the same income bracket beginning to pull ahead of you?

If you're young, smart, and drowning in debt, Debt-Free by 30 offers a practical, step-by-step plan to help rescue you from the financial abyss. Written by two twentysomethings who found their way back from the horrors of overwhelming debt, this authoritative guide reveals the secrets of debt-free living:

*The Seven Debtly Sins-and how to avoid them at all costs
*Where Does All the Money Go?-taking your financial inventory
*Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Banking but Feared Being Bored out of Your Skull
*Beating Credit Cards at Their Own Game-how to save hundreds of dollars in interest in less than five minutes
Plus tips for

* Driving for less
* Keeping more of what you earn
* Life after debt
. . . and much, much more

Featuring financial IQ Quizzes, no-brainer savings advice, and painless ways to spend less, Debt-Free by 30 will put you back in control of your money-and your life. ... Read more

Reviews (23)

Practical, easy to read and down right funny
My chances of becoming debt-free by 30 have passed. However, as I perused the aisles of my local bookstore in search of a common sense book about getting out of debt, this one was clearly the winner. The book is filled with common sense advice on how to cut expenses and prepare for the future. It's all outlined in an easy-to-read fashion and delivered with a witty sense of humor. The authors offer a variety of on-line resources which I promptly accessed as I read through the chapters.

Prior to reading the book I was sure I had analyzed my budget completely and was paying off as much of my debt as possible. However, after reading some of the stories and examples in the book, I reworked my figures and discovered an extra $200 a month I can contribute to debt-reduction.

Anthony and Cluck have a "come on, you can do it" attitude that makes debt reduction seem a little less painful. I sure wish I had this book when I was twenty-something. However, with a little motivation I was able to establish my own debt-free day which will be well before I'm 40. Some of us take longer to learn. Wherever you are on your debt reduction efforts, this book can help.

Worth Going Into Debt For
Charge it if you have to, this book is a must for anyone who makes and spends money. Even if you're not "young," "broke" or even in debt, the book is an entertaining and useful guide. I stood in the aisle of a bookstore with a friend of mine who is in debt -- $20,000 in school loans, $6,000 in credit card debt, a car lease -- all on a first-year teacher's salary. We read the book nearly cover to cover, laughing to the point of turning heads. I didn't buy it myself, as I'm not in debt. But I found myself wanting to refer to it so often -- for subjects such as car purchasing information (that's car PURCHASING, not leasing; for why, refer to the book) -- that I went ahead and bought it to add to the "personal finance" section of my bookcase. I'm now reading the whole thing all over again -- get this -- for fun. That's how funny the book is, and how pertinent to just about everybody's financial life. Buy it, charge it, borrow it, steal it. Just get it.

It changed my life!
I highly recommend this book. It is very informative with great advice, and best of all...entertaining to read.

I've read a lot of financial books, but this one is the only one that gave me real hope. Anytime I want to dig out my credit card I re-read a small section and stay on track.

I originally read this book in the fall of 2002, and have finally decided to write a review b/c of impact it has had. I've paid off more than 50% of my debt since reading the book, and I haven't paid a cent in interest to credit card companies.

For the first time in my life I was able to see how easy it is to cut back on spending just by keeping track of my Starbucks/eating out for lunch habit. Everyone will have a different situation, but it gives you the advice you need to objectively view your own spending, develop a plan, and still have a life. Best of all, the book will make you feel empowered and motivated, Other books are written to make you feel like a financial idiot or someone who needs to join a twelve step program for debt.

Common sense, but at least it's not boring
This book is so much common sense. I just don't understand why people have a problem with budgeting. It's simple, don't spend more then you make! But if you do have a problem with this concept or need help getting out of debt, this book could help. Money saving tip - get it from the library!

A Surefire Motivator
My husband purchased this book for us about 2 years go. We read it in less than a week - an easy read as others have already mentioned. To say the least, we found this book motivating. After we read it, I made a spreadsheet of our debt - including who we owed, how much, the interest rate, and a schedule of how soon/or not we would pay it off making various payments. (To put it into perspective, we owed over $15K in credit card debt). We called each credit card company and got them to lower our rates. The one that didn't, lost all of our money. We transferred it to an introductory 0.00% credit card instead. We then started with the highest debt/highest interest rate, and worked our way down to the last of the credit cards from there. It took us about a year and a half to get it paid off, but it was worth the wait. Here we are less than a year from paying off our credit card debt (keeping only auto loans and a student loan as debt) with thousands of dollars in our savings account. We pay cash for everything we purchase, and seriously consider our purchases before making the transaction. Our lives truly changed after reading this book. This book will be our future gift to college grads. ... Read more

Book Description

A practical guide to the ABCs of ABB

This unique resource takes an in-depth look at creating value through activity-based budgeting (ABB). As most organizations are dissatisfied with some aspects of their performance, ABB has become an increasingly popular process for which many companies are abandoning traditional methods that no longer meet their demands. Emphasizing the importance of budgeting by activities and features rather than by cost elements, Driving Value Using Activity-Based Budgeting offers a complete overview of feature costing, a technique used in conjunction with ABB, as well as the underlying principles of ABB, including linking strategy to activities, forecasting revenue, capacity management, and gap analysis. With numerous examples and case studies, it shows how to use state-of-the-art tools for achieving strategic goals, such as customer survey, core competency analysis, benchmarking, house of activities, reverse engineering to cascade strategy so everyone can act to create value for the organization.

In today's highly pressurized business environment, creating value is the number one priority for organizations. The key to achieving this is having a budget and accounting system that supports long-term goals. More and more organizations are now turning to activity-based budgeting (ABB), an innovative approach that can help organizations become more competitive by linking the budgeting process to organization strategy. Explaining the importance of budgeting by activities rather than by cost elements, this groundbreaking resource—the first book of its kind—is a practical how-to that covers the essentials of Driving Value Using Activity-Based Budgeting.

Beginning with an overview of the fundamentals behind driving value, James Brimson and John Antos examine what exactly value is, how it is created, and why traditional planning and budgeting often lead to the destruction of value. Following a clear outline of the problems posed by the traditional budgeting process, the authors go on to explain that many companies have contemplated abandoning it altogether. In doing so, however, they must set performance targets and identify actions to achieve the targets: "Once those actions are implemented, there is a need to monitor the execution. Therefore, to drive value creation, organizations are implementing activity-based budgeting (ABB)." This comprehensive guide offers in-depth coverage of ABB and feature costing, a technique used in conjunction with ABB. ABB creates value by translating the business strategy into the activities necessary to implement that strategy. Feature costing creates value by understanding sources of product and customer variation and relating this variation to expected workload. Along with the benefits of using ABB and feature costing, Driving Value Using Activity-Based Budgeting addresses such essential topics as:

• Translating strategy into a process and activity framework—performing activities and cross-functional processes that support strategy and assessing current performance against strategic goals
• Forecasting revenue, volume, and workload—customer demographics and needs, the competition exploding a bill of activities, determining workload for special projects
• Capacity management—capacity defined, managing capacity, capacity management methodology, handling excess capacity
• Getting started—creating a business process budget, budget review panels, rank and select activities, cost budgeted activities

Filled with numerous examples and case studies, a complete glossary, and an appendix of target-setting techniques, this is must reading for everyone in your organization since all participants must continually ask themselves how they create value. ... Read more

Book Description

Dominated by multiple, competing, and occasionally overlapping theories, the act of budgeting is by no means a staid, dispiriting task. Kahn, Hildreth and their group of scholars and practitioners show that budgeting is an institutional process, an incremental decision-making tool, and when correctly applied becomes a tribute to managerial and administrative efficiency. Taken together, the chapters provide an unusually coherent conceptual foundation for budgeting as a legitimate field of study, and demonstrate yet again that in its current state the field is truly eclectic but compartmentalized. They also show why it is so difficult to come up with one unified theory of budgeting--and that is one of the book's major benefits. It opens new areas of inquiry that, in the opinion of Khan, Hildreth, and others, will generate renewed interest in probing the field's theory and applications. Understandable and readable for those with limited knowledge of the subject but needing a sufficiently useful grasp of its various issues and problems, the book is both an important reference work for scholars in the field and a practical guide for students of administration, their teachers, and for managers throughout the public sector. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Appear to be some math errors in this book
I find this book to be well organized and easy to read. There is a great deal of useful material that does not go over anyone's head.

I think there are some math errors - I looked mostly in the CAPITAL BUDGETING chapter. On page 328, the present value of 3.3073 should be 3.0373 with disasterous results.

On page 348, the formulae for Standard Deviation appear to be totally wrong. Frankly I am amazed by these errors and they put most of the of math the book into serious question. I didn't continue into this chapter after this as I no longer trust the math - so beware and check for yourself.

This is unfortunate - except for some simple yet devastating errors, I like the book a great deal. Just too bad.

Complete Accounting Guide
This book was not only helpful with creating our companies budget, but it went into complete detail of every day functions our company should be performing. It outlined who should be responsible for what aspects of not only the budget but for daily, weekly, and monthly reports. The book was complete with diagrams and easy to follow samples. It was an easy read besides. The book has become part of our reference library. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Contrary to popular belief, successful entrepreneurs do not crave risk. In fact, they strive to minimize it. Bob Reiss, founder of several companies and the subject of a Harvard Business School case study, has written Low Risk, High Reward to share the many ideas he's developed over the past four decades for succeeding through prudent action. In straightforward language, he addresses practical methods for spotting, managing and reducing risks in virtually every facet of business, from developing initial concepts and financing their production to securing orders and preparing for the future. Some suggestions are somewhat obvious--such as using commissioned versus salaried employees, contracting for manufacturing facilities rather than building your own, and thoroughly testing ideas before implementing them. The vast majority, though, deal with risk reduction in more novel ways. Among those he details with specific suggestions: working with suppliers to stretch payments and free up cash; managing products from the start with an eye toward their natural (and limited) life span; focusing on packaging as a means of grabbing initial orders and securing crucial reorders; and vigorously protecting ideas by preventing knockoffs and responding forcefully if they do appear. Current business owners, along with those who hope to join them, will find his advice helpful. --Howard Rothman ... Read more

Reviews (23)

chapter 2 alone worth price of book
In the second chapter of his book, Reiss writes about the key numbers that all CEOs running companies should know. He refers to this stuff as 'numeracy,' and he writes clearly on how you need to understand these numbers to get a clear sense of your company's health. He also advocates that CEOs take regularly scheduled snapshots of these companies by updating cash-flow statements, performing cost analysis on products, and doing break-even analyses for the company and all products. A firm understanding of these numbers limits the number of surprises that can wreak havoc on the company. "Tinkering at the margins is what most businesses are really about," Reiss writes. It's not a matter of coming up with anything remarkably new, but borrowing other's time-tested ideas, improving on them a bit and then executing. Clear stuff from someone with experience.

Not bad...but you'll need more
Reis's book is a good extension of basic business that we all learned in school. As a small business owner, I found myself saying "I agree, but I already knew that. Tell me more."

At best this book would make a great refresher course if you have been out of school for a long time and haven't been reading very much.

I would recommend Turbo Strategy by Brian Tracy for some real powerful advice that really works and will tell you some things that you don't already know.

No offense Mr. Reis. Good book...but way too basic for an experienced entrepreneur.

Pass on this one
Not that great which is why it is not selling.

3 stars
I'm giving this 3 stars because it does provide some good information albeit basic. Didn't find a whole lot of WOWSA information, but it did remind me of things that I forgot and for that it deserves 3 stars.

Not bad
The book does offer some insights that you will not find anywhere else. Worth a read even if you just borrow it form the library. ... Read more

Book Description

While other books give advice about money markets and outwitting the stock market, Saving Money with the Tightwad Twins gives advice to the struggling woman on a really, really tight budget. She is the forgotten woman of "little time and no dime." She may be single,married,a career woman or a stay-at-home mom, but whoever she is, she is looking for easy ways to organize her life and save money.

In this no-nonsense book by identical twin sisters Ann Fox Chodakowski and Susan Fox Wood, the Tightwad Twins, women will learn how to reduce or eliminatebills and manage and organize their homes. This"common cents"knowledgewill revolutionize the way women look at money; for instance nearly everything can be recycled:

• Make a coffee table from an old window, door or board. Add bricks or flowerpots for legs.
• Cut a slit in the shape of an X in an empty prescription bottle for a traveling toothbrush holder.
• Use soda-pop can tabs for picture hangers. Glue to the back of picture frame with just the top of the clip showing so as to nail easily to the wall.
• A candle placed in a cheese or vegetable grater looks fabulous at night. Tie the top with a red ribbon to make it even more festive.

The tighwad twins also timesaving forms, quick-and-easy recipes for no-fuss, cheap meals, and lists of organizations that give away freebies. In no time at all, readers will reap the benefits ofthriftiness and find timeto enjoy their newfound financial freedom.

"These twins really know their stuff!" - Maury Povich

"The twins are masters at saving money." - The National Enquirer

"These twins do a great job: humorous, but insightful on ways to save money and reuse everything!" -Crook and Chase

Reviews (1)

The twins' bigger financial tips are fabulous and fast.
I enjoyed this book from the twins even more than any of the others. I have already started using the bigger life-changing ones and I look forward to next month when I will see the differerence in my finances when my house makes me money while I sleep. It is funnier than the others and I loved the success stories. They were my motivation to get busy. I look forward to seeing the twins on television as I have in the past. As the twins say: this book is not for everyone, just for people who really need to save some big money and have a small income. Double advice from them which is good for us out here in the real world. I love these girls! ... Read more

Book Description

Essential Budget Planning for the 21st Century Corporation

Today’s corporations are more competitive, dynamic, and, consequently, more powerful and successful than ever before. As a result, the days when corporate budgeting was merely an obligatory, routine process of estimating the coming year’s revenues and expenses have long ended. Successful corporations are constantly improving their ability to predict their future operations and their related resource requirements, enabling them to adjust their plans as needed and stay ahead of the competition. Not only does this heighten the importance of the budgeting and planning process, but it also changes the traditional roles of spreadsheets, legacy budget systems, and software created in-house. Budgeting shows corporations how to achieve and maintain their edge through modern budgeting systems and the use of good budgeting software. This book provides comprehensive guidance through the range of considerations that are crucial to streamlining the budget planning process:

• What corporations should be looking for when buying or building a new budgeting solution
• How to select the right budgeting solution from the field of vendors
• How to successfully implement a new budgeting solution
• How to fully utilize the Web

. . . plus helpful lists and questionnaires, and interviews with managers from leading companies who have effectively created internal processes and implemented software solutions. Equip your corporation to excel in the twenty-first century with the tools and information offered in this invaluable resource. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent for software selection and implementation
I found this book to be very practically oriented and extremely helpful for me to understand new trends in budgeting, but most of all to help me plan for the purchase and implementation of a new budgeting software in our corporation. It helped us find qualified vendors, and the attached RFP (which also was downloadable as a Word file from the publisher's Web-site) literally saved us thousands of dollars by eliminating the need to write an RFP from scratch. I also found the various report examples, contract examples and the sample project plan very useful. Overall, this was the only book I have found on modern budgeting and budgeting software, and I was pleasantly surprised how helpful it has been to us. ... Read more

Book Description

Phone systems, service, data networks, and the Internet are critical pieces of any company’s communications. And most IT professionals don’t understand the effects of deregulation and parallel technologies on the bottom line. Telecommunications companies have more than a 30% error rate on their billing each month. There are only about 4,000 telecom consultants in the country who do nothing but find errors on bills.The economy seems to be crying out for just this type of study.This work explores the various technologies in terms of cost and ROI, sets up some case studies to solve real communications issues, offers cheap ways to meet bandwidth requirements, looks at the players in the marketplace in terms of technology as well as cost, explains what a tariff is and how it can be made to work for you, gives a better understanding of telecom taxes, which ones are required and to what degree, and provides international strategies to manage costs of a national and global network.Reading this book will be like hiring that telecom consultant. · SAVINGS!!! – realize 40-60% savings with the information contained in the book· “Show me the money” demo included · Review – assessing bills to know if you’re overpaying · Analysis–benchmarking, comparative technologies, ROI, tariff info, etc. · Negotiation – how to work with your various services to ensure you’re getting the best rates possible · Cost Justification– finding costs in other areas to justify expenditure in technology · Vendor Management– understanding where and how to go to get the best price · Recovery of capital – finding out if and when you’ve overpaid, and getting back $$$ when it’s due · Tax Rebates, Relocations, Growth Assessment, and Telemanagement – exploring all the angles to get the most of your telecom dollars ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Good overview
While this book does not cover every possible situation, it does provide insight into those which are most relevant. It was well written and proceeds in a logical fashion. I found chapter 10, covering taxes and fees, particularly helpful. If you are new to the commercial aspects of the telecom world, this is a good place to start. I have read several books on the subject and found this one to be the most complete. ... Read more

Book Description

Where do budgets come from? What's an audit? How is an accurate forecast prepared? What's the difference between assets and liabilities? These commonplace questions and many others are answered in Budgeting and Finance, an easy-to-understand primer on the basics of corporate finance. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Extremely easy to understand.
Beginners in this field will find lots of information in a very easy to understand format. Those with more experience, however, are likely to be bored. ... Read more

Book Description

The author's primary emphasis is on the national budgeting process, with additional coverage of state and local processes. His goal is to bridge the gap between public budgeting and public finance/financial administration. ... Read more

Book Description

Classics of Public Budgeting is the next volume in the ASPA Classics series. It covers the most influential, paramount research articles published on public budgeting and finance. The book will surely be of great interest and use to anyone concerned with public budgeting, and anyone enrolled in, or teaching, a course on this topic in an MPA program. ... Read more

Book Description

In the 1970s and the 1980s, developments in the valuation of capital-investment opportunities based on options pricing revolutionized capital budgeting. Managerial flexibility to adapt and revise future decisions in order to capitalize on favorable future opportunities or to limit losses has proven vital to long-term corporate success in an uncertain and changing marketplace.

In this book Lenos Trigeorgis, who has helped shape the field of real options, brings together a wealth of previously scattered knowledge and research on the new flexibility in corporate resource allocation and in the evaluation of investment alternatives brought about by the shift from static cash-flow approaches to the more dynamic paradigm of real options -- an approach that incorporates decisions on whether to defer, expand, contract, abandon, switch use, or otherwise alter a capital investment.

Comprehensive in scope, Real Options reviews current techniques of capital budgeting and details an approach (based on the pricing of options) that provides a means of quantifying the elusive elements of managerial flexibility in the face of unexpected changes in the market. Also discussed are the strategic value of new technology, project interdependence, and competitive interaction.

The ability to value real options has so dramatically altered the way in which corporate resources are allocated that future textbooks on capital budgeting will bear little resemblance to those of even the recent past. Real Options is a pioneer in this area, coupling a coherent picture of how option theory is used with practical insights in into real-world applications. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

By far the best RO book around
Trigeorgis provides a rigorous treatment of the concepts that are required to facilitate understanding of RO. In fact, a section in Chapter 2 can serve as a reference for a half-semester course in corporate financial theory. Amram's book is a disappointment. Copeland's book is a good alternative for those that seek a readable introductory RO book. However, the edition that I got had numerous errors (check the book's website for corrections). Once you familiarize yourself with the concepts, upgrade yourself to the level of Trigeorgis.

Good classic on Real Option Theory
A classic text on Real Option Theory. In comparison with Mr Copelands Text on Real Options, Trigeorgis has more depths, but Mr Copelands book is easier to read, as Copeland targets practitioners. The chapter on Real Options for the analysis of competetive strategies is worth reading, and much better than Mr Copelands remarks on that topic, but possibly not fully up to date. The future of real options seems to lie in their combination with game theory, CFROI and dynamic oligopolistic markets. Mr Trigeorgis describes that field of research in its baby stage, as the book is 6 years old, but his theories are still much better, than many other books on that topic.

Sound Analysis on Pricing Your Options
Real Options is the study of how to value potential business based on the real options they create rather than on discounting a simple stream of (erroneously) forecasted cash flows. Any business venture can be seen as a tangible corollary to a financial option, most commonly the Call or Put Option. For example, when Toyota and Honda build electric-fuel hybrid cars, they are not counting on an immediate stream of cash flows from hybrid car sales. Instead they are establishing a "Real" American Call Option on the ability to go to full hybrid car production ahead of the competition when the market for such vehicles manifests itself. How much they spend on their hybrid car programs is determined by finding the value of this option.

Lenos Trigeorgis shows how this is done. Conceptually, one can follow it well enough, but Lenos is merciless with the math. Still, one can grasp the basic concept by studying this book. A good read on the subject.

A really path-breaking work!
It's a very good book, which has changed my way of thinking in

some sense. Real options method is an exciting and challenging

subject in corporate finance.For sure, it deserves more

attention. Thanks for Mr.Trigeorgis'good job.

Too unstructured
I did not find this book hugely helpful. The explanations are just opaque enough to leave you frustrated that you have missed something. Ultimately this book is neither fish nor fowl: not deep enough for academic researchers and not practical enough for practitioners. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A great book!
Dall Forsythe, former budget director to Gov. Mario Cuomo, has written an excellent book on how big policy decisions are made. It is written in an easy to read style in memo format for the new Governor. ... Read more

Book Description

Learn the 25 keys to the art of the budget in terms of forecasting costs, revenues and profits for short-term and long-term projections:

Key 1.Budget blues.
Key 2.Preparing the operating budget.
Key 3.Preparing the financial budget.
Key 4.Use budgets to plan and control.Use pro forma financial statements to measure and monitor value creation.
Key 5.The budget must consider cost behavior.
Key 6.Managers must be flexible.So must their budgets.
Key 7.The budget must consider revenue behavior.
Key 8.Profits are good.Liquidity is essential for survival.
Key 9.Determining the optimal cash balance.
Key 10.Part of planning and budgeting is setting standards.
Key 11.Selecting and using the best cost allocation methods.
Key 12.Un-sheath the budget ax.
Key 13.A firm's future depends, most of all, on the capital expenditure budget.
Key 14.What should a capital budget accomplish?
Key 15.Risk is as much a part of the capital budget as return.
Key 16.The "unsophisticated" rules are more useful than you might think.
Key 17.You can't budget without forecasts.
Key 18.Time series forecasting: the past as prologue.
Key 19.Regression: a straight line to better forecasting.
Key 20.Judgmental forecasting techniques: when numbers are not enough.
Key 21.Evaluating forecasting models: through the looking glass.
Key 22.Financial models: the black boxes of planning.
Key 23.Financial modeling: spreadsheets and add-ins.
Key 24.Financial modeling: more on spreadsheets and add-ins.
Key 25.Profit-making firms can learn from nonprofit organizations.

Forecasting Budgets is part of The New York Times Pocket MBA Series, a reference series easily accessible to all businesspersons, from first-level managers to the executive suite.The 12-volume series is written by Ph.D.s who teach in the finest graduate business programs in the country, and edited by business editors from The New York Times.The structure of each volume presents an unparalleled synopsis of crucial principles of specific areas of business expertise. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great tool
I was extremely impressed with this book. I am beginning a new job soon and this book will come in handy, especially for the person who had been out of school for a while and needs a refresher. It is easy reading with very good graphs and examples to follow. I am confident this book can help anyone out from the recent graduate to the high ranking executive. ... Read more