Book Description

Harvard Business Review on Corporate Responsibility

What and whom is a business for? This collection of articles gathers the latest thinking on the strategic significance of corporate social responsibility. Readers will develop an understanding of why businesses should continue to give money away even while laying off workers, how companies play a leadership role in today's social problems by incorporating the best thinking of governments and nonprofit institutions, and how community needs are actually opportunities to develop ideas and demonstrate business technologies. Readers will see how corporate responsibility can lead to new markets and solutions to long-standing business problems.

The Harvard Business Review Paperback Series

The series is designed to bring today's managers and professionals the fundamental information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world. From the preeminent thinkers whose work has defined an entire field to the rising stars who will redefine the way we think about business, here are the leading minds and landmark ideas that have established the Harvard Business Review as required reading for ambitious businesspeople in organizations around the globe.

... Read more

Reviews (1)

8essays that see corporate responsibility as an opportunity
Traditional corporate executives may shudder when they hear the term "corporate responsibility". In their view, the corporation's responsibility is to maximize shareholder value within the bounds of the law. That's a tall order as it is, so resistance to the thought of additional sources of responsibility and additional relevant "stakeholders" isn't surprising. The writers gathered in this collection of papers from HBR see corporate responsibility less as a burden and more as an opportunity. The opportunity lies in creating new markets, resolving age-old business problems, improving public perception, strengthening brands, and melding the best ideas for governments and nonprofit institutions for doing well while doing good.

This collection of eight essays provides a firm foundation in both critical and creative thinking on issues of corporate responsibility and active philanthropy. If the terrain is unfamiliar, the collection's fifth essay - "The Path of Kyosei should be a comfortable entry point. Canon's honorary chairman, Ryuzaburo Kaku, sets out five steps along a path toward a "spirit of cooperation". Practical but still intellectually not so challenging is Rosabeth Moss Kanter's "From Spare Change to Real Change: The Social Sector as Beta Site for Business Innovation". Craig Smith in "The New Corporate Philanthropy" sees philanthropic strategies as giving a competitive edge. A similar perspective, worked out in some detail, comes from Michael Porter and Mark Kramer in their contribution, "The Competitive Advantage of Corporate Philanthropy".

Charles Handy takes his turn at defining the extent of corporate responsibility in "What's A Business For?". A more impressive piece with far more potential payback for the executive reader comes from C.K. Prahalad and Allen Hammond in their recent essay, "Serving the World's Poor, Profitably". Also of high quality is Roger Martin's "The Virtue Matrix: Calculating the Return on Corporate Responsibility". For the more philosophical, a challenging and well-presented argument for strong corporate responsibility appears in "Can a Corporation Have a Conscience?" by the fittingly-named Kenneth Goodpaster and John Matthews. With a couple of weaker spots, this collection succeeds in bringing together some of the best recent thinking on the issue in recent years. To fill in the gaps, be sure to look at the best pieces from other publications. ... Read more

Book Description

Fewer than half of today's employees believe that their companies deserve their loyalty. Web-empowered customers now defect more easily and more quickly than ever. Has loyalty become an outdated notion in today's marketplace?

Fred Reichheld, author of the bestselling book The Loyalty Effect, argues that loyalty is still the fuel that drives financial success-even, and perhaps especially, in today's volatile, high-speed economy-but that most organizations are running on empty. Why? Because leaders too often confuse profits with purpose, taking the low road to short-term gains at the expense of employees, customers, and ultimately, investors. In a business environment that thrives on networks of mutually beneficial relationships, says Reichheld, it is the ability to build strong bonds of loyalty-not short-term profits-that has become the "acid test" of leadership.

Based on extensive research into companies from online start-ups to established institutions-including Harley-Davidson, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Cisco Systems, Dell Computer, Intuit, and more-Reichheld reveals six bedrock principles of loyalty upon which leaders build enduring enterprises. Underscoring that success requires both understanding and measuring loyalty, he couples each principle with straightforward actions that drive measurement systems, compensation, organization, and strategy:

Play to win/win: never profit at the expense of partners.
Be picky: membership must be a privilege.
Keep it simple: reduce complexity for speed and flexibility.
Reward the right results: worthy partners deserve worthy goals.
Listen hard and talk straight: insist on honest, two-way communication and learning.
Preach what you practice: explain your principles, then live by them.
Vivid case studies illustrate the consequences of building or ignoring loyalty, and a rigorous Loyalty Acid Test enables leaders to benchmark their loyalty practices against competitors.

Providing tools for implementing the timeless principles of loyalty in a volatile economy, Loyalty Rules! is a practical guidebook for taking the high road in business-the only road that leads to lasting success. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Timeless Principles: More Relevant Today Than Ever Before
A recent re-reading confirms my initial reactions to this book. In a brilliant essay which appeared in the Harvard Business Review, Reichheld shares research which suggests that companies with faithful employees, customers, and investors (i.e. capital sources which include banks) share one key attribute: leaders who stick with six "bedrock principles": preach what you practice, play to win-win, be picky, keep it simple, reward the right results, and finally, listen hard...talk straight. In The Loyalty Effect, Reichheld organizes his material within 11 chapters which range from "Loyalty and Value" to "Getting Started: The Path Toward Zero Defections." With meticulous care, he explains how to devise and them implement programs which will help any organization to earn the loyalty of everyone involved in the enterprise. Reichheld draws upon a wealth of real-world experience which he and his associates have accumulated at Bain & Company, a worldwide strategy consulting firm. Reichheld heads up its Loyalty Practice.

In his most recently published book, Practice What You Preach, David Maister explains why there must be no discrepancy whatsoever between the "talk" we talk and the "walk" we walk. Reichheld agrees, noting that the "key" to the success of his own organization "has been its loyalty to two principles: first, that our primary mission is to create value for our clients, and second, that our most precious asset is the employees dedicated to making productive contributions to client value creation. Whenever we've been perfectly centered on these two principles, our business has prospered." It is no coincidence that the world's most highly admired companies are also the most profitable within their respective industries. I wholly agree with Reichheld that loyalty is critically important as a measure of value creation and as a source of profit but that it is by no means "a cure-all or a magic bullet." Loyalty is based on trust and respect. It must be earned, usually over an extended period of time and yet can be lost or compromised at any time with a single betrayal.

In Loyalty Rules!, Reichheld develops these and other ideas (the foundation of what he calls an "economic framework") in much greater depth as he explains how today's leaders build lasting relationships beyond as well as within their organizations. "Loyalty cannot begin with tools; it must begin with leaders who recognize the enormous value of building and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships....Accordingly, this book spends at least as much time on the underlying objectives for building loyalty as it does on the how-to's." He organizes his material within eight chapters which range from "Timeless Principles" (previously introduced in The Loyalty Effect) to "Preach What You Practice" in which he asserts that actions speak louder than words and together, they are "unbeatable." One of this book's greatest benefits is provided in a series of "Action Checklists" which reiterate key ideas while suggesting specific initiatives to implement them effectively. The book concludes with an appendix, "The Loyalty Acid Test," which consists of separate surveys of consumers and employees. Obviously, each reader must modify either survey to ensure that it is appropriate to her or his own organization's specific needs and objectives. However, all modifications should be consistent with the 'timeless principles" which Reichheld examines in the first chapter. I highly recommend this book, presuming to suggest that, if possible, The Loyalty Effect be read first.

Put the ¿loyalty effect¿ into practice with 6 principles
In Frederick Reichheld's 1996 book, The Loyalty Effect, he argued that a 5 percent increase in customer and employee retention can increase profits between 25 percent and 100 percent. Taking that as the foundation for his new book, Reichheld reinforces and updates his message that loyalty in the form of mutually beneficial relationships between customers, employees, suppliers, and investors (the first two being primary) is the key to sustained success. He finds that most companies fail the "acid test" of loyalty, with less than half of today's employees believing that their company deserves their loyalty. His current book draws extensively on examples to show how executives can put the loyalty effect to work.

You will find some of the usual suspects throughout the book: Harley-Davidson, Southwest Airlines, Dell Computer, Cisco Systems, Intuit, but also some examples probably less familiar: The Vanguard Group, Northwestern Mutual, MBNA, The New York Times Company, and the U.S. Marine Corps. All the cases make for vivid reading, though abstraction-centric readers can greatly reduce their reading time by going straight the end-of-chapter summaries and application tips. However, the case studies and stories show that the loyalty effect can be put into practice in diverse ways and Reichheld keeps his book below 200 pages.

Underlying the diverse aspects and implementations of loyalty, Reichheld has identified six principles: Play to win/win: profiting at the expense of partners is a short cut to a dead end; Be picky: membership is a privilege; Keep it simple: complexity is the enemy of speed and flexibility; Reward the right results: worthy partners deserve worthy goals; Listen hard and talk straight: long-term relationships require honest, two-way communication and learning; and Preach what you practice.

Stated in summary form, these will probably seem obvious. The detailed vision that the author presents of the principles, however, is not always obvious and certainly is rarely observed with any thoroughness. He analyzes each principle into component ideas. For example, "play to win/win involves "high road strategies" which themselves are further analyzed, along with more thoughts about strategic focus, partnerships, and growing from the core. You should find some rewarding insights with little effort in this book. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Yale professors Barry Nalebuff and Ian Ayres engage readers in an intriguing oxymoron. They believe invention can be automated. Why Not? outlines a populist high-octane approach to creative problem solving. "We aspire for this book to change the way people think about their own ability to change the world." The authors' ideas and examples--from adopting British water conserving toilets to having telemarketers pay you to listen--bristle with energy, conviction, and occasional loopiness. Their approach upends cliched problem solving models by asking, "What would Croseus (the ancient rich king) do?" They take Edward de Bono'slateral thinking out for a spin, suggesting pay for view television might include a fee for eliminating commercials.

Nalebuff and Ayres are at their best in exploring "Idea Arbitrage," a tool for applying one solution to a host of other problems and yielding day care at IKEA, corporate vanity stamps, and library coffee houses. Some promising concepts, such as the technique of leveraging mistakes to create new solutions, are not as clear as others. Overall, the authors make an entertaining case for the idea that innovators are made and not born. --Barbara Mackoff ... Read more

Reviews (9)

There is a major mistake in Chapter 7
Judging from the Chinese translation, this book is ok if it didn't have a major slip in Chapter 7. The approach taken to find the solution to the triple-line puzzle was incorrect and misleading. And it's a serious mistake for a book on creativity. The authors made the use of this puzzle to convey their message of never giving up easily in problem solving and to demonstrate a good application of the principle of symmetry.

However, the authors readily gave up on the first approach came to anyone's mind of first connecting the pair of block B by a straight line. Authors then gave up on a second approach, which certainly failed to work either. A solution was finally found in the 3rd try. Most of the readers would have been happily convinced and moved on to the rest of the book. But I for one didn¡¦t give up easily on the first approach as I was encouraged by the authors:
1. Be persistent. I didn¡¦t give up on the first approach.
2. Don't settle for a solution; pursue the best solution. The solution provided by the authors is not as elegant as I like.
3. And apply the principle of symmetry. The authors forgot to apply it to the first approach.

It turned out that the first approach can lead to a solution which is also most elegant.
The solution is:
1. First connecting the pair of Block B by the shortest straight line.
2. Connecting the pair of Block A by a curve line. The line, starting from the left Block A, heads south and goes in between the bottom Block B and C. Once it hits the boundary, it moves along the boundary. It curves up and heads toward the right Block A once it has passed the bottom Block B.
3. Connecting the pair of Block C by applying the principle of symmetry, or rather anti-symmetry.

A good book for product inventors
This book introduces some techniques for coming up with creative ideas and (esp.) products, and then describes many examples of innovative products or product ideas which can be derived from application of the techniques. The example products and ideas were really interesting, and I got a number of "nice idea, I can use that in my business problem" thoughts (my business is software development), but not nearly as many as I got when I read "Whack on the Side of the Head", which for me is still the king of creativity books. "Why Not?" seemed a good book for someone who wants to invent products, whereas "Whack..." is pure fuel for how to think more creatively.

A different perspective
Why Not? is an innovators thinkbox in how to make things better in our everyday lives/business. The book goes into great detail in providing examples that think outside of the box when designing products, programs or inventions. This book may not be for everyone, as the two authors intelligence level is superior to most (and I do not mean that to offend anyone!!), and even though they convey their book in an easy to understand manner, you can tell these two gentlemen think on a different level. Therefore, this book should be an enjoyable read, but don't get frustrated if you are not on the same level as them. I consider myself a smart cookie, and a few things were above my head.

White Caps on Gray Matter
To me, the subtitle of Nalebuff and Ayres's book is especially significant because few of us understand how to use everyday ingenuity to solve problems big and small. So often we ask, "What didn't I think of that?" I wholly agree with Nalebuff and Ayres that we could have, had we been willing to view a given situation (need, problem, irritation, etc.) from several different perspectives. For whatever reasons, we seldom do so. That is, we see and hear what we expect because our mental "filters" perpetuate fixed mindsets.

Let's pretend that you have entered the Nalebuff and Ayres Executive Hardware Store. Either Nalebuff or Ayres greets you, offering a complimentary toolbox rather than a cart to use while shopping. "If you need anything or have any questions, please let me know." You then thoroughly explore each of the store's three main departments.

Problems in Search of Solutions: Tools which enable you to take the perspective of an unconstrained consumer and internalize the external effects the external effects of decision-making

Solutions in Search of Problems: Tools which help you to identify "idea arbitrage" and experiment with "things the other way around"

Problem Solving with a Purpose: Tools which enable you to think effectively and productively "inside the box"

The proprietors realize that no visitor to their store needs all of these tools at the same time, nor will all visitors use any one of the tools in precisely the same way. The central purpose of Nalebuff and Ayres' book is to offer various "tools," then explain what each can do and how to use it properly, thereby to change "the way people think about their own ability to affect the world. Our goal is to make it natural -- even expected -- for everyone to challenge the status quo and ask, Why not do it this way instead?"

They cite countless examples from a wealth of real-world experiences, many of which illustrate what I call "the invisibility of the obvious." I agree with Nalebuff and Ayres that innovation can be taught. Many of the most innovative consumer products (e.g. Post-Its as well as those derived from Velcro and Gore-Tex) were created by technology and fabrics already available. To ask "Why didn't I think of that?" is to acknowledge the invisibility of the obvious.

Heightening our awareness of potentialities within the so-called commonplace, thereby enabling "everyday ingenuity," is precisely why Nalebuff and Ayres wrote this thoughtful, thought-provoking, and eloquent book. It will be of greatest value to decision-makers in literally any organization (regardless of size or nature) who are in urgent need of generating new and better ideas, perhaps re-configuring mature products or services, and generating ideas which will be the seed of entirely new products and services.

The quotation from George Bernard Show with which they begin the first chapter seems especially appropriate to the conclusion of my brief commentary: "Some men see things as they are and say, 'Why?' I dream of things that never were and say, 'Why not?'"

Fill your own toolbox and then have at it!

Easy to read ¿ the enthusiasm is infectious
This is very well-researched - a collection of anecdotes of innovative products and processes from around the world - UK, Australia, Italy, France, Canada, Germany, Sweden etc - whether they be financial, medical, transport etc.

However, it's probably only of real use to a US Audience - comparing the US processes to the best foreign innovators. Everything they describe was already familiar to me (as I've worked in over 30 Countries).

Where they talk about localised innovation, such as Lojack versus the Club, its well written - but if you'd never been to the USA and seen adverts for either Product, it'd be very hard to appreciate what they were comparing.

I do like the US practice of being allowed to turn right on a red light - I wish we had that in the UK (obviously on a left turn for us), but this book taught me that it came from California originally. I think turn right on red is the best thing to come out of California since the Beach Boys.

Also, for its dozens of ideas, the book has no Index - so impossible to dip back into for that great idea.

In essence, the book is just a collection of anecdotes such as what imaginative people have been doing for 100's of years since Marco Polo and before - travel with your eyes, ears & mind open, and observe how others have approached that problem that is so irritating back home.

For example, if I was writing the equivalent of this book for a UK audience, I'd be pushing for 'turn on red', and to clone the USA's 529 College Tuition Savings Plans. ... Read more

Book Description

Emulating the Success Strategies of Enduring Family Businesses

Fidelity, Hallmark, Michelin, and Wal-Mart are renowned industry powerhouses with long leadership track records. Yet these celebrated companies are united by another factor not generally equated with competitive success: They are all family-controlled businesses.

While many view the hallmarks of family businesses-stable strategies, clan cultures, and unencumbered family ownership-as weaknesses, Danny Miller and Isabelle Le Breton-Miller argue that it is these very characteristics that create formidable competitive advantages for many such firms.

Managing for the Long Run draws from a worldwide study of enduring, family-run organizations-including Cargill, Timken, L.L. Bean, The New York Times, and IKEA-to reveal their unconventional success strategies and how these strategies can be adopted and applied in any organization. Miller and Le Breton-Miller show how four driving passions of family-run firms-command, continuity, community, and connection-give rise to a set of practices that defy modern management thinking yet ensure a company's long term competitive advantage.

Outlining how these practices can enhance strategic efforts from operations to brand leadership to innovation, this book shows what every company must do to manage for the long run.

... Read more

Book Description

The Harvard Business Review paperback series is designed to bring today's managers and professionals the fundamental information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world. Here are the landmark ideas that have established the Harvard Business Review as required reading for ambitious businesspeople in organizations around the globe. The Harvard Business Review on Strategies for Growth presents the latest tactics--including acquisitions, diversification, and innovation--for helping managers find and exploit the best opportunities for growth and profitability. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

From a student
Interested in case studies ? this book is for you and for students of the bussines world. A trully helpfull book to include in your collection under the usually clouded topic of strategy this one by the folks at Harvard is sure to stand out.

AN OUTSTANDING COLLECTION OF THOUGHT! RECOMMENDED.
Looking for some informative, original and clear thinking about strategies for growth? This book is a great choice! This is a collection of eight outstanding articles selected from past editions of the HBR. The articles cover: value innovation; growth through acquisitions; growth through diversification; capturing the value of supplementary services; and exploiting the virtual value change. Each article begins with an executive summary which, for the fast-forward crowd, is a big plus.

So many books are merely ONE GOOD ARTICLE embedded in a thicket of verbiage. Chopping away through such a jungle of verbosity for the gist-of-it-all often proves tedious and disappointing. (Blessed are the laconic!) This book, on the other hand, just serves up a bunch of 'gists' -the pure meat and potatoes of ideas. Happily, the HBSP has published several other collections of this sort on such topics as knowledge management, change, and leadership. Each of these is collection of first-rate 'gists'. Reviewed by Gerry Stern, founder, Stern & Associates, author of Stern's Sourcefinder The Master Directory to HR and Business Management Information & Resources, Stern's CyberSpace SourceFinder, and the Compensation and Benefits SourceFinder. ... Read more

Book Description

The Exclusive Story behind Intuit's Hard-Won Success

It's a modern-day David and Goliath story for the business world: a company dreamed up at a kitchen table, built on explosive PC growth, and forced to battle a giant in the race to revolutionize an industry. This is the story of Intuit, creator of renowned software products like Quicken, QuickBooks, and TurboTax-the company that beat mighty Microsoft and changed the way 25 million people manage their finances.

Written by Intuit veteran Suzanne Taylor and seasoned business manager Kathy Schroeder-who were granted exclusive interviews with founder Scott Cook and other key figures- Inside Intuit tells this company's original and fascinating tale for the first time. The book vividly recounts each dramatic stage of Intuit's development: from initial conception to "bet the company" investments; from strokes of marketing genius to disastrous product launches; and from battles for survival to successive victories against arch-rival Microsoft-the company no one else could beat.

Evident throughout this account is the power of Intuit's relentless customer focus, which guided the company from tiny start-up to a 6,000-employee, $1.4 billion business. Instructive and inspiring, Inside Intuit chronicles an enduring company's extraordinary success against overwhelming odds.

"This important book doesn't take any shortcuts in analyzing the building blocks of success. Taylor and Schroeder have written a fascinating blow-by-blow account of the thousand and one decisions that have made Intuit what it is. Highly readable, thorough, and extremely well researched Inside Intuit is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand success in Silicon Valley."

-Emanuel Rosen, author, The Anatomy of Buzz

"Inside Intuit is more than the history of a start-up that grew to dominate a major software category. It is a blueprint of success for entrepreneurs and investors who want to build great businesses in difficult environments."

-Roger McNamee, cofounder, Silver Lake Partners and Integral Capital Partners

"Inside Intuit is a very entertaining book. Any entrepreneur at heart will enjoy and learn from the story of how Scott Cook and Tom Proulx faced so much adversity and came back from the brink of disaster to build a very successful, highly admired Silicon Valley company. Readers can learn many lessons from both Intuit's successes and mistakes. In the end, good ideas, hard work, determination, and strong values really do pay off!"

-Dan Rudolph, Senior Associate Dean/Chief Operating Officer, Stanford Graduate School of Business

"I was thrilled to read the inside story of how Intuit was born and raised. I've always admired Intuit's strict attention to customer needs and feedback. Now I have a much better idea of how that culture was created."

-Stewart Alsop, General Partner, New Enterprise Associates

"Inside Intuit offers readers the secrets behind that company's extraordinary success. The authors' insights into how Intuit trounced Microsoft alone are worth the price of the book!"

-Andrea Butter, coauthor, Piloting Palm: The Inside Story of Palm, Handspring and the Birth of the Billion Dollar Handheld Industry ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Great Case History of a Continuing Business Model Innovator!
How many companies have survived direct battles with Microsoft? Not very many. How many lived to win over direct battles with Microsoft? Even fewer. Intuit is in that elite company. That experience alone would make the book worth considering.

The authors have done an outstanding job of building on that potentially fascinating subject matter by successfully capturing the key elements of how Intuit has continued to succeed as a business model innovator through four CEOs. I was especially pleased to see that the book captures the values that led to this innovation, the organizational and process methods used to stimulate and pursue the innovation, and the motivations of the key innovators.

In addition, the book moves down into the organization to capture the thoughts and emotions of many of the Intuit employees as it moved from its P&G style focus on customer needs to a broad-based expansion through acquisitions to a GE-style disciplined approach to achieve performance in key areas.

In fact, this book was so fine that I had to ask myself what was missing before I could spot any flaws. The only area where the book is a little light is in describing the details of how Intuit's software development changed over time, and what the lessons were. Now, don't mistake my point. There's plenty on that subject (especially when Intuit was a start-up), but there could have been more . . . if this book were to become a case history source on software engineering.

But no book can be everything to everyone, and currently there are few books that explain continuing business model innovation through generations of senior management. So Inside Intuit becomes a must read for those who want to master this critical leadership and management task.

By the way, Inside Intuit is a very apt title. The authors seem to have had unrestrained access to company insiders. The book comes away much richer as a result than any other Silicon Valley saga that I can remember reading. Most of those books focus on one to three people in the company, and leave it at that.

As I finished the book, I wondered what improvements in its continuing business model innovation Intuit will make next. I can hardly wait to find out!

Wonderful!
When Inside Intuit arrived in the mail, along with four other books I'd ordered, it was the first one I picked up to browse. Seven hours later, I finished the book! Reliving the experiences, placing myself in the events (I worked for Intuit for over fourteen years - by way of ChipSoft), was an overwhelming experience for me.

I remember the first time I met Scott Cook. Leo Redmond, at the time managing the Intuit Supplies Group, and I had just finished lunch in Palo Alto. As we drove back to his office, we talked about Quicken and how it was the second product I bought for my first computer in early 1989 (the first was Sim City). Leo said that he'd like me to tell Scott about it. Scott was excited - "You have five years of Quicken data?" He told me to install the latest Quicken beta as soon as I got home - he wanted to know how it handled large data files (mine was over two megabytes at the time). That was nearly ten years ago.

What an experience! Having been hired by Evy Chipman in late 1988 and working closely with every top-echelon executive on the ChipSoft side (Gaylord, Harris, Gleicher, Lane), I never thought I'd be so intimidated - stammering - as I chatted briefly with Scott in his office.

Reading Inside Intuit brings you into Scott's (and many others) office - you are in the presence of greatness when you read this book.

Interesting read on innovative company
Interesting corporate biography on Intuit, which arguably is the most successful consumer software company in the world.
The authors focus on Intuit's core values
1. Integrity
2. Do right by the customers
3. It's the people

It provides entertaining examples where the company did right by customers and did right by its employees. In particular, the authors focus on Intuit's strong customer oriented culture and its extensive user testing to make their software easy to use.
The Intuit story is told chronologically covering Intuit's conception to the present . Probably since the authors have a marketing background, there is a lot of coverage on marketing roll-outs, pricing strategies, and branding. I would have liked to read more on their engineering strategies. This really is limited to stories of engineers pulling all-nighters and a focus on usability testing. Not much insight is given on how they actually develop award winning software. There is interesting management insight to current CEO Bennett, and how he brought more discipline and metric focus to the organization. The authors had access to all of the key Intuit players , and Intuit's vision, mission and operating values statement makes for an insightful read in the appendix.

This Book Wows
I have read a number of corporate biographies and this one has to rank near the top. The authors describe many of the company's failures and successes in a forthright manner. Also, their technique of discussing the company in terms of its several regimes is a very useful way of thinking about the company's evolution.

My one complaint is that I don't think the book adequately describes the company's present and future; for instance, there is no mention of the Siebel implementation that is a huge deal internally, the efforts in leveraging the accountants as a channel, or the impending battle with MSFT in the Small Biz arena. There is a lack of description of the daily life at Intuit- the Friday beer fests (Karl Strauss beer!), employee bonding at the foosball tables, the yearly golf tournament, the one office per employee policy, opportunities to pick Steve Bennett's brain at quarterly web broadcasts anonymously.. the list goes on- that makes Intuit a Great Place to Work.

Intuit: From a Vision to a Reality
Inside Intuit is an accurate story of the evolution
of Intuit. From the time that Scott Cook came up
with the vision that Quicken would change the way
people did their finances through today, Inside
Intuit captures the essential details of how Intuit
went from a small Silicon Valley start-up and grew
into a multi-billion dollar company. As a former
Intuit employee for nine years, it was exciting to
relive the experience. Taylor and Schroeder did a
wonderful job putting the pieces together to make
Inside Intuit a great read. ... Read more

Book Description

The Harvard Business Review Paperback Series is designed to bring today's managers and professionals the fundamental information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world. From the preeminent thinkers whose work has defined an entire field to the rising stars who will redefine the way we think about business, here are the leading minds and landmark ideas that have established the Harvard Business Review as required reading for ambitious businesspeople in organizations around the globe.

This collection features an all-new roundtable discussion with a unique "closing essay" on followership. The collection also builds on the special leadership issue of Harvard Business Review.

... Read more

Reviews (2)

Guilty of errors its authors accuses businesses of makingn
The collection of articles from 1991 to 1996 primarily focuses on differently seeing in manufacturing. They have missed a major discontinuity, and used the fatal strategy in a time of change - listening to the HRB customer's needs, the Hardware industries, with no prescience of E-commerce or Web as vehicles for innovation. Harvard B School, like Sears, had missed the change

Great anthology of important ideas in strategy
John Seely Brown has done us a big favor: he weeded through the business literature, picked a few authors that really help us "see differently," found works that describe their ideas in tight little packages, and put it all in one book. JSB's own framing comments are also valuable.

Selected highlights: Brian Arthur on increasing returns, Gary Hamel's Strategy as Revolution, Morris and Ferguson on the power of platforms, Brandenburger and Nalebuff on Game Theory for strategy, sections on competitive advantage and managing innovation.

I'm having my interaction design students read this, to add to their palette of points of view. ... Read more

Book Description

THE HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW PAPERBACK SERIES is designed to bring today's managers and professionals the fundamental information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world.Here are the landmark ideas that have established the Harvard Business Review as required reading for ambitious business people in organizations around the globe.

Creativity and innovation are the keys to competitive advantage, and yet many organizations view inspiration as an elusive, unmanageable phenomenon.In fact, proven strategies for fostering and managing creativity do exist--the Harvard Business Review has published some of the best thinking on how to organize for innovation. Harvard Business Review on Breakthrough Thinking highlights leading ideas for incorporating the power of creativity into your strategic outlook. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Read this book if your sales or profits are in decline
Creativity and innovation are the keys to competitive advantage in the knowledge economy and this book is a collection of eight HBR articles on how to organize for innovation. Many companies unintentionally crush employee's intrinsic motivation in pursuit of productivity, efficiency and control, but creativity requires expertise, motivation and the ability to think flexibly and imaginatively. Key factors are challenge, freedom, the design of the work group, encouragement, and organizational support but with careful planning it is possible to create an organization in which business imperatives are attended to and creativity flourishes. As innovation takes place through creative abrasion, care must be taken to prevent players with different worldviews and thinking styles having personal disputes. Managers often prefer like-thinking staff, neglecting a dynamic set of individuals whose counter culture thinking patterns are considered disruptive. A mix of right- and left-brain individuals is required to develop new approaches to the business.

There are many lessons to be learned from a film unit where talented people band together for a short time; success depends on getting the right personnel, enabling them to work well together, motivating them to peak performance, leading them to create on schedule, and handling the stresses that arise. The director's job is managing the different phases in a film's production - preproduction script development etc, the production phase of shooting, camera, lighting, sound crews etc., and post production of picture and sound editing etc., all under intense budget and time pressures. Many managers in business and industry follow the film directors' approach intuitively but it is rarer for a manager to relate to different people in different ways or to the same people in different ways at different times.

CoolBurst is a fictitious case study of a soft drinks company that had ruled the market but where revenues and profits had stagnated. The company's most creative employee had joined the largest competitor while many new companies were joining the competitive fray with each one coming from a different angle. The one remaining creative person, the marketing director, got a lot done but his work style of going to the movies during work hours did not fit the company culture and adversely affected others. He had warned everyone that past success was due to being in the right place at the right time and that the bubble would burst; CoolBurst had to create a new vision of the brand and innovate or evaporate. CoolBurst had to make itself a more welcoming, nurturing place for creative individuals, encourage employees to take more risks and change the culture of command, compartmentalization and control. Leadership that envisions, empowers and energizes is required. Five experts put forward their views of the best way out of the dilemma.

Peter Drucker points out that opportunities for innovation can be found in unexpected occurrences, incongruities, process needs, changes in an industry or market, demographics, changes in perception, and new knowledge. These seven sources overlap and the potential for innovation may lie in more than one area at a time. Innovation requires talent, ingenuity, knowledge, diligence, persistence, commitment and demands that managers look beyond established practices. Demographics and an education explosion clearly identified a forthcoming shortage of blue-collar workers but only the Japanese acted on it and stole a 10-year lead in robotics. Despite an unprecedented improvement in Americans' health, perceptions were different, creating a huge market for health care products and exercise equipment. Purposeful, systematic innovation is work rather than genius, beginning with the analysis of the source of new opportunities followed by field work to look, ask and listen, using both left and right sides of the brain.

The past two decades have seen a dramatic acceleration in the pace of change in the market place requiring companies to abandon old hierarchical models and managers to adapt to unstable and unpredictable markets in which it may be difficult to define the problem let alone engineer a solution. The analytical approach is giving way to the interpretive approach in companies like Levi Strauss and Chiron that have stayed at the top of an industry where the customer does not know what he wants or needs. What is fashionable emerges during conversations between designers, buyers, customers, manufacturers, and fashion writers. There is no beginning and no end; what is fashionable has no final answer and the answer keeps changing. Levi divides the market into age segments and assigns a designer to each segment. Each designer is encouraged to become immersed in that segment's culture by living the life of its members, shopping at their stores, eating in their restaurants, dancing in their clubs, listening to their radio stations, and reading their magazines - all in an effort to spot new trends. Interpretive management constantly questions the boundaries of the company's core competency and demands a whole new way of thinking about the work of the business executive.

Managers of less successful companies follow conventional strategic logic while managers of high growth companies follow what Kim and Mauborgne of INSEAD call the Logic of Value Innovation. Instead of battling competitors over shrinking cinema attendance in Belgium, Bert Claeys created Kinepolis in 1998 and made the competition irrelevant by offering a greatly improved experience. Neither an ordinary cinema nor a multiplex, Kinepolis is the world's first megaplex which won 50% of the Brussels market in its first year and expanded the market by about 40%. Today many Belgians refer not to a night at the movies but to an evening at Kinepolis. The five dimensions of Value Innovation Logic say that:
- an industry's conditions can be shaped and are not given
- competition is not the benchmark
- focus on what customers value
- what would we do if starting anew?
- think in terms of the total solution sought by the customer

Any manager who sees sales or profits stabilizing or going into decline would be wise to read this book.

An assortment of articles
This collection of HBR articles on creativity, organization and 'out-of-the-box' stuff is packaged as the HBR on Breakthrough Thinking. Hence, if you are in an exploratory mood to read up various viewpoints of organizational creativity then do pick up this book. But if, you are working in an organization, and what to know what to do to take it through the whole end-to-end innovation journey then this book is only an appetizer. You'll have to catch someone else to serve you the meal.
The book has articles like:
How to kill creativity: The list of no-nos to avoid getting stuck in a rut.

Putting your company's whole brain to work: Looking at the MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator) of people working together.

An interesting article is "A film director's approach to managing creativity" which could have been very powerfully used. It ends up drawing lame parallels between a movie production and organizational projects and what the corporate world can learn from it.

The masterpiece is as usual, The Discipline of Innovation, by Peter Drucker, as he gives insights as to why some firms can innovate. He classifies them as firms that do process innovations, or capitalising on industry or market changes. OUtside, due to demographic , perception and knowledge changes.

Lots of Good Bits
I have been looking for a book to help me rethink the way I work and this one was recommended by a friend. I bought it and enjoyed especially several of the essays- the one on how movie makers work and think was really good.

Overall this is full of good examples of existing practice. But you need to work with the case studies to see how they might apply.

review for HBR on Breakthrough Thinking
Before reading this book, I thought I was very good at analyzing issues. After reading this book, I realized that some of my analysis should be different. This book is definitely worth it's value. The articles were interesting and enlightening. ... Read more

Book Description

Innovation is an undisputed catalyst for company growth, yet many managers across industries fail to create a climate that encourages and rewards innovation. Managing Creativity and Innovation explores the manager's role in sparking organizational creativity and offers insight into what managers and leaders must do to increase successful innovation. Contents include:

Generating new ideas and recognizing opportunities
Moving innovation to market
Removing mental blocks to creativity
Establishing a strategic direction for profitable product development
Brainstorming and fostering creative conflict within groups
Creating an innovation-friendly culture
Plus, readers can access free interactive tools on the Harvard Business Essentials companion web site.

Harvard Business Essentials The Reliable Source for Busy Managers

The Harvard Business Essentials series is designed to provide comprehensive advice, personal coaching, background information, and guidance on the most relevant topics in business. Drawing on rich content from Harvard Business School Publishing and other sources, these concise guides are carefully crafted to provide a highly practical resource for readers with all levels of experience. To assure quality and accuracy, each volume is closely reviewed by a specialized content adviser from a world class business school. Whether you are a new manager interested in expanding your skills or an experienced executive looking for a personal resource, these solution-oriented books offer reliable answers at your fingertips. ... Read more

Book Description

Creating Teams with an Edge: The Complete Skill Set to Build Powerful and Influential Teams

Teams can be a driving force for organizational performance-and managers can play a key role in teams' ultimate success or failure. Highlighting the latest research on team development and dynamics-and including hands-on tools for improving communication, resolving conflicts, promoting interdependence, and more-this guide will help managers at all levels to motivate teams to achieve higher performance.

The Harvard Business Essentials series is for managers at all levels but is especially relevant for new managers. It offers on-the-spot guidance, coaching, and tools on the most relevant topics in business. Each book includes the critical information that managers need on a given topic-from budgeting to hiring to communication to strategy-and offers interactive tools and worksheets that translate advice into action. Providing ready answers to day-to-day issues, these guides make sound, trusted mentoring advice available whenever managers need it.

Other Books in the HBE Series:
Managing Change and Transition
Hiring and Keeping the Best People
Finance for Managers
Business Communications
Innovation
Negotiation ... Read more

Book Description

THE HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW PAPERBACK SERIES is designed to bring today's managers and professionals the fundamental information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world.Here are the landmark ideas that have established the Harvard Business Review as required reading for ambitious business people in organizations around the globe.

This essential reference is for readers who need to stay up-to-date on the new rules and evolving ideas that are shaping today's corporate strategies.1. TOC: Creating Corporate Advantage by David J. Collis and Cynthia A. Montgomery 2. Competing on Resources: Strategy in the 1990s by David J. Collis and Cynthia A. Montgomery 3. Desperately Seeking Synergy by Michael Goold and Andrew Campbell 4. The End of Corporate Imperialism by C.K. Prahalad and Kenneth Lieberthal 5. Beyond Greening: Strategies for a Sustainable World by Stuart L. Hart 6. Why Focused Strategies May Be Wrong for Emerging Markets by Tarun Khanna and Krishna G. Palepu 7. Competing on Capabilities: The New Rules of Corporate Strategy by George Stalk, Philip Evans, and Lawrence E. Shulman 8. Corporate Strategy: The Quest for Parenting Advantage by Andrew Campbell, Michael Goold, and Marcus Alexander About the Contributors

Index ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Theories on Strategy backed by real life examples.
This is another excellent collection of essays from Harvard Business Review and the topic is Corporate Strategy. 8 essays in a little less than 250 pages address various corporate strategies that can be useful if you are in a similar situation.

These are very interesting theories and it is fascinating to read them with all the real life examples. If you don't enjoy pure strategy, some of the material may feel dull though. This book goes into the guts of what makes for good corporate strategy. It starts out with a chapter on Creating Corporate Advantage where you are exposed to examples of companies that leveraged their multibusiness capabilities extremely well to create a serious corporate advantage (the companies are Tyco International, Sharp, The Newell Company, and Saatchi and Saatchi).

The book then moves on to the strategy in the 1990s with a focus on competing on resources. Five tests are put forward that should help determine if a resource can qualify to be the basis for an effective strategy.

The rest of the book addresses topics such as Synergy, Strategies for a Sustainable World, Emerging Markets, Competing on Capabilities, Parenting Advantage (the kind of businesses a company should own), etc.

Overall, the book has some very serious discussions on Corporate Strategies. Some of these may not be as relevant to the particular situation you are in, but most would be if you work in a large organization. I picked up the book to see what I could learn on strategy for small businesses but this isn't the book for that. Though these lessons could be applied when the small business starts transforming into a large business. Bottom line - this book is an interesting read especially if you are in an MBA program or are part of the upper management of a large corporation. Enjoy!

First mover advantage on corporate strategy research?
Many scholors have been researching in corporate strategy so far.And now this theme seems to be coming back.Too much emphasis on competitive strategy and business strategy of business units are likely criticized indeed. Mulibusiness corporations really need the optimal fit between corporate strategy and business strategy.This book is the one of challenging and quick respoce to that trend. The faster The better..... I don't know.But difinitely it is worth while reading for practitioner and researchers in this field. Including A.D.Chandler's discussion, outstanding papers of harvard business review are contained. Probably you will find new standpoint of academic field. ... Read more

Amazon.com

What do the Atlanta Braves, Microsoft, 3M, Nike, and Intel all have in common? According to Shona Brown and Kathleen Eisenhardt, authors of Competing on the Edge: Strategy as Structured Chaos, each of these organizations are predictably unpredictable. They're leaders not because of their ability to predict the course of their markets; rather, these companies have learned to embrace the notion of change. They're successful because they've learned to find that edge between structure and chaos that allows them to be innovative and creative, while maintaining just enough discipline to focus on executing a plan.

The authors contend that competing on the edge is not an efficient or predictable way to do business. Instead, it's learning how to adapt and lead in a business environment that's in a constant state of flux. "The underlying insight behind competing on the edge is that strategy is the result of a firm's organizing to change constantly and letting a semicoherent strategic direction emerge from that organization. In other words, it is about combining the two parts of strategy by simultaneously addressing where you want to go and how you are going to get there."

Brown and Eisenhardt offer dozens of examples of companies that are successfully and not so successfully finding that balance between anarchy and order. If, on the one hand, you feel like your company is bogged down by rules and bureaucracy or if,on the other, it seems like no one in your company knows exactly what they're doing, you'll find that Competing on the Edge is a valuable handbook for change. The book is clearly written, full of insight, and belongs on every manager's bookshelf. Highly recommended. --Harry C. Edwards ... Read more

Reviews (22)

Required reading for strategic managers.+
Andersen Consulting recently completed a study of the worldwide electronics systems industry. One of the key results reported in this study was that those companies that followed traditional approaches to strategy, collaboration, organization, and business processes (as currently taught in most MBA programs and espoused by some consultants), had decreased chances for success compared to those firms whose managers followed innovative approaches to strategic thinking and action. While some details of the innovative approaches were provided in the report, there was no unifying framework to aid managers and researchers in putting the findings in context-nor was there any basis for generalizing the findings to other industries. Competing on the Edge provides such a framework as well as the basis for extension to a wide variety of industries.

This book should be required reading for anyone who manages, does business with, invests in, or regulates--or plans to do so--firms in fast-moving environments.

The authors identify three key concepts to managing change on a continuous basis: managing on the edge of chaos, managing on the edge of time and time pacing. Each of these concepts is illustrated via the identification and explication of a series of "traps" that, should the managers fall in, result in their companies becoming non-competitors in their industries. The traps are, in turn, detailed by references to a set of disguised studies that form the underpinning for concepts, and brought to life by reference to reinterpreted information about a variety of organizations that have appeared in the business and popular press. One aspect of the book that managers, especially, should appreciate-for Brown and Eisenhardt strategic management does not mean strategy formulation alone; it also includes implementation

The book is eminently readable, with a scattering of side-bar boxes containing specific information on concepts raised in the text. The examples employed are nothing short of innovative--when is the last time you saw a management book that used the ecology of a prairie, caribou hunting and the Tour de France to illustrate points about strategy?

Competing on the Edge is an excellent way to acquaint practicing managers as well as students in MBA programs with the latest concepts for managing organizations in situations where rapid change is the norm. It will certainly be required reading for my graduate course on Strategic Analysis for High Technology Industries.

A great application of complexity theory to management.
This book is not about magic bullets. No slogans or easy fixes for managers in business. This is a book about the realities of business.

There are books out there that discuss complexity theory well but management poorly, and there are also books that discuss management well but complexity theory poorly. This book is an exception in the field because it does a very nice job of discussing both. It is the blend of these two topics that makes it a nice read and a change of pace from other management reading.

The book combines some very useful insights with examples that resonate with business people. It tries to explain how some disparate companies in different industries share some characteristics, and how those characteristics define their competitive success.

I do have to warn, though, it is not an altogether light read. Although it has light moments, such as decriptions of cool companies, the guts can be dense. The core of the book is based on extensive and serious academic research, and that is evident. This is a serious book for people who want to think about management problems where the solutions are not simple or obvious.

One of the authors is at Google's busines
Shona Brown is responsibile for Google's business operations from 2003 as new Vice President, following almost a decade consulting for McKinsey & Co. What strategy will she propose as a remedy to the bad behavior google-watch.org says her new employer is showing: "If we're NOT lucky, we will be uploading our websites to Google's servers soon, much like the bloggers do at blogger.com (which was bought by Google in 2003). It would mean the end of the web as we know it. On the other hand, if we're lucky, one of the other three search companies will soon offer some competition.

Why? Because it collects your IP address, the time and date, your search terms, your browser configuration, and the cookie ID for your every step (read: search) Google is a privacy time bomb with 200 million searches per day, most from outside the U.S. It is able to access all their users' information because Google has no user-data Retention policy, and when the New York Times (2002-11-28) asked Sergey Brin about whether Google ever gets subpoenaed for this information, Brin had no comment.

The only way a webmaster can avoid having his site cached on Google is to put a "noarchive" meta in the header of every page on his site. Surfers like the cache, but webmasters don't. (Many webmasters have deleted questionable material from their sites, only to discover later that the problem pages live merrily on in Google's cache).
The cache copy should be "opt-in" for webmasters, not "opt-out."
By now Google enjoys a 75 percent monopoly for all external referrals to most websites. Webmasters cannot avoid seeking Google's approval these days, assuming they want to increase traffic to their site.
There are no detailed, published standards issued by Google, and there is no appeal process for penalized sites. Google is completely unaccountable. Most of the time Google doesn't even answer email from webmasters.

Worse yet, Google's toolbar updates to new versions quietly, and without asking. This means that if you have the toolbar installed, Google essentially has complete access to your hard disk every time you connect to Google (which is many times a day). Most software vendors, and even Microsoft, ask if you'd like an updated version. But not Google. Any software that updates automatically presents a massive security risk.

Fresh View of Strategy
As a business school student I have covered a plethora of theories and frameworks regarding strategic analysis, planning, and development. Brown & Eisenhardt provide a fresh look at strategy. Competing on the Edge provides the latest thinking on emergent strategy and succeeding within high-velocity industries. Regardless if you are in industry or the classroom, this book is a must if you ever plan to drive strategy at the business level-no matter what the pace of change is in your industry. This book will teach you to think in new ways about how you create, manage and defend competitive advantage. This read will take you far beyond Porter, Mintzberg, and Barney.

A great leeson in creating a flow of competitive advantages
As a business school student I have covered a plethora of theories and frameworks regarding strategic analysis, planning, and development. Brown & Eisenhardt provide a fresh look at strategy. Competing on the Edge provides the latest thinking on emergent strategy and succeeding within high-velocity industries. Regardless if you are in industry or the classroom, this book is a must if you ever plan to drive strategy at the business level-no matter what the pace of change is in your industry. This book will teach you to think in new ways about how you create, manage and defend competitive advantage. This read will take you far beyond Porter, Mintzberg, and Barney. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Extraordinary Compendium
If you want to run an arts organization or run one now, or run part of one: have a long visit with this book. As an MBA who has interviewed many performing arts managers and worked as a performing arts funder and on various boards over decades, I commend this to all people in the business except my competitors.

It wouldn't be fair to compare this to other business how-to books because it is a compendium, not just management theories-du-jour. And perhaps because not-for-profits have a "spiritual" side, the reader senses that the authors are holding nothing back out of mercenary considerations. So if you suspect you don't know everything about running a performing arts organization, this is the place to start.

The book is a gift, a mission informed by the authors' love of and belief in the arts as inherently good. Just one idea gleaned here could save your organization, especially in times of funding and subscription-ticketing stress. While a revised edition might meld more internet ideas into the fantastic array of tips-'n-tools presented, as-is, "SRO" is exhaustive but not exhausting.

A worthwhile read
Kotler touches on many subjects from customer loyalty, changing audiences to data analysis. Theories are enhanced by using various arts companies as examples.

The book is not intended give in depth answers, that is "You must do this" to save your company, but guides you through sound marketing tactics/commonsense.

I suggest you use it as a guide to refer to, but it's not a bible as every marketing situation that any arts company finds itselves in is different to the next - there is no divine answer only a helping hand.

recommended
As a student of Arts Administration this book was my first encounter with Marketing the Arts. It is extremely helpful because of the many examples. You are really able to memorize these and use them in other situations.

An outstanding resource for arts marketers
Finally, there is a book available to those serious about arts marketing. Joanne Scheff's background in arts management and Philip Kotler's extensive marketing background provide useful and practical information for professionals in the arts who are tired of adapting literature on unrelated businesses to their projects. This book should be on every arts marketer's bookshelf.

chock full of errors and rather arrogant
Given the cost and the former work of Kotler, I am amazed how many errors exist in this book regarding the arts in America. If there are factual errors re specific arts situations, how can we have any faith in the theories and principles? Also, the book is written in a rather arrogant style. Please do not talk down to me. ... Read more

Book Description

The Astonishing Impact of the "Megaretailer" on Competition, Communities, and Consumers

Retail is a dynamic and often ruthless world that equally influences, and is influenced by, the consumers it exists to serve. New players constantly emerge to better satisfy consumer demands; consumer demands and desires shift with new offerings; and existing firms disappear when they can't adapt.

In Category Killers, veteran journalist Robert Spector explores the rise of retail's reigning disruptor: retailers who seek to dominate a distinct classification of merchandise and wipe out the competition. Based on decades of research and investigative reporting, Spector vividly recounts how "category killers" from Toys R Us and Home Depot to Wal-Mart and Costco have ingeniously rewritten the retail playbook and, in the process, profoundly altered cultural and economic factors from migration and traffic patterns to legislation and taxation to wages and jobs.

Spector explores the brilliant strategies that have enabled category killers to overpower department stores, regional chains, and mom-and-pop stores and to reshape the concept of shopping malls. He also identifies emerging trends and inevitable roadblocks that could dethrone today's powerhouses.

Absorbing and insightful, Category Killers is at once a vivid journey down the aisles of retailing history and an incisive analysis of modern retail's most influential players.

Robert Spector is a seasoned business journalist, retail expert, and international speaker on customer service and corporate culture. He is the author of four previous books including The Nordstrom Way and Amazon.com.

... Read more

Reviews (2)

Reputations do matter!
This book is exactly what I needed. The chapter on the Harvard reputation building will now form part of the research for my MBA dissertation. Fombrun clearly sets out perceptual mapping and the real value that companies can gain from reputation building.

The book is technically just right, not too light with just the right amount of researched data to back up statements made.

I highly recommend it to any company trying to decide what else it could do to boost sales.

Invaluable for PR Counselors
Fombrun's REPUTATION is an invaluable tool that can help PR counselors better explain the importance of actively managing the client's internal and external images.

The hardline examples from famous American businesses are very impactful; the messages are impossible to miss.

In fact, when one client said he thought Reputation Management was unnecessary, because his sales were doing well, I asked him:

"What is it you know that the Fortune 500 companies obviously don't? They're apparently wasting millions of dollars every year on PR."

Enough said. ... Read more