Book Description

Commodities and Capabilities presents a set of inter-related theses concerning the foundations of welfare economics, and in particular about the assessment of personal well-being and advantage. The argument presented focuses on the capability to function, i.e. what a person can do or can be, questioning in the process the more standard emphasis on opulence or on utility. In fact, a person's motivation behind choice is treated here as a parametric variable which may or may not coincide with the pursuit of self-interest. Given the large number of practical problems arising from the roles and limitations of different concepts of interest and the judgement of advantage and well-being, this scholarly investigation is both of theoretical interest and practical import. ... Read more

Book Description

Five companies dominate the U.S. petroleum industry. Five control the worldwide trade in grain. Two have a corner on the private market for drinking water. In terms of actual dollars,trade in heroin, cocaine, and tobacco ranks alongside that in grain or metals. There are more slaves in the world today than ever before. Resource-by-resource, It’s All for Sale uncovers and discloses who owns, buys, and sells what. Some resources—such as fuel, metals, fertilizers, drugs, fibers, food, forests, and flowers—have, for better or worse, long been thought of as commodities. Others—including fresh water, human beings, the sky, the oceans, and life itself (in the form of genetic codes)—are more startling to think of as products with price tags, but, as James Ridgeway shows, they are treated as such on a massive scale in lucrative markets around the world.

Revealing the surprisingly small number of companies that control many of the basic commodities we use in everyday life, It’s All for Sale confirms in specific detail that globalization has been accompanied by an extraordinary concentration of ownership. At the same time, it is about much more than what company has cornered the market in corn or diamonds. Corporations and captains of industry, wars and swindles, oppressors and the oppressed, empires and colonies, military might and commercial power, economic boom and bust—all these come alive in Ridgeway’s canny and arresting reporting about the global scramble for power and profit. It’s All for Sale is an invaluable source for researchers, activists, and all those concerned with globalization, corporate power, and the exploitation of individuals and the environment. ... Read more

Book Description

Within the framework of increasing decentralization, the need for local governments to access financial markets is growing. As urbanization expands, local authorities need to provide more services with fewer resources from the central government. Subnational borrowing, leveraging reliable cash flows and prudent fiscal management, can be alternatives to fund such investments, especially when the useful life of the service is long and an adequate legal framework is in place to ensure fiscal and financial stability. This book, prepared by staff members of the World Bank and selected guest contributors, consists of two parts. The first part comprises a framework to study subnational governments as borrowers and the array of credit markets in which they may operate. The second part consists of case studies that document the recent experience of 18 countries in developing markets for subnational borrowers and offer lessons about fostering responsible credit market access within a framework of fiscal and financial discipline. The book pools information on the issuing of municipal debt and its characteristics, analyses the role of macroeconomic conditions and market development in the success or failure of those borrowings, and suggests recommendations to guide ongoing efforts. The goal is to assist local governments in working as strategic partners in the development and strengthening of the capital markets in emerging economies. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Ross vs Van Tharp
Do not be mislead by the title. "Trading as a business," has little to say about business and a lot to say about Joe Ross and chart reading. John Hill does a much more detailed chart reading. How much do you really want to know about Joe Ross?

A more descriptive name might be Ross's "Tricks of a trader." Joe has many helpful tips about trading and technical analysis. Not a course in "Trading for a business 101," but it is always refreshing to hear a trader ramble on about trading.

I like Joe's books. Ross's "Trading Spreads and Seasonals," is at the top of almost 40 books in my Listmania "Seasonal Spread Traders Library." Joe trades by legging into spreads.

Joes business book is as Kindergarten, where Tharp's is as a MBA. Ross's subtle references to business are unlikely to make a useful impression on a new technician. You must have a plan to become financially independent. Tharp's will help you develop a trading system and business plan at a fraction of the cost of Ross.

It must be said both authors depend upon the reader having previous experience with a consistently working entry technique.

Speculation is a business of managing profits. Without the readers experience with consistent profits, managing profits is just a fantasy.

Ross aims at small steady profits, Tharp teaches risk management.

The fundamental difference is that Ross admittedly a short term Trader in this book, advocates risking a full position when you first get in and holding a small position when the market runs. Walter Bressert advocates a similar technique.

Tharp suggests simply that if you had held your full initial position until final liquidation you would have had more profits in every case.

If you want a book about trading, technical analysis etc. Joes book is fine. If you are interested in learning the business side of "Trading," I suggest Tharp's "Trade your way to Financial Freedom," instead.

Ross vs Van Tharp
Trading is a business

Do not be mislead by the title. "Trading as a business," has little to say about business and a lot to say about Joe Ross and chart reading.

Superb
In this book I FINALLY realized what RISK is. After having read every major book on the subject. Thank you Joe Ross.

Going into Business
I recently read Trading is a Business, Trading by the Minute and Trading by the Book...I have also read Trading Optures and Futions...Of all the books written by Ross which I have read, I would place Trading is a Business behind Trading Optures and Futions(which I believe is a very creative and interesting book)...Trading is a Business is a very provocative book, filled with honest, direct information on how to conduct one's day to day trading affairs...I would recommend it highly and would say this is the first book that all aspiring traders should read...

I give it 6 stars!!
This was my first book written by Joe, and man, does it deliver!!

Trading is in fact a business, and Joe will tell you all you need to know about futures trading and how to manage your money, your trading system, your mind... everything really! An absolute must this one. Can't recommend it enough.

This was probably the first book i ever read about trading that actually teaches you on how to make money. And it makes it all look easy. If you follow Joe's advice on trading, maybe you won't be very busy about it, since trading is a business of patience and the patterns explained don't occur that often; but the detail of his explanations will surely make you a better trader by the end of the book. If you follow what's written, and explained, on this book you will make money. Period. ... Read more

Book Description

This totally mechanical system is based on shrewd commodity selection and timing.Earn 200% or more every year trading the professional way. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

If you found this paper then you should buy it :-)
This is an academic paper written by a current practitioner. Lukac works with Jack Schwager of Wizard fame at Wizard Trading. It is a good paper that like the title says goes over 12 trading systems. He does a few MA crossovers, two of Wilders systems Parabolic and Directional Movement, some Channel Breakouts and variations, and a few other systems. At the time (1984 I think)it was probably fairly groundbreaking. Now it is a useful book but nothing that most heavy Tradestation users don't already know. ... Read more

Book Description

This book presents a major breakthrough in successful commodity trading, featuring a systematic trading program with documented proof that 7 winners out of every 8 seasonal tendency commodity trades achieved an outstanding $687,942 gain. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

CANNOT HELP YOU MAKE MONEY
This book has been written giving you a view on seasonals that had existed a few decades ago! Sure enough there is an update manual written a few years ago but that is not much heop anyway. The fundamental situation that affects seasonals had changed rapidly over the last two decades thus changing the seasonal tenden \cies of some commodities, for example, Brazil is now a major player in the world soybean market and their planting and harvesting time is different from the U.S. yet they have an impact on U.S. futures prices!

Don't Bother
I have been trading professionally for over 10 years. I have done very well in the markets after a long learning curve. The ideas in this book have a slight chance to work, but you'd be better off fliping a coin than using his entry methods. I was on the floor and everyone knows about these ideas. Everything in here needs a tight stop.

the legend continues......
time tested and very workable trades abound in this book, used at face value or as a tool in contract selection this book should be a prerequisite in any traders library ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Easy reading for a dry subject.
I love reading about Southerners during the Civil War and their lifestyles and this book filled a void. I was afraid it would be really hard to read and very clinical but Ms. Massey made the subject entertaining as well as enlightening. She has a great style for a history and social studies writer. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Seeing Business With New Eyes
:::2020 Vision::: Stan Davis and Bill Davidson Simon & Schuster (c) 1991 ISBN 0-671-73237-4 I just finished the book last week, and I think I want to read it again already. There are so many new ideas and concepts that it's hard for me to really remember them. Besides, this new economy that the book is about is such a different way of thinking for me that it's not just a matter of incorporating some new suggestions into the same mindset that I've always had -- 2020 Vision is really about looking at business and management in a whole new way; the mindset itself is different. When I read phrases like "the new economy," or "informationalize your business," I'm usually a more than a little skeptical. "Yeah, right," I used to think all this talk about an "information economy" was about looking up answers to questions and trying to sell each other last week's baseball scores. I no longer think so. I took the book home largely because one of the promotional blurbs on the back cover was by Tom Peters, who said "If Stan Davis' Future Perfect was the 'book of the decade' for the '80s (and I think it was), then his and Bill Davidson's 2020 Vision may well be the 'book of the '90s.' 2020 Vision is not for the faint of heart. It is a provocative masterpiece that puts almost all other 'futurist' treatises to shame." Well! How could I resist a challenge like that? Besides, I read Future Perfect back in the '80s, and it was indeed brilliant. I'd have to agree with Tom Peters about Davis and Davidson's book. Not only did I begin to understand that we really are in the midst of a new economy -- and thus a new era of mankind's social relationships, thinking and enterprise -- but even as I was reading through the chapters my mind began to be crowded with all sorts of new ideas not just for improvements in the way I'm already doing business, but whole new businesses! Now, how many books have you read lately that both stimulate the imagination and suggest immediately practical solutions for everyday problems, all at once? Practical and exciting, 2020 Vision has important lessons for virtually every business, not just those we may first think of when things "high tech" or "computerized" are mentioned. Officers of large corporations as well as one-person home-based business-people will all be doing themselves, their customers, and their businesses a tremendous favor by reading this important and entertaining book. ... Read more

Book Description

How To Become A Successful Trader offers an exciting tool for traders, investors, and hedge fund managers to maximize their trading performance. You gain a deeper understanding about how to enhance the positive forces of your psychology to create a winning career. With the knowledge of your Trading Personality, you are able to customize strategies and decide which method of trading; either Discretionary System, a Mechanical System, or a Hybrid System is best suited to your personality. This book provides a road map and selection criterion for mutual funds, banks, hedge fund mangers and trading firms on how to choose a more effective trader for their firm. Dr. Gandevani's book utilizes a scientific research in dealing with trading psychology. His professional experience in trading and dealing with many traders whom he has trained as well as extensive research on psychology provided the unique and necessary insight for writing this book. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Personality profiling for Trading Success
A how to book for traders based not on systems, fund knowledge and investment strategies but the deeper more personal issue, the psychology and personality of the trader. Ned Gandevani drew from years of personal experience with the market and its numerous and random theories of successful trading and combined it with his study of behavioral finance and human psychology. The result is a comprehensive, practical guide for determining your own Trading Personality Profile thus ensuring your greatest chance for personal success.
How to Be a Successful Trader begins with a brief rundown of the Trading System including: entry Point, exit point, money management and market focus. The author then leads the reader into the basis for the book. Personality traits, approaches, types, and attributes, all of which contribute to the psychological profile. This profile helps the reader understand how to use their strengths and minimize weakness in order to develop a consistently profitable trade strategy.
The book includes questionnaires, response analysis and in-depth evaluation of the readers Trading Personality. The questionnaires and their results will be helpful in many facets of the reader's lives whether novice trader or market guru. The author has researched his topic at length, resulting in a precise, informative manual for all investors.
Dr. Gandevani has conducted Trading Psychology Seminars across the United States and Europe. He is a professional trader and the developer of the renowned Winning Edge S&P Methodology. Reviewer: Shirley Roe, Allbooks Reviews

An invaluable resource for traders
How To Become A Successful Trader by professional trader Ned Gandevani is an invaluable resource for traders, investors, and hedge fund managers seeking to increase their trading performance and deepen their understanding to harnessing the powers of the free market. From personality profiles; to decision traps one needs to avoid; to the balance of insight vs. knowledge, How To Become A Successful Trader is a very highly recommended reading before plunging wholeheartedly into volatile financial circles and the vagaries of the marketplace.

Rock solid. Results gauranteed.
The business of trading financial markets is perhaps one of the most daunting endeavors an individual can undertake. One with a multitude of technical and fundamental approaches which can bewilder any new trader (and many experienced traders as well). After countless hours and perhaps years of hard work in researching and understanding markets the journey down the path to a successful trading career has only just begun. Now the real work begins.

If one is truly eager to discover the individual that lies beneath just become a trader and you are assured to find out. Every emotion you have ever experienced and many not yet experienced will take residence on your desk right next to your monitors...permanent residence for most.

Flip through any magazine focused on trading and you will see countless ads promoting the latest and greatest trading systems and tricked out software which will give you the edge you need. Nonsense. What truly separates the consistent winners from the rest is simply psychology. Mastering psychological mechanisms which trigger all trading decsisions is the real edge winners have over losers. Yet for every 100 or so books written on trading methods, perhaps one will focus on trading pyschology. And those few have been lacking to say the least.

Enter Dr. Ned Gandevani. "How To Become A Successful Trader" is an instant classic that cuts to the chase and sets the record straight, once and for all. Beyond just theory, Dr. Gandevani's use of solid research and fresh ideas delivers on the title. If one is truly honest with himself, Dr. Gandevani's Trading Personality Profile (TTP) will target all strengths and more importantly, all weaknesses in one's personal makeup. But it doesn't end there. Dr. Gandevani not only highlights flaws but offers ingenious, yet practical methods to correct them. Methods that are not only applicable to trading, but to life as well.

This groundbreaking work is a must read for all traders, period.

The Trading Personality Profile
Dr. Gandevani is the first to take a documented and well researched approach into the psychology of a trader. Far from speculation and theories, Dr. Gandevani has used his own trading experience as well as those of students to formulate the "Trading Personality Profile" as well as the ideal "profiles" for different trading styles. Using this information traders will find a wealth of knowledge about themselves and their trading performance by identifying key personality traits that may be sabotaging their success. Armed with this knowledge traders can take proactive steps and apply strategies for maximizing their strengths and minimizing their weaknesses.

With the "Trading Personality Profile" you will have a blueprint with which to build your trading success from the gound up. All traders and investors should read this book and use the questionaire to see how they "fit" with regards to their chosen style of trading, the market they are trading, and what they can do to enhance their trading perfomance. Beyond the personality profile is the chapter dealing with "Knowledge" to "Insight" and how experiencial knowledge is gained and how we transform that knowlegde into trading insight each in our own unique way. In addition the section on "Decision Traps" is applicable not only to trading but any endeavour. Whether you are a day trader or a position trader, investor or fund manager, this book is loaded with cutting edge information for maximizing your trading potential.

The Trading Personality Profile
The Trading Personality Profile, by Dr. Gandevani, describes how a trader can identify his/her personality traits and furthermore provides supplemental strategies designed to maximize desirable traits and neutralize negative traits. Determining your trading personality is crucial because you discover which types of trading approaches are best suited for YOU. This enables the trader to bridge the profit/loss gap between a trading system's hypothetical performance and the trader's actual performance.
On a personal level, I have developed an awareness of my personality/characteristics and as a result, many of my thoughts and actions are both scientifically explainable and often times predictable. I am now conscious of my irrational beliefs (derived from my weak traits) and am able to remedy them before they become undesired behaviors.(i.e. bad trades)
Every trading day I apply the concepts in this book. I made an outline of the impeding "traps" that I am vulnerable toward (according to my weaknesses) along with the corresponding corrective strategy so that I can conveniently refer to the concepts as the day progresses. This prohibits me from creating any costly mistakes by knowing how to diagnose the belief &/or behavior.
The information I received about myself from this book has helped immensely. The book has saved me time, $$$, and potential frustration. I am sure it will help put you on a profitable path to success as well. ... Read more

Book Description

There are definite clues to future price direction on the commodity charts you use everyday.Unmistakable clues that help you forecast where your favorite commodity price will go next. Technically based clues which can add ‘Tens of Thousands of Dollars’ to your trading account in less than a year.

To the untrained eye, these clues are hard to spot.They don’t stand out like a sore thumb.It would be nice if they did stand out…everyone could get rich then…but they don’t.Only the trained eye of a professional, experience chart trading analyst will spot them every time…and know how to turn into a windfall cash profit.

This book is considered the single most important commodity trading book ever written.You are skillfully trained to analyze charts and trade like an experienced professional.You may start as a novice on page 1…but you’ll end up a fully competent expert chartist by the end of the book.There is page after page of practical, logical professional trading tactics.

Every forecasting clue…every subtle charting technique…every little trick of the trade Mr. Belveal discovered in 20 years of real-time trading—over 122 trading secrets in all---are packed into this no-nonsense, practical trading guide. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An Unexpectedly Valuable Book
This is one of the best books I have read integrating price with volume and OI and trade mix .
It drives home most eloquently the necessity to consider all of the above in analysis and highlights the value of COT reports .
To sum up , one cannot be the same again after having read this book . ... Read more

Book Description

This book updates spread trade Mr. Angell originally published in 1980.Learn 20 specific trade strategies that have been proven successful in real-time.One Pork Belly spread has been 100% correct since 1972! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

If you want to trade futures, buy this book
I first balked at the high price of this book. It didn't matter that it was written by professional futures trader, George Angell. I bought it and studied the different spread trades that he dedicates a chapter each to. This book will be useful for years to come from taking these trades. The price is well worth it in just one or two contract spreads. ... Read more

Book Description

Seventy-six revealing histories of the people behind America's most recognized brand name products, including:

Anheuser Busch
• Buster Brown
• Kellogg's
• Campbell's
• Dr. Pepper
• Gillette
• Heinz
• Mcdonald's
• Wrigley •
and many, many more ... Read more

Reviews (2)

All you want to know about the most recognizable brands
John Gove did an excelent job in making short biographies of the most important brand creators. But, most of all, I enjoyed his afterword reflexion where he enhances the necesity to recognice the importance of brands in the construction of a nation.

Another average reference book.
A very handy little reference book which gives the stories behind the big brand names in US business. It also give a short biography of the key players in business. Nothing spectacular but good to have on your reference shelf together with your dictionary if you want an anecdote or two in presentations! The references at the end are a useful bibliography. ... Read more

Book Description

Successful traders utilize a wide variety of approaches to attack the markets. Irrespective of the approach, virtually every top trader abides by four key principles: trade with the trend, cut losses short, let profits run, and manage risk. In this eagerly anticipated book, trading expert Bruce Babcock fully explains each of these principles and shows readers how to implement the four principles in their own trading. Consisting of a series of interviews with top traders, Babcock demonstrates that while there are many ways to trade, only those traders who rigorously apply the four principles will achieve lasting success. Featured traders include Jack Schwager, Larry Williams, and Tom Aspray. All traders, from rank beginners to seasoned veterans, will enjoy and benefit from this important new book. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

The rules are right. The book is not.
Normally I will check the reviews on Amazon before I buy a book. Because I had read some of the very interesting but negative reviews of this book so I borrowed it from the library instead of buying it with my hard earned money. Thanks to those reviewers, I had saved twenty bucks.

Actually, this is the interview type of trading book. The problems are: 1) The interviewees are far less famous than those you find in "Market Wizards". 2) The author's fixation on "identify trends, cut losses, maximize profit and manage risk" (reflected by his questions like "Do you think X (any one of the above four is important) had limited the scope of answers from the interviewees that made the book much less useful and interesting than it could be. Very short "yes" and "no" answers from the respondents were frequent. 3) The author's deliberate separation of the book into the four main principles/chapters had made the whole book incohesive and hard to read. You can see the opinion of Jake Bernstein (a writer who wrote over 20 trading books) here and there that made you hard to grasp the trading strategy and ideology of him at all.

In short, only borrow one if you really want to read it.

An XLNT book
The premise is simple, four rules, but it is the application from traders that have very different styles that make this book worthwhile. It's easy to say trade with the trend, cut your losses, etc. How do you define that? It depends on your trading method. It's not the same for everyone.

The traders interviewed in this book walk through how they trade (or don't) based on these principles. Anytime you can look over another successful traders shoulder and see how they do it, it's invaluable. My copy is well worn and dog eared. Anyone that actually trades the markets would find this book well worth the money, and an excellent read.

$28 for four liners
1.Identify Trends 2.Cut Losses 3.Maximize Profits 4.Manage Risk. Now send me $28 and forget about the book!

Read the dust jacket, pass on the book
Read the dust jacket and learn the four key principles: trade with the trend, cut losses short, let profits run, and manage risk. You don't need to spend the $28 to buy the book.

DON'T waste your money!
It seems like Babcock is a smart guy with high powered degrees. Why did he write a book with so little intellectual value? His title tells us 4 elements to good trading. The stuff between the covers does surprizingly little to explore these points. I feel ripped off! ... Read more

Book Description

`Electric energy must be treated as a commodity which can be bought, sold, and traded, taking into account its time- and space-varying values and costs.` Spot Pricing of Electricity, Schweppe et al, 1988.Computational Auction Mechanisms for Restructured Power Industry Operation outlines the application of auction methods for all aspects of power system operation, primarily for a competitive environment. A complete description of the industry structure as well as the various markets now being formed is given. A thorough introduction to auction basics is included to explain how auctions have grown in other industries. Auction methods are compared to classical techniques for power system analysis, operations, and planning. The traditional applications of economic dispatch, optimal power flow and unit commitment are compared to auction mechanisms. Algorithms for auctions using linearized power flow equations, DC power flow equations, and AC power flow equations are included. The bundling of supportive services, known as ancillary services within the United States, is discussed. Extensions to the basic auction algorithms for inclusion of supportive services as well as algorithms for scheduling and bidding on generation for GENCOs or independent power producers are presented. Algorithms for scheduling and contracting with customers are also presented for energy service companies. An introduction to the various commodity and financial market products includes the use of futures and options for GENCOs. The material is useful for students performing research on the new business environment based on competition. Regulators will find information on initial methods of designing and evaluating market systems, and power exchange and financial analysts will find information on the interdependence of markets and power system-based techniques for risk management. This information compares the new business environment solutions with old business environment solutions.Computational Auction Mechanisms for Restructured Power Industry Operation provides a first introduction to how electricity will be traded as a commodity in the future. ... Read more

Book Description

The single most comprehensive source of commodity and futures market information available

Since 1939, professional traders, commercial hedgers, portfolio managers, and speculators have come to regard The CRB Commodity Yearbook as the "bible" of the industry. Here is a wealth of authoritative data, gathered from government reports, private industry, and trade and industry associations, all compiled by the Commodity Research Bureau, the organization of record for the entire commodity industry itself.

Absolutely essential for identifying changing trends in supply and demand and for projecting important price movements, the Yearbook gives the investor:

• Worldwide supply/demand and production/consumption data for all the basic commodities and futures markets–from A(luminum) to Z(inc), including all the major markets in interest rates, currencies, energy, and stock index futures
• Over 900 tables, graphs, and price charts of historical data, many of which show price history dating back to 1900
• Concise introductory articles that describe the salient features of each commodity and help put the quantitative information in perspective
• Articles by prominent professionals on key markets and important issues concerning the commodity industry. The 2003 Yearbook features articles by prominent professionals, including "Understanding and Analyzing the Sugar Market" by Walter Spilka and "Conquer the Crash: You Can Survive and Prosper in a Deflationary Depression" by national bestselling author, Robert R. Prechter Jr.

For anyone dealing in commodities, The CRB Commodity Yearbook 2003 offers an abundance of valuable information and indispensable guidance for decision-making. ... Read more

Book Description

“This book unfolds rather like a good novel; it is compelling and convincing. The authors approach their topic with a great deal of background and superb organizational abilities. As the premise unwinds, readers are provided with excellent explanation and justification, as well as real-life accounts of people and their experiences. As a side benefit, the book also yields an admirable example of well-done qualitative case studies that are triangulated effectively with survey methods.” --Sara U. Douglas, University of Illinois Social Responsibility in the Global Market illuminates an alternative way of conducting business that bridges the consumer’s social concerns and the producer’s financial concern through a compatible, nonexploitive, and humanizing system of fair trade. In-depth case studies introduce past successes and failures for seven Alternative Trading Organizations (ATOs) as they foster artisan empowerment, cultural integrity, and business sustainability. An integrative model synthesizes business conditions, tasks, and skills imperative for effective functioning of a fair trade system in an increasingly competitive global market. Mary Ann Littrell and Marsha Ann Dickson’s treatment of ATOs provides useful insights for academics in marketing, international development, entrepreneurship, and anthropology. In addition, this book offers practical finance for practitioners in international development, socially responsible businesses, and consumers concerned about impacts of their marketplace decisions. ... Read more

Book Description

Presents powerful, low-risk strategies for making huge profits trading futures.First learn the author's favorite "classic" spreads in traditional markets, then discover exciting new spread strategies for today's newest and hottest markets.Included are specific strategies for reaping large profits in stock indexes, energy (gas and crude oil), precious metals, interest rate instruments and foreign currencies. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Before 1991, most people thought of Denny's as a place to get lots of food--especially breakfast food--for little money. But that year, the restaurant chain became the symbol of continuing racism in America as tale after tale emerged of abominable treatment of black customers. The most famous involved six black Secret Service agents, who were left sitting without food in a Maryland Denny's while their white colleagues--and everyone else in the restaurant--were promptly served.

In truth, the problems with Denny's went far deeper than its contemptuous treatment of minority customers. It was a company that had recently gone through a hostile takeover and was reeling from its crushing debt. Into that morass stepped Jim Adamson, who at the time was heading Burger King. He also had experience turning around a struggling drugstore chain. Equally crucial was his experience as a military kid--he lived around the world and learned to appreciate and get along with people of different cultures. As a basketball player in Washington, D.C., and Hawaii, he'd often been the only white kid on the playground. So, although no white person can really know what it's like to be black in America, he at least knew what it felt like to be different.

All those experiences--business and personal--came into play as he took over at Denny's in 1995. Today the restaurant chain is not only profitable, for two years running it has been named by Fortune magazine as one of the 10 best companies for minorities to work for. Almost a fifth of its supplies are provided by minority contractors, and more than a third of its franchised restaurants are owned by people of color. The Denny's Story is a fascinating read, both for its recounting of financial tactics and the bigger lessons it holds for racially sensitive business practices. --Lou Schuler ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Not by mere spin-doctoring is a 180-degree turnaround made
In the early 1990s, the Denny's Restaurant chain was faced with charges of racial discrimination that severely damaged its image. African-American customers were denied service or asked to prepay before eating. When, in 1994, Denny's settled two class-action lawsuits for US$54 million, a permanent shadow had been cast in its doorway.

Then, CEO Jim Adamson came on board. He kept the doors open and, in time, opened the minds of employees to a new way of doing business. He made inclusiveness and diversity central to the company culture. Now, every employee-from waiters to managers-receives specific training that emphasises respect for differences among people. What it took to turn the company around was hours and hours of hard work; thoughtful, innovative, and proactive programs; the willingness to lead and take risks; and most of all, an absolute commitment to do the right thing. Eventually, Fortune magazine ranked Denny's among the top ten companies for minorities in America.

The Denny's Story is the real-life account of how the company pulled itself out of a public relations nightmare and earned back the trust of its customers. Adamson explains the beliefs and strategies necessary for changing the heart of an organisation in serious distress that can be applied to any business. He provides an honest blueprint for dealing with crisis, arming the reader with the tools needed to alter management thinking, build a strong sense of unity, and keep employees happy in the process. Enlightening and instructive, The Denny's Story is a remarkable example of how teamwork, fairness, and keeping the customer satisfied will protect the good name of your company during any crisis you may face in the future.

Since 1995, Jim Adamson has been the chairman and CEO of Advantica, the parent company of Denny's restaurant. Formerly, he was CEO of Burger King. Robert McNatt is an editor of Business Week and a former reporter for Reuters. Rosemary Bray McNatt is an author who has previously worked as editor for the New York Times Book Review.

Cuts Closer to the Quick Than Mere Spin-Doctoring
In the early 1990s, the Denny's Restaurant chain was faced with charges of racial discrimination that severely damaged its image. African-American customers were denied service or asked to prepay before eating. When, in 1994, Denny's settled two class-action lawsuits for US$54 million, a permanent shadow had been cast in its doorway.

Then, CEO Jim Adamson came on board. He kept the doors open and, in time, opened the minds of employees to a new way of doing business. He made inclusiveness and diversity central to the company culture. Now, every employee-from waiters to managers-receives specific training that emphasises respect for differences among people. What it took to turn the company around was hours and hours of hard work; thoughtful, innovative, and proactive programs; the willingness to lead and take risks; and most of all, an absolute commitment to do the right thing. Eventually, Fortune magazine ranked Denny's among the top ten companies for minorities in America.

The Denny's Story is the real-life account of how the company pulled itself out of a public relations nightmare and earned back the trust of its customers. Adamson explains the beliefs and strategies necessary for changing the heart of an organisation in serious distress that can be applied to any business. He provides an honest blueprint for dealing with crisis, arming the reader with the tools needed to alter management thinking, build a strong sense of unity, and keep employees happy in the process. Enlightening and instructive, The Denny's Story is a remarkable example of how teamwork, fairness, and keeping the customer satisfied will protect the good name of your company during any crisis you may face in the future.

Since 1995, Jim Adamson has been the chairman and CEO of Advantica, the parent company of Denny's restaurant. Formerly, he was CEO of Burger King. Robert McNatt is an editor of Business Week and a former reporter for Reuters. Rosemary Bray McNatt is an author who has previously worked as editor for the New York Times Book Review. ... Read more