Book Description

Here's a big second serving for sassafras softdrink lovers. Ever since Tom Morrison's first beverage book, Root Beer Advertising and Collectibles, was published, a second edition about this popular pop was inevitable. More than 650 photographs of root beer bottles, cans, dispensers, mugs, signs and emblems, and more are depicted in this volume, which was made possible by the groupings of some of the largest root beer collections in America. Root beer tidbits, recipes, lists of clubs and newsletters, and a guide to the brand names also make this book a valuable guide for those who want to know more about these popular collectibles. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

An Excellent Book
Root Beer Advertising and Collectibles is a vital book for any serious collector of root beer items or advertising. Its valuable information and priceguide is essential to anyone wishing to know the history of root beerand its advertising. The photo collection is incredible, second to nonethat I have ever seen before. This book is a must have for any seriouscollector. I have yet to find any other books in its class or even like itfor that matter.

The photos are clear and sharp, colorful andinformative. The layout is nice easy to find by sections of the differenttypes of items. It is well worth the money and I would highly recommend itto all collectors of root beer.

The best thing of all about it is that itdoes not focus on the major brands of boring yesteryear. It covers hundredsof different brands mostly unknown to many consumers. Knowing of over 1000different brands of root beer, it is nice that the author didn't spend allof his time covering boring brands such as A&W, Hires, Barq's and thelike. This is an excellent book.

Very disappointing
I was expecting a top-notch review of all those root beer collectibles and advertisements out there. The writing was of poor quality, and the root beer tasted like crap. This book definitely does not meet my requirementsfor books about root beer advertising. It wasdisappointing, I really needed some information about A&W collectiblestoo. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

It enlightens one!
I liked this book :) Unbiased and clear, Ruth Barton uses the only resources available about Singer's life -- marraige licenses, birth certificates, patent certificates, newspaper articles, a few anecdotes from his acquaintances, etc. -- to make an enlightening, revealing biography. She does this by placing everything she says within deep context. I haven't read very many biographies so I don't know whether this is standard, but everything she mentions is researched in great depth. For example, she even notes how the Singer family is *not* mentioned in the newspaper of the tiny farming town from the town that Singer was born in.

Also, Singer himself is so interesting: he cared for "the dimes, not the invention" and thought the sewing machine was a silly invention: sewing was the only thing that kept women quiet! Why leave them free to do God knows what?! Anyway, I'm really surprised that this book hasn't gotten any reviews yet. Anyone interested in sewing or anything about the mid-1800s should read it. I know I never think about my sewing machine the same way. ... Read more

Book Description

During the 1980s a dramatic change in the evolution of the modern corporation took place. The phenomenon, which has been labelled "refocusing," "de-diversifying," "de-conglomerating," or simply "getting back to basics," has changed the terrain of American business. Diversification, Refocusing, and Economic Performance empirically examines the causes and consequences of this phenomenon from a corporate strategy perspective, uncovering the full scope and effects of corporate refocusing, its strategic logic, and the resultant managerial implications. Two key findings are that every firm has its own limit for diversification, beyond which profits will decline, and that there are certain similarities among those companies who choose to refocus.

Starting right after the Second World War, many companies diversified widely, primarily in areas unrelated to their core businesses. In the 1980s, however, as corporate acquisitions and hostile takeovers ran rampant, this trend toward diversification and conglomeration began to reverse. Today, there is ample evidence that corporate managers are responding in significant numbers to takeover threats by shedding unlucrative divisions and subsidiaries and concentrating on boosting the core product lines that have been their company's bread-and-butter.

Drawing on a data set of 250 of the top Fortune 500 companies, Constantinos Markides measures the extent of the refocusing phenomenon, proposes reasons for its current popularity, delineates the characteristics of firms that are refocusing, and discusses the effects of refocusing on company market value, profitability, and organizational structure. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Surprising reading in an automotive history
Before I read this book, I had no idea that a corporate history could be so interesting. But Goodyear has done everything, it seems, including help build NASCAR racing (go Mark Martin!) through its sponsorship and participate in the space program. Surprisingly, the text was engaging and read more like a novel than I expected. The pictures, too, were fantastic, especially the section on racing. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Wonderful
I found this book to be an excellent read. It was very informative and provided excellent insight into the "Beatrice way". Sad story, Corporate greed destroying a model corporate citizen.

Worth its weight in gold.

Hungry for more...
This is an amazingly insightful recounting of the building of one of the finest companies in the US, and it's ultimate demise through greed. Gazel mixes depth and eaxcting factual information in a style that is incomparable. A must for any business student or historian. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A suprisingly good book
The story of Amoskeag is the story of a society...a story of a different time...a way of life that used to be. This book travels through the 1800's and the 1900's telling the tale of a factory, and the people who passed through it.
The highlights of the book occur when the factory workers are interviewed. The characters and stories they create are so funny and so real...you get such a feel for how their lives were. I laughed so many times.
The only parts I found boring were when the terms of factory making were being discussed. It was important to know to put what the workers were saying into context, but I found it boring.
Overall, the book was a gem. I am now very interested in a time period that before I thought was useless and boring. I would reccomend this book to anyone.

"Been through the mill, and the mill's been through me"
Nineteenth century American travellers waxed enthusiastic or properly melancholic amidst the ruins of Europe. Writers such as Henry James often contrasted the youth and vigor (and innocence) of America with old, tired Europe. None of them could have imagined that less than a century later, the busy New England mills that turned out huge quantities of shoes, textiles, and useful products of all kinds would be silent, weed-strewn ruins. When I look around at cities like Salem, Lynn, Lowell, Lawrence, and Brockton, Mass., at Manchester and Nashua, New Hampshire, at a dozen small towns in Maine, I realize that I grew up during the fall of a whole civilization. I saw the tail end of it. Today so many of those thriving factories and mills have been razed to the ground, turned into condos or specialty shops, or even, into museums of industrial history.

AMOSKEAG is the story of one textile mill, once the largest in the world, along the banks of the Merrimack River in New Hampshire. The story is told through 37 interviews after an introduction of thirty-odd pages. The effect is most immediate: you feel as if you had lived the whole experience, grown up around these people. The reader is taken through the lives of management to the world of work---the varieties of tasks and social interactions to be found within the giant factory. Then we get an idea of family life, how the factory permeated every aspect of existence, and finally of the strikes, shutdowns and rising costs that eventually drove the mill out of existence (or rather, the whole textile industry to other states and countries). The text is punctuated by numerous black and white photographs which add to the atmosphere of "bygone days" that emanates from the whole book. If you are looking for a book on industrial history or early 20th century New England, you must read this one, it's unforgettable.

interesting history told in their own words
You'll enjoy this book even if you're not particularly interested in Manchester, NH, or mill towns, as long as you want to hear people talk about their lives.

This is a good window into life in a "factory-city" along the Merrimack River from its start in the early 1800s through the 1970s. Each chapter is an interview. You get the story through the words and memories of those who live it. Mill workers and their families talk about the founding of the town, their arrival as immigrants seeking good jobs, what their work lives were like, the strike, and the eventual shutdown of the mills. A good read. ... Read more

Book Description

Through rare and exclusive interviews with Jack Welch and dozens of GE insiders, internationally renowned Time Magazine reporter Robert Slater gives readers an inside look into General Electric and the bold leader responsible for GE's magic. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

good book
I'v read its Chinese edition 4 times since 1996 ... Read more

Book Description

A social justice movement grows—and fails—and grows again in Appalachia.

Instead of getting depressed, and going home, I came out fighting....I've been fighting ever since.—Kathy Muller, former GE worker turned activist

To Move a Mountain is an inspirational account of how a group of Appalachian men and women, politicized by the disaster of local plant closings, became unlikely activists in the Tennessee statehouse and the protests in Seattle.

Eve Weinbaum's firsthand look at the devastation wrought by the closings of community-sustaining factories become moving stories in the age of corporate globalization. With striking portraits of managers, workers, organizers and local officials, the book sets the Appalachian plant closings squarely in the economic and political context of economic development strategies and uncovers a government and economic leadership whose policies show little regard for the workers they leave behind. Yet the repeated defeat of the workers sparked an astonishingly fiery economic justice movement in Tennessee, as factory workers were transformed into sophisticated activists, generating coalitions, starting allied campaigns for living wages, and writing groundbreaking legislation.

With careful consideration of what made some movements flourish and others die, To Move a Mountain is at once a detailed and intricate ethnography and an inspiring story on the evolution of seemingly insignificant local organizing efforts into sustained social movements. ... Read more

Book Description

An excellent resource for people who want to understand how personal computers work and how to fix them when the fail. ... Read more

Book Description

An Inside Account of One Company's Remarkable Transformation

Take a fascinating, decade-long journey to witness the remarkable transformation of a mediocre company into a team-based top competitor. Your guides are a trio of participant/observers, all key players in achieving this systemic change of classic proportion.

--Jerome M. Rosow, president, Work in America Institute, Inc.

Anyone in a leadership position today, union or management, should read this book. It tells the important story of how labor/management partnerships can make a difference and provide workable solutions to complex problems presented by today's global economy.

--Boyd Young, international president, United Paperworkers International Union

A Cinderella story of perseverance and triumph, What Works is an instructive guide to achieving success through cooperation, teamwork, and courage. It tells the tale of how Champion International--one of America's oldest and largest industrial paper companies--transformed itself from an underachieving, tradition-bound organization into a thriving Wall Street winner over the course of eleven years. In answering the question of how a company can change successfully over time while remaining both humane and profitable, this brisk, brutally honest, insiders' account offers a number of hard-won lessons and practical tools to managers and visionaries faced with the same daunting challenges.

... Read more

Book Description

This is the first collection on historical and contemporary black business in Africa and the American diaspora, as well as transatlantic business between the United States and Africa. The contributors, all internationally recognized in their fields, provide African and non-African perspectives on various aspects of the black business experience. The first section of this book examines the history of business in Africa, with emphases on indigenous practices, regional commerce, and the linkages between Africa and other parts of the world. The second section looks at the creation of modern entrepreneur management practices.The third and final section deals with the various aspects of contemporary black business in the United States. This book seeks to inform readers and stimulate further research on black business in, as well as between, Africa and the African diaspora in America.Alusine Jalloh is associate professor of history and founding director of the Africa Program at the University of Texas at Arlington.Toyin Falola is the Frances Higginbothom Nalle Centennial Professor in History at the University of Texas at Austin. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

The former CEO of Ben & Jerry's tells how two '60s holdovers built a single ice cream store into one of America's hottest companies."Deftly and compassionately captures [Ben's] genius in all its entrepreneurial splendor...This tale will keep you entertained."--New York Times Book Review. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Good view of the how Ben and Jerry's developed
A good recount of how the company got going, but the last few chapters dragged.

There are things to learn about how Ben and Jerry developed their company:
1)They are geniuses at this. They actually figured out mass production without knowing what they were doing, they figured out marketing from scratch, they encountered financing and survived.
2)They had a near masochistic willingness to work. Boy did these guys work hard (it would kill me to do what they did, even if I had the will to do it).
3)They could adapt incredibly.

4) and finally: There are pitfalls and prices to trying to make social profits and business profits at the same time and to not planning your company to be as big as it already is.

You can learn about businesses in their growth phase from this book. You can learn about making sure a company has sufficient controls in place for its size. You may be able to learn whether you have what it takes to be an entrepeneur.

The first 3/4th of the book were fun to read but for some reason the last couple of chapters, when Ben and Jerry were playing less of a part in the business, were slow and boring (I don't exactly know why but I know they dragged).

Not for serious business interest
I read this book at the suggestion of a business school professor. It was supposedly a great illustration of the trials and tribulations of entrepreneurs.

I found that the book tried more to be humorous than to convey any business knowledge to the reader. Everything seemed to be an inside joke. Rather than producing a well thought-out account of a business experience, the book fell flat with dumb humor. I was very unimpressed with how the company was run, and I don't feel like I got much from the book.

The Inside Scoop is just that !
It's a chronicle of the intriguing journey of junior high friends who split the $5 cost of a home study course in making homemade ice cream and turn it into a $237 million company (1999 sales). Ben & Jerry's antics of giving away ice cream so they can 'get the ice cream into people's mouths so they will buy it,' take on some unusual situations. Free cones are offered to folks who register to vote, donate books to Head Start, or send postcards to elected officials for a variety of causes, and to celebrate at Fall Down Festivals with block long stilt walking races, music and other amusements. Solar-powered mobiles are used to transport the ice cream and a show on the road. They still sponsor customer appreciation day once a year when free cones are dipped all day.

It's hard to resist a bowl or cone of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough or Cherry Garcia as you read this humorous show and tell of two guys who really want (and do) make a difference. You'll be ready to book a snow shoe tour of the Vermont plant by the time you finish reading about these guys' mission. Their values-led business (in addition to having fun) is to produce the best ice cream from Vermont dairy products, to increase the value of the of the company for the stockholders and create career opportunities and financial rewards for employees, and to improve the quality of life for the community. (They donate 7.5% of pretax profits to Ben & Jerry's Foundation that supports a variety of causes that improve the quality of life for children.)

I'm using this book as a project for an organizational communications course and enjoyed the reading (and eating) more than I ever expected. It was the most fun I've had doing homework!

the subtitle says it all
This was a really good book that shows "How Two Real Guys Built a Business With a Social Conscience and a Sense of Humor." This should be required reading for MBA's along with Hawkin's Growing a Business.

Hope for the Little Guy
Although Ben & Jerry's: The Inside Scoop was a little long-winded at times, I thought it was a good easy-to-read book for non-business majors wanting to start a business. Lager's style of writing makes Ben & Jerry seem like two regular guys up the street who had a dream and went after it with all the gusto they could muster. The book would not serve as a business plan protocol necessarily, however, it does display the true entrepeneriual spirit needed in order to make a business successful. Lager does a wonderful job of showing how Ben & Jerry fed off of each other and when one door closed in their face, they found another way in through a different door or window -- exactly what has to be done if you are going to grow a successful business.

Lager captured the realism of the trials and tribulations experienced by most individuals who begin their own business. I would recommend this book to anyone who was thinking of beginning his/her own business because it gives a look at the real side of starting your own business by making Ben & Jerry two real guys who simply wanted to start their own business so they did not have to work from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for someone else. By putting all the business jargon aside, I felt this was a worthwhile read for someone who needs the reassurance that anyone can start a business and this is how Ben & Jerry started theirs. ... Read more

Book Description

Based on the findings of The National Organizations Study, Organizations in America provides a comprehensive review of the first national survey of organizations in the United States. Using a statistically representative sample, this work is the most authoritative database on the workings of organizations available. The principal investigators of the study use this data set to define what we know about the structures and human resource practices in American organizations and describes: The National Organizations Study and its implications Specific employment practices--hiring, training, promotion, performance measurement, benefit packages, contingent work--and how they compare between different businesses and business sectors Differential treatment of employees according to ethnicity and gender This breakthrough publication is an indispensable reference tool for those in the areas of organizational studies, human resources, sociology of work, industrial psychology, social stratification, labor, and labor economics. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

rich and engaging book
This book tells the story of Dalton, Georgia, and how the textile mill led to its development. It is a very detailed look at the townspeople and their struggles throughout a century. It provides a unique and perceptive view of the South's economic and social transformation beginning during the aftermath of the Civil War and continuing with the rise of technology into the Reagan years. ... Read more

Book Description

Big businesses have faced a persistent dilemma in China since the nineteenth century: how to retain control over corporate hierarchies while adapting to local social networks. Sherman Cochran, in the first study to compare Western, Japanese, and Chinese businesses in Chinese history, shows how various businesses have struggled with this issue as they have adjusted to dramatic changes in Chinese society, politics, and foreign affairs.

Cochran devotes a chapter each to six of the biggest business ventures in China before the Communist revolution: two Western-owned companies, Standard Oil and British-American Tobacco Company; two Japanese-owned companies, Mitsui Trading Company and Naigai Cotton Company; and two Chinese-owned firms, Shenxin Cotton Mills and China Match Company. In each case, he notes the businesses' efforts to introduce corporate hierarchies for managing the distribution of goods and the organization of factory workers, and he describes their encounters with a variety of Chinese social networks: tenacious factions of English-speaking compradors and powerful trade associations of non-English-speaking merchants channeling goods into the marketplace; and small cliques of independent labor bosses and big gangs of underworld figures controlling workers in the factories.

Drawing upon archival sources and individual interviews, Cochran describes the wide range of approaches that these businesses adopted to deal with Chinese social networks. Each business negotiated its own distinctive relationship with local networks, and as each business learned about marketing goods and managing factory workers in China, it adjusted this relationship. Sometimes it strengthened its hierarchical control over networks and sometimes it delegated authority to networks, but it could not afford to take networks for granted or regard them as static because they, in turn, took their own initiative and made their own adjustments.

In this book Cochran calls into question the idea that the spread of capitalism has caused business organizations to converge over time. His cases bring to light numerous organizational forms used by Western, Japanese, and Chinese corporations in China's past, and his conclusions suggest that businesses have experimented with new forms on the basis of their historical experiences-especially their encounters with social networks. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The employees took over the company and kept it alive.
Weirton Steel in West Virginia has now taken its place as one of the most successful employee buyouts in history. Because of the process that began in 1983, the company extended its life by twelve years and, according to the author, "probably will last another dozen." That's a big accomplishment in a business once thought destined for the scrap heap. The dramatic story of Weirton, with plenty of relevance for today, is dramatically and expertly documented by this attorney and experienced journalist who spent five years studying the process. ... Read more

Book Description

The Dynamics of Industrial Competition provides the first extensive quantitative examination of the processes associated with competition: entry and exit, mergers, growth and decline of incumbent firms.It uses a unique data base to investigate phenomena that have rarely been measured and even more rarely set side by side so as to provide a comprehensive picture of the intensity of competition and its effects on productivity, efficiency and profitability.It will be of interest to all social scientists who are concerned with the workings of markets--economists, political scientists, government specialists, as well as antitrust lawyers. ... Read more