Book Description

This book provides a new point of view on the subject of business failure prediction, through the application of multicriteria analysis methods. The aim of the book is to provide a review of the research in the area and to explore the adequacy of these methods to one of the most complex problems in the area of financial management. In addition, the book explores the applications of the methods so that it can become a very useful tool for researchers and practitioners. The analysis of the modeling and the results in these applications provides the background for further employment of the methods. ... Read more

Book Description

Learn how to estimate the value, productivity, and potential of small business while receiving solid advice on the risks, financing, and protection of small business investments. Owners and future owners of the over 20 million small businesses in the U.S. cannot afford to be without this book.

Sellers - whether you are retiring or moving on to your next business adventure - learn how to:
* Maximize the equity in your business
* Develop and present a defensible asking price
* Determine the best-qualified buyer for your business
* Negotiate the best sale price possible

Buyers - whether you are a first-time business owner, a long-time employee wanting to be your own boss, or a successful business operator seeking to expand your chain of stores - learn how to:
* Finance your purchase
* Assure the future stability of the business
* Choose between a new, old, independent, or franchise business

Professionals, Consultants, Advisers - learn how to best serve the needs of your client and protect your client and yourself from post-sale trauma. Plus, a special section on how to value and sell a professional practice.

Just some of the 23 worksheets contained in this book:
* Justification Research Strategies
* The Essential Checklist for Sharing Control of Your Business
* How to Prepare for Buyer Questions
* Cost Analyses to Improve Your Profit and Loss Statement
* How to Cut Costs and Face Serious Business Problems
* Exposing the Minuses without Losing the Sale

Audio Cassettes also Available.

Learn even more of the "ins and outs" of the buying and selling process from author, Ira N. Nottonson's Secrets to Buying and Selling a Business Audio Cassettes. Whether on the road or at home, these audio cassettes (about six hours in length) make it easy to learn additional tips and ideas not discussed in the book.

Please note: The audio cassettes provide additional information, and are not a reading of the book. ... Read more

Book Description

Strategic Acquisitions: A Guide to Growing and Enhancing the Value of Your Business is for business managers, rather than "deal makers", and explains why strategy, people, and financial performance are the keys to successful acquisitions. This book will show business managers how to identify a viable acquisition, how to evaluate the likelihood of a smooth corporate merger, how to efficiently combine management and labor teams, and how to absorb the new company without jeopardizing the existing corporate culture. ... Read more

Book Description

Large, diversified firms face unique challenges as they compete worldwide, and corporate restructuring is one way multinationals strive for competitive advantage.Weighing the pros and cons of a variety of approaches to restructuring, Downscoping offers executives a clear, strategic path through the maze.

The authors show that when a multinational conglomerate fails to compete effectively, too much diversification may be the culprit. Whether the result of weak corporate governance or poor corporate strategy, over-diversification can make managers, unfamiliar with some of the markets in which they compete, opt for safety over innovation. This risk-aversion and lack of long-range commitment to innovation lead inevitably to stagnation over the longer term.

The answer is not downsizing--closing offices and laying off personnel--but downscoping: a strategic approach to restructuring.The options include incentive and compensation adjustments for executives, leveraged buy-outs and capital structure changes, focusing on core skills, diversifying internationally while focusing on businesses in which a firm has strong competencies, and buying and selling mature businesses where product development is not a great concern. Regardless of the approach, executives must exercise strategic leadership during and after restructuring, including providing strategic direction, exploiting core competencies, developing human capital, and sustaining the corporate culture.

Based on systematic research rather than casual observation, Downscoping provides a strong description of restructuring alternatives and their resulting tradeoffs. Its specific guidelines for maintaining competitiveness will be essential reading for managers involved in corporate restructuring. ... Read more

Book Description

This book will help you decide when to consider a merger and how to make the many other decisions involved in completing the merger and ultimately intergrating the merged firm. ... Read more

Book Description

This impressive book sees the author applying and extending the resource based view of the firm to explain and predict the strategy of corporate diversification. Technological Resources and the Logic of Corporate Diversification is an original and authoritative book that will be extremely useful to academics and students in such disciplines as business economics, corporate strategy and international business. ... Read more

Book Description

Alliances and outsourcing are "flavors of the month," says the author of this succinct, tightly reasoned book, but how much is known about how to make them succeed? Too many are initiated for the wrong reasons, improperly thought out, and--as quick solutions to difficult problems--they just don't work. Dr. Milgate does not try to "sell" alliances and outsourcing as options, but instead asks, why consider them at all? And what must you do to get the most out of them, if you decide to proceed? He offers practical advice and illustrates it with real-world case study examples. The result is a lucid, readable advisory for corporate decision makers and a useful classroom aid for their academic colleagues. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

You will gain competitive advantage from reading it
Undoubtedly one of the best business books ever written about alliances and outsourcing. The author interestingly portray the motivation behind alliances and outsourcing. He mentioned that "Too often, an alliance is seen as a way of "plugging a gap" or "covering a weakness" rather than exploiting a strength." He also explain what key success factors needed to ensure long-term competitiveness of the organization. An enjoyable and excellent book to read. Recommended reading for people involved with Alliances and Outsourcing. ... Read more

Book Description

Major players in the information and communication technology industries have used corporate venture capital, alliances, acquisitions, or spin-offs to achieve remarkable strategic self-renewal. Keil's succinct and readable account shows how. With case studies and lucid explanations, Keil shows how corporations create and use a variety of connected learning processes to build their own venturing capabilities. ... Read more

Book Description

This hands-on book explains how to maximize profit when selling all or part of your business. ... Read more

Book Description

Many acquisitions fail yet acquirers continue to make the same mistakes: poor planning, lack of communication and mishandled implementation. In this fully revised and updated edition, including a new chapter on new technology and e-commerce acquisitions, Nancy Hubbard provides a six-stage planning process for acquisitions. She sets out their trends globally, and reasons for success and failure. The result is an insightful and unique guide to the process and pitfalls of acquisition strategy and implementation.
... Read more

Reviews (1)

The good the bad and the ugly
I read Hubbard's book while on the plane. I expected to put it down and get some shut eye but I couldn't. The book has five case studies in it and it was morbid fascination that kept me reading how badly several of these acquisitions went wrong. The tips and tools were excellent, much better than the marketing material that some of the other consulting firms have released in the name of M&A books. Although it is a British book, it translates well into American situations. I bought it because my boss told me that we had just bought a business; anyone in the same situation should do the same. ... Read more

Book Description

A longtime critic of hostile cash takeovers of large corporations, Edmund Kelly believed that if the organized insincerity of advisors and corporate control entrepreneurs in the tight knit takeover community was told, this alone would contribute to a decline in the acceptance of the hostile bid as an acquisition method. Copies of The Takeover Dialogues were purchased primarily in 1988 by investment and commercial banking and corporate law firms, executives and business libraries. Prominent uninvited cash takeover bids averaged 17 a year for the period 1985 - 1988. There were 6 in 1989 and 2 in 1990. For the years 1991 -1999 they averaged 1.2 a year. In these carefully reasoned dialogues, Edmund Kelly also examines the impact of corporate raids on the business community and society. Kelly believes the ideal corporation translates capital and human energy into a community service institution that is ultimately greater than the sum of its parts.

This book raises important questions of public policy about issues affecting the institutions upon which we all depend for our continued prosperity. It is important reading for anyone concerned about the future of corporate business in a capitalistic society. ... Read more

Book Description

This is a reprint of a previously published book.It deals with providing a rationale as to why some companies that appear to be on the brink of corporate collapse are taken over rather than entering into receivership.Do not put Lightning logo on cover. ... Read more

Book Description

PARTNERING:

Today’s Business Strategy Solution

Partnering is the process of two or more business entities coming together for the purpose of developing synergistic solutions to their particular challenges. This timely, one-of-a-kind book provides proven strategies and the most comprehensive guidance available for creating Partnering alliances for corporations of any size. You now have the answers in your hands.

• Shows how to identify the best partners
• Shows how to identify and avoid Partnering pitfalls
• Examines Partnering with a range of sources, including suppliers, customers, employees, owners, executives, and managers
• Provides the Partnering Pentad——the author’s model of building a Partnering group of five elements, which enables corporations of any size to access the benefits generated by pooling the knowledge and experience crucial to competing in today’s global marketplace

Complete with an indispensable Legal Fees Flat Rate Appendix and coverage of issues from trends to tactics, PartnerShift enables all involved to join in the process so crucial to successfully compete and thrive in today’s fast-paced, global marketplace. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Partnering Paradigm is Excellent
Ed Rigsbee's new book about partnering, and his emphasis on profiting from the partnering trend, is cutting-edge stuff. It's right on the mark, well written, and very practical. I particularly like his chapter on partnering with the competition. He's the guru on this topic.

Where one plus one equals more than two
"Partnering" is where two or more dissimilar business entities promote the others for their own good. This book explains partnering, helps you identify the best partners, warns of partnering pitfalls, and coaches you in establishing profitable relationships.

In addition to partnering with other companies, the book describes partnering with your suppliers, customers and even your employees. It is full of examples and guidelines. For coverage, click on Table of Contents in the left-hand column of this page.

Ed Rigsbee is a gifted writer, successful marketer and electrifying professional speaker.

As a publisher, author of 113 books (including revisions and foreign-language editions) and over 500 magazine articles and a consultant to the publishing industry, I recommend this book to publishers, the self-employed and business owners. It will expand you thinking about marketing.DanPoynter@ParaPublishing.com. ... Read more

Book Description

A detailed history of Vancouver's daily newspapers, the Vancouver Sun and the Province, and of Pacific Press, the joint operating company formed in 1957 to publish both papers. ... Read more

Book Description

High Praise for Fastalliances™

"As old and new companies intermingle to create the new economy, market power is the critical currency, and there is neither the time nor the resources for any one company to assemble it all by itself. Strategic partnering that sticks is the backbone of successful market development strategies, and FastAlliances attacks this issue head on, with thoughtful ideas and useful checklists. There is no more important topic on executives’ to-do lists than this."-Geoffrey Moore, Author of the bestselling Crossing the Chasm

"Segil’s insights are on the cutting edge of the new economy–at Synopsys we apply her FastAlliance tools for competitive advantage in the semiconductor industry. This book is required reading if you want to transform your business into an Internet-competent one."-Chi-Foon Chan, President and COO, Synopsys Inc.

"The management tools presented in FastAlliances are the definitive solution to transitioning from business ‘as usual’ to the economy of the future–they are fast, flexible, and immediately applicable to real-life situations in a global environment."-Hector Medina, Executive Vice President, CEMEX

"Segil’s FastAlliance approach is a useful tool kit for business leaders who understand the need to partner and do it strategically, speedily, and ethically. Her approach can add significant value to ABB’s own initiatives to dramatically expand our global and local activities in the world of the Internet."-Göran Lindahl, Chairman and CEO, ABB ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Collaboration with Appropriate Velocity
The hybrid title obviously fuses two very important words: "fast" and "alliance." It is Segil's assertion (and I totally agree) that "The e-commerce business world has turned many old rules on their heads....You have to be ahead of the [other] players in this game. FastAlliances can be the tool -- the approach that helps you reinvent a small part of your organizational structure if you are a traditional (not new Internet) company. If you are a new Internet company, the challenge will be to apply some level of discipline while maintaining the velocity you have already created." So the emphasis for all organizations (regardless of size or nature, be it a "traditional" or "new Internet" organization) must be on forging and sustaining appropriate strategic alliances while conducting business at a high rate of speed. How? Segil offers a "unique model" which suggests a seven-step approach:

1. Diagnosis of Your Company, Competitors, and Industry

2. The Up-Front Work in the Creation of FastAlliances

3. Define the Deliverables for FastAlliances

4. Managing Stakeholder Expectations

5. The Essential Characteristics for Business Development

6. Leveraging the Global E-Space

7. Employing the E-Mindshift System

Actually, there is a Step 8: The Deals -- Making, Managing, Adding Value, and Terminating Them. She explains the "nitty-gritty of creating and managing FastAlliances -- metrics, ongoing change mechanisms, and knowledge transfer; tools, tools, tools!" There is a separate chapter devoted to each Step, followed by a final chapter (Chapter 9) in which she discusses "Pitfalls and Opportunities -- Summing Up." This is an especially valuable chapter because Segil addresses a key issue: How to grow a company in e-space by using traditional alliances along with FastAlliances.

In the Afterword, Segil provides her e-mail address, inviting readers to visit her website and thereby gain access to a suite of more than 25 software processes that comprise the Larraine Segil Partner Relationship Management (PRM) System. She also provides her e-mail address with the expressed hope for a continuing relationship with her readers. In other words, Segil continues to seek out FastAlliances of her own which perhaps (just perhaps) may include one with you. I also direct your attention to two appendices: FastAlliance Toolkit and Companies Supplying Weapons and Countermeasures in the War for Web Customers.

I rate this book so highly because its material is substantial and logically organized, because it is very well-written, and because (as Segil herself would no doubt agree) the book enables, indeed encourages each reader to select a combination of concepts, strategies, and tactics which is most appropriate to her or his own organization. Yes, to some extent, this is a "How to" book but it is also a "Why to" book. The seven-step or, for some, eight-step process allows for all manner of modifications to accommodate (a) the unique needs and interests of each organization and (b) changes in that organization's circumstances (eg leadership, resources, or competitive environment). Of course, the value of this book will be determined by the nature and extent of needs to which its ideas are applied, and, the skill with which such application is made. Now more than ever before, organizations need all the friends they can make...and then keep. Segil suggests a practical and comprehensive process to achieve that objective. Now more than ever before, organizations must also be able to maintain the velocity necessary to compete successfully. Segil also addresses that need. It's nice to know where to locate her if and when a FastAlliance with her would be appropriate to you both.

Written In 60 Days, and Reader Suffers Pain

One of a few books I bought in an airport bookstore rather than on amazon, my first thought is that the amazon process really does help--this book is flashy enough to get one to buy it on the fly, but probably would not survive in open competition when alternatives are easily visible in an electronic bookstore.

The author notes that the book was written in 60 days. It shows, and the reader is the one that suffers. I have no doubt that the author, an attractive person by the photo, is a wonderful speaker with many insights to offer. The book, however, is not well laid-out and one has the feeling that 100 different briefings have been sorted into chapter files and dumped into the book. What couldn't be fit into the text was turned into sidebar or text figure.

The book includes a CD-ROM I will never use, as well as a URL for a web address I will never visit. I would rather they had put the money into better editing, more white space, and a much better structure for the book.

My bottom line: the book should not be ignored, but I would recommend that the executive interested in these concepts have a strong younger manager of promise read this as one of 3-4 other similar books, and distill all of them into a ten page memo.

A MUST-READ FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO EXCEL IN E-BUSINESS
REQUIRED READING FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO EXCEL IN E-BUSINESS E-business is NOT dot.com business --- It is about supply chain management and customer relationship management. Segil shows readers how FastAlliances can help them stay lean while growing. Her keen insights and expert approach can help any organization use FastAlliances to do the real business of e-business. Readers become armed with the management tools they need to transition from the traditional to the new economy. TRULY GROUND-BREAKING! A MUST READ!

Excellent
Larraine Segil's previous book Intelligent Business Alliances was read by several of our partners and became our roadmap for integrating international alliances into our worldwide business development strategy. Now four years later she has given us a whole new way to develop e-business relationships. Continuous expansion of networking is our passport to growth in the global executive search business. Therefore, we have revamped our previously completed 2001 business development plan and have incorporated some of the tools and techniques that Ms. Segil outlines in Fast Alliances: Power Your E-Business. Larraine Segil has had a profound influence on our business model and this book is recommended to any business person who plans to survive in the Internet Age.

Very insightful and motivating
For fans of previous Segil books, you will really enjoy this one. What's great about this book is that it's written by someone who has actually had to make alliances work herself and she clearly understands where the pitfalls lie and how to avoid them. Getting up to speed on the internet economy is not an easy task, and Larraine puts business development deals into perspective with her clear analysis and useful set of tools for developing and managing alliances. The book is well written and I found it both interesting and well-paced. I actually think there is a little too much information in here. This could have been two books! So don't plan on finishing this on one plane trip (unless you're traveling to Nairobi on Southwest Airlines :-))

I've already started putting her "Spider Network" tool to good use and its helped me to reconstruct the way I was building business relationships and improve my approach to networking both inside and outside of my organization and my alliance partners' organizations. What I like best about this book is that I got actual tools that I started using right away. I really hate books which talk about a lot of theory but don't give me the practical tools I need to get deals done. There's even a CD included with her book that has some of her tools already loaded on it in software form and it links to her site (www.lsegil.com) which I just went to and was very impressed. I recently saw Larraine speak at a conference I attended and she really impressed me. I highly recommend this book. ... Read more

Book Description

Essential legal guidance for corporations in major cross-border transactions between the U.S. and Germany.Starting with the chronology of an acquisition, this new monograph discusses the transfer of a business, as well as warranties by the seller, labor law aspects, and purchase price and payment.German and U.S. taxation are also covered.

It contains expert commentary on law and practice in areas such as: Merger Control; Assumption of Liability; Tax Considerations; Management Buy-Outs; Bankruptcy and Reorganization; Change of Ownership and Pension Rights; Legal Consequences; Financing; Transfer of a Business; Tax-Free Acquisitions; Sale of a Foreign Affiliate; Ancillary Costs-Delivery of Assets.This work is perfect for both practitioners and business people who are actively involved in buying and selling businesses.It guides German and U.S. clients through a diverse range of business and regulatory matters, and significant cross-border transactions in Germany. ... Read more