Book Description

Financial statements are the basis for a wide range of business analysis.Managers, securities analysts, bankers and consultants all use them to make business decisions.There is strong demand among business students for course materials that provide a framework for using financial statement data in a variety of business analysis and valuation contexts. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Useful if cumbersome
This review applies to the edition WITH CASES. This isn't recommended for anyone who is just starting out with choosing investments. Beginners might be better off with a more general overview of financial statement analysis (FSA) like Higgins' "Analysis of Financial Statements" or Fraser and Omriston's "Understanding Financial Statements".

This was one of two textbooks used in a financial statement analysis course I took for my MBA. Most chapters are down-to-earth and as a whole the book is well-written.

The other text we used was Penman's "Financial Statement Analysis and Security Valuation" which was also a great resource as far as gaining a basic understanding of the mechanics of financial statements and how to build a valuation model.

I contrast the two books because while Penman provides a run-down of several different models analysts can use (and does a good job of arguing for the Residual Income Model of valuation model as being the best), Palepu delves into the implications of companies' choices of accounting methods and provides more insight into what different kinds of businesses should look like in terms of their financial statements.

The cases at the end of each chapter add a lot of value to the text because they get students to focus on the specific issues detailed in each chapter. By picking apart different companies' financial statements we learned to use financial statements to assess the success or failure of companies' efforts to carry out their business strategies.

I rate it "Good - 4 stars"

Required Text
This is a required text at my school, but after having read the first 5 chapters there is almost nothing of value that I have read. I have spoken to several people that have used this text for the class in prior semesters and they told me that they had stopped reading it after the first several chapters also.

Excellent Capstone Book
This book is an excellent description of all the elements that would go into reviewing a potential investment opportunity. It is not a detailed book in one category, such as financial accounting, but it ties business strategy analysis, financial analysis, forecasting analysis, and valuation analysis together. Most other books focus on one area and don't tie all of these together well. This one takes you down the path to evaluating the opportunity to its fullest. It is an excellent capstone book after you have sifted through the details of strategy, finance, and accounting.

Just same old story
I am using this book for a business valuation class now. Nothing but a binding many buzzy theories. Too many stories in a limited pages. This is not a good book for those who wants to deepen understanding of one subject.

A good book blending accounting, investing and finance !
This book is also a bestseller in Japan. Here someone called it "The only textbook now available that broadly explains accounting figures in the valuation model of the firm". This is a good book for beginners. Although the contents might be somewhat easy, the order in which it is written is very meaningful. You will probably have read everything in this book somewhere else, but certainly not in this order ! The importance of the ideas in this book go beyond its contents !! ... Read more

Book Description

Finally, managers are catching on to something employees already know: What really motivates a person to perform are those thoughtful, unexpected gestures that signify real appreciation. This chock-full guide to rewards of every conceivable type for every conceivable situation, written by management specialist Bob Nelson, offers over a thousand innovative ideas beyond the expected raise and/or promotion. Illustrations throughout. ... Read more

Reviews (24)

Useful guide for rewards of every type
Heard the taped version of 1001 WAYS TO REWARD EMPLOYEES,
written and read by Bob Nelson . . . the author says that what most
motivates people who work is recognition--and not just money! . . . he
then presents a most useful guide to rewards of every conceivable type
for virtually any situation . . . the ideas include the spontaneous gesture
of praise to formal company-wide programs and just about everything
in-between.

These ideas, in particular, made a great deal of sense to me:

Works who must stay late at TIME INC. get cab fare home.

Marion Laboratories annually takes all employees and guests to see
a Kansas City Royals game.

Chevron keeps a Treasure Chest brimming with gifts so supervisors
can reward employees on the spot.

Every Christmas, the Walt Disney Company opens Disneyland for
employees and families only--with executives running the park.

My only disappointment in the book was in the author's narration . . . he
lacked any real enthusiasm for the task, and this is one time that it
would have been much better had anybody else been the reader.

The Best Book for rewrading Employees
Employees are the assets of a company. If you want to earn more profit and success, employees are the tools for helping you. Thus, treating them in the best way is a must for you to success. Thus, this book can give you many ideas.

In the book, it provides many monetary and non-monetary rewards methods, such as recognition and profit incentivs. Besides, it provides many real examples for each method in order to make the theory more easy to understand!

Besides, the book is very interest because it let me to know that even give a flower or a greeting card to your staff can also improve thier relationship and enhance their morale.

After i read this book, i use it in my business. It makes me suprise that it really improve human relationship and my staff are very happy when i encourage them by few words or some low-price souvenirs.

All in all, i think every employer should read this book because it can gives you many ideas to reward your staff.

This is a book for morons
very sad book attempting to manipulate employees with the most pathetic ploys.

Best of the bunch -- easy to read, a must-have
I've had this book for almost 10 years, and as an HR professional, it's a requirement in my library. I also have 1001 Ways to Energize... Must-haves. They both get borrowed frequently so I have to really wallpaper my name all over the books in order to get them back. Which sometimes I don't but they are cheap enough to buy again. So easy to read, they help get the creative juices flowing... for all HR consultants and itnernal advisors as well as managers!

Good book, but information is dated
This book is badly in need of revision. Many of the ideas mentioned in the book either are no longer in use due to their dollar cost, or belong to companies which blew up (or were bought out) in the dot-com bust and early 21st-century economic collapse. As an example, Tandem Computers - and all of the six things attributed to it - no longer exist. Not only has HP (which bought out Compaq, which had acquired Tandem) stamped out those behaviours (every last one of them!), but it has eliminated or drastically scaled back all of the rewards attributed to it in this book.

Fun is out if it costs any money, and that's probably pretty common everywhere. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Excessive examples, choppy writing, poor proofreading
The book provides useful diagnostic tools and challenging activities and case studies. However, the writing style of the author is poor and very choppy, making it difficult to follow the material. The author uses an excessive amount of real-world examples, but does little justice to covering and explaining the theory and concepts of the subject material.

I purchased a used 7th edition of this text book through Amazon.com. The pervious owner of my book (a student, I assume) noted several errors in the book. For example, in Chapter 3, "The Diverse Workforce:...", page 81, heading "INDIVIDUAL VALUES AND ATTITUDES", subheading "Values", paragraph 2, sentence 1, the published text states:

"Core values are more susceptible to change, and peripheral values are less susceptible (to change)."

However, the sentence in my text book was manually corrected by the previous owner (at the direction of an instructor at another educational institution, I assume) to read:

"Core values are less susceptible to change, and peripheral values are more susceptible (to change)."

When I first read the sentence, I could not agree with what the author had stated. So I did a search on Google.com and verified from other sources that the author had incorrectly stated this premise.

In Chapter 9, Activity 9-5 Behavior Description Questionnaire, page 319, the book provides a table for scoring a 30 statement behavior questionnaire. The activity requires one to select between an A or B statement which is characteristic of their own behavior. However, item number 6 in the scoring table shows two A answers, and item number 7 in the scoring table shows two B answers, making it impossible to obtain an accurate assessment of one's behavior pattern, unless one is able to clearly understand the subject material and correct the scoring table.

These are just a few of the errors noted in the 7th edition of this publication. It appears the author has not adequately proofread the final product.

Reads like a textbook
This book is required reading for a Masters level course, which is the only way it will ever get read. In a subject area bulging at the seams with real-life, practical hindsight, this book truely shows the difference between academia and those working stiffs who are just trying to make a living.
I will say one thing however - the teacher made the class enjoyable. I was sitting there in class one evening, enjoying the reparte between student and teacher, when I realized:
"Hey! I'm actually learning something here."

Old style type and graphics, writing doesn't flow.
It's not a book that makes you want to read it, I find myself just skimming through it. The author can barely go a page without mentioning "the dot-com global workplace", I find that very annoying. There are some interesting case studies but she doesn't give any suggested outcomes so the reader is left wondering what is the best course of action.

Wonderful
I uses this book on Master degree and is really what I'm waiting. One of the most indicated book for people that is taking Oranizational Behavior. ... Read more

Book Description

Notable changes occurring in the global marketplace since the publication of the first three editions of this book (1982, 1987, and 1993) have included e-commerce and widespread use of the Internet, growth of supply chain management, a continued explosion of computer and information technology worldwide, development of 24-hour markets with many organizations operating worldwide, and a continued corporate emphasis on quality and customer satisfaction. Trade agreements such as North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), European Union, ASEAN and Mercosur have enabled corporations to implement regional, if not entirely global, logistics strategies. The fourth edition of Strategic Logistics Management has been significantly expanded to reflect these and the many other changes that have occurred, as well as to include state-of-the-art logistics information and technology. The basic tenets of the previous editions have been retained, but new material has been added to make the book more managerial, integrative, and "cutting edge." Strategic Logistics Management is still the only text that takes a marketing orientation and views the subject from a customer satisfaction perspective. While emphasizing the marketing aspects of logistics, it integrates all of the functional areas of the business as well as incorporating logistics into supply chain management. This book has been extensively revised and updated in the areas of technology, global coverage, and transportation. This book features brand new chapters on Supply Chain Management (Ch 2) and Measuring and Selling the Value of Logistics (Ch 17). ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Fourth Edition Selected for Graduate Course
I reviewed six different texts in preparing for a graduate level course in International Logistics at Baruch College before deciding on Stock and Lambert's Fourth Edition.This text combines currency, and breadth and depth in a way that is most relevant to the manner in which I wish to conduct the class.It provides a useful and usable reference to the students after the course is completed.Furthermore, the related web site has been very helpful in utilizing this text.I will complement the text for certain modules (i.e., E-Commerce, Culture Change, Logistics as a Career). One always needs, no matter who the author, to provide relevant current material from other sources.A big thanks goes to Stock and Lambert for this text.

Excellent Logistics Textbook
I have used this book as the primary text for my Supply Chain Management class at the College of New Jersey. My students are Junior and Senior undergraduate level students in the School of Business. The book provided excellent coverage of all major aspects of the logistics discipline.

I believe that the book would also be appropriate at the graduate school level. There are excellent case studies that can be expanded into worthwhile class discussions or projects.

The supplemental material for instructors is very helpful in preparing for lectures.

Useful concepts, but outdated in nature
I used this textbook for a recent college course.I was very disappointed because the book was published in 1992 when the computer was a novel concept "for the future of logistics management".If you can getby this "minor" point, there are other good points to be learnedin warehousing and inventory managment that are useful.In short: A goodreference book.

Only good as a reference book
This is not so much a text book for students, but rather a cook book for consultants. I found it boring to read and very superficial. But, as a reference guide in your professional carrier, it is probably quite useful.

This is definitely for the mathematically minded logistician
This book focusses on each and every aspect of Logistics managementstarting from generating an order for a product/commodity right through themanufacturing process, waehousing, inventory management, transportation andcustomer service. It goes into a little more detail when it comes toinventory management incorporating some basic mathematics and algorithms.It explains each and every step of the logistics "supply chain"process with great detail and finesse. This book can almost (not entirely)replace a swag of other logistics books within its genre. A perfect textfor any logistics/industrial engineering curriculum. ... Read more

Book Description

In this third edition of his classic book, Edgar Schein shows how to transform the abstract concept of culture into a practical tool that managers and students can use to understand the dynamics of organizations and change. Organizational pioneer Schein updates his influential understanding of culture--what it is, how it is created, how it evolves, and how it can be changed. Focusing on today's business realities, Schein draws on a wide range of contemporary research to redefine culture, offers new information on the topic of occupational cultures, and demonstrates the crucial role leaders play in successfully applying the principles of culture to achieve organizational goals. He also tackles the complex question of how an existing culture can be changed--one of the toughest challenges of leadership. The result is a vital resource for understanding and practicing organizational effectiveness. ... Read more

Book Description

"Every once in a while ONE book defines a category."
—Jack Covert, 800-CEO-READ

One of "The Ten Books Every Sales Person Should Own and Read"
–The Dale Carnegie Sales Advantage Program–

Jeffrey Gitomer’s bestselling guide to the art of the sale has helped hundreds of thousands of people get ahead in the sales game. The Sales Bible offers the proven methods and techniques that lead to bigger sales and more loyal customers. Full of practical, hands-on information, it offers everything salespeople need to know to improve their results immediately.

What do REAL salespeople think about The Sales Bible?

"The Sales Bible has directed my sales successes from Sales Manager, to Sales Director, to Area Sales Director, to my current position of Vice President of Sales. Thank you, Jeffrey, for leading me up ‘ the corporate ladder.’ "
–Bryan D. Moore, vp of Sales & Marketing, Targeted Golf Solutions

"I have read many different books about selling, but Jeffrey’s book is the only one I keep on my night stand. I can look at it every night–reading only a few sentences as a refresher or whole chapters to enhance my skills."
–James A. Wilton, Account Manager, AETEA Information Technology

"I’d be a better Catholic if only the Holy Bible was this easy of a read."
–Lance Cassidy, Sales Director, MAMSI Health Plans

"The Sales Bible is a book of truth within the sales world. I only hope my competitors don’t see the light."
–Jeff Williams, Vice President of Sales, Unishippers Cincinnati/Dayton

"Wait! The material in this book is only priceless if you choose to apply it. Don’t even think of opening this book . . . until you’re ready to become a success."
–Mike Tischer, New Business Development, Tailored Solutions, Inc.

"This book should be shaped like a key. After reading it I unlocked my toughest market."
–Joseph Andrade, Personal Financial Analyst, Primerica Financial Services ... Read more

Reviews (41)

Packed with tips, in a quite unorganized fashion
Being in search of basic sales knowledge, I figured the Sales Bible would do the trick.
This book IS packed with lots of techniques, "standard" lines and useful tricks. But the delivery is quite confusing. This book has little to no structure (completely lacks a sales process for example). Some tips are repeated from one chapter to another. It feels like an aggregate of unrelated publications. The style is enjoyable to really funny, when it is not for the abusive usage of bold, italic and oversized fonts which only add to the confusion.
However, it still deserves 3 stars for being a good reference on specific stages in the sale process. Gitomer knows his stuff and it does show in the content. You might want to check the Accidental Sales Person for a more structured approach.

This book is the ultimate sales training boot camp in print.
I've read them all. And as a sales trainer and speaker myself, I can say that this is the ultimate book for sales people in any industry no matter what skill level you are currently at. Plus it is very easy to read and understand. If all salespeople were to read this book, there would be no reason for sales trainers like me. If you want to do yourself and your career a huge favor, buy this book and read it. Then use the information in it to soar. I recommend it to the people I've had the opportunity to train.

Good stuff
as a memory development trainer and speaker myself, I can say that this is very good book for people interested in selling their knowledge. The most important is - that this book is easy to read and follow...
If you dream about success- this is book for you. Just follow all instructions.
Author knows what he is talking about.
Also I would suggest to look for some Robert B. Cialdini books to read them at the same time.
This is book for people who are seriously thinking about their career in selling. This is not important what you sell. If you know 'how to sell' you can sell everything!

This book sucks "DON'T BUY IT"
This book sucks. I have not read many books on sales but I still say this book sucks. I can write this 300 page of crap in this review.
Step one make a to do list
Step two do what is on the to do list
Three be honest
Four be persistent
I would like to know who gave this piece a good review. I wasted $12 bucks on it. Buy a different book this one is worthless.
And another question; who would publish such a big pile of crap?

Want it sooner that later? Read the Book!!!
I got this book on my Birthday and I have to say happy birthday to me. This is the definitive sales text. Others might have their favorite books about different genres of selling but when its time to put a text book on the desk of a new class of salesman, this better be the book! It will shorten the learning curve and soften the hard road and focus you on the criteria and techniques, used by Mr. Gitomer, to become one of the best there is and to help you elevate your game. It's a must read for anyone who sells and wants success! God Bless you all! ... Read more

Book Description

Here is the book--by the recognized architects of the Balanced Scorecard--that shows how managers can use this revolutionary tool to mobilize their people to fulfill the company's mission.More than just a measurement system, the Balanced Scorecard is a management system that can channel the energies, abilities, and specific knowledge held by people throughout the organization toward achieving long-term strategic goals.

Kaplan and Norton demonstrate how senior executives in industries such as banking, oil, insurance, and retailing are using the Balanced Scorecard both to guide current performance and to target future performance.They show how to use measures in four categories-financial performance, customer knowledge, internal business processes, and learning and growth-to align individual, organizational, and cross-departmental initiatives and to identify entirely new processes for meeting customer and shareholder objectives.

The authors also reveal how to use the Balanced Scorecard as a robust learning system for testing, gaining feedback on, and updating the organization's strategy.Finally, they walk through the steps that managers in any company can use to build their own Balanced Scorecard.

The Balanced Scorecard provides the management system for companies to invest in the long term-in customers, in employees, in new product development, and in systems-rather than managing the bottom line to pump up short-term earnings.It will change the way you measure and manage your business.

... Read more

Reviews (38)

Overcome Poor Communications and Bureaucracy for New Actions
The Balanced Scorecard looks at the important issues of alignment, coordination, and effective implementation. Most business thinkers like to start with the big picture, and end there. As a result, most ideas for going in a new direction are quickly diluted by misunderstanding, falling back on old habits, and lethargy. Since Peter Drucker first popularized the idea of business strategy, there have been vastly more strategies conceived than there have been strategies successfully implemented as a result. Much attention has been paid to devising better strategies in the last four decades, and little to implementing strategies. The big pay-off is in the implementation, and The Balanced Scorecard is one of handful of books that provide important and valuable guidance to explain what needs to be done to successfully execute strategy. You must have more measures, and different measures than the accounting system provides. You also need to link measures and compensation to the key tasks that each person must perform. This book is simply the Rosetta Stone of communicating and managing strategy. The Balanced Scorecard is the beginning of the practical period of maturity in the field of business strategy. Read this book today to enjoy much more prosperity! I also recommend that you read The Fifth Discipline, The Fifth Discipline Handbook, and The Dance of Change to understand more about the context in which you are trying to make positive change. These four books are excellent companions for each other.

Book that spawned a core business approach
This book is a seminal work that has significantly affected the way businesses frame and execute strategy.

In a nutshell, the authors show you how to view your business strategy, drivers and key indicators in four dimensions - financial, external (customer satisfaction), internal (processes) and learning/growth. They then show you how to link these to your strategies and develop and execute plan for transforming them into action and results.

The good and the bad. First, the good - before Kaplan and Norton published this book there was no standardized method for framing and measuring what's important. This book rectifies that. Also, the ideas first introduced have been embraced and extended to the point that a book search of similar titles returns over 2600 hits, and a google search using 'balanced scorecard' as a keyword returns ten time that many. This is a clear indication of how influential this book is and remains eight years after publication. But those are simple statistics. What's important about this book is many of the other resources that have sprang from it assume that you are familiar with the concepts and approach in this book.

The bad - the writing style, as noted by others is ponderous. That does not diminish the concepts and approach. It is also showing its age, but only because of the body of work that this book has inspired, which has greatly extended and refined the basic ideas. You will still need to read this book to get the most out of the body of work that is based upon it. Also note that even Kaplan and Norton, the authors, have extended this work into strategy maps and a 'strategy-focused organization' paradigm.

Overall this book has - and will continue to - influence thinking. The ideas set forth are still evolving and have been embraced by some of the largest (and smallest) companies on the planet. If you are new to this material I recommend visiting Balanced Scorecard Institute (ASIN B00006CKQ2) for introductory information, and Balanced Scorecard Online (ASIN B00006DBZ5) for more detailed material.

Be a Top Performer
If you want to rise to the top in your business and career you need to have a great system for managing results. The management cycle involves defining objectives, assigning responsibilities, developing performance standards, evaluating results, and developing improvements where necessary.

There may be many layers or hierarchies of organizational objectives, such as Corporate, Branch, Department, Team, and Individual. A good management system will capture all of the organizational objectives, and all will be linked to the overall business strategy. One helpful tool for capturing organizational objectives is the Balanced Scorecard. This system
uses measures in four major categories:

1. FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

2. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

3. INTERNAL BUSINESS PROCESSES

4. LEARNING AND GROWTH REQUIREMENTS

The actual measures selected are highly dependent upon the type of business and should be carefully developed to ensure proper
results are obtained. The goal is to select measures that best relate to the overall company strategy. As such, each scorecard will be unique. I have used a Balanced Scorecard and highly recommend them to help organize the complex assemblage of organizational objectives into a unitary whole. This fantastic book tells you everything you need to know. Highly recommended!

Once a 5 star essential, but now slightly outdated
Kaplan and Norton are the visionaries behind the Balanced Scorecard (BSc), and this is their first book on the subject. BSc as Kaplan and Norton conceived of it was focused on measurement, specifically measuring variables that had some linkage to corporate financial results so that the direction of the organization could be determined prior to the occurrence of a bad quarter or two. THE MEASURES OF ANY MANAGEMENT CONCEPT ARE ITS ADOPTION AND ITS STAYING POWER, AND KAPLAN AND NORTON'S BSc IS AN OVERWHELMING SUCCESS.

BUT companies that enacted BSc's started to tie them to corporate strategies, making them strategic management tools and not just measurement tools. One of the advancements was to tie define measures that measured the success of strategic intent as defined by specific objectives and goals. Another was to create cause and effect maps of the objectives, called "strategy maps."

Measurement is, of course, still an important part of the BSc, but the process of determining what to measure begins higher up the strategic ladder. KAPLAN AND NORTON THEMSELVES CHRONICLE THE GROWTH OF BSc INTO A STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT TOOL IN THEIR SUBSEQUENT WORK.

So, this book is a bit outdated, though it is still a useful introduction. However, I recommend that you try:
* Strategy Maps: Converting Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes by Kaplan and Norton

* The Strategy-Focused Organization: How Balanced Scorecard Companies Thrive in the New Business Environment, also by Kaplan and Norton

* Balanced Scorecard Step-by-Step: Maximizing Performance and Maintaining Results by Paul R. Niven

And a good introductory article to the idea of strategy mapping is "Using the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management System", a Harvard Business Review article by Kaplan and Norton that is also available on Amazon.

OK
The book is somewhat helpful, but given the current conditions, it is no longer applicable. I would rather go for the new book Six Sigma Business Scorecard, which is a surprisingly good modification and has a new revolutionary theme to it. ... Read more

Book Description

"Your customers are only satisfied because their expectations are so low and because no one else is doing better. Just having satisfied customers isn't good enough anymore. If you really want a booming business, you have to create Raving Fans."

This, in a nutshell, is the advice given to a new Area Manager on his first day--in an extraordinary business book that will help everyone, in every kind of organization or business, deliver stunning customer service and achieve miraculous bottom-line results.

Written in the parable style of The One Minute Manager, Raving Fans uses a brilliantly simple and charming story to teach how to define a vision, learn what a customer really wants, institute effective systems, and make Raving Fan Service a constant feature--not just another program of the month.

America is in the midst of a service crisis that has left a wake of disillusioned customers from coast to coast. Raving Fans includes startling new tips and innovative techniques that can help anyone create a revolution in any workplace--and turn their customers into raving, spending fans.

Reviews (65)

I'm a Raving Fan!
Kenneth Blanchard continues his trend of writing easy-to-read books with BIG ideas for making your business better. Raving Fans is a book of stories relating how fictional companies have created an environment of delivering awesome customer service. A guy that has just been put in a managment position requiring a turnaround goes on a fictional trip with his "angel" to visit businesses that have figured out their vision and their system to deliver customer service extraordinary. Based on three simple principles (Decide, Discover, Deliver), each company has created a group of Raving Fans (not just customers, but fans) who wouldn't consider shopping anywhere else for what one of these companies offers. Within each story is other nuggets of common sense and good ideas that can be implemented in any company that has customers and wants to create fans. We required our store managers to read the book and each created a list ranging from 20-40 points that they can put into effect at their stores to improve customer service. This is a simple, must-read for every business owner and manager.

Great Model for Approaching Perfection through Innovation
A major problem with most books on management processes is that that do too little to focus on how to make large amounts of progress beyond what is now done. Raving Fans is a big success in providing you with simple instructions for making large strides toward achievable perfection.

Imagining perfection is a critical first step to improvement, yet most people have never thought about what that could mean. Then testing that perfection with customers (and potential customers) must be done to be sure that there is a valid opportunity, and to be able to understand customers' ideas about achievable perfection. Then attaching the idea of continuous improvement toward that vision is also valuable, and useful. There are plenty of practical tips about how to do each part, which is key to making this book so valuable.

One of the reasons that I enjoy writing reviews about books on-line is that I can find a Raving Fans that agrees so much with my own perspective and research. This book will quickly get you past your Psychology of Disbelief, Bureaucracy, Procrastination, Communiation, and Ugly Duckling stalls.

Good for Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles . . . and good for you, too!

Fluffy
Way too fluffy. It should have been presented as a bulleted list, not a book. If you must get this book, I recommend the print version; Charlie's voice is quite annoying.

good concepts, juvenile delivery
The intellectual content of this little book could fit nicely and succinctly in a 500-1000 word magazine or journal venue. Instead, Blanchard sticks to the successful story telling formula that served him well in The One Minute Manager. The concepts are good, and I think their true value lies in their simplicity. They are easily understood and therefore should be easy to apply. Successful implementation may be another matter. If you agree with the concepts, and it's hard to see how you wouldn't, the actual book is a great tool to get them out to your people. The long narrative has the effect of beating the points into your head and the examples leave little to the imagination as to how the concepts can be fleshed out. I have found that people who last raved about Who Moved My Cheese also rave about this book. Those who don't care for this type of cutesy, least common denominator writing style will try to get through it as fast as possible and glean the concepts for further consideration afterwards. It can be read cover to cover in about an hour and a half at a pretty leisurely pace. Regardless of whether or not you like the style of the book I think you will find the concepts and down to earth examples good food for thought in your own enterprise.

Raving Fans
I really enjoyed reading this book. It is an easy read and contains some great fundamentals on providing excellent customer service. Readers who enjoy this book may also enjoy reading Time Management is an Oxymoron. ... Read more

Book Description

Richard Daft's best-selling text, Organization Theory and Design, integrates the most recent thinking about organizations, classic ideas and theories, and real world practice, in a way that is interesting and enjoyable for learners. This edition includes many updates including a new chapter on international issues and revisions of other chapters to include the most recent ideas and events.While organization studies and real world examples are insightful for understanding organizations and solve real-world problems, Daft also integrates numerous features that give learners the opportunity to apply concepts and develop skills and insights. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

A Strong Guide in Organization Theory
This is a well-designed and comprehensive book in the area of organization theory. From introduction to the end, this book aims to teach the foundations of organization theory to readers.

There is a great awareness of new developments in the area of organization theory. The new developments such as team-based management models are integrated into the conventional wisdom wonderfully in the book. We are living in a world in which globalization and stiff competition dominates. We name this age as Information Age and corporations need new mentality and practices to adapt to challenging conditions this era brings about. This book presents some new approaches in global competition perspective to readers.

A Look Inside, Bookmark, In Practice, The New Paradigm and Case for Analysis are excellent peculiarities of the book.

Diagrams and other visual characterizations involved in the book give readers a big opportunity to digest topics recounted. Since this book is a detailed investigation of organization theory, you may miss some parts and feel confused. I can recommend another book, that is, Designing Organizations (Robey, D. and Sales, Carol A.), which is a summarized organization theory book with excellent cases.

If you want to understand organization theory with its basic foundations and details, this book is a must. You must exploit the rich knowledge of Professor Daft.

Strongly recommended.

Readable and great information
Daft out did himself in this edition of his text. He includes book reviews and company profiles throughout each chapter to illustrate the theories he's describing. I read this for an MA course and found it easy to learn from. I'm even putting the information into practice at work! Not all textbooks are that helpful. *grin*

team-based structure
Application of organization design about Team-Based Structures and The boundaryless Organization.

Gripping, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, watch out...
I'm using this text for my HRM course and it is, without a doubt, the most straightforward text I have ever read. Coming from a senior, whose read my share of textbooks, if you are teaching HRM, this book makes it conducive to learning the elementary ideas of HRM. This is one text I'll be keeping instead of selling back to the bookstore.

The most meaningful book I have ever read
As a student, I think this book is the most meaningful book I have read. it is easy to read, easy to grasp. If you are someone who wants to grap the most important ideas out of whatever you read, then this book is good one for you. If you like to dive in, and read in details, you also can do that. The way this book was written gave it this unique previlage. ... Read more

Book Description

This comprehensive text will introduce students to the many operations topics and issues faced by leading service and manufacturing organizations.An emphasis is placed on new developments in the field of operations management and new information resources available, such as the Internet, while retaining a strong focus on the fundamental concepts of operations management.The goal of this text is to help students gain an understanding of what operations management involves, how it relates to other functional areas in an organization, the types of problems that are faced by operations managers, and common decision-making approaches. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Rip off
All textbooks over $50 are a rip off, WRITE A LETTER TO YOUR STATE SENATOR TELLING THEM YOU WON'T STAND FOR THESE OUTRAGEOUS PRICES ON TEXTBOOKS FOR SCHOOL. MOST STUDENTS CAN'T AFFORD TO PAY THESE RIDICULOUS PRICES!!! WE CAN BEAT THE ENDLESS NEW EDITION CYCLES THAT PUBLISHERS RIP US OFF WITH IF WE MAKE IT KNOWN!! WE CAN'T AND WON'T STAND FOR THIS!

PERSONAL COMMENT
This book is a guide for all people involved in manufacturing processes. ... Read more

Amazon.com

In their 2002 bestseller, Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan identify why people don’t get results: they don’t execute. Bossidy and Charan are back with another stellar study on organizational behavior that shows how companies can succeed if they return to reality and examine every part of their business. Confronting Reality is based on a simple concept, but many companies approach strategy and execution in a surprisingly unreal manner and even the simplest of measurement methods, like the business model, are not applied correctly.

Cisco, 3M, KLM, Home Depot, and the Thomson Corporation are just a few of the companies that Bossidy and Charan examine. To demonstrate how to examine a business using the business model, Bossidy and Charan map out external variables, financial targets, internal activities, and an iteration stage (defined as a time to "make tradeoffs, apply and develop business savvy") to prove how a dynamically evolving business model will help improve performance.

"The version of the business model we have developed is a robust, reality-based process for thinking about the specifics of your business in a holistic way. It shows you how to tie together the financial targets you must meet, the external realities of your business and internal activities such as strategy development, operating tactics, and selection and development of people."

Larry Bossidy, retired chairman and CEO of Honeywell International and Ram Charan, author of What the CEO Wants You to Know and Profitable Growth Is Everyone's Business, have once again shed industrial-strength light on how to run a successful business. --E. Brooke Gilbert

Amazon.com Exclusive Content

Amazon.com Interview: Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan

Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan are back with Confronting Reality to show how companies can succeed if they get back to reality and examine every part of their business. Amazon.com senior editor E. Brooke Gilbert interviewed Bossidy and Charan to discuss the current business climate, their new book, and future projections.
Read the interview.

Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan Discuss the Airline Industry

Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan discuss the airline industry's failure to confront reality based on a recent Wall Sreet Journal article and their new book as a backdrop.
Read their comments.

... Read more

Book Description

Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization, 6th edition provides the most accurate, relevant, and complete presentation of strategic management today. Authors Michael A. Hitt, R. Duane Ireland, and Robert E. Hoskisson thoroughly revised each chapter, weaving cutting-edge ideas, research, and modern practice to create a presentation that captures the dynamic nature of the field. The authors integrate the traditional industrial organizational model of strategic management with the more modern resource-based view of the firm to explain how firms use the strategic management process to build a sustained competitive advantage. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Strategic Management in the Context of Globalizatiion
This book is a detailed investigation of strategic management in the context of globalization and competitiveness. An integrated approach is used, but firm-based theory of strategic management is stressed throughout the book. Cases included in the book are chosen properly in relation with the topics, that is theory is clearly connected to the real experiences. Especially, topics titled as "Cooperative Strategy" , "Corporate Governance" , "Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation" will be very useful to better understand the planning dynamics.

The book is divided into two sections. One is assigned for theory and the other is assigned for cases. Cases are updated and includes the most popular and fabulous companies such as "Amazon.com". Overall, I recommend this comprehensive book (1008 p.) to readers who wish to have a grand source !

Highly Overpriced by Publisher for Quick Profit Seller
Don't bother buying this book unless you 'absolutely' have to have it for a class you might be taking or for special research. I found this book to be better than most, however it is ridiculously overpriced and would best be left on the shelf to collect dust than to fork over a whole days' wages on this book. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The world you live in is all in your mind, according to Wharton Business School Professors Yoram Wind and Colin Crook. The Power of Impossible Thinking is a witty and lucid translation of neuroscience research about "mental models"--the deeply ingrained assumptions and images that shape our reality and influence opportunities for success and failure. "Our models are gated communities," say Crook and Wind, who offer a superb crash course on the power and limit of mental models.

The key questions: How do you know when an old model is worn out? How do you avoid "cognitive lock," filtering out information that conflicts with your model? How do you know a new model will live up to its hype? Many of the answers lie in "Mind R&D"--developing an inventory of new and old models and refining your intuition to fit your current reality. These engaging ideas are detailed with portraits of three impossible thinkers (Oprah Winfrey, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and Intel's Andy Grove) and vivid examples (The music industry vs. Napster, a French fry cancer scare, O-rings on the Challenger). Wind and Crook make such a brilliant case for new ways of seeing that readers may wish for more coaching to recognize the obsolete models that keep us from changing our minds. --Barbara Mackoff ... Read more

Book Description

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

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

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

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

Reviews (1)

A comprehensive and valuable resource
This Food Service Professional Guide To Series is a great resource for anyone looking to succeed in the food service industry or improve their existing operations, big or small. For those just starting out, it's a great "A to Z" of every aspect of managing a food service business, written in an accessible and engaging style.

For experienced professionals, the detail and scope in this series will help to fill in any blanks or generate new ideas for establishing, managing, and growing a successful operation.

This series has become one of the first guides I reach for to quickly get an understanding of a topic or pick up some new ideas. Recommended! ... Read more

Book Description

This book provides a clear, concise, current, and comprehensive approach to the basic skills of business management. It presents traditional concepts, important contemporary issues, and timeless insights into applying management know-how—all toward the goal of achieving organizational success.Management: Adding Digital Focus. Managing: History and Current Thinking. Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Ethics. Management and Diversity. Meeting the Global Challenge. Principles of Planning. Making Decisions. Strategic Planning. Plans and Planning Tools. Fundamentals of Organizing. Responsibility, Authority, and Delegation. Managing Human Resources. Organizational Change and Stress. Fundamentals of Influencing and Communication. Leadership. Motivation. Groups, Teams, and Corporate Culture. Understanding People: Attitudes, Perception, and Learning. Principles of Controlling. Production Management and Control. Information and the Internet. Competitiveness: Quality and Innovation Management's Digital Dimension. For managers at all levels. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

The "Foundation" of Knowledge For Successful Management
This book is one of the best foundation establishers I've read. I am the Chief of Strategy for a major headquarters and currently teach for three universities in such subjects as Strategic Management, Business Policy and Strategy, Business Communications, Supply Chain Management, and Production Operations Management. The point of that statement is that this book that I use on the job, as well as, to some degree in each course I teach. It is well written, organized, and provides outstanding tables and figures to clearly articulate the concepts. This is a desk-reference that will get lot's of handling. A must read!

good starter book for new mangers and students in business
author has good grasp of management in 21 century. What tools and skills will be needed

Great book for any human resources program.
I learned a lot from each chapter.

Great summaries about corporations in the public eye.

Good case history and citing of heuristics

for running any good learning organization.

You learn the basics for Management 2000.

My professor, Jack Trabin used this book

for the University of Phoenix.

I really enjoyed learning about the various theories and paradigms for Modern Managers.

Being a Manager of a Real Estate Company myself,

I found the case histories useful for analysis

and my papers. Being a human resource Trainer,

this book will teach students the basics.

A book for the future CIO's, CEO's and HR Directors within us all. ... Read more

Book Description

Supply chain management, both in industry and in academia, has grown rapidly over the past several years mainly due to an increase in corporate goals of reducing manufacturing costs and the savings that come from planning and managing the supply chain effectively.Most textbooks do not include models and decision support systems robust enough for industry. Designing and Managing the Supply Chain: Concepts, Strategies, and Cases, 2/e by Simchi-Levy, Kaminsky and Simchi-Levi discusses the problems, models and concepts derived from issues related to effective supply chain management. This textis suitable for both academic study and practicing professionals. While many core supply chain management issues are interrelated, the authors have tried to make each chapter as self-contained as possible so that the reader can refer directly to chapters covering topics of interest. Each chapter utilizes case studies and numerous examples. Mathematical and technical sections can be skipped without loss of continuity. The accompanying CD-ROM also provides two simulations, the Computerized Beer Game and the Risk Pool Game and a computerized tool, new to this edition, for developing and executing supply chain contracts. These packages help illustrate many of the concepts discussed. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Useful "Supply Chain Management" reference
The book has used a simple words and real case to introduce what the supply chain management is. Until this movement, it maybe the best supply chain book in the world.

Major Bernie Boucher, United States Army
As far as Dr. Simchi-Levi's book, I try to stay on top of the latest updates in regards to supply chain management and attend supply chain management seminars and classes on a regular basis. I've found that the text is state of the art and is at the cutting edge in presenting the key "Best Practices" associated with logistics today. The use of theory and cases is a great combination in getting the key concepts across. I have used it several times already in implementing real world logistical solutions in support of the U.S. Military worldwide. Bottom line . . . Any logistician who considers themselves a true professional and desires to be at the forefront of logistics today must add this book to their personal collection.

Seminal Work in Supply Chain Design and Implementation
Levi's work is probably the very best supply chain book ever written. It cuts through much of the confusion surrounding supply chain design and optimization, and covers this complex, deep, and extremely substantive field in a comprehensive, instructive, and highly effective way.

I needed something more concise
Good as a text book for an MBA program but I needed something concise and clear. I'll keep looking

The definitive book on supply chain management
The 1st edition of this book, authored by three leading scholars and consultants in the important, fast developing field of supply chain management, won several awards and high critical acclaim from professional associations, scholars, and managers.

The 2nd edition has addressed the few gaps in the the original edition, noticed mainly by by those who, like me, used the book to teach university level courses. Thus, in the new edition, anything complex (especially, quantitative ideas) is explained even more clearly and thoroughly than in the 1st edition. The managerial implications of research findings are spelled out even better, with more examples. Short, insightful discussion questions have been added following each chapter, and there are several new, interesting case studies in several chapters. Valuable new material has also been added, e.g., research findings and examples on how to design win-win supply chain contracts, and up-to-date material on the impact of e-commerce and information technology on supply chain management.

This book will be of value to all managers, but probably most to managers at middle and senior levels, as it provides a clear, coherent view of the entire subject while emphasizing strategic and tactical level decisions and planning. The authors have made a truly important contribution to the understanding and practice of supply chain management. ... Read more

Book Description

Ole!

If you think you smell something at work, there's probably good reason -- "bull" has become the official language of business. Every day, we get bombarded by an endless stream of filtered, antiseptic, jargon-filled corporate speak, all of which makes it harder to get heard, harder to be authentic, and definitely harder to have fun.

But it doesn't have to be that way. The team that brought you the Clio Award-winning Bullfighter software is back with an entertaining, bare-knuckled guide to talking straight--for those who want to climb the corporate ladder, but refuse to check their personality at the door.

Why Business People Speak Like Idiots exposes four traps that transform us from funny, honest and engaging weekend people into boring business stiffs:

• The Obscurity Trap: "After extensive analysis of the economic factors facing our industry, we have concluded that a restructuring is essential to maintaining competitive position. A task force has been assembled..." These are the empty calories of business communication. And, unfortunately, they're the rule. The Obscurity Trap catches idiots desperate to sound smart or prove their purpose, and lures them with message-killers like jargon, long-windedness, acronyms, and evasiveness.

• The Anonymity Trap: Businesses love clones--easy to hire, easy to manage, easy to train, easy to replace--and almost everyone is all too happy to oblige. We outsource our voice through templates, speechwriters and email, and cave in to conventions that aren't really even rules.

• The Hard-Sell Trap: Legions of business people fall prey to the Hard-Sell Trap. We overpromise. We accentuate the positive and pretend the negative doesn't exist. This may work for those pushing Ginsu knives and miracle Abdominizers, but it's dead wrong for persuading business people to listen.

• The Tedium Trap: Everyone you work with thinks about sex, tells stories, gets caught up in life's amazing details, and judges everyone else by the way they look and act. We live to be entertained. We all learned that in Psychology 101, except for the business idiots who must have skipped that semester. They tattoo their long executive-sounding titles on their foreheads, dump pre-packaged numbers on their audience, and virtually guarantee that we want nothing to do with them.

This is your wake-up call. Personality, humanity and candor are being sucked out of the workplace. Let the wonks send their empty messages. Yours are going to connect.

Fast Company magazine named Why Business People Speak Like Idiots one of the ideas and trends that will change how we work and live in 2005.

So grab your cape and sharpen your sword. It's time to fight the bull! ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Wonderful Wonderful Wonderful
The title of this book should be: Why Business People Speak Like Idiots: And How To Overcome Sounding Like One Yourself.

I'm saying this because the title doesn't accurately describe how many great recommendations and ideas the book contains, for improving communicating, influencing, and relationship building skills. This book is chock full of ideas to strengthen verbal, written and presentation approaches. After reading this book you'll never again sit through another jargon-filled, tedious meeting or presentation without harkening back to the concise, crisp ideas set forth in this book.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Excellent book! Its about time someone cut thru the esoteria
How many times have you read a phrase in a book, financial report, consultant's report, or technical journal that, when you finished, you asked, "What did that just say?" If this esoteric jargon drives you nuts, and makes you wonder why the author uses these terms/phrases, then WHY BUSINESS PEOPLE SPEAK LIKE IDIOTS: A BULLFIGHTERS GUIDE is a book to read. IDIOTS calls to task the disingenuous garbage many corporate types call "reporting." Many just wanting to get by will drink the koolaid and allow these items to pass without exception.

Fugere, Hardaway, Warshawsky are three consultants, "addicts" if you will, who have decided to get off the jargon-riddled bandwagon. They detail how generic corporate atmospheres have mutated business from one of communication and meaning to one of faux intellectual elitism. Those deriding this seemingly overwhelming problem have found that speaking to the masses is much easier when one tries NOT to speak Greek.

The three authors, in an effort to spread the word virally, have created a software program called, appropriately, Bullfighter. The purpose of the program is to scour MS Word and PowerPoint documents to rid them of "jargon-mania."

Every profession creates its own jargon so insiders can discuss their livelihoods in a form of esoteric shorthand. However, jargon becomes a problem when it is used to lord over others or make them feel inferior, Warshawsky said.

The authors have studied the reception to their concept by setting up shop in an ever-busy Starbucks to take a simple survey. They showed patrons one of two actual company writing samples: one was jargon-less, while the other was the typical junk-filled jargon-based smoke and mirrors. The authors asked the patrons to assign adjectives to each communiqué. The jargon-laden sample consistently earned words like "rude and obnoxious" while the clearly written one was called "energetic" and "friendly." 'Nuff said.

In sum, this book cuts directly to the chase of the confusing, mind-numbing rhetoric, and offers an alternative. As one who reads legal and financial documents for a living, this book fits the bill, and none too soon. If you read these types of documents in your work or are just tired of the insanity of double-speak, pick this book up and read it.

Highly recommended.

Great gift for your clients and collegues who are full of it
Easy and fun read on bull... more than just bull actually. Great insight into how things work in corporate america and how bull has affected so much of our lives. Great analogies and comparisons from current events makes the book an interesting and easy read.

This book will make a great gift for your clients, collegues, bosses and others who are full of it and you just can't tell them "Don't gimme none o' that jibba-jabba!".

Finally - it's OK to be "normal" at work...
Read the book cover to cover and have it sitting on my desk (I'm in Human Resources) for my colleauges to pick up, peruse, commit to memory etc.This book could not come at a better time, when being genuine and authentic in this world is so important.People want to forge real and effective connections at work - we spend a lot of time here.When there is a lack of bull, it's amazing how much you can get done.I am recommending our leaders across the company be given the book to read, as well as our new hires.Long live the bullfighters!

A Refreshing Look at Business
I found this book both enjoyable and useful for any businessperson. After reading the authors witty and candid views on business communications, I think of this book before every speaking/writing opportunity I have on a daily basis. I also appreciated the use of humor and the role it plays in making work a more personal and genuine place. The authors advocate a refreshing return to simplicity, which is long overdue inside of all our organizations. Do yourself a favor, read this and get a copy for your co-workers! ... Read more

Book Description