Book Description

The carefully written, well-thought-out business plan fell out of fashion in the dot-com craze, but in the year following the technology stock market crash it has become apparent that this basic building block of business is an entrepreneur's best friend.

Award-winning author and business planning expert Linda Pinson has updated the book that has helped over 1 million businesses get up and running.Both new and established businesses will benefit from Anatomy of a Business Plan's mix of time-tested planning strategies and an entirely new chapter on marketing techniques. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

good starting point
Great book on the basics of writing a professional business plan for any small company. For anyone who's starting a business for the first time or is sitting down to write his or her first business plan, this is among the most useful books to turn to. The chapters for the most part walk the reader through the various section of the business plan and there are examples of actual plans following the author's guide in the appendixes to the book. There are also worksheets and a useful glossary. The writing is clear and a good starting point.

Excellent Resource for Experienced and New Businesses
Veteran business owners and new entrepreneurs can derive immediate benefit from Anatomy of a Business Plan. It is THE book to get your fast-growing venture or franchise on track, and to secure significant financial rewards. Anatomy presents the strategy and elements of a Business Plan to guide both product and service-oriented companies,from major organizations to small partnerships. The financials in this book are the most comprehensive I have seen. If you're looking for the template to take to the bank for a loan, or seeking a management tool, Anatomy is the key.

Good, but rather simple.
Good ideas, well organized, but a bit simple. If you want to start something more complex than a simple "mom & pop feel" type business you need go elsewhere.

A very clear, very "reader friendly", step-by-step guide.
There are numerous books on business plans on the market, but Linda Pinson and Jerry Jinnett's Anatomy Of A Business Plan is one of the clearest: it provides a step-by-step guide to writing the plan and building the business, and appears here in its 4th edition to provide all the details in building - and changing - a business plan.

A good, helpful read
I found this book to helpful for my Internet startup business. I would highly recommend it over other so-called "high-tech" business plan books. Well done! ... Read more

Book Description

Social Security is the largest government program in the world. But it is also a deeply troubled one, on the verge of financial collapse. Within 15 years Social Security will begin running a deficit. Overall, the program is more than $26 trillion in debt. Without fundamental reform it will not be able to pay the benefits it has promised to our children and grandchildren.

That has prompted the most far-reaching discussion of the purpose and structure of Social Security since the program was enacted in 1935. Not so very long ago, Social Security was rightly regarded as the "third rail" of American politics—touch it and your career dies. But no longer. Polls today show that the vast majority of Americans support proposals that would allow younger workers to privately invest at least part of their Social Security taxes through individual accounts.

For more than 25 years the Cato Institute has led the debate for Social Security reform, arguing that the program is fundamentally flawed and calling for greater freedom and choice for working Americans. Social Security and Its Discontents represents the best of Cato’s publications on the issue. It includes essays by the nation’s top economists and Social Security experts, discussing Social Security’s finances; the urgent need for reform; how the program treats women, minorities, and low-income workers; and the options for reform.

Edited by Michael D. Tanner, this collection shows conclusively that by allowing younger workers to privately invest their Social Security taxes through individual accounts, we can

• help restore Social Security to long-term solvency, without massive tax increases;

• provide workers with higher benefits than Social Security would otherwise be able to pay;

• create a system that treats women, minorities, and young people more fairly;

• allow low-income workers to accumulate real, inheritable wealth for the first time in their lives; and

• give workers ownership and control of their retirement funds.

With Social Security promising to be a hot-button issue for the coming election campaign and in the years ahead, this book is essential reading for anyone who cares about what kind of country we will leave to our children and grandchildren. ... Read more

Book Description

Determining which projects to fund is often a frustrating, time-consuming and ineffective process. But it is this process that lays the foundation for your company's future. Written in an easy-to-read, lighter style, Maximum Return: The Ultimate On-Time, On-Budget, Results-Driven Project Planning Guide is the ultimate reference guide for managing how project ideas are evaluated, approved and positioned for success. Whether your capital projects are large or small, complex or simple, this book offers you the step-by-step guidance you need to ensure that only the best project ideas get funded.

Maximum Return will show you how to:

-Prepare a meaningful project business case that is of the highest quality.
-Conduct a proper business and financial analysis of your project idea.
-Design a practical and effective process that focuses on the people side of project analysis. Insist on a disciplined process that gets results!
-Explain financial analysis in terms non-financial people will understand and will want to learn.
-Package your project proposal into a business case format that management will love.

Help your company achieve total success in its capital project process by utilizing this new management tool that focuses on the fundamentals of capital project analysis. Maximum Return--chosen by the Publishers' Marketing Association as best business book. ... Read more

Book Description

How do I start my own business?
What form should it take: corporation, partnership, LLC?
How do I bring family members into the business?
How do I recruit and motivate top employees?
How can I maximize my retirement savings through my business?
What do I need to do today to ensure that my business will continue if I become disabled or die?
What is my business worth?
How do I position my business for a sale?
What is the best way to pass the business and my other assets to my heirs, including those who are not active in my business?

Strictly Business answers all of these questions and more. Whether you own a business or are thinking about starting one, Strictly Business provides insights and information you can put into practice now—with the help of your advisors—to ensure that your business and your legacy thrive, now and into the future. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A resourceful business tool
As a small business owner, I found this book an excellent reference tool. The information is clearly presented and easy to understand. At the end of a chapter the main points are reviewed; perfect for a quick reference. The delivery style is similar to a question and answer . It seemed as though the authors knew what I wanted to know, and provided well researched, informative answers. I would recommend that everyone considering starting or new to the business world get this book. ... Read more

Book Description

* Create a Plan for Success
* Review Progress Against Plan
* Evaluate and Sustain Success
* Continuously Improve Results

Dr. Rebecca Staton-Reinstein's proven process for strategic planning is easily adaptable for small businesses, non-profit organizations, Information Technology and other departments, as well as individuals.

Her book is packed with useful tools including templates, worksheets, generic forms and detailed instructions for each activity needed to create your own plan for success. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

This Really Works!
Finally, a simple, concise, effective set of tools to create strategic plans that really work. My past planning efforts created bloated tomes that were either too high level to execute, or too picky to provide guidance. The Success Planning approach makes more sense. It keeps you focused on the high-level goals while ensuring that you link tactics and activities to them, so you evaluate the results of the tactics, not just their completion. It takes the guesswork out of decision making. This book is filled with practical tips on how to create plans, establish priorities, and evaluate results, over the long haul. It really made a difference in my business. ... Read more

Book Description

Investors will not be satisfied with a simple description of a business idea, no matter how attractive it may be. They want to know exactly what they are putting their money into, and who is behind the idea. This guide leads entrepreneurs-to-be through the process of articulating a business idea, assessing its feasibility and potential, and preparing and presenting the business plan.The authors provide a step by step introduction to the concepts needed to prepare a business plan and arrange the financing of a business idea. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

If Yours Is a "Hazardous Undertaking"....
The original meaning of the word "adventure" evolved from "what comes or happens by chance" (i.e. luck) to "hazardous undertaking." Looser and Schlapfer perhaps had this in mind as they collaborated on this book. In it, they provide a step-by-step in introduction to the concepts needed to prepare a business plan and then to arrange the financing of a business idea; also, the basic knowledge needed to participate effectively in subsequent discussions and negotiations and to ask the right questions; also, the necessary business language (i.e. all the jargon and technical expressions one needs to know), explained by the authors and augmented by a very useful Glossary; finally, a References section for further reading. They organize their material within four Parts:

Starting Up a Company -- How Companies Grow

The Business Idea -- Concept and Presentation

Developing the Business Plan

Valuing a Start-Up and Raising Equity

Looser and Schlapfer are well aware of the fact that a reputable venture capital firm annually funds (on average) only one business plan of every 500 considered. (In 1999, Draper Fisher Jurvetson received almost 20,000 business plans.) Obviously, competition is ferocious. As the authors explain, their manual "is aimed at helping you through the first stage of starting up an innovative, high-growth company: writing a professional business plan....The trick is to take advantage of promising, innovative ideas, research and technology, and financing in the form of venture capital investment funds to achieve a breakthrough." There are three stages to the start-up process: First, put the business idea down on paper and analyze its marketability of on the basis of a few key indicators. (the authors identify and explain them.) Next, develop the idea into a detailed business plan which obtains the funds needed. Finally, build the company to profitability according to the business plan. (The authors suggest several "next steps", including the withdrawal of investors.) Part 3 is perhaps the most valuable section of the book because it provides a comprehensive, step-by-step explanation of HOW to formulate a proper business plan. Another valuable section is located in the Appendix: the "Extended Table of Contents"(ETC). After you have read the book, I urge you to review the ETC at least weekly. Why? Because it can serve as a check list of possible "early-warning signs" to which you and your associates must constantly be alert. You also need to know that each copy includes a CD: "mySAP Workplace -- The Enterprise Portal solution." This is an excellent value-added benefit.

If you share my high regard for this book, check out Done Deals (edited by Udayan Gupta) and The VC Way (authored by Jeffrey Zygmont). Those involved in a "hazardous undertaking" need all the help they can

An outline, not a book
This book weighs in at 217 pages (including index). Unfortunately, what you really get is about 50 pages worth of material, and much of that is repetitive and/or obvious.

Particularly galling are the many pages (over 25) devoted to quotes, one quote per page. We're talking 15-20 words per page for such pages. OK, nice quotes, but they should take a line or two each, not a page.

Probably the most useful thing is that it includes a sample business plan.

In sum, this book is an outline of the book it should be, and an outline that has been stretched to cover 200 pages.

Until the authors write the book that goes with this outline, save your money.

Plan, create and grow your company
Probably a updated and translated version of the "Planen, gründen, wachsen. Mit dem professionellen Businessplan zum Erfolg" Book (ISBN: 3706405962). ... Read more

Book Description

During the final months of his life, Walt Disney was consumed with the world-wide problems of cities. His development concept at the time of his death on December 15th, 1966 would be his team’s conceptual response to the ills of the inner cities and the sprawl of the megalopolis: the "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow" or, as it became known, EPCOT.

This beautifully written, instantly engrossing volume focuses on the original concept of EPCOT, which was conceived by Disney as an experimental community of about 20,000 people on the Disney World property in central Florida. With its radial plan, 50-acre town center enclosed by a dome, themed international shopping area, greenbelt, high-density apartments, satellite communities, monorail and underground roads, the original EPCOT plan is reminiscent of post-war Stockholm and the British New Towns, as well as today's transit-oriented development theory.

Unfortunately, Disney himself did not live long enough to witness the realization of his "model city." However, EPCOT's evolution into projects such as the EPCOT Center and the town of Celebration displays a remarkable commitment by the Disney organization to the original EPCOT philosophy, one which continues to have relevance in the fields of planning and development. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Fascinating read, but can't answer the burning questions...
'What if Walt Disney had lived 10 or 20 more years?' and 'What would Walt's EPCOT have been like?' are, to me, two of the most burning "What Ifs" of our time. Steve Mannheim's "Walt Disney and the Quest for Community" is a captivating and fascinating read. Excrutiatingly well-researched, well-written, and incredibly informative, it provides Disney fans and those interested in urban renewal with basic incites into the last great dream of the visionary Disney. But that's as far as it goes. Mannheim treads lightly around the basic questions of what life would have actually been like in the city of EPCOT and, sadly, never provides much more than a teasing glimpse of the "might-have-beens". According to Mannheim, Disney himself was only in the preliminary stages of planning and working out the details of his experimental city when he died and that we will likely never know for sure exactly what it would've been. Perhaps this is true, but seeing as how so much of the early planning/purchasing/contracting/construction/building stages of the proposed Disney World project were already a done deal (or, at least, well under way), it seems quite unlikely that Walt hadn't confided his plans to someone. He was a meticulous planner and not given to flying by the seat of his pants when realizing a vision of this scope. Not to mention the fact that EPCOT was going to be joint venture with several leaders in American Industry who would likely NOT invest in undisclosed ideas that existed only in someone's mind, even Disney's. Also, Mannheim seems to too strongly defend current Disney management in the closing chapter and states that, with the construction and population of Celebration, Florida, that somehow Walt's EPCOT truly lives and that the time has finally come for some slight realizations of his last unfullfilled dreams. Celebration, as any student of Disney's final dream can tell you, is a FAR cry from the EPCOT concept and that current Disney Company philosophies and standards show little resemblance to the high moral standards and belief system he held his company to during his lifetime. The book portrays today's EPCOT Center as a living tribute to the man and his bold vision, but even the most casual recent visitor to that park can see that this simply is not so. Stil, I'd highly recommend this book for anyone who's a Disney fan or, like me, still fascinated after all these years by Walt's ambitious vision, just be warned going in that you'll likely still have the same burning questions after finishing it.

Researching the Story of Walt Disney's Final Dream
It is clear that it will be the responsibility of historians to accurately reflect the influence that Walt Disney had upon the development of cultural and social structures; beginning during the twentieth century and continuing into a new millennium. Though Walt Disney reflected the social values of his contemporaries in the United States, he also tapped into the essential curiosity that drives all human beings toward exploration and discovery. It is that final phase of Walt Disney's bold and creative exploration that provides the backdrop for this important study.

In "Walt Disney and the Quest for Community", author Steve Mannheim brings Walt's original idea for EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) back to the table after almost four decades of neglect. While the creation of Epcot Center at Walt Disney World provides for an interesting day of amusement, the origins of EPCOT (the community) had far greater implications. Those living and working at the EPCOT of Walt Disney's mind would participate in an innovative commercial, social, and political experiment that would be unprecedented in human history. Regrettably, the genius of Walt Disney was revealed to be finite with his passing in December 1966. With Disney's death, the dream of EPCOT as originally conceived was shelved as being unattainable without the necessary provision of Walt Disney's personal authority and command.

Mannheim's text explores the historical context and influences upon Walt's research and imagination, along with many first hand interviews and accounts from those who worked closely with Disney during this exploratory period in the mid 1960's. The text is expertly researched and provides the most thorough account to date of the vision behind Walt Disney's final dream: E.P.C.O.T.

The Evolution of Walt's EPCOT Concept
This is a great read about Walt Disney's EPCOT concept. It draws upon original interviews, research in archives, Disney company building experience, and history to tell a fascinating story of Walt's original ideas and how they evolved into later projects like Epcot and Celebration. Most important, it is clear that the author has a solid understanding of Walt Disney the man and uses it to put EPCOT into context. In addition, the author provides many references with which I was unfamiliar. Finally, the book is organized in such a way as to make it very accessible. I think that this book will be an important resource for both scholars and Disney fans in the future.

The Story Behind Walt's EPCOT
This well organized, well researched book provides great insight to the original dreams and plans Walt Disney had for the prototype community of tomorrow - the EPCOT that never was built.

A great read for any EPCOT fan, Walt Disney fan or those interested in city plannning. ... Read more

Book Description

More than fifty years ago, Joseph Schumpeter stated that processes intrinsic to a capitalist society produce a "creative destruction," whereby innovations destroy obsolete technologies, only to be assaulted in turn by newer and more efficient rivals. This book asks whether the current chaotic state of the telecommunications and related Internet industries is evidence of creative destruction, or simply a result of firms, governments, and others wasting valuable resources with limited benefits to society as a whole. In telecommunications, for example, wireless, IP, and cable-based technologies are all fighting for a share of the market currently dominated by older, circuit-switched, copper-terminated networks. This process is accompanied by mergers, acquisitions, bankruptcies, and investment and divestment in worldwide markets.

The selections discuss the primary challenge facing firms, governments, and other players: how to exploit the opportunities created by such destructive dynamics. They highlight the importance of national regulations promoting competition and nonmonopolistic market structures, as well as the role of new technologies such as the Internet in driving down the price and speeding the diffusion of innovative products and services in telecommunications, media, electronic retailing, and other "new economy" industries. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Interesting reading and analytic edge
It is a thorough analysis of the technological advances of our era and the depth of the internet industry. I was particularly interested in the implications for Latin America and the technological transfer from liberalization. It is a useful book for practictioners and for more academic minds.

schumpeter revisited
Creative Destruction presents a fascinating revival of an old concept in the context of recent technological developments and innovation. It offers a brilliant account of how information technologies accelerate the process of creative destruction today and helps understand how information society articulates with in a wider framework of economic history. Those interested in Latin America will appreciate, in particluar, the recent developments in the telecommunications industry in the region.

A thoughtful and highly useful book
This is an outstanding collection of articles. These papers combine scholarly depth with usefulness for practitioners. They will help you understand where we've been and forecast where we are going with the Internet. I teach courses on Internet Business Strategy and will use this collection next year. My favorites are Baumol's "Innovation and Creative Destruction; McKnight's "Internet Business Models: Creative Destruction as Usual" and Lehr's "A New Theory of the Internet Firm." They provide a solid conceptual basis for understanding the implications of the Internet economy. One thing truly unique about this book is the thoughtful and detailed discussions of the implications of the Internet on international business. There are six papers that focus on these issues. I have not seen this anywhere else. In a world where people publish books peddling derivative nostrums about the network economy, it's a pleasure to finally find one that deals with these issues in a serious, thoughtful and, most of all, useful way.

A Lego Box of Valuable Ideas
Rather than focusing on a single angle and building a long argument in its favor, this compendium's treatment of diverse dimensions of creative destruction lets the reader paint his or her own picture of the net effects of Schumpeter's famous concept. The book's 11 articles touch on topics as diverse as the future of telecommunications firms in a Net-centric world, the impact of regulatory reform on the Internet in Europe, the institutional barriers to Internet-driven creative destruction in Japan, and the impact of open-source software business models.

Creative Destruction is a Lego-box of interesting ideas that managers and academics can recombine into constructs valuable to their work, teaching, or research. I found it very rich reading.

A Multi-Dimensional Examination of a Basic Concept
There are three recent publications with the same title (Creative Destruction) whose authors correlate Joseph Schumpeter's concept of "creative destruction" with the contemporary business world. Foster and Kaplan explain "why companies that are built to last underperform the market -- and how to successfully transform them" whereas in their work, Nolan and Croson offer "a six-stage process for transforming the organization." In the third volume co-edited by McKnight, Vaaler, and Katz, various authors and co-authors of 13 anthologized essays examine various "business survival strategies for the global Internet economy." I highly recommend all three volumes as well as two of Schumpeter's works: Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, and, Essays: On Entrepreneurs, Innovations, Business Cycles, and the Evolution of Capitalism.

This book grew out of a symposium held at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in the spring of 1999. The topic was "Creative Destruction -- or Just Destruction?" Those who presented papers were asked to address "the key technological, regulatory, organizational, and competitive dynamics compelling change in the way firms and stakeholders do business in an increasingly global and Internet-centric society." At the symposium there were (and in this volume there are) four points which are consistent with the theme of "creative destruction":

The Destruction of Traditional Industry Structures

The Destruction of Traditional Regulatory Structures

The Destruction of Traditional Competitive Positioning Strategies

The Destruction of Traditional Technological Assumptions

It is important to keep in mind that this is not a manual. Although there are numerous suggestions, checklists, points of emphasis, graphic illustrations, and examples offered, the volume's primary purpose is to stimulate continued discussion and debate on the major challenges now facing firms, governments, and other players -- while suggesting "how to exploit the new opportunities created by creative dynamics."

The material is organized within five Parts: Introduction, Theory and Practice of Creative Destruction, The Global Context for Creative Destruction, Business Destruction Strategies in the Global Internet Economy, and Creative Business Survival Strategies. For the reader's convenience, the editors offer brief comments about each subject and about each of those who address it. After reading the excellent Introduction, you may decide not to read the everything that follows from beginning to end. In that event, select what is directly relevant to your and your organization's most immediate and urgent needs and interests. (In all probability, some of those needs and interests will soon change.) The editors provide three supplementary sections (Contributors, Notes, and References) which assist and encourage further study as well as "continued discussion and debate."

I am curious to know what Schumpeter would say about the material in this book if he were discussing it as I am now. My guess (only a guess) is that he would observe that his basic concept of "creative destruction" remains relevant but the process is occurring at an ever-increasing velocity and in ways and to an extent he could not have envisioned 50-60 years ago. Another guess (only a guess) is that, based on what is now happening (and not happening) in the global community, he would suggest that process of "creative destruction" in all organizations (regardless of their size or nature) has only begun. The Chinese character for the word "crisis" has two meanings: "peril" and "opportunity." For many (perhaps most) organizations, the process of creative destruction means death; for others, it offers the opportunity for at least survival and perhaps regeneration. The authors represented in this superb volume help us to understand the differences between the two groups....also, the probable consequences of those differences. ... Read more

Reviews (17)

The market is the message
CNBC anchor Ron Insana's second book on the stock market, "The Message of the Markets," follows "Traders' Tales" in 1996, and does an excellent job of selling you on the idea that the market does send signals for anyone who's interested in looking for them. Using Insana's words, "Many times the prices of stocks, bonds, and commodities accurately anticipate or forecast future events. "But what is a "market?" If a market is where buyers and sellers come together and agree to exchange assets - stocks, bonds, futures, options, wheat, oil, gold, cloth, Beanie Babies, guns, drugs, etc., then the "message" of the market has to be the PRICE resulting from that exchange. That price level conveys enough information that if you know what you are looking for, you will be able to anticipate future events solely on the basis of price and its trend. Why? Because there is what Insana calls "smart money" and "dumb money."Smart money belongs to insiders, those closest to the action who see and know what is happening. They act on their knowledge, leaving their tell-tale footprints of transaction prices for all to see. Then there are the outsiders; the ones who wake up one morning and read about something that just happened, realize that it is significant, and decide to catch the obvious trend already in progress, invariably buying from those same insiders who got in months ago anticipating exactly that outcome. What Insana doesn't say is that without smart money to indicate the way, all markets would be chaotic, panic-driven price spikes in either direction as everybody tried to react to the same thing at the same time. He is particularly correct when he warns to watch out for the price move "with no apparent reason." It can signal momentous events on the horizon.The real message of the book thus becomes that if you learn to track where the "smart money" is going, then in addition to profiting along with the insiders on the various price moves, you can also make more intelligent business, investment, and career decisions. Insana uses the interest rate yield curve as well as popular averages to predict the onset of recessions; market internals (Advance/Decline Line, diverging Dow Jones Averages, etc.) to predict the stock market; and commodity price movements to predict geopolitical events.
He gives industry/sector group relative strength rotation credit for frequently predicting the economy's strengths and weaknesses and cites ways in which this can be used in selecting career paths as well as suggesting business trends. He uses commodity price moves as signals that foretell future events such as Chernobyl, the Gulf War, the Egypt-Libya potential war, and other geopolitical upheavals.  However, I believe he makes too much of the market selling off just prior to the announcement that JFK had been shot. There is a story about a certain well-known network newscaster in Dallas making the call back to his NY newsroom, then ripping the pay phone out of the wall to keep other reporters from using it to get to their newsrooms. So there may have been real reasons for the news delay. Anyway, the market was shut down with the Dow suffering only a 3% decline. After remaining closed one additional day, the market continued its upward climb for the next 3 years. While a member of the Pacific Stock Exchange, I witnessed the same momentary "front-running" when Reagan was shot on March 30, 1981. On that day something "felt" amiss when we suddenly got hit will an avalanche of sell orders. Minutes later, the news tape announced that the president had been shot. But like in the Kennedy situation, the market dipped momentarily, then continued its rally. In these two cases, the message was inconsequential, financially speaking. After giving numerous examples of what market signals are and how they've fared over the years, Insana asks his most thought-provoking question: "So why was it that most investors, all the world's politicians...failed to notice trouble signs on the horizon? Once again, it was the failure of many observers to pay attention to the market's ominous message."  The implication being that the rain clouds were forming but nobody took notice. The answer is simple yet unsatisfying: As long as we listen to what "they" say instead of watching what "they" do, we will always fall victim to "their" market. What Insana is making a case for is a market discipline termed Technical Analysis. It looks at market action, valuing above all else the constant interplay between the supply and demand for a any tradable entity, and considers Fundamental Analysis (Wall Street research) as so much hot air. It is not a particularly popular stance, but it is much closer to allying yourself with reality than anything else.

A Disappointment
I have long liked Ron Insana on CNBC. Based on my respect for his thinking and well reasoned commentaries on the air, I bought his book on blind faith.

With much anticipation I settled in to gain a better understanding of the markets. Unfortunately, the book didn't live up to its title. I forced myself to finish the book thinking that eventually I would get "the message."

At times I became lost in the text. Long paragraphs led to one sentence paragraphs which did not seem to be part of any natural progression. Charts sometimes did not seem to match the points that they were to help illustrate. While I am anything but an editor, I had the feeling that more editing might have helped.

Bottom line: this book is not a "keeper" for my future reference.

A book on history, not investing
Ron Insana's The Message of the Markets is an interesting read of financial market history. His thesis is that movements in the financial markets can foretell future events, but he ignores all those times the markets reacted irrationally. This book cannot make you a better investor, but it is one person's interesting perspective of history.

Good point - wrong emphasis in presentation
This is a well-informed and very readable book on the informational value of the financial markets. However, this is not a how-to book on stock picking. What Mr Insana is concerned with in this book is not so much what price movements can tell us about an individual stock, but the macro information that the financial markets can tell us about the economy, geopolitics, major news events etc. There's almost no advice on individual stock picking based on price movements (too noisy), but there are advices on how to choose a job, time the purchase of a new home, move cash in and out of the market etc. based on the message of the markets.

In retrospect, some of the messages from the markets identified in the book are quite prescient. A good example is the rapid deterioration in the A/D line at the height of the Internet bubble. Of course that phenonmenon did not go unnoticed by the market pros. I clearly remember numerous analysts assuring viewers on CNBC that the stock market was not over-valued (and therefore in no danger of collapsing) because so many stocks were in the doldrums!

The book was filled with anecdotes about how major economic and geopolitical events (from Fed rate cuts to border wars between Egypt and Libya) are foreshadowed by unexplained market movements. Had Mr. Insana focused on the rationale behind these movements his argument would've been a lot more convincing. Instead, the book had a tendency to ascribe a sort of magical, oracular power to the market and the "smart money" that makes the market. Of course the real reason is a lot more mundane. Sometimes it's rampant insider trading (as in the oil futures mkt). At other times anyone who has bothered to read a newspaper would have seen it coming from a mile away. A good example is the collapse of the Thai baht. Any regular reader of the Far Eastern Economic Review would not have needed the markets to send a msg - for months the magazine was filled with dire warnings of imminent collapse in its op-ed pages.

Another issue that Mr. Insana did not address is the very important question of how to separate the signal from the noise emanating from the market 24 hours a day. As someone who had (foolishly) dabbled in the futures market, I know first hand that wild swings in the market can be triggered but nothing more dramatic than a 1/2-hr T-storm in downtown Chicago. (I always susepct that if I wait at a 2nd fl. window at the CBOT and sprinkle water on the head of a particular trader as he leaves the building, I can make a killing in soybeans.) In the days of old when the market was almost the exclusive domain of the Smart Money in the know, the msg. of the mkts was probably a lot more reliable than today, when the unwashed masses can steamroll the smart money based on the most ludicrous rumor posted on Pump-n-dump.com. How to separate the grains from the chaff is something we'll have to leave to another CNBC author.

BTW, there really is a web site called pumpanddump.com.

A piece of the puzzle unveiled
Many underestimate the value the news can have on their investment strategies. Insana's research demonstrates the usefulness of correctly interpreting and acting upon the news. This reinforces the somewhat shorter-term "buy the rumor; sell the news" experiences my partner and I have had and discuss in our book "How to Start Day Trading Futures, Options, and Indices." Nothing occurs in a vacuum--not the behavior of the market nor that of other investment vehicles. Insana's book points this out in a easy to read, informative manner. ... Read more

Book Description

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT explores how firms build, extend, organize, and sustain a competitive advantage, focusing on five key themes: distinctive competence, quality, globalization, change, and ethics.This text takes an applications-oriented approach in which a company's strategic position or dilemma is dissected and analyzed in such a way that all key concepts and ideas are brought to light.Filled with current real-world applications, this book also includes mini-cases within each chapter. ... Read more

Book Description

Includes a combination of explanatory text, cases, and problems that permit the professor to use either a problem-based approach or a more traditional case-based approach. Ample explanatory text orients students to the issues and helps them bring a basic understanding of the material to each class session. Most of the problems and much of the explanatory text are based on a continuing hypothetical case of Foam Corporation, a distressed manufacturer. The goal is to provide a concrete setting for the application of bankruptcy law and the consideration of bankruptcy policy. ... Read more

Book Description

Why do we need to plan? What is the best way to plan? As schools become increasingly responsible for their own affairs, these are just two of the critical questions which school leaders must address. Values Based Strategic Planning is an exciting new approach which is delightfully simple to operate and which involves everyone in the school and accounts for people's fundamental beliefs about education and schooling. The whole process can be completed in one day, and the result is a strategic plan that reflects the school's priorities and has the wholehearted commitment of those who have to put it into operation. The first section of the book, on strategic planning, leadership, organisational design and how to rethink the school's purpose, is particularly valuable to leaders who need a thorough understanding of strategic planning and to students of education management. The second section provides a step-by-step guide to Values Based Strategic Planning along with all the materials needed to run the process in your school. Values Based Strategic Planning has been used with great success in many organisations and promises to transform the planning process in schools into one that really works and that wins the hearts and minds of those involved. ... Read more

Book Description

Smart Strategies Series This is a book of business strategy that draws together definitions and views on a hot new topic - visioning. Increasingly managers and firms, world-wide, are realising that their organisations need visions to map a way ahead for the future. Visioning is a strategic tool and this book defines it and explains how to implement it. Divided into two parts, the first section examines different interpretations of what is meant by visioning while the second section shows how to use it effectively for business success. Case examples of poor and positive practice are included. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Many ideas for improving performance
This book provides an overview of vision, visioning, leadership and examples of successful leaders but the authors warn us that little or no learning can be transferred from one organization to another because each requires its own distinct approach. Of all strategic management tools, visioning is usually rated first but satisfaction with its use receives a lower rating because a sound platform on which to grow a vision was missing. Visioning is the process by which leaders can articulate the future directions they wish to pursue, focusing on the future of the organization and its role in society. Forming a vision is a complex procedure involving a sophisticated process of discerning and equally sophisticated negotiations with all key stakeholders who need to be involved in achieving the vision. A motivating vision or one that produces "creative tension" implies innovation, departure from past practice and different organizational capabilities. In order to overcome indifference and resistance that major innovation provokes, a champion is required to identify the idea as his own, to promote it actively through informal networks and to risk his position and prestige to ensure the innovation's success. The champion must have the capacity to inspire and enthuse others with his vision of the potential of an innovation. A good place to start is to agree on what has been done well and what the group wants to continue to do well. A well-prepared vision should spontaneously help individuals to take decisions and free people to take initiative. The authors provide guidelines for promoting a shared perspective and generating a corporate vision.

One chapter is devoted to Allen Sheppard and GrandMet where the goal was to take a successful company, ensure it continued to be successful, and make it even more successful. Often this situation is more difficult than a typical turnaround, because people do not see the need to change. The top group developed a set of criteria for a vision statement that was so far reaching that it could not be publicized for two years but it led to the sale of 25 companies and the acquisition of Pillsbury. Another chapter presents the remarkable success story of Toray Industries and the role visioning played in its transformation in the decade from 1987. Describing the way in which vision works, H. Maeda said, "We keep the image in our minds at all times when we take decisions on various business matters. Keeping the picture of our company in say, ten year's time, we decide on management strategy and business policy. In a company of this size, the leadership of the president is absolutely crucial. He must be able to exercise his leadership at a fairly practical level, and have a management philosophy as well as an ability to manage. Another important quality he needs is the ability to win the hearts and minds of all employees and to inspire them to focus on the shared goal. I believe that a CEO must be prepared to hear everyone's views, let them discuss thoroughly matters that are important to management, and get totally involved in the process of building up consensus among directors. This will ensure that the future direction of the firm will become firmly established on shared values, but the important point is that there must be constant effort on the CEO's part to create and maintain a forum at which all directors can express their views freely to the CEO. There are many facets to leadership, but to put it simply, it is the ability of the leaders to anticipate what is coming, and the possession of the sense of balance in their judgement." Few people will read this book and not come away with ideas for improvement. ... Read more

Book Description

It seems nowadays, everyone is thinking of starting his or her own business. But how do you actually go about it, and when is the right time to quit your "day job"?Entrepreneur and business consultant Marlene Jensen has the answers to these questions and dozens more in The Everything Business Planning Book. In this timely volume, you'll find straight answers and expert advice on how easy it is to start your own business - whether it's a "bricks and mortar" company or an online venture.If you've already developed a product of just have a great idea, The Everything Business Planning Book contains all the vital information you need to make the important decisions about getting your business up and running.

Featuring dozens of worksheets that cover everything from accounting to hiring employees, this hands-on book is the first step to making your business dreams come true!

You'll learn how to:

Understand and research the market

Develop the business from the inside out

Comprehend financial issues, from raising money to P&L's, cash flows, and balance sheets

Implement Strategic and tactical plans for moving forward

And much, much more! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Common sense and avoids the hyperboles!
Business Plans that Work is an intelligent, common sense approach to business that has a simple thesis; level headed philosophy, and a well structured organization. Written by a business consultant (and former art teacher--perhaps this helps the lack of turgid written prose), this book focuses on the theme that YOUR business brainstorm can only be envisioned and planned by you, simply because you are the one who has come up with the vision, enthusiasm, and interest to begin a particular business in the first place. Gilmann eschews the idea that consultants know best when it comes to developing a business plan. Sort of the philosophy that you are probably the best person to trust in investing your own money--since it's YOUR money, after all. The book is clearly written but not condescending to people new to business and tries to encourage the reader that business is not a mysterious enterprise, but rather a pursuit thatrequires foresight and planning, with, of course,initial inspiration. Her explanations of line by line items of business plans are quite clear, and she presents sample business plans that are good models (although iterating that all business plans are unique). She pays ample but not obsessive space to the importance of Internet issues, and encourages the reader who does write a plan to be blend he right amoung of rationale and enthusiasm in the text of one's plan. She also draws quite nicely on personal experience from childhood to adulthood, which creates a comfortable trusting relationship between reader & writer. I stood in my local large bookstore branch, flipping through about 10 books on the subject, and this one just seemed to have the right user-friendly balance that made me feel comfortable reading it ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Paradigms: Who, What, Where, When and Why
Have you ever had an unconscious thought that could possibly change the world? Well, this is one book you won't want to miss. Barker's knowledge about paradigms will definitely assist with transforming your, "big ideas" from thoughts to reality. "Future Edge" can take any organization through a successful reformation. For instance, being an administrator in a rather large urban school district with magnet schools being the "heart" of racial integration, paradigm shifts are an on-going necessity. Barker's book has truly answered the five "W's" of paradigms.
WHO: The "Paradigm Shifters" have the big idea, however, the "Paradigm Pioneers" are the individuals who have the courage, faith and "intuitive judgment" to ensure a successful paradigm shift. Segregated schools are simply not right, and as pioneers, integrating our school is a vision that is "not an act of the head, but an act of the heart."
WHAT: What "set of rules or boundaries," or simply stated by Barker, paradigms, are in need of a facelift in your organization? Federal mandates stated that busing can no longer be the means of integration, however, our schools must reflect our world today; diverse. This mandated created a sense of urgency (Kotter) in the change process.
WHERE: "To not quest for excellence might be considered sacrilege." Raising the expectation of what success is in your organization will inevitably create a need for a paradigm shift. Current enrollment is 92% African-American, 2% Hispanic, and 6% Caucasian. Yes, this is 130% better then years previous, yet it should not be considered as integrated. The where is most likely within your organization as well!
WHEN: "Paradigm Paralysis" is what an organization will face if there is no "paradigm pioneer" to lead the conscious thought to real life. "A leader is a person you would follow to a place you wouldn't go yourself."
WHY: In conclusion, if you read this review and are highly curious as to the paradigm shift that must take place to integrate the school that I work in, then Barker has definitely fulfilled his mission of taking an individual through the process of "Discovering the New Paradigms of Success."

Helpful framework but lots of missed forecasts
To its credit, ten years after this book was first published, it remains a commendable work of business futurism. One significant exception to this assessment comes from the poor record of Barker's identification of existing and coming trends for the 1990s. By now, we can see the weakness of "gambling instead of taxes", "national health care" (surely the result of Barker himself falling into a paradigm trap), "solar, hydrogen, fission" (at least ten years too early), "time taxes", "virtual reality", and others that didn't make it very far. Barker, however, is not a prophet but a guide to a more expansive way of thinking about the present and the future. Barker brings philosopher Thomas Kuhn's work on paradigms into focus with clear applications to business and any form of strategic thinking. Definitely merits a quick read by anyone interested in thinking more effectively about the future.

If you want to explore your future, read this book!
From a strategic exploration viewpoint, this is an excellent guide book. Understanding and mastering your paradigms is one important thing for making progress in life and in business, but I personaly feel that the real essence of this book is succinctly captured by the author in the five strategic exploration tools outlined in the book. They are the real gems of the book. Actually, this book is a sort of brief update of the author's earlier book, entitled Discovering the Business of Paradigms in the mid-80s. I would recommend readers to buy and read this book jointly with Wayne Burkan's Wide-Angle Vision. Wayne Burkan has been a collaborator of Joel Barker, and he introduces some more new ideas to the paradigm phenomenon. Better still, view also and learn more from the videos (in which both authors are the lead facilitators), The Paradigm Prism and The Implications Wheel, which bring the whole paradigm concept to life and which showcase some more real-world business examples. If you want to explore your future, read this book! As the author puts it, before you can create your future, you must first explore it. You must create and shape your future, otherwise some one else will!

This book helped me discover my on destiny.
I'm a teacher and a speech-language pathologist...not a business woman. At least not until recently.

Joel Arthur Barker's work which I have studied since the early 90's inspired me to quit my job and my profession and write with a co-author partner my first children's book.

I hope with my partner's help that I have communicated truth that will give the children of today an edge on their futures. There are little paradigm shifters out there everywhere. I know. I believe that I am one.

Joel's book made me believe in my own power, and to see that mavericks are not necessarily bad! They lead us to the future. Right Joel?

Applicable to all people!
I recommend this book as well as the Paradigm Pioneer video to all people that want to improve their livesin all respects. Eventhough it's a book on business, it enabled me to think, act and dream in all areas of my personal and professional life. It illustrates that narrow mindedness can and some will lead to failure in business. The book is rich in information, easy to read and comprehend, and left me somewhat felling good about the changes that have occured in my life, and why those changes had to happen. Total Quality is an age old concept in a sense (building a better mousetrap) and Mr. Barker illustrates these in easy to understand words most effectively. When i reflect back on the US automakers of the '70's, If they had only anticipated the shift to come....... ... Read more

Amazon.com

How is it that certain sites become the superstars of the World Wide Web? What makes Internet-based stores and services, such as America Online, burst into public consciousness? The process is the same, Farrell explains, as that which took Hootie and the Blowfish from bar band to supergroup at record speed or made Beanie Babies the national craze.

Farrell shows how social interactions create hits, both online and off. Better yet, he demonstrates how computer models are using the mathematics of complexity theory to help predict the hit or flop potential of new ideas, products, and services. What makes the models so fascinating is that they behave as groups of individual consumers, running in simulated communities inside the computer, approximating the reactions of their flesh-and-blood counterparts.

While the principles here apply to the entire world of business, they are particularly essential for those who wish to create an audience or customer base on the Internet, where the hit-creating (and preventing) forces seem to be particularly volatile. And while Farrell makes it clear that hits cannot be manufactured on demand, he is able to provide good advice on tactics, which can swing the odds more in your favor. --Elizabeth Lewis ... Read more

Reviews (18)

Excellent ideas on creating your own hits
One truism we have often heard in strategy seminars is that you can't plan your way into a fad. Thus, the success of Ty's Beanie Babies or Tamagotchi cannot be the result of good strategy - they are merely accidents that we would all like to have. In How Hits Happen, the author postulates that hits of any sort actually have some common elements that we can seek when attempting to emulate Furbies and pet rocks.

Most of this book details the history of large-scale artificial life simulations used by Coopers and Lybrand, and the text leans to the poetic rather than the practical, but there are still several nuggets of usable information:

-Target people who "lead" your market. These are the equivalent of the "cool kids" of our Junior High School years - they tend to adopt new buying patterns before everyone else does, and others in the marketplace follow their lead.

-Generate excitement about your products or services. Just another product is NOT noteworthy. To get people talking about you, you have to do something a little off the wall.

-Understand the patterns customers use to distinguish a "good product" from a "bad product". This enables you to find the cues that will give the customer instantly good feelings about your product.

-Remember that you are targeting customers who are human beings. They don't think of themselves as, say, young professionals. Most customers tend to think of themselves in terms of what they consume.

-Create and nurture communities of evangelists who will preach the joys of doing business with your company. Involve them in your product design. Play golf with them. Give them special
treatment for being your ambassadors to the market. Software companies, for example, often send pre-release beta versions of their products to their most ardent supporters.

-Watch for signals that your market is about to change precipitously. The "explosions" that create hits can often be created with just a little push in the right place at the right time.

-The internet is a powerful medium for generating hits. "Buzz" in an internet discussion group or on a web page can translate into powerful word-of-mouth advertising outside of the internet. This is true because many of the risk-seeking early adopters who help to "create" hits are spending a lot of time on the internet these days.

-Manage availability to enhance your hit status. Sometimes, being ubiquitous helps build network externalities which make your product more valuable to the buyer as more and more customers get on the band wagon. In other instances, scarcity enhances perceived value by making your product something the customer has to work to obtain.

In all, we'd like to see a book like this that is a bit more prescriptive than descriptive, but How Hits Happen is still engaging and thought-provoking. I would definitely suggest this book as a source of ideas for anyone involved in product development.

Excellent High-Level Business Overview of How Hits Happen
Win Farrel has written a very useful high-level book on the dynamics of how hits happen. This book is clearly intended for executives and emphasizes the business case and benefits of using nonlinear dynamics, complexity theory, adaptive agents, and other tools to model the dynamics of how hits happen, rather than the heavy math and details necessary to implement such models. The reviewers who have given this book poor reviews have lost track of the purpose of the book - it is not intended as an implementation guide. There is certainly a need for a technical book which goes into great detail about how to implement and use these models. However, when one deals with very complex models, there is a need for two sets of documentation and books 1) a more generalized document for the executives which tells them what the tools can do, their business case for using them, and how they can benefit from them, and 2) an extremely technical implementation guide. There are a lot of interesting analytical technologies being developed by various researchers, including some of those covered in Farrell's book, which have ultimately failed to provide real-world benefits because their developers (often academics) have not built the business case for their tool, seeded the technology to key decisionmakers, and achieved any significant usage. Farrell's book provides the business case for using these models for certain marketing and strategic planning applications in the media, technology, consumer goods, retail, and entertainment industries. If you are looking for more technical information, buy the books recommended at the end of Farrell's book.

glib and insubstantial
I agree with the reviewer who said this should have been condensed into a magazine article. In a nutshell, Farrell says that hits are non-linear events in which crowd psychology and feedback play a key role, in other words it can't be modelled by summing the buying behaviors and preferences of each individual. Of course this is obvious, so Farrell's contribution is to say that complexity theory and software agents can be useful for modelling these situations, and have been used by his consulting firm and others. This is interesting, but Farrell never provides any real details of how the modelling is done, what the problems are, etc. Instead, much of the book is filled with fluffy business anecdotes and observations, such as how the movie Titanic succeeded in dominating entertainment culture in 1997. I get the impression he is the glib "Mr. Outside" of the projects he's involved with, and perhaps doesn't have a really good grasp of the technical substance. Either that, or this book is essentially a brochure for his firm's services.

Rubbish
Author takes cliched case studies - such as Cabbage Patch Dolls - and translates that into his chaos theory. His theory incidentlly can only be fully explained should you hire his consulting company. Very little substance and purely annecdotal evidence were used to write this book. Avoid.

A 500 word article stretched into a paperback...
I wish I had read some of the Amazon reviews before buying this book. A very unorganised account of complexity theory - and very wordy. One could tell this was written by a consultant (and I say this as a consultant).

The sections relating to synthetic agent simulations were interesting, however they were interspersed with so many references to Titanic and 'Tickle Me Elmo' I almost fell asleep.

More detailed analysis on the tools and 'levers' to manage the complex world of 'hits' may have made this book worth the money.

Refund please... ... Read more

Amazon.com

We're on the verge of ubiquitous connectivity, says technowizard Alex Lightman. His Brave New Unwired World: The Digital Big Bang and the Infinite Internet might read like science fiction, but smart money is betting on his predictions of wearable computing devices and cheap-as-water wireless bandwidth coming true. Even those who don't stand to make a gigabuck or two off fourth-generation wireless tech will race through Lightman's prose with abandon. He makes the future sound fun. While he can't promise personal jetpacks, his descriptions of simple, elegant communicators will make every red-blooded nerd drool.

Brave New Unwired World is more than just next year's Sharper Image catalog, though. Lightman has been watching trends in commerce, government, and technical research, and points out things to watch for in the first decade of the 21st century. American dollars, European regulators, and Asian factories, he predicts, will combine to change the world yet again. It's a fair bet that Aldous Huxley didn't see Brave New Unwired World coming, but we can be thankful that Dr. Lightman did. --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Reviews (6)

A compass for wireless business and investment
A thouroughly researched, detailed book on what direction wireless and ubiquitous computing are going in. There may be those who shake their heads at how much these new sensors/appliances/gadgets will influence our lives, but the book lays out the data and trends methodically. This is must reading for any manager of a high-tech company or anyone investing in same. The book is highly unusual in its level of illustration, examples and background data -- many other books on future technology, in contrast, offer only oceans of opinionated verbiage with little to back it up. Any reader alert to opportunity should get a very high ROI out of buying this book.

Great material but a disjointed presentation
Brave New Unwired World addresses an exciting genre, personal wireless systems. The book also brings up and discusses many of the latest technologies in mobile computing.

Where this book falls short is it's presentation of more