Amazon.com
Updated Edition: Thomas L. Friedman is not so much a futurist, which he is sometimes called, as a presentist. His aim in The World Is Flat, as in his earlier, influential Lexus and the Olive Tree, is not to give you a speculative preview of the wonders that are sure to come in your lifetime, but rather to get you caught up on the wonders that are already here. The world isn't going to be flat, it is flat, which gives Friedman's breathless narrative much of its urgency, and which also saves it from the Epcot-style polyester sheen that futurists--the optimistic ones at least--are inevitably prey to.
What Friedman means by "flat" is "connected": the lowering of trade and political barriers and the exponential technical advances of the digital revolution that have made it possible to do business, or almost anything else, instantaneously with billions of other people across the planet. This in itself should not be news to anyone. But the news that Friedman has to deliver is that just when we stopped paying attention to these developments--when the dot-com bust turned interest away from the business and technology pages and when 9/11 and the Iraq War turned all eyes toward the Middle East--is when they actually began to accelerate. Globalization 3.0, as he calls it, is driven not by major corporations or giant trade organizations like the World Bank, but by individuals: desktop freelancers and innovative startups all over the world (but especially in India and China) who can compete--and win--not just for low-wage manufacturing and information labor but, increasingly, for the highest-end research and design work as well. (He doesn't forget the "mutant supply chains" like Al-Qaeda that let the small act big in more destructive ways.)
Friedman has embraced this flat world in his own work, continuing to report on his story after his book's release and releasing an unprecedented hardcover update of the book a year later with 100 pages of revised and expanded material. What's changed in a year? Some of the sections that opened eyes in the first edition--on China and India, for example, and the global supply chain--are largely unaltered. Instead, Friedman has more to say about what he now calls "uploading," the direct-from-the-bottom creation of culture, knowledge, and innovation through blogging, podcasts, and open-source software. And in response to the pleas of many of his readers about how to survive the new flat world, he makes specific recommendations about the technical and creative training he thinks will be required to compete in the "New Middle" class. As before, Friedman tells his story with the catchy slogans and globe-hopping anecdotes that readers of his earlier books and his New York Times columns know well, and he holds to a stern sort of optimism. He wants to tell you how exciting this new world is, but he also wants you to know you're going to be trampled if you don't keep up with it. A year later, one can sense his rising impatience that our popular culture, and our political leaders, are not helping us keep pace. --Tom Nissley
Where Were You When the World Went Flat?
Thomas L. Friedman's reporter's curiosity and his ability to recognize the patterns behind the most complex global developments have made him one of the most entertaining and authoritative sources for information about the wider world we live in, both as the foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times and as the author of landmark books like From Beirut to Jerusalem and The Lexus and the Olive Tree. They also make him an endlessly fascinating conversation partner, and we've now had the chance to talk to him about The World Is Flat twice. Read our original interview with him following the publication of the first edition of The World Is Flat to learn why there's almost no one from Washington, D.C., listed in the index of a book about the global economy, and what his one-plank platform for president would be. (Hint: his bumper stickers would say, "Can You Hear Me Now?")
And now you can listen to our second interview, in which he talks about the updates he's made in "The World Is Flat 2.0," including his response to parents who said to him, "Great, Mr. Friedman, I'm glad you told us the world is flat. Now what do I tell my kids?"
The Essential Tom Friedman
From Beirut to Jerusalem |
The Lexus and the Olive Tree |
Longitudes and Attitudes |
More on Globalization and Development
China, Inc. by Ted Fishman |
Three Billion New Capitalists by Clyde Prestowitz |
The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs |
Globalization and Its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz |
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy by Pietra Rivoli |
The Mystery of Capital by Hernando de Soto |
Book Description
The World Is Flat is Thomas L. Friedman’s account of the great changes taking place in our time, as lightning-swift advances in technology and communications put people all over the globe in touch as never before—creating an explosion of wealth in India and China, and challenging the rest of us to run even faster just to stay in place. This updated and expanded edition features more than a hundred pages of fresh reporting and commentary, drawn from Friedman’s travels around the world and across the American heartland—from anyplace where the flattening of the world is being felt.
In The World Is Flat, Friedman at once shows “how and why globalization has now shifted into warp drive” (Robert Wright, Slate) and brilliantly demystifies the new flat world for readers, allowing them to make sense of the often bewildering scene unfolding before their eyes. With his inimitable ability to translate complex foreign policy and economic issues, he explains how the flattening of the world happened at the dawn of the twenty-first century; what it means to countries, companies, communities, and individuals; how governments and societies can, and must, adapt; and why terrorists want to stand in the way. More than ever, The World Is Flat is an essential update on globalization, its successes and discontents, powerfully illuminated by one of our most respected journalists.
Download Description
The Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist gives a bold, timely, and surprising picture of the state of globalization in the twenty-first century
Customer Reviews:
An important look into the development of the world, for the common person.......2007-10-23
I am a common person. I am not a computer-geek, or a technology junkie, or even an avid reader of Times or other such publications of the world as we know it. I am too busy, and so this was a lovely book to help bring to my awareness the situation of our world's commerce, trade and technological developments as they are today.
Covering a wide range of subjects, from political to environmental, to health-care and education, our author provides a good, clear look into the world of outsourcing, "in-sourcing", technological advances, and the political arena in which everything comes together. He provides a mostly objective report on such subjects, so widly influencing the world.
For anyone interested in the future of our nation and of the world, business, trade, politics, or life in general, this is a great resource. Of course, it certainly is a lot of heavy reading, and the author tends to get wordy from time to time. But overall, this book is well researched and well written.
My main complaint is that he steps into the political side of things a bit more than I believe this book warrants. He gives his opinion on what certain individuals should do to solve the problems, and uses the book as a platform for his area of interest. I support his research and expertise on the subjects at hand, but do not feel that the "call to action" was either appropriately executed or even thorough enough given the subjects covered, for it to be a valid part of the book. Other than that, great job!
...and so is this book.......2007-10-10
Though it has become an immensely popular book, Friedman's work is fairly shallow and simplistic. It is important to remember that this is a world analysis written by a journalist, not by a political economist or any type of economist or political scientist. His views are oversimplified and his support relies heavily on anecdote, making his 600-pager about 400 pages too long. We read it for a poli sci class and proceeded to tear it apart intellectually.
Ranks up there with Common Sense, Uncle Toms Cabin, The Femine Mystique.......2007-10-10
One of the greatest books ever written. Everyone in America should read this book. Every teacher in America should read and teach Frieman's lessons. Every parent should read and help prepare their children for the world that is coming. Every student should read and begin to prepare for the world they are going to face. This is the most important book of our times, bar none.
Embracing Business Globalization's Irreversibility.......2007-10-10
This is easily the most relevant book written on the new realities of business globalization, its irreversibility, and the practical consequences to our future. Friedman does an excellent job describing the numerous factors that led up to our current global economy including the ongoing fall of communism, the advent of the personal computer, and the ubiquity of the Internet. His historical review and assessment is fascinating and it sets up the reader to understand the context for his theories and practical applications. Friedman delves into numerous industries, businesses, personalities, case studies, technologies, psychological factors, and sociological factors. Although he covers numerous business, technological, and economic concepts, his writing style is very engaging and entertaining, using many personal examples and narratives, thereby holding the reader's interest. Rather than bemoaning some of the common perceived negative consequences of a global economy (such as US auto workers losing jobs to overseas cheaper labor) Friedman helps the reader to understand business globalization's irreversibility. In so doing, he describes many personal, practical, and business strategies for thriving in this new environment. Friedman is realistic and compassionate concerning the changes and the challenges. He states, "the great challenge for our time will be to absorb these changes in ways that do not overwhelm people but also do not leave them behind. None of this will be easy. But this is our task. It is inevitable and unavoidable" (pp. 46-47). As Friedman unfolds his strategies, he gives the reader a broader, global perspective that is filled with hope and excitement. Whether as a CEO, a business student, or a brand new professional embarking upon a career, this book is insightful, practical, and essential reading.
What a good boy am I.......2007-10-06
Reading this book is like watching someone else's kids open their Christmas presents from relatives they don't really know. I'm not sure how the author can possibly be so fascinated by technology and yet know absolutely nothing about it at the same time, but his endless diatribes about the miracles of PayPal and Microsoft Word are beyond laughable, and I was pretty much in shock when he started citing howstuffworks-dot-com as a technical reference on fiber optics and SOAP. What editor told him that this was OK?
So enamored with his own cleverness is he that Mr. Friedman dedicates several pages to explaining the book's title, even though a single sentence would have sufficed. Unfortunately, this doesn't stop after the first chapter; rather than make a point and move on, he has to point out the fact that he just made a point and tell you what a wonderful point it was just in case you missed the point. It's like hanging out with that one friend who sits around smiling and pointing to his hindquarters after he rips one off at the dinner table.
If you want to learn about globalization and are not old enough to remember the first light bulb, go read "No Logo" instead. This is horrible, irrelevant geriatric babbling.
Book Description
Contemporary and well written, this book serves as a good desk reference for business professionals who need to know about information systems. Chapter topics include database management, telecommunications, electronic commerce, information system ethics, security, and more. For systems analysts or general business professionals who need to know about information systems.
Book Description
Dealing with the management of information technology (IT) as it is being practiced in organizations today, the emphasis of this book is on the current material that information systems executives find important; its organization is around a framework that readers new to the information can understand. In this 7
th edition, discussions include the rising societal risks of IT, new sections on digital convergence, messaging, and instant messaging, and a revised discussion on wireless technology. The topics of outsourcing and and information security have been updated and enhanced. Information Systems Management in Practice continues to merge theory with practice through real-world case examples.
Topics include leadership issues, the CIO’s responsibilities, uses of IT, information systems planning, essential technologies, managing operations, systems development, decision-making, collaboration, and knowledge work.
An excellent reference resource for anyone employed in the information technology sector of business, especially managers of and executives in those departments.
Customer Reviews:
Review by Grad Student.......2007-07-19
This was my textbook for a graduate class in Information Systems and I enjoyed the book very much. The first chapter is a great introduction to show where the world of IT is and how we got there. Also the case studies are worth the price alone since they take real world corporations and offer insight into the improvements/mistakes they have made. Up to date also b/c it covers modern topics such as SOA and ESB.
IS Myths Revealed.......2007-01-05
Until I studied this book as part my BEng(Hons) curriculam, I was considering that the Innformation Systems as a dumb subject and often relating MIS to the IS. After reading this book there is shift in my paradigm. Barbara starts this with brief history on IS and its strategic importance and goes on explaining the concept of group support and decision support systems. Its a valuable asset for any IS practitioner or a studying professional. I felt certain chapters like networking and database should not part of this book as the IS is more of a concept rather than implementation. However I rate this as highest since this is the best book I have ever seen in the IS engineering.
From a network administrator's perspective.......2004-05-18
I read this book as part of my first course in a Ph.D.-MIS program. I thought it was a great overview and history of MIS, and provided insight into alternative IS management styles and strategies. The case studies were relevent, current, well written and interesting. I recommend this book for all network and systems administrators. It gives insight into what thought processes should be occurring at the CIO and IS manager levels.
Great paperweight, good consolidation of other people's work.......2002-10-20
This book provides various sources of information but no analysis by the book's authors. It is a patch work of case studies, excerpts, and paraphrasing of other texts to which I hope the original authors are getting paid royalties for.
Some of the diagrams are simplistic, others are useless. More than half of them are from other sources.
The book seems to formulate points of interest (e.g. traditional, evolving, and present-day IT roles) without providing analysis of why and how this affects future trends in IS management.
I had to write a review after reading nebulous fluff like, "Being a manufacturer, LifeScan has instituted quality processes." (which successful company doesn't) or "Way back in 1964,..." (not just back, but WAY back). When you do read something of slight interest it is almost always followed by something like, "so says Mr. so-and-so, in this-paper-that-he-wrote." (e.g. pp. 126-127 whenever "Rayport and Sviokla" is mentioned - 4 times in about 1 page of text and in every paragraph - the authors are paraphrasing a point Rayport and Sviokla made)
I'm truly amazed this book is this bad after five revisions. The authors seem to have the right information, but they really need to provide their own insights and analysis. And also have my high school english teacher review it to cut the fluff out.
Ideal for learning about IS management.......2002-08-18
I bought this book for my MSc in Analysis, Design and Management of Information Systems and I consider that it was extremely helpful. The chapter about the perspectives of IS and the role of the CIO are very interesting. In the chapter about Information Systems Planning, they included lots of concepts related to strategy, linking IS Planning with six different approaches/techniques: Stages of Growth, Critical Success Factors, Competitive Forces Model, Value Chain Analysis, Internet Value Matrix and Linkage Analysis Planning. The chapters about managing systems development are really instructive also. I strongly recommend the book for those IT practitioners whom are seeking a managerial position. It is very useful to managers and strategists as well.
Amazon.com
Bestselling author Nassim Nicholas Taleb continues his exploration of randomness in his fascinating new book, The Black Swan, in which he examines the influence of highly improbable and unpredictable events that have massive impact. Engaging and enlightening, The Black Swan is a book that may change the way you think about the world, a book that Chris Anderson calls, "a delightful romp through history, economics, and the frailties of human nature." See Anderson's entire guest review below.
Guest Reviewer: Chris Anderson
Chris Anderson is editor-in-chief of Wired magazine and the author of The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More.
Four hundred years ago, Francis Bacon warned that our minds are wired to deceive us. "Beware the fallacies into which undisciplined thinkers most easily fall--they are the real distorting prisms of human nature." Chief among them: "Assuming more order than exists in chaotic nature." Now consider the typical stock market report: "Today investors bid shares down out of concern over Iranian oil production." Sigh. We're still doing it.
Our brains are wired for narrative, not statistical uncertainty. And so we tell ourselves simple stories to explain complex thing we don't--and, most importantly, can't--know. The truth is that we have no idea why stock markets go up or down on any given day, and whatever reason we give is sure to be grossly simplified, if not flat out wrong.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb first made this argument in Fooled by Randomness, an engaging look at the history and reasons for our predilection for self-deception when it comes to statistics. Now, in The Black Swan: the Impact of the Highly Improbable, he focuses on that most dismal of sciences, predicting the future. Forecasting is not just at the heart of Wall Street, but it's something each of us does every time we make an insurance payment or strap on a seat belt.
The problem, Nassim explains, is that we place too much weight on the odds that past events will repeat (diligently trying to follow the path of the "millionaire next door," when unrepeatable chance is a better explanation). Instead, the really important events are rare and unpredictable. He calls them Black Swans, which is a reference to a 17th century philosophical thought experiment. In Europe all anyone had ever seen were white swans; indeed, "all swans are white" had long been used as the standard example of a scientific truth. So what was the chance of seeing a black one? Impossible to calculate, or at least they were until 1697, when explorers found Cygnus atratus in Australia.
Nassim argues that most of the really big events in our world are rare and unpredictable, and thus trying to extract generalizable stories to explain them may be emotionally satisfying, but it's practically useless. September 11th is one such example, and stock market crashes are another. Or, as he puts it, "History does not crawl, it jumps." Our assumptions grow out of the bell-curve predictability of what he calls "Mediocristan," while our world is really shaped by the wild powerlaw swings of "Extremistan."
In full disclosure, I'm a long admirer of Taleb's work and a few of my comments on drafts found their way into the book. I, too, look at the world through the powerlaw lens, and I too find that it reveals how many of our assumptions are wrong. But Taleb takes this to a new level with a delightful romp through history, economics, and the frailties of human nature. --Chris Anderson
Book Description
A black swan is a highly improbable event with three principal characteristics: It is unpredictable; it carries a massive impact; and, after the fact, we concoct an explanation that makes it appear less random, and more predictable, than it was. The astonishing success of Google was a black swan; so was 9/11. For Nassim Nicholas Taleb, black swans underlie almost everything about our world, from the rise of religions to events in our own personal lives.
Why do we not acknowledge the phenomenon of black swans until after they occur? Part of the answer, according to Taleb, is that humans are hardwired to learn specifics when they should be focused on generalities. We concentrate on things we already know and time and time again fail to take into consideration what we don’t know. We are, therefore, unable to truly estimate opportunities, too vulnerable to the impulse to simplify, narrate, and categorize, and not open enough to rewarding those who can imagine the “impossible.”
For years, Taleb has studied how we fool ourselves into thinking we know more than we actually do. We restrict our thinking to the irrelevant and inconsequential, while large events continue to surprise us and shape our world. Now, in this revelatory book, Taleb explains everything we know about what we don’t know. He offers surprisingly simple tricks for dealing with black swans and benefiting from them.
Elegant, startling, and universal in its applications The Black Swan will change the way you look at the world. Taleb is a vastly entertaining writer, with wit, irreverence, and unusual stories to tell. He has a polymathic command of subjects ranging from cognitive science to business to probability theory. The Black Swan is a landmark book–itself a black swan.
Customer Reviews:
Expect the Unexpected..........2007-10-23
Taleb takes aim at those (especially in the financial markets) who predict the likely outcome and how we in society rarely examine the unpredicted. He argues that knowing the future is unknowable. He has covered this topic before in his 2001 best-seller, "Fooled by Randomness." Overall an interesting book.
I also highly recommend the book Understanding: Train of Thought; you won't be disappointed.
The Black Swan - An Epistemic Fowl.......2007-10-22
The Black Swan - The Impact of the Highly Improbable could have been titled The Black Swan - An Epistemic Fowl, but this might have impaired sales. Nassim Nicholas Taleb arrives at his erudite but not arrogant story after a childhood in war torn Lebanon, obtaining a Wharton MBA and years trading on Wall Street. He makes abundant use of these experiences as he weaves a complex story about the importance of these inadequately appreciated rare events to our increasingly quantified and specialized world.
His journey takes us from Plato to Popper, from Gauss to Mandelbrot and from errors of induction to errors of confirmation. An appreciation of epistemology (the philosophy of knowledge) is not required but will make the journey more enjoyable. He sets up a straw horse by showing the inadequacy of the Gaussian distribution to account for events which are several standard deviations from the mean and, therefore, are the events in which we have the least confidence. He offers some hope by using a fractal (power series) model which allows him to transform some of his black swan intractable problems to tractable gray swan problems. However, his analysis is non exhaustive and he does not consider non Gaussian models or discontinuous distributions.
We are left with an adequate argument against Gaussian quantitative models but with no replacement except the traditional qualitative narrative of boom and bust, creation and destruction which has been part of human culture for thousands of years.
A Distortion of History.......2007-10-22
Mr. Taleb's book is quite entertaining with the wealth of anecdotal situations he addresses. He focuses his analysis on particular examples that confirm the theory that random events control the course of history. Nevertheless, the little history he quotes is his autobiographical reference is inaccurate. On page four he states, "Both sides of my family came from the Greco-Syrian community, the last Byzantine outpost in northern Syria, which is now called Lebanon...We originate from the olive-growing area at the base of Mount Lebanon--we chased the Maronite Christians into the mountains in the famous battle of Amioun, my ancestral village." All historical records, including one written by a man from Amioun, Mr. Chedid Al-Azar, describe the battle of Amioun as a victory of the Maronites over the Byzantine troops in which the two Byzantine generals, Murik and Murikian, were killed. How did this battle become a chase of the Maronites into the mountains? Mr. Taleb is not doing himself or the reader a favor by bringing to historical facts his tortured soul about his identity. Lebanon has been a country since 1943, and Mr. Taleb, who was born in it and educated by it, seems not to accept its presence. If similar distortions run into his chosen arguments and quotes from authorities, I have trouble believing the veracity of his conclusions. It is also disconcerting to observe his incessant bashing of the French education he received in a French lycee which has been the foundation for his erudition. This would certainly fit into the paragraph, "A New Kind of Ingratitude" prominently displayed in the prologue. Is Mr. Taleb arrogant, ungrateful, and also deceitful?
knowing you can't knnow the unknowable.......2007-10-21
Ultimately, deep down inside us all, we know that we are only human and that some events only serve to highlight our flawed understanding of our time here on Earth.
In daily life however, we rarely are able to reflect on the uncertainty of existence because we have agendas to meet, people to reassure or please, responsibilties and all sorts of pressure to deliver the daily bread, not to mention our grand design to achieve our desires which causes us to look in to the future with anticipation of the realisation of our dreams. None of this is a recipe to help us anticipate the unexpected or highly improbable.
This is why a book like Black Swan is a vital tool to anybody searching for greater understanding. This is a book that will challenge you to re-appraise your paradigm and demonstrate some of the many ways in which we drift away from the reality of life as it is, as opposed the the life we imagine.
A great tool for the sceptical empiricist!
Shmonfirmantion or how to develop a swimmer's body lifting weights.......2007-10-21
The following is an excerpt from John Stuart Mill's _A System of Logic_: "To an inhabitant of Central Africa, fifty years ago, no fact probably appeared to rest on more uniform experience than this, that all human beings are black. To Europeans, not many years ago, the proposition, All swans are white, appeared an equally unequivocal instance of uniformity in the course of nature. Further experience has proved to both that they were mistaken" (chapter III, §2, page 226 of the eight edition). As this white-swans-only example of misinduction was first used by Mill, I believe Taleb should have added more bibliographical reference to his black swan metaphor. There is only one final, rather dismissing note on the work that gave Taleb nothing less than his catchy title.
I miss credit to Daniel Bernoulli when Taleb tells that "[c]learly your well-being becomes rapidly insensitive to further quantities" (page 89). I also miss credit to Burton G. Malkiel in Taleb's chapter dedicated to Philip Tetlock and Spyros Makridakis's separate studies on how economists and mathematical models fare poorly when their forecasts are confronted with the harsh reality. Malkiel has been preaching this, with much more substantiated arguments, since the first edition of _A Random Walk Down Wall Street_ in 1973!
_The Black Swan_ is an excellent book, and refreshing in that it shows how lost we live in the torrent of daily information and what an easy prey we have been to experts with fancy, math-heavy explanations for bogus forecasts. "Science tells us what we can know, but what we can know is little, and if we forget how much we cannot know we become insensitive to many things of very great importance." Bertrand Russell wrote this in 1946 in the introduction to _History of Western Philosophy_, but it quite anticipates the ideas laid out in _The Black Swan_: try to know what you don't know, and don't think you can predict the future projecting your past observations. In other words, there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in philosophy. (I hope you got the cheap plagiarism in less than three seconds.)
As you see the idea is not new, but Taleb did a wonderful job connecting the dots. His case against the misuse and abuse of the bell curve is implacable, all the more when illustrated with the crash of the LTCM fund run by Nobel Prize geniuses, whose models, well, could never be wrong. Yeah, right.
Finally, I hope you heed Taleb's advice to be suspicious of experts, and don't believe that anyone with a natural tendency can have a swimmer's body just by lifting weights or taking steroids (page 110). Taleb the physiologist, schmiologist.
Enjoy the book!
Customer Reviews:
a great overview.......2007-09-21
This book gives a wide range of information in different area in information system.
the good thing is that it include example from life where the person can understand the topic.
may some time include extra information that the begginner doesn't need, but overall the book is great.
I recommend it for people who do'n't have any backgroud in IT
Gotta agree with the first reviewer.......2007-03-21
This book leaves me hanging. The book repeatedly talks about leaders needing to be transformational and devise a IS strategy for their organizations -- okay that's great; how about providing some insight. It's one thing to say MIS is a strategic discipline (which this books does) and it's another thing to go out and do it (which this book doesn't describe and hasn't a clue).
The books if full of manager's jargon but and is light on the details. After reading, you'll be able to sound like a manager and probably be able to do little else.
This books blows.......2006-12-22
This book really sucks. Don't get it unless you have to.
Good Introductory.......2006-04-04
This isn't a bad text for an introduction to management in IT. It's not technical and certainly places emphasis on managing IT infrastructures. If you're moving up from being a follower to directing and managing employees and departments, then this book may help to get you a glimpse into it.
Excellent General Overview of the IT Industry as of 1/06........2006-01-18
I have never left a review on Amazon before (I've been a customer since 1997) and had no intention of doing so, when I initially searched this book description for some unrelated information.
However, after reading the previous two reviews related to this book I now feel compelled to give my review. Neither of the previous reviews had anything even remotely substantive regarding the actual material in the book. The only pertinent information the previous two reviewers touched upon concerned a typo. I challenge anyone to show me a 700+ page textbook that doesn't contain at least one typo.
The rest of the review pertains to the reviewer trying to grind an axe with regard to US programmers (which I am not). Maybe if he actually read the book, he would've left a different review. The other review is concerning a vendor/shipping issue.
I give this book 5 stars because I feel it is a good general overview source concerning the Information Technology industry at the time of this posting (1/06).
This book is well written and laid out in a very systematical and logical format, which allows the reader to reference the book "ala carte" style. If I want a refresher on networking or databases relating to the corporate world from a managerial perspective, this is a great source.
If you are looking to learn the latest version of Oracle or become certified in Linux, then I suggest looking elsewhere.
Average customer rating:
- A Good Book for Finance/IT majors
- Great book, and includes @RISK
- Good practical text
- Decision analysis
- Good book , worth to read
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Spreadsheet Modeling and Decision Analysis (with CD-ROM and Microsoft Project 2003 120 day version)
Cliff Ragsdale
Manufacturer: South-Western College Pub
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ASIN: 0324312563 |
Book Description
Valuable software, realistic examples, and fascinating topics . . . everything you need to master the most widely used management science techniques using Microsoft® Excel™ is right here! Learning to make decisions in today's business world takes training and experience. Cliff Ragsdale--the respected innovator in the field of management science--is an outstanding guide to help you learn the skills you need, use Microsoft Excel for Windows to implement those skills, and gain the confidence to apply what you learn to real business situations. SPREADSHEET MODELING AND DECISION ANALYSIS gives you step-by-step instructions and annotated screen shots to make examples easy to follow. Plus, interesting sections called The World of Management Science show you how each topic has been applied in a real company.
Customer Reviews:
A Good Book for Finance/IT majors.......2007-09-17
This book does what it sets out to do: teach spreadsheet modeling. I'm only on the third chapter, but the author does a good job including step by step instructions on how to create winning models. The author is also very easy to understand. So if you're going to be doing optimization and modeling in your work, I highly recommend this book.
Great book, and includes @RISK.......2007-08-06
Ragsdale really makes spreadsheet modeling accessible to real-world business situations. It was a great asset to my MBA coursework. As a student, it came with a free student version of @RISK risk analysis software as well.
Good practical text.......2006-11-12
A good book for those studying decision making techniques or as a reference for managers looking to upgrade their skills
Decision analysis.......2006-11-02
Excellent book; I am considering it as a textbook for a Managerial Sciences course. The examples are clear and real increasing the interest of the students.
Good book , worth to read.......2006-02-17
This book is designated as the textbook for our master's level management modeling class. The author concerntrated on the application of Microsoft Solver to solve various of optimazation problems that we freqently faced in the real business opreations. Overall, this is good book for entry-level management modeling study.
Average customer rating:
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Cost Management: Measuring, Monitoring, and Motivating Performance (Management Accounting)
Leslie G. Eldenburg , and
Susan K. Wolcott
Manufacturer: Wiley
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Binding: Hardcover
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Accessories:
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Management Science: The Art of Modeling with Spreadsheets
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Cost Management, Problem Solving Guide: Measuring, Monitoring, and Motivating Performance
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The Art of Modeling with Spreadsheets: Management Science, Spreadsheet Engineering, and Modeling Craft
ASIN: 0471205494 |
Book Description
Cost Management" was written in response to changes in the global business environment. Unbridled access to information and intense competition has meant that cost accounting has become an increasingly important tool for managers and accountants alike. Most textbooks focus on content knowledge and then expect students to 'magically' demonstrate skills such as decision-making and critical thinking. "Cost Management" better prepares students for professional success by bridging the gaps between Knowledge, Skills and Abilities. Many students fail to recognize the assumptions, limitations, behavioral implications and qualitative factors that influence managerial decision-making. The dynamic, new author team focuses on cost accounting methods, techniques and the quality of cost accounting information used for decision-making to deliver a thoroughly modern treatment of cost accounting topics.
Product Description
This introduction to IT Service Management, published by ITSMF-NL, is based on the latest edition of the ITIL books on Service Support and Service Delivery and is intended to serve as a thorough and convenient introduction to the field of IT Service Management and a selection of the books in the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), and a self-study guide that contains all the material needed to prepare for the Foundation Certificate examination in IT Service Management.
Customer Reviews:
ITIL process makes sense........2007-09-28
ITIL is hardly new, but it is surprising how many professionals in Service Management have never heard of it. I leanred of it from a colleague, and did some research. It is more or less a common sense approach to service management and delivery. What it reall does is force the IT professional to view IT in a customer business needs and expectations sense as opposed to an IT provider sense. I found this text easy to read and well laid out. The mock exam in the back is an interesting way to drive home major points, but the book itself is useful not just for people who want to pass the Foundations certification, but to those who want to view service management and delivery in a more process centric manner. I also purchased the study guide for Foundations by Ron Palmer that gives a very good conversational explanation of ITIL and fills in gaps the offical text does not.
Essential for Passing Foundation Exam.......2007-03-23
I purchased this book with the sole purpose of using it as a study guide to pass the ITIL Foundation exam, and did exactly that. The book has a consistent structure, covering the required areas of Service Delivery and Service Support functions. The price is slightly high, but from looking around, this appears to be the defacto study guide for learning the ITIL Foundation material. Highly recommended.
Excellent book to understand the ITIL basics.......2007-01-09
Excellent book to understand the ITIL basics and to clear the foundation certification. I would recommend this if your objective is to clear the certification in a short span of time. There are other books available if you want to read every process in detail.
Expensive Overview.......2006-12-30
It's a fine overview of ITIL & excellent preparation for the foundation exam. But $50 was a bit pricey (even if my boss didn't complain).
Excellent reference.......2006-11-11
I just finished the ITIL Foundation Certification class (still awaiting test results) and this book was used for teaching. The book is more clear and concise than the older version which a coworker has. Since I am in charge of one of the ITIL processes at work and wasn't familiar with the "Seperation of Duties" I really needed this book. I will use this book and knowledge gained from the class in order to Implement the process.
Customer Reviews:
Not worth your time........2006-09-27
Basically I had to purchase this for a class. The book is full of acronyms and buzz words with no application. The end of chapter review is great if you just wanted to add new words to your vocabulary and be able to repeat their definitions with little understanding. This is a classic example of a text book gone wrong.
Good for its purpose.......2006-06-14
If you need a management information systems book, this is the book you should be looking for! Its not useful for much else, however, maybe kindling...
deluxe RIP OFF.......2004-12-20
I 'was forced' to buy this book for an MIS course. We all know how textbooks are scams anyway, but this one takes the cake. My college even had the balls to 'bundle' this with an MS Access book so we were stuck with a $170 bundle. All the info I needed to take the course was available on the website webct. If you can find a way to access that site, you don't even need this outrageously expensive book. I got an A in the course and never cracked the book. I just used the info on the website. You should try that route if you can, and forgo purchasing this book.
Just not worth the cost........2004-10-12
This book is compulsory for a class I am in. Do what I did, don't waste your money - borrow from a library..... or find other solutions. This is way too much money for information that can be covered in other sources. The publisher is clearly exploiting the fact that it is used as a textbook to raise the cost outrageously.
This book is a scam.......2004-09-09
My friend used Management Information Sustems: Managing the Digital Firm 8th edition. Now that I received this one I can see that 95% of of the content in the new book is identical to the one my friend has. Oh, right, the authors also added to the title the words "essentials of" Management...
I can believe the publisher let the authors publish this kind of book. A previous review says that the book is almost identical to the previous edition of the same book. Now I am saying that the book is almost identical to a different book writen by the same authors...this is outrageous.
Ah, yes. The cases at the end of the chapters are different
Book Description
Enterprise architecture defines a firm’s needs for standardized tasks, job roles, systems, infrastructure, and data in core business processes. Thus, it helps a company to articulate how it will compete in a digital economy and it guides managers’ daily decisions to realize their vision of success. This book clearly explains enterprise architecture’s vital role in enabling—or constraining—the execution of business strategy. The book provides clear frameworks, thoughtful case examples, and a proven-effective structured process for designing and implementing effective enterprise architectures.
Customer Reviews:
This book is about IT Strategy.......2007-08-31
I have read very few books which comes this close to defining IT's Strategic practice. Enterprise Architecture is the place where IT meets the needs of business. Enterprise Architecture is where operational risk is measured, future operational planning is done and the new business strategy is transformed into IT strategy. This book does a very good job of linking Enterprise Architecture with core business processes. It also explains the differences between, often confusing terms, such as -- application, data and IT systems/infrastructure architecture.
In last few years EA has become a large practice for Federal Government. It is fast becoming a need for every big company who is involved in making its IT agile, productive and innovative.
IT managers and business strategists both should read this to understand their role in crafting EA. This book is an easy read and uses very simple words, business examples and analytical frameworks. It is an unique book because most of Enterprise Architecture arena is muddled with acronyms and jargons, which makes the issue not only confusing but also very intimidating.
Enterprise Architecture As Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution
Best EA book over.......2007-07-23
This book is undoubtedly the best EA book I have ever read. It gives an overview of how to form a
1) overall strategy
2) Make EA a habit in the corporate
3) How to implement EA etc.
Enterprise Architecture As Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution.......2007-05-28
An excellent book for people with vision.
Very Good High level IT landscape vision.......2007-05-07
The book provides a very interesting point of view regarding IT Departament evolution states. Some chapters, while its contents are known, also are so cristal clear that helps when painting the landscape picture. If you are interesting about IT charting, it is very useful.
In the other hand, in my opinion, the book is not very clear when explaining the "operating model" concept and, the chapters related with it (operating model) are "dry" and do not encourage you to keep on with the reading, but if you progress forward, the book gets very interesting and easy to read from this point on.
EA Strategy.......2007-04-11
For those of us who need insight on how to visualize Enterprise Architecture Strategy in a step-by-step manner, this book fits within that realm. It provides insight into the characteristics of four different operating models and provides examples of how business processes relate to these operating models. Additionally, there is knowledge to be learned on how to approach the various stages of Enterprise Architectural maturity and what are the best management practices and how to utilize them. Lastly, the leadership section is the best in the book and the principles given are truly worth the time to read and absorb.
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- Used Car Buying Guide 2007 (Consumer Reports Used Car Buying Guide)
- Value Driven Intellectual Capital: How to Convert Intangible Corporate Assets Into Market Value
- Venice Against the Sea: A City Besieged
- Video Over IP: A Practical Guide to Technology and Applications (Focal Press Media Technology Professional Series)
- Water in Environmental Planning
- Who's Who in the Bible: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary (Reader's Digest)
- Working Across Boundaries: Making Collaboration Work in Government and Nonprofit Organizations (Jossey Bass Nonprofit & Public Management Series)
- 21 Things Every Future Engineer Should Know: A Practical Guide for Students and Parents
- A Kids Guide to Giving
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