Book Description
Much of our business thinking is shaped by delusions -- errors of logic and flawed judgments that distort our understanding of the real reasons for a company's performance. In a brilliant and unconventional book, Phil Rosenzweig unmasks the delusions that are commonly found in the corporate world. These delusions affect the business press and academic research, as well as many bestselling books that promise to reveal the secrets of success or the path to greatness. Such books claim to be based on rigorous thinking, but operate mainly at the level of storytelling. They provide comfort and inspiration, but deceive managers about the true nature of business success.
The most pervasive delusion is the Halo Effect. When a company's sales and profits are up, people often conclude that it has a brilliant strategy, a visionary leader, capable employees, and a superb corporate culture. When performance falters, they conclude that the strategy was wrong, the leader became arrogant, the people were complacent, and the culture was stagnant. In fact, little may have changed -- company performance creates a Halo that shapes the way we perceive strategy, leadership, people, culture, and more.
Drawing on examples from leading companies including Cisco Systems, IBM, Nokia, and ABB, Rosenzweig shows how the Halo Effect is widespread, undermining the usefulness of business bestsellers from In Search of Excellence to Built to Last and Good to Great.
Rosenzweig identifies nine popular business delusions. Among them:
-
The Delusion of Absolute Performance: Company performance is relative to competition, not absolute, which is why following a formula can never guarantee results. Success comes from doing things better than rivals, which means that managers have to take risks.
-
The Delusion of Rigorous Research: Many bestselling authors praise themselves for the vast amount of data they have gathered, but forget that if the data aren't valid, it doesn't matter how much was gathered or how sophisticated the research methods appear to be. They trick the reader by substituting sizzle for substance.
-
The Delusion of Single Explanations: Many studies show that a particular factor, such as corporate culture or social responsibility or customer focus, leads to improved performance. But since many of these factors are highly correlated, the effect of each one is usually less than suggested.
In what promises to be a landmark book, The Halo Effect replaces mistaken thinking with a sharper understanding of what drives business success and failure. The Halo Effect is a guide for the thinking manager, a way to detect errors in business research and to reach a clearer understanding of what drives business success and failure.
Skeptical, brilliant, iconoclastic, and mercifully free of business jargon, Rosenzweig's book is nevertheless dead serious, making his arguments about important issues in an unsparing and direct way that will appeal to a broad business audience. For managers who want to separate fact from fiction in the world of business, The Halo Effect is essential reading -- witty, often funny, and sharply argued, it's an antidote to so much of the conventional thinking that clutters business bookshelves.
Customer Reviews:
Frustrating outcome..........2007-10-19
I labored over several attempts at a review here, but at the end of the day, I just didn't like this book. There is realism (like Ian Ayres in Super Crunchers) and then there is useless fingerpointing. This book came across to me as griping. Unfortunately, it griped without a tangible solution after the read.
But, hey, I'm an entrepreneur and I am used to deluding myself. Even worse, I'm a constant optimist. I understand Rosenzweig's concepts that no success lasts forever and that halos are bad - real bad little critters - but if I worried about this stuff, I wouldn't get out of bed. OR I'd just go find me a nice cozy corporate job and put this book on my desk to hold up my hand as I point a finger at one failing or another...
This book would make great fodder for "The Office" and the folks at Dunder Mifflin. I can just see Michael or Dwight explaining the concept that a company can get better and fall further behind at the same time.
*gack*
Excellent reminder.......2007-09-25
This book was an excellent reminder to me of why the business guru type books have never set well with me. Practicle advice and how to think for yourself and take what you read with a grain of salt.
Remarkable.......2007-09-21
Achieves the remarkable feat of commenting in a deep way on business research methodology while avoiding equations and graphs, and while being compellingly readable. In addition to the many interesting methodological critiques in the book, the author points out the (non-obvious) fact there is no formula for business success, because business is competitive. Of course we know that business is competitive, but business authors (and authors of the "you too can be successful" genre generally) intentionally forget that not everyone can be successful because of the competitive nature of economic life. The book is so readable that I was sorry when it was over--an emotion I have in the past experienced only with good novels and histories. Congratulations to the author for a fine, stimulating work.
No Easy Answers Here.......2007-09-06
If you want guided solutions to performance excellence, or are looking for the keys to business success, do not "Search Inside" - or, for that matter, look in any other popular business book or management works, according to Dr. Rosenzweig! In this well argued challenge to popular business press answers on performance excellence, the author promises to help managers think for themselves, rather than accept the numerous and often conflicting claims made by both academics and management gurus alike. Following the theme of the book's title, Professor Rosenzweig argues that the halo effect and/or eight other fatal flaws that find their way into the research reduce most business books to `stories books' that provide coherent explanations of complex events and appeal to our need for fairytale like outcomes.
Interestingly, the author is not necessarily arguing that the offerings are wrong; in fact he believes many of them are good basic principles. Rather, he argues they often are not substantiated by sound research, and when offered as the solution, they lead not to useful insights, but they divert our attention, cause us to lose focus on the details of running our businesses better than the competition, or they let us confuse actions and outcomes. In short, if they do not help us think, they are dangerous. There are no five (or eight or whatever number) keys to sustaining excellent performance. Even the two critical success factors offered by the author - strategic choice, and execution - are fraught with risk and uncertainty. To quote from the book, "The answer to the question, What really work? is simple: Nothing really works, at least not all the time." This book is highly recommended for managers in all business or social sectors. Dennis DeWilde, author of The Performance Connection
Long overdue - and well worth the wait!.......2007-08-27
Do not worry about what the Nine Delusions are that the author uses to develop his thesis - they largely overlap and interlock and as you read the book will be seen as a powerful continuum. Why you should read this book is because bottom dollar like me you will have read one of the prior highly successful tomes that is one of the key targets for his thesis.
Whether it is "In search of excellence", "Built to Last" or "Good to great", by the end of this book you will I reckon have a more questioning attitude to such works (if not 100% cycnical) because this book challenges many preconceptions and makes you think and look afresh at how one will ever achieve success in business management.
The theme is not just "cutting tall poppies" down to size, but more basically that nothing is as simple or easy as many have claimed in writing such books. His chapter on why "strategy" and "execution" are actually so hard to do well, is alone worth the price of the book for me.
The core argument of the "delusions" being based on too much retropsective story telling is bought full circle by the three examples at the end of companies and business leaders who have in the authors opinion sought to face reality and do not underestimate the uncertainty that faces everyone.
A highly recommended book since it makes its points thoroughly and cogently and as such comes over as thoughtful and provoking of fresh views - as such it is a welcome change from too many of the best selling tirade type books that have come to represent both business but also political and history bestsellers recently. Definitely a book that is long overdue and one hopes will be successful plus lead to more realism in such future writing.
Book Description
This book could be called "The Intelligent Person's Guide to Economics." Like Robert Heilbroner's The Worldly Philosophers, it attempts to explain the core ideas of the great economists, beginning with Adam Smith and ending with Joseph Schumpeter. In between are chapters on Thomas Malthus, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, the marginalists, John Maynard Keynes, Friedrich Hayek, and Thorstein Veblen. The title expresses Duncan Foley's belief that economics at its most abstract and interesting level is a speculative philosophical discourse, not a deductive or inductive science. Adam's fallacy is the attempt to separate the economic sphere of life, in which the pursuit of self-interest is led by the invisible hand of the market to a socially beneficial outcome, from the rest of social life, in which the pursuit of self-interest is morally problematic and has to be weighed against other ends.
Smith and his successors argued that the market and the division of labor that is fostered by it result in tremendous gains in productivity, which lead to a higher standard of living. Yet the market does not address the problem of distribution--that is, how is the gain in wealth to be divided among the classes and members of society? Nor does it address such problems as the long-run well-being of the planet.
Adam's Fallacy is beautifully written and contains interesting observations and insights on almost every page. It will engage the reader's thoughts and feelings on the deepest level.
Customer Reviews:
Economic Theory as Theology.......2007-09-07
This is a truly excellent book. As a long time student of the history of economic thought, this book, subtitled "A Guide to Economic Theology" offers a truly insightful perspective on Smith and other classical economists. It has always been my belief that there are a lot of people (some are pompous neo-cons) who quote Adam Smith and have never read him. The author quite effectively dismantles the argument inherent in "Adam's fallacy"; that is by acting in our own (avaricous)self interest, we are acting for the public good; that we must accept injustice in the present to allow for distributive justice over time. Markets for goods, services, and labor do not always produce efficient, let alone just outcomes.
The book should be required reading - not just in Economics Departments, but for elected officials as well. Three cheers for Duncan Foley!!
A very enjoyable reading.......2007-09-03
"Adam's Fallacy" is a very enjoyable reading for anyone interested in political economy; a refreshing view at the history of economic thought from a critical perspective and in an accessible fashion. The reader will appreciate Foley's wisdom in political economy and the care he takes in remaining unbiased, even when expressing the author's personal preferences.
4.5 Stars-Excellent book-Horrible Title.......2007-07-02
Foley is correct that "Modern" economic theory(Monetarism,Rational Expectations,Real Business Cycle theory,New Classical Economics, Efficient Market Hypothesis,etc.),which is based on the false claim that all markets can be modeled either as being normally distributed, or " as if " they were normally distributed,assumes stability and a natural self adjusting,self correcting invisible hand mechanism that,operating through the process of labor specialization,division of labor,extension of the market,and economic growth, transforms private greed into a social optimum.These theories model the economy as if it were inherently stable and subject only to exogenous shocks.They assume away the inherent ,internal,endogenous shocks created internally by both technical(capital goods) and financial innovation ,as well as the speculative shocks caused by speculators leveraging their bets with huge infusions of bank loans leading to the inevitable bubble and collapse.
Adam Smith did not make this error or commit "Adam's Fallacy".On pp.734-735 of the WN,1776,Modern Library (Cannan)edition,he makes it clear that the economic growth process of the Invisible Hand ,self interest,and the division of labor creates major undepletable,negative externalities(social,intellectual,martial,political,and moral) that impact practically the entire work force.The only way to counteract this is through government action.Foley needs to completely change the title to David's(Ricardo),Jeremy's(Bentham),and James'(Mills)Fallacy.
Compares favorably with Heilbronner's classic.......2007-02-05
I have recently read both Adam's Fallacy and R. Heilbronner's The Worldly Philosophers (as well as other introductions to economic thought). Adam's Fallacy compares favorably with Heilbronner in that it is a little less devoted to biographies of economists and a little more devoted to the content of their theories. Accordingly, it demands a little more effort from the reader. I didn't find it a quick or an easy read. Despite its title, it is a balanced approach to economics, giving Smith credit where due while attempting to provide "a critical and skeptical understanding of political economy." My advice is to read both Heilbronner's and Foley's books -- and not to stop there. The more you read on the topic of economics, the more nuanced your understanding will become.
Still looking for an unbiased history of economists.......2007-01-29
After reading the table of contents, I purchased this book, expecting it to be a dispassionate history of famous economists. By the middle of the text however, I came to realize that the author was embedding within his extensive knowledge of economic history his unabashed distaste of free market capitalism.
The premise of the book, (and of the title), is that the great fallacy of Adam Smith (and most other economists) is that they offer nothing to deal with the supposed immoral gap between the rich and poor. While R. Stone (above) addresses this point by pointing to the fact that Smith does in fact discuss this issue at length in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, I prefer to address it from a different direction. Foley's argument, focusing on the wide gap existing in capitalist societies between the rich and poor completely overlooks the absolute gains made by all under free market societies, versus their socialist counterparts. Paraphrasing the great Thomas Sowell, economics is not a system of morals, but rather a means by which scarce resource which have alternate uses are rationed most efficiently.
Chapter three most clearly shows the author's bias, in his glowing description of socialism, which in the end only euphemistically discusses the political difficulties in administering such a society. Page 204 is perhaps the best example of this bias:
"Furthermore, the Soviet Union did indeed manage to organize an impressive spurt of economic development, extension of the division of labor, and growth of productive capacity through its central planning mechanisms for what turned out to be a period of sixty years".
Nowhere in the text did Foley describe the now infamous rotting food in villages neighboring areas of starvation in the USSR. He does not mention the dominant theory among respected economists that the surplus value created by a capitalist society, and unevenly distributed to a certain class is what creates the incentives for goods (like food) to be distributed to the populace. Above all else, he does not ever mention the abject human rights violations ubiquitous in socialist regimes such as China under Mao, Cuba, USSR, etc. Granted, these abuses of power are not part of the system of socialism, but it is interesting nonetheless that they so often occur in societies which embrace their tenants.
Chapter five's description of Keynes was most interesting, in my opinion, for the strong weight Foley gave to his assertion that Say's Law is wrong, thereby destroying the theories of free trade, and opening the door to protectionist tariffs. What was notably missing from this discussion, however, were stats on the falling unemployment rates for *both* the US and Mexico in the years after Clinton signed NAFTA, or the continuously dropping unemployment rates, and job creation in recent years, during extensive outsourcing.
Nor does Foley treat the Great Depression with any objectivity. After describing the horrible conditions the US and world were facing in the thirties, and shortly thereafter, he states "To contemporary observers, laissez-faire policy seemed to be inadequate to cope with the problems of advanced industrial capitalism". What Foley fails to mention here is that FDR had a horribly anti-free market policy during the depression, which many economists now believe exacerbated matters, ie, setting price floors, which helped small farms at the expense of consumers who could no longer afford to buy food.
To his credit, however, Foley does end his book with a good joke: "On the whole, historically the best results seem to come from modest, and limited efforts to build institutions such as central banks, social security ...". It seems as though the best compliment Foley can come up with for capitalist societies is Social Security, a system which, under current operation, is scheduled to be completely bankrupt in thirty or forty years.
Book Description
Classic survey of crowd psychology takes an illuminating, entertaining look at three historic swindles: "The Mississippi Scheme," "The South-Sea Bubble," and "Tulipomania." Fired by greed and fed by naïveté, these stratagems gone awry offer essential reading for investors as well as students of history, psychology, and human nature.
Customer Reviews:
Chronciles of past financial bubbles.......2007-08-26
I bought this bought after discovering it was a favorite of many of the greatest stock traders of all time(Baruch,Livermore, and others. First published in 1841, the English is a little richer are harder to follow than our modern day version but the book does what it sets out to do, chronicle three past crazy speculative bubbles. It details the Mississippi scheme in France, the South seas scheme in England, and the tulipomania that swept through Holland in the early 1700's. It chronicles in the first two incidences how the public believed that Louisiana for the French and the South American trade routes for the English would produce unlimited wealth for the holders of stock in these public corporations. This for me was very reminiscent of the crazy stock market in 1929 and then the crash and the Internet stock boom of the late 90's leading up to the 2000 NASDAQ crash. Readers would have done well to learn from this book and side step the madness before the peak. (Both Baruch and Livermore did, even profiting from the run up). Also the crazy prices of tulips in Holland and their eventual crash reminded me of the beanie babies of the late 80's. This book is a great read to simply teach you these bubbles are nothing new and have been going on for Hundreds of years with documentation, probably longer.(Beware of the China bubble in stocks that is currently under way).
Extraordirary Popular Delusions - Mackay.......2007-01-12
I was disappointed in this purchase. I have a copy of the COMPLETE edition of this book and that is what I wanted, but what you sent was an abridged edition and I found it to be a disappointment. I intended to give it as a gift. Sorry. Robert I. Biederwolf
This is a very condensed version of the original.......2006-12-18
Note that this book, "Extraordinary Popular Delusions" is a VERY condensed version of the original. This edition contains only 112 pages, the first three chapters, mainly dealing with economics while the original contains 768 pages. If you want only the material dealing with financial bubbles, then you can buy this edition, however you if you are interested in the broader phenomenon of the madness of crowds, then you'd do well to buy the original version of this book, which you can find under its full title, "Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds".
Everything old is new again.......2006-07-03
One of the charms of Dover books is that a great many of the titles (like this one) were originally published 100+ years ago, and while they aren't aimed at a modern audience, many of their topics strike a resonent chord in the 21st century reader. I found some of the sections a bit wordy for my interest in the book (as an economics professor, the historical background was very useful), but then I wouldn't be expected to know many of the names the author took for granted in 1841. Still, the description of Tulipmania and the ingenuity of scammers is timeless.
Google at $400.00? Maybe more chapters to be written?.......2006-01-19
Keep this book within handy reach for any time that you're getting a bit too smart for your britches. How otherwise intelligent and rational folk get themselves into these troubles is truly fascinating and instructive. The writing here is, of course, rather archaic to modern sensibilities (originally published in 1841) but the stories are interesting and very readable. It's tempting to read the tales as history but when I see Goggle trading at over $400.00 I scratch my head and wonder. And when I hear the president cutting taxes, increasing spending, and still assuring me that my Social Security payments are secure, well, I think there might be a few chapters still waiting to be writing in the book. A good read.
Amazon.com
Why do otherwise intelligent individuals form seething masses of idiocy when they engage in collective action? Why do financially sensible people jump lemming-like into harebrained speculative frenzies -- only to jump broker-like out of windows when their fantasies dissolve? We may think that the Great Crash of 1929, junk bonds of the '80s, and overvalued high-tech stocks of the '90s are peculiarly 20th century aberrations, but the excerpts of these two classics--first published in 1841 and 1688, respectively--show that the madness and confusion of crowds knows no limits, and has no temporal bounds. These are extraordinarily illuminating and, unfortunately, entertaining tales of chicanery, greed, and naivete.
Essential reading for any student of human nature or the transmission of ideas.
In fact, cases such as Tulipomania in 1624--when tulip bulbs traded at a higher price than gold--suggest the existence of what I would dub "Mackay's Law of Mass Action": when it comes to the effect of social behavior on the intelligence of individuals, 1+1 is often considerably less than 1, and sometimes less than 0.
Book Description
"The market never ceases to befuddle and beguile. These two venerable works are fixtures on the short lists for most valuable books on the securities markets, and investors continue to cherish them." -From the Introduction by Martin S. Fridson Managing Director, Merrill Lynch & Co. Author of Investment Illusions
Exploring the sometimes hilarious, sometimes devastating impact of crowd behavior and trading trickery on the financial markets, this book brilliantly combines two all-time investment classics. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and Confusión de Confusiones take us from Tulipmania in 1634-when tulips actually traded at a higher price than gold-to the South Sea "bubble" of 1720, and beyond. Securities analyst and author Martin Fridson guides you on a quirky, entertaining, and intriguing journey back through time.
Chosen by the Financial Times as Two of the Ten Best Books Ever Written on Investment
Critical Praise . . .
"This is the most important book ever written about crowd psychology and, by extension, about financial markets. A serious student of the markets and even anyone interested in the extremes of human behavior should read this book!" -Ron Insana, CNBC
"In combining 'Extraordinary' with 'Confusion,' the result is not extraordinary confusion. Instead, with clarity, the book sears into modern investor minds the dangers of following the crowd." -Greg Heberlein, The Seattle Times
"You will see between its staid lines (written in ye olde English and as ponderable as Buddha's navel) that, despite what the media says, nothing really important has changed in the financial markets in centuries." -Kenneth L. Fisher, Forbes
Customer Reviews:
17th and 18th Century Speculative Bubbles Look Oddly Familiar. .......2007-07-11
"Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" and "Confusion de Confusiones" are both works that address speculation frenzy in early financial markets but which have continued to enjoy a surprising popularity among investors centuries after they were written. Perhaps that is because a certain romanticism and distance comes with age, while at the same time these stories of speculative bubbles tell us that nothing really changes in the markets no matter how sophisticated we get. A foreword by Peter Bernstein sets the stage for the 17th century proliferation of financial instruments and pursuit of wealth. Martin S. Fridson's Introduction comments on the enduring popularity of these works, their differing perspectives on market forces, and their debunkers.
"Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" was authored by Scotsman Charles MacKay in 1841. It was a favorite book of Bernard Baruch, who wrote the foreword to the 1932 edition, a much longer work than what we see here. Only chapters relating to financial markets have been included in this Wiley Investment Classics edition. MacKay recounts three speculation frenzies and their aftermaths: The 1717 Mississippi Company of John Law and France's misadventures with paper money under the regent Duc d'Orleans, the 1711 South Sea Company bubble, and, more briefly, the "tulipmania" that overtook Holland in the 1630s. MacKay concentrates on the human behavior that drove these bubbles rather than on financial minutiae. If you're interested in learning more about John Law, father of modern finance, Millionaire by Janet Gleeson is a very readable biography.
"Confusion de Confusiones" author Joseph de la Vega wrote about what he knew personally: the stock market in late-17th century Amsterdam. The 1957 introduction by Hermann Kellenbenz includes a bio of de la Vega and helpful explanations of the types of transactions to which the work refers. The main text is a series of Dialogues between a Shareholder, a Philosopher, and a Merchant, in which the Shareholder explains the stock market, which he describes as "this enigmatic business which is at once the finest and most deceitful in Europe", the "quintessence of academic learning and a paragon of fraudulence." De la Vega uses stock of the Dutch East India Company as an example and lays the blame for price instability on syndicates of bears and bulls who conspire to move prices. I can't say that either of these works is useful -we have plenty of bubbles in our own time, after all- but they are engaging curiosities.
Google at $400.00? Maybe more chapters yet to be written?.......2006-01-19
Keep this book within handy reach for any time that you're getting a bit too smart for your britches. How otherwise intelligent and rational folk get themselves into these troubles is truly fascinating and instructive. The writing here is, of course, rather archaic to modern sensibilities (originally published in 1841) but the stories are interesting and very readable. It's tempting to read the tales as history but when I see Goggle trading at over $400.00 I scratch my head and wonder. And when I hear the president cutting taxes, increasing spending, and still assuring me that my Social Security payments are secure, well, I think there might be a few chapters still waiting to be writing in the book. A good read.
Timeless!.......2005-04-01
This was the warning shot ahead of the internet bubble. Hearing about the Dutch tulip bubble in 1995 (when I first read the book) we should have been well prepared to duck when Amazon, Ebay and their fallen comrades shot to the moon. If only we had listened...
The book clearly articulates why "The more things change, the more they stay the same" and helps us understand when to buck the herd. Perhaps a bit long, it is well written and worth the space on your nightstand.
Overated.......2004-10-08
Based on the previous 5-star rave reviews written here, I decided to give this book a try, especially since it's two books for the price of one. But when I opened up the book, I discovered that you don't even get Mackay's complete book; you get just the chapters relevant to finance/investing. Because I was reading the book primarily for insight into trading/investing I thought I would make do. However there was very little of that to be found, and when it was found, it was typically written in verbose, archaic English, sandwiched between many pages of irrelevant historical minutea such as how exactly transactions were conducted in the 1700's. There are a couple good gems, but nothing which has not been repeated in more modern books in much simpler language. E.g. The Money Game by Adam Smith or Market Wizards, or Mindtraps by Barach or any of Tony Oz's books. There are sooo many good trading books out there to read that reading this was a complete waste of time.
Oh, Yeah!.......2001-12-02
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds has been a favorite of mine for years, so while I'm happy to see it popularized, there's so much I miss! This is the first book of Urban Legends. There's so much to the book, and so much is so funny, and the financial stuff is the driest part of the book.
That said, I understand Fridson has a theme, and by using these two old works, one Victorian, and one Louis XIV, he shows that nothing much changes: people will do very stupid things if that's what everyone else is doing. More to the point, people will do very risky things with their money, if everyone else is doing so. Examples abound in these two great books, and Fridson doesn't miss a chance to make a point, and usually gets a good laugh in as well.
Tulipomania (when the price of tulip bulbs in Holland inflated beyond the ridiculous) is especially revealing, and though Fridson is using it to make a point about price inflation, I couldn't help thinking also about the marketing technique by which the public is convinced it needs something, then that something is doled out like Oreos to a diabetic. I'm thinking specifically of diamonds, but there are lots of examples.
Fridson pulls this altogether, and as big a fan as I am of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, the original work he has created by mating a part of it with the other work, and with his own explanatory text is a great book.
I am not an investor, and generally find economics petrifyingly boring, but this book was a fun romp. Even if you have no interest in finance, read this book just to have a good laugh at our species.
Average customer rating:
- Unfortunately, a missed opportunity
|
Management and Myths: Challenging the Fads, Fallacies and Fashions
Adrian Furnham
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Human Resources & Personnel Management
| Industries & Professions
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Management
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Reference
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1403922047 |
Book Description
This book takes an in-depth look at management fads and fashions to show that many do not stand up to scrutiny. It is believed, for example, that coaching is successful. What is the evidence for this? It is also believed that selection procedures at interviews result in the right candidate being selected. Again, what is the evidence? The author shows that although many fads and fashions in management are short-lived and based upon flimsy evidence, they still enjoy a period of support and popularity. His book will be an important tool for managers who want to understand the substance and rigor, or lack thereof, associated with modern management ideas and concepts.
Customer Reviews:
Unfortunately, a missed opportunity.......2006-10-29
Ever since reading "Hard Facts,.." by Pfeffer and Sutton, I've become a believer of 'evidence based management' (EBM) and always looking for more information/books on this topic. This book by Adrian Furnham was recommended by Pfeffer and Sutton, and so I bought it in eager anticipation.
The introduction offers excellent information on the fads and fallacies of management, including the need for evidence based management (EBM).
The rest of the book, unfortunately, just doesn't cut it from an EBM perspective. Many significant management topics are discussed, Furnham gives his opinion but doesn't give the reader any evidence to back-up his opinion on the subject(i.e. proper references to relevant research). Where's the verifiable evidence?
So, the book discusses the right topics, but the evidence is lacking.
In my mind, a missed opportunity. It could have been so much better.
Book Description
This book, written by the celebrated nineteenth century French economist propagating free trade, reads as it was written yesterday.
Customer Reviews:
Bastiat triumphs...Deachman does okay.......2002-12-27
This work could well have been titled the "Capitalist Manifesto," such was influence it and its author had on contemporary Europe. Unlike their communist counterparts, sadly, Bastiat and his "Economic Fallacies" have faded from the public eye. Nevertheless, Bastiat stands among the great advocates for free-trade that the West has ever known. Even though the battle against tariffs is largely won in principle, the war against protectionism goes on. His arguments are clear, simple, usually water-tight, and entirely relevant in the twenty-first century. His wit is exceptional and memorable, especially his classic "Candlemaker's Petition," which could very well have inspired an episode of "The Simpsons." Bastiat gets a five-star rating, but it's the translation that's on trial here.
It's important to note that Deachman translated this work in Canada during the early Depression, so his English is occasionally a little odd to the eyes of this American. Where footnotes would suffice, Deachman takes some dubious liberties in excising portions of the original French that he deems irrelevant. His prose, while good on its own, is a little too clunky at points, whereas Bastiat's is usually very light and crisp. My biggest nit to pick is the inconsistency in his use of currency units: sometimes using francs, sometimes pounds, and other times dollars. But still, it's a good translation of a great work.
Buy it. Read it. Love it.
Average customer rating:
|
Fallacies of Protection, Being the Sophismes Economiques of Frederic Bastiat
Frederic Bastiat
Manufacturer: Cosimo Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
| Agricultural
| Commercial Policy
| Comparative
| Consolidation & Merger
| Cooperatives
| Debt & Deficits
| Development & Growth
| Econometrics
| Economic Conditions
| Economic History
| Economic Policy & Development
| Exports & Imports
| Free Enterprise
| Inflation
| International
| Labor & Industrial Relations
| Macroeconomics
| Microeconomics
| Money & Monetary Policy
| Natural Resources
| Privatization
| Public Finance
| Statistics
| Sustainable Development
| Theory
| Unemployment
| Urban & Regional
General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1596059370 |
Book Description
Considered a classic of economic theory on a par with Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, this 19th-century book-by French political libertarian and economist CLAUDE FRÉDÉRIC BASTIAT (1801-1850)-is a masterwork of anti-"big government" philosophies, espousing what are now seen as cardinal doctrines of free trade. In this 1909 English translation, Bastiat explains why tariffs are counterproductive and how obstacles in the way of capital and labor reduce the amount of commodities produced, and he directly addresses workmen and artisans to explain why free trade is to their benefit. Eschewing equations in favor of straight talk, this is a must-read for anyone interested in big about money, trade, and work.
Average customer rating:
|
Fifty Economic Fallacies Exposed
Geoffrey Edward Wood
Manufacturer: Inst of Economic Affairs
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
| Agricultural
| Commercial Policy
| Comparative
| Consolidation & Merger
| Cooperatives
| Debt & Deficits
| Development & Growth
| Econometrics
| Economic Conditions
| Economic History
| Economic Policy & Development
| Exports & Imports
| Free Enterprise
| Inflation
| International
| Labor & Industrial Relations
| Macroeconomics
| Microeconomics
| Money & Monetary Policy
| Natural Resources
| Privatization
| Public Finance
| Statistics
| Sustainable Development
| Theory
| Unemployment
| Urban & Regional
General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0255365187 |
Book Description
Since 1988, Professor Geoffrey Wood of the Sir John Cass Business School, City of London, has written a regular column in the IEA's journal Economic Affairs, in which he exposes popular economic fallacies. This book collects fifty of these columns and exposes numerous common fallacies - for example, about the supposed dangers of free trade, the abilities of governments to control the economy, the effects of government regulation, and establishing the "correct" rate at which to join the Euro. These lucid and stimulating columns are invaluable to students struggling to master some of the complexities of economic theory and its applications, who often find the most effective way to learn economic analysis is to see such fallacies exposed. It is a text particularly suitable for first-year economics students, complementing existing textbooks as it does, and clarifying basic concepts in economics while demonstrating the practical uses of economic theory.
Books:
- The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear
- The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town
- The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns (Little Book Big Profits)
- The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else
- The Offshore Nation: Strategies for Success in Global Outsourcing and Offshoring
- The Oil Factor: Protect Yourself and Profit from the Coming Energy Crisis
- The Origins of the Cold War, 1941 - 1949, Third Edition
- The Political Economy of the Asian Financial Crisis
- The Recipe Hall of Fame Cookbook (Best of the Best)
- The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Diversity Amid Globalization: World Regions, Environment, Development
- The New Garden Paradise: Great Private Gardens of the World
- Macromedia Flash MX for Dummies
- Mount St. Helens: The Eruption and Recovery of a Volcano
- Metal Gear Solid 3
- The Little White Horse
- Please, Puppy, Please
- Exchange Rate Determination
- Five Monographs on Business Income
- Ploughshares Winter 1991-92 : Traces of Struggle and Desire
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
The Strategy Paradox: Why committing to success leads to failure (and what to do about it)
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning
