Book Description
Telecommunications policy profoundly affects the economy and our everyday lives. Yet accounts of important telecommunications issues tend to be either superficial (and inaccurate) or mired in jargon and technical esoterica. In Digital Crossroads, Jonathan Nuechterlein and Philip Weiser offer a clear, balanced, and accessible analysis of competition policy issues in the telecommunications industry. After giving a big picture overview of the field, they present sharply reasoned analyses of the major technological, economic, and legal developments confronting communications policymakers in the twenty-first century.
Since the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, when Congress fundamentally reoriented the existing regulatory scheme, no book has cogently explained the intricacies of telecommunications competition policy in the Internet age for general readers, students, and practitioners alike. Digital Crossroads meets this need, focusing on the regulatory dimensions of competition in wireline and wireless telephone service; competition among rival platforms for broadband Internet service and video distribution; and the Internet's transformation of every aspect of the telecommunications industry, particularly through the emergence of "voice over Internet protocol" (VoIP). The authors explain not just the complicated legal issues governing the industry, but also the rapidly changing technological and economic context in which these issues arise. The book includes extensive endnotes and tables that cover relevant court decisions, FCC orders, and academic commentaries; a glossary of acronyms; a statutory addendum containing the most important provisions of federal telecommunications law; and two appendixes with information on more specialized topics. Supplementary materials for students are available at http://spot.colorado.edu/~weiserpj.
Customer Reviews:
Good.......2006-03-03
I had to read this for a graduate class. It is written in a conversational manner. It does explain the topics in reasonable voice. Overall not a bad purchase. It is not something that I will keep but it is good for a library to have.
Telecommunications for non-specialists.......2005-08-30
In Digital Crossroads, the authors, both lawyers with experience in telecommunications, offer a readable guide to the complex regulatory policies shaping electronic communication. Starting with the economic principles that have guided government agencies through the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, they give a basic history of the development of wireline communication, primarily through telephone, and explain how the advent of wireless technology via radio, television, cell phones, and the Internet have affected policies and practices. Although it is not easy reading, both the technical and legal aspects of communication are made clear even to a reader who is neither a lawyer nor an engineer. The policies discussed in this book will affect every citizen who cares about obtaining and communicating information to individuals and groups. Understanding the background given here, will help individuals follow the current legislative news as Congress revises the 1996 Telecommunications Act. This is a book many community groups and activists should read and discuss.
That rare combination: comprehensive and accessible.......2005-05-23
Digital Crossroads is that rare combination, a comprehensive and accurate -- but well-written and accessible -- presentation of the state of the technology, economics, and law driving today's complex telecommunications industry. I used it in my Albany Law School seminar on Telecommunications Law for the 21st Century, and students found it highly accessible--especially the technology chapters. The book is a real accomplishment: comprehensive, thoughtful, and forward-looking, without being swept away by the latest gimmick off the shelf. It is also an extremely well written and organized book, clear and authoritative. In addition, for either the practitioner or academic, the inclusion of relevant sections of the 1996 Telecommunications Act adds value and convenience. Making coherent sense of this industry, its history and trajectory, is a daunting challenge and one the authors met, apparently without flinching.
Telecom Law for the Layman, Clearly Explained.......2005-03-26
If you need a current understanding of the law and politics around telecommunications today, this is THE book you need. While long, it is clearly written, concise, lucid, and technically excellent. Even with extensive experience in this domain, I found this book to be the most cogent and readable summary of the issues today, and I learned a lot in the process.
Jonathan Nuechterlein and Philip Weiser are practicing lawyers that have taken the time to learn enough of the engineering and technology of the telecommunications world to be able to explain the intersection of law, politics, and technology to anyone with an interest in the topic. Their goal with this book is to lay a foundation for revisions to US (and global) laws as they apply to voice, data, and video communications distribution networks. While they do not have the answers yet (no one does), they lucidly and often humorously explain why today's laws and regulations are increasingly obsolete. In the process, the authors describe how technology and software are interacting to force the government to abolish the regulatory divisions between the voice and video worlds.
Nuechterlein and Weiser outline a four layer model for communications policies of the future, dividing the domain into 1) the physical infrastructure layer, 2) a logical connectivity layer, 3) an applications layer delivering voice, video, and data services to end users, and 4) a content layer that addresses publicly visible content in any format. They illustrate how this model can be used to devise laws that can effectively achieve the goals of government, and, more importantly, how the model can demonstrate the weaknesses of existing and proposed laws and rules. As they do this, they outline the thinking from the best minds in this domain as to the direction that Congress and the FCC should take in the process of revising our laws on the Internet, traditional voice telephony, VoIP, satellite communications systems, cable TV and the broadcast TV industry.
For this reason and others, I highly recommend this to anyone needing to understand the current regulatory environment surrounding the Internet and telecommunications generally. You will not go wrong with this volume.
Book Description
Behind today’s startling global spate of corporate scandals lies an even more alarming breakdown in corporate governance. Corporate Governance at the Crossroads features 40 articles by leading scholars and practitioners that examine the role of directors, controversial compensation plans, accounting and reporting issues, and more. Roundtable discussions highlight recent realities and concerns, along with possible solutions.
Customer Reviews:
Important notes.......2007-01-05
This book contains important notes about World Bank experience on infraestructure sector that help every people engaged in infraestructure projects, especially in emerging countries.
Average customer rating:
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The Changing Economics of Medical Technology (Medical Innovation at the Crossroads)
Committee on Technological Innovation in Medicine , and
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Manufacturer: National Academies Press
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Book Description
In Energy at the Crossroads, Vaclav Smil considers the twenty-first century's crucial question: how to reconcile the modern world's unceasing demand for energy with the absolute necessity to preserve the integrity of the biosphere. With this book he offers a comprehensive, accessible guide to today's complex energy issues -- how to think clearly and logically about what is possible and what is desirable in our energy future.
After a century of unprecedented production growth, technical innovation, and expanded consumption, the world faces a number of critical energy challenges arising from unequal resource distribution, changing demand patterns, and environmental limitations. The fundamental message of Energy at the Crossroads is that our dependence on fossil fuels must be reduced not because of any imminent resource shortages but because the widespread burning of oil, coal, and natural gas damages the biosphere and presents increasing economic and security problems as the world relies on more expensive supplies and Middle Eastern crude oil.
Smil begins with an overview of the twentieth century's long-term trends and achievements in energy production. He then discusses energy prices, the real cost of energy, and "energy linkages" -- the effect energy issues have on the economy, on quality of life, on the environment, and in wartime. He discusses the pitfalls of forecasting, giving many examples of failed predictions and showing that unexpected events can disprove complex models. And he examines the pros and cons not only of fossil fuels but also of alternative fuels such as hydroenergy, biomass energy, wind power, and solar power. Finally, he considers the future, focusing on what really matters, what works, what is realistic, and which outcomes are most desirable.
Customer Reviews:
Great book!.......2007-09-21
Regardless of your position on global warming, this is a very scholarly and informative must-read book.
Hard But Useful Read.......2006-02-21
Read this for a Global Energy course, and I might I write that this is one book that I would not recommend to any one that is not working or investing in the industry. This read was very 'heavy' for the passive reader, and covered a large amount of numbers and forecasts that the author himself disputes.
The Best.......2005-02-19
ENERGY AT THE CROSSROADS
Vaclav Smil
MIT Press 2003
A Book Review by Steve Baer (email-zomework@zomeworks.com)
December 2003
So many good things about Vaclav Smil's Energy at the Crossroads make it difficult to explain the shortcomings.
Smil's arguments are straightforward and his statistics, with one giant exception, are extensive.
He doesn't bring the false drama to his chapters on oil that so many authors are unable to resist. Smil knows a great deal about our use of fossil fuels. Who should know more than he after over thirty years of study, yet he says he doesn't know how much more oil there is, or how long it will last. Smil is skeptical of such pronouncements. His long chapter on "against forecasting" is alone worth the price of the book. Our relationship with energy is simply too complex for us to see into the future. Some may not wish to read books like this. After all, isn't it easy to say, "I don't know and don't think anyone else does either"?
I am so glad for the few sentences Smil writes about himself, about his youth in Czechoslovakia. He tells of splitting the mountains of firewood during the summer which he lights (with difficulty) before dawn in the winter; about the oil furnace and now the 90% efficient natural gas stove that supplies any heat the sun doesn't for his passive solar home in Manitoba.
Energy at the Crossroads lifts up and away from its numbers and graphs. The joy of the hot-rodder or jet pilot appears many times as Smil recounts how we have arrived at our turbo jets, our 500 kW households (including vehicles), our enormous oil tankers, so effective that shipping costs hardly change with distance. These certainly are accomplishments to revel in, and Smil does. He includes some marvelous paragraphs on steel, energy's companion, guardian and nursemaid for today's technology. With Smil, when you reach the edge of a chapter's topic, the adjoining territory, which he hasn't time to explore thoroughly, is likely completely familiar to him. For Smil has studied more than the carbon in coal, oil, wood and gas. He has also investigated Nitrogen and Phosphorous, which he mentions in passing.
While Smil rejoices in the powers we have, he never appears determined to go ever forward. He is too open minded and sophisticated to crave ever larger, ever more powerful anything. In several places he asks what was so bad about life in France or Japan during the 60's when these accomplished societies used modest amounts of energy. Why do we need more? Smil would be just as happy if we were to go sideways.
Despite the strengths the overall mood of the book is wrong. The problem must be the forces at work on Smil; the pressures he and the rest of us contend with.
First, consider his publisher the MIT Press. Smil mentions how pleased he is that the MIT Press published his last five books. The MIT Press may sell many copies of its books, but they put little effort into editing. The present volume introduces terms such as TOE after we have gotten used to GJ and EJ and never explains what the letters mean (ton of oil equivalent). Why didn't MIT help its author? In Smil's earlier book, Energies, power and energy are confused. The same confusion is in D.E. Nye's book on electrifying America. No freshman could pass physics I making these mistakes. Smil deserves better. Sales, cover design, jacket blurbs, and promotion must outweigh clarity and accuracy with the MIT Press.
An even greater disappointment than ship shod editing is the statistics and treatment of renewable energy. Smil knows all about the power of people at work; how many Watts they are worth, how someone lifting sacks compares to a conveyer belt. He has discussed this in other books. Why does he leave out the muscle power of six billion people from his energy accounting? Why does he forget his own solar heated house?
Something has cast a spell over Smil's energy accounting. Smil's statistics are a hormone to accelerate growth of electricity, coal, oil and large industries. There should be a warning, like those on medicine bottles, of the side effects of taking these studies seriously - the impairment of architecture, agriculture, city planning, and birth defects in forming societies. According to Smil there is no travel by foot or bicycle. No work is done by the strengths of our bodies; no light or warmth passes through windows; clothes don't dry on clotheslines. We don't use brooms, mops, shovels or picks, only power tools. The only renewable energies are wind generators and photovoltaic panels, both of which remain heavily subsidized and are manufactured chiefly by huge international corporations. What introduced this mood into the book? It doesn't fit with the details.
Let us remember what is would cost each and every one of us six billion if we had to pay at today's prices for the sunlight that hits our earth. It would be about $50,000 per day for each of us and another $4,000 a night for a full moon. Though we will never pay this, it doesn't make it any less valuable or any less important to remind ourselves of, as we sell ourselves things dug or pumped out of the earth.
Not entirely objective..........2004-09-17
Certainly a solidly researched book. Mr. Smil leans over, it seems, to be "objective," but the arguments are weighted; we are warned against the gloom and doom version of the Hubbertites, and it would seem, indeed, that it is sheer folly to predict the imminence of the oil "peak." Much of the argument against the "peakists" (Campbell, Leherrere, etc.) seems to be based on a close reading of Odell--hardly an entirely reliable source. So it seems we will be able to depend on cheap oil for a long time... But then comes the chart on p. 211, which shows 3 (count em) peaks, the first of which is virtually identical to that of Campbell and Co., and the least optimistic of which puts the peak around 2035--essentially the official US version (peak in 36 years). The median is around 2025.
Sorry, Mr. Smil, but 20 years is not, from a historical perspective, a huge difference. The peak is coming soon, we will have to face it, and you do very little to consider the really horrifying implications. Mass starvation, anyone? How will all the fertilizer needed to produce the crops to feed the planet be produced without cheap oil? The author rather hopefully suggests that a new energy source might even replace oil, just as oil once replaced coal. Such as??? To back up his argument on this, (again, p. 211) he quotes no less than Lovins, whom he excoriates elsewhere.
But, have no fear, technology will rescue us, at least in the case of oil--and those rapidly depleting wells? Well, in the past they haven't petered out as quickly as foretold, so that means next time they won't either... Innovations will help us get 65% of the oil, instead of the former 40%... Wind power? Forget it... not a really significant factor, even after 2025, when (according to Mr. Smil himself) oil will be in decline. Why not? The technology won't be developed! It can be for oil, but not for wind! Don't ask why!
A very slanted book, then, still betting everything on oil, despite the fact that it itself demonstrates the imminent end of the fossil fuel regime.
For a more convincing read, see Richard Heinberg's *The Party's Over*.
A Valuable, Ageless, Energy Resource by a True Expert.......2004-07-18
From his lifetime as an energy expert and prolific author, Smil writes insightfully about the major energy trends of the past century, and then he attempts to look into the future. He clearly presents, aided by dozens of well designed graphs, an enormous amount of information on global patterns for all energy sources and applications in an exceptionally well organized format. Clearly, Smil was an energy expert of the highest caliber of the twentieth century. Unfortunately, we are now four and a half years into the twenty first century, and it seems to have left Smil behind in a few places. Most of his data are actually pre-1999; and although a few references are dated 2002, almost none of the actual data are post-2000, even though the print date on the book is Nov. 2003. For example, the fact that he thinks there were tens of thousands of fuel cell vehicles on the road in 2003 gives away the fact that the book was largely written in 2001 using references mostly from the late nineties, some of questionable value. (Some "experts" at DOE as late as 1999 were predicting 10,000 FCVs on the road in 2003. Today, however, there are fewer than 400.) Yet, this does not significantly lessen the enormously valuable contribution of Smil's work.
Chapter 2 looks carefully at, in all major countries, a number of important linkages to energy, including such parameters as GDP, infant mortality, life expectancy, food availability, the "human development index", the "political freedom index", air quality, water quality, GHG emissions, war, and terrorism. In Chapter 3, he discusses literally hundreds of failed energy-related projections over the past 40 years; and he congratulates himself on predicting, in 1983, the total energy consumption in 2000 with uncanny accuracy, while the predictions of many others were off by more than a factor of two in either direction. (His forecasts of the various energy segments (coal, oil, gas, renewables) were all individually off by huge amounts. Maybe he got lucky on the total.) Clearly, his appreciation for the interplay of trends in efficiency, markets, resources, and competition was and is of considerable value. (It was also fun to see him point out the silliness of various projections by Amory Lovins, one of the most na?ve physicists among the vocal hydrogen-economy advocates.)
One agenda of this book is to refute the Peak Oil theory of Colin Campbell, as he so well presented in "The Coming Oil Crisis". Smil bases his refutation rather heavily on the fact that most pessimistic oil peak predictions prior to the mid 90's have by now been proven untrue. He points out that some predictions from the early seventies have by now missed the mark by more than 20 years. (He doesn't seem to appreciate that an additional 30 years of data collection and analysis might allow some refinement in the methods.) Rather than attempt a careful, independent, country-by-country analysis of the oil and gas reserves, as carried out by Campbell, he prefers to rely more on extrapolations of production trends of the last twenty years and faith in the power of market incentives to keep the oil and gas flowing liberally for 40 to 100 more years.
Smil is right to emphasize that energy intensity has decreased in the past 30 years and it will likely decrease much more in the next 30 years in some countries (especially, the U.S, Australia, and Canada). There are very positive and powerful life-style implications in this trend, which Paul Roberts, Richard Heinberg, and even David Goodstein and Colin Campbell do not fully appreciate. Smil is certainly right to point out that the immediate potential for enormous improvements in efficiency, especially in private transportation in the U.S., will help to relieve pressure on oil production. But had he taking the time to update his data on increasing oil usage in China and India since 2000, he would have surely realized that a continuation of the small rate of reduction of energy intensity in the U.S. would not begin to offset the voracious oil and LNG markets in the developing world.
Smil's treatment of non-fossil energy sources in Chapter 5 is, for the most part, well-researched, thorough, and sound. His treatments of hydro and wind energy in particular are outstanding, and his appreciation for world-wide biomass utilization pre-1999 is second to none. Unfortunately, his data on advanced biofuels are often 4 to 6 years out of date - cellulosic ethanol, biodiesel from rapeseed and mustard seed, algal biodiesel, and even biomethanol. (This last one is a surprise, as he clearly has some, albeit limited, appreciation for the huge potential of converting stranded natural gas to methanol for oxygenation and extension of gasoline.) Smil leaves the impression that energy balance of biofuels will not likely exceed 1.3, whereas in fact corn ethanol (with co-products) now is up to 1.77, cellulosic ethanol may exceed 2.5, and biodiesel from mustard and biomethanol from switchgrass will both likely soon exceed 4.
His last chapter on Possible Futures is also full of a lot of useful information on trends in various conversion efficiencies and technology developments, but it too is not without its problems. When an engineer or scientist makes errors of two orders of magnitude in important facts critical to projections (as Smil did in the cost of fuel cells), it calls into question the validity of his judgment and foresight regarding future transportation fuels. For a more up-to-date and useful perspective on transportation fuels, see my brief "Fuels for Tomorrow's Vehicles" or "The Hype About Hydrogen" by Joe Romm.
All in all, Smil's latest book is one that should be read by and on the shelf of all energy analysts - along with Campbell's, Romm's, and an up-to-date reference on advanced biofuels. The typical, interested citizen would be better directed to Joe Romm's exceptionally sound and highly readable book. - F. David Doty, PhD, engineering physicist.
Average customer rating:
- exercise in fuzzy thinking
- For anyone seeking to build a successful stock portfolio
- Interesting study of corporate evolution
- thoughtful assessement of state of shareholder value
- A "must" for anyone building a successful stock portfolio.
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The End of Shareholder Value: Corporations at the Crossroads
Allan A. Kennedy
Manufacturer: Basic Books
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0738204846 |
Amazon.com
After two decades of taking the money and running, it's time for corporate managers to seek to make a difference as well as a buck. That's the thesis of Allan Kennedy's analysis of the state and likely fate of corporate America at the turn of the new century. It was Kennedy who, in 1982, cowrote the bestselling Corporate Cultures, which gave us the notion of the heroes, rites, and rituals involved in modern business. Here, Kennedy argues that shareholder value--using discounted future cash-flow streams rather than traditional accounting measures such as earnings per share--has become the final gauge of a company's worth. This emphasis will have potentially dangerous unintended consequences for everyone, he says. Management's shortsighted focus on squeezing the last penny out of every part of the business has exploited its key stakeholders. Faced with downsizing, outsourcing, and hard (sometimes deceptive) bargaining, employees, suppliers, governments, communities, and customers are each beginning to turn on companies in ways that now threaten the future success of the companies themselves. The result today, he writes, is an overvaluation of stock prices that's "simply a symptom of the failure of the shareholder value ethic to produce anything of lasting value."
The book outlines three eras of business evolution, from the family enterprises of the 19th century, through the engineers and inventors of the immediate post-World War II period, to the financial entrepreneurs of high technology. As it briefly chronicles the growth of some of the corporate icons of each era, the portrayal is not always favorable, particularly when it reaches the present. One is tempted to think of investment bankers and venture capitalists as the Svengalis (or Rasputins) of the high-tech economy, whose machinations have led to "insupportable levels in the stock market [that] should be known as the shareholder value bubble." Finally, Kennedy proposes remedies to create real, sustainable wealth for all of a company's stakeholder groups, not just the stockholders. While there's little to dispute in these rather general proposals, his recommendations for overhauling the way boards of directors are chosen and operate are thorough and well argued, radical even.
Kennedy is a bit of a Cassandra in places. He's very skeptical of even the small nuggets of promising Internet trends and statistics he himself quotes. Nevertheless, the book is provocative and timely. Perhaps the most important point is its resuscitation of the old discussion about the wider, social purpose of business--a debate that's been forgotten in the flush of the "new economy." --Alan J. White
Book Description
From the co-author of The New Corporate Cultures, a radical suggestion: that there are other indexes to corporate health than quarter-to-quarter shareholder happiness.
"Allan Kennedy provocatively proposes that running corporations to benefit shareholders damages companies and the societies they operate in. [He] has raised questions about managing for shareholder value that someone will have to answer." -Mark Henricks, American Way
"Allan Kennedy has always seen the corporation in its full cultural context. Now he demonstrates that corporate managers have mistaken the shareholder value formula for the building of true wealth. His fascinating stories of companies make both great reading and a compelling case for the broadening of corporate objectives." -Stan Davis, co-author of Future Wealth and Blur
In The End of Shareholder Value, Allan Kennedy calls for a revolution in business-for customers, employees, political and social leaders, and governing boards to challenge the cozy relationship between executives and investors that has crippled companies in the name of maximizing shareholder value. From GE to the hottest new Web-based start-up, those companies that subscribe to the shareholder value ethic cannot be sustained and will, inevitably, be replaced by those who figure out how to create and share wealth among all stakeholders. Provocative and wide-ranging, The End of Shareholder Value challenges everyone to rethink the purpose of business in the new millennium.
Download Description
Execubooks are eSummaries of books for mobile professionals, available in single-copy or by subscription, and optimally formatted for onscreen reading on laptops or handhelds - so you can stay abreast of leading business wisdom, wherever you have a moment! In recent years, maximizing shareholder value has been seen as the overriding objective of corporate management. Companies need to change this view and focus instead on building and sharing lasting wealth.
Customer Reviews:
exercise in fuzzy thinking.......2004-05-17
This book is an exercise in fuzzy thinking. Kennedy is totally confused about what shareholder value is. He is confusing shareholders' legitimate desire to get a meaningful return on their capital (enough to compensate for the risk they assumed) with management's unscrupulous attempts to increase reported EPS over the short term. Whatever contributes to the former creates shareholder value. Whatever contributes to the later, doesn't necessary do so. The puruit of shareholder value has nothing to do with unscrupulous management. But that's not all.
He doesn't understand the mechanics of a modern capitalist economy nor does he understand the interactions among different groups in society and the fundamental principals of business valuation and corporate finance.
I should also mention his constant misinterpretation of facts: Kennedy is idealizing the 19th century entrepreneurs as men who started their businesses only for the sake of the common good. Wealth, according to him, was only a byproduct of their charitable attempts to improve society. I doubt if that was true. Being open about one's own greed was not an acceptable social behavior in 19th century. Subsequently, men of wealth tried to come up with noble excuses for their profit seeking.
Kennedy argues that maximizing shareholder value ignores employees, customers, suppliers, communities and the government. If that was true then everything we know about modern Economics must be wrong!
Let's start with employees. Do they really suffer from shareholders' attempts to maximize their own profit? If shareholders didn't care about profit, they wouldn't start the business to begin with and without the business, employees would have nowhere to work. Conclusion: profit seeking (maximizing shareholder value) creates value for workers. The alternative would be a centralized communist economy where government runs all businesses. Business ventures are not evaluated by the profits they could generate but by the amount of people they would employ (more is better).
What about governments? The purpose of government is to serve the people. Government has no other purpose. Therefore we can not say that corporate behavior harms government unless that behavior harms Society. Harm done to a government by a corporation that doesn't harm Society is no harm at all. An example would be any legal attempt to minimize taxes. It harms government because it decreases the amount of funds available to expand bureaucracy but it benefits Society because businesses can allocate capital more efficiently than governments.
What about suppliers? Are they being harmed by the "shareholder value menace"? Suppliers are also businesses with shareholders of their own. Each and every company is both a buyer and a supplier. If a company is being squeezed by its customers, it can always attempt to do the same to its suppliers.
It is true that many communities, many local and national governments, and many workers end up abused by businesses (big and small). It is also true that many businesses are being endlessly abused by militant labor unions and governments. It doesn't follow that business owners should be prevented from seeking lawful ways to increase their wealth.
Kennedy even goes as far as to argue that increasing shareholder value harms shareholders. Here logic fails him completely. The discussion of GE is an illustrative example. Although Kennedy admits that GE's cost cutting initiatives increased value for current shareholders, he claims that the inflated stock price at the end of 1999 will prevent those who buy today (1999) to realize similar gains. True. So what? No one is being forced to buy overpriced common stock. People suffer their own ignorance about corporate valuations. Do we need to hold CEOs responsible for holding their stock prices low so that anyone, who buys a share of common stock at any time, can have a decent return?
Wall Street does not hold CEOs responsible for the stock price of their companies (low or high). It does hold them responsible for the operating results. Stock prices take care of themselves.
His recommendations for change are even sillier then his criticisms. He suggests to replace the pursuit for shareholder value with...building shareholder wealth!!! If I were a Boston snob I could probably see the difference but I am not. It sounds all the same to me. Arguing about the usage of words and terms (among vs. between; many vs. a lot; shareholder value vs. shareholder wealth; etc.) is intellectual no more challenging then collecting stamps or baseball cards. If the Boston snobs think otherwise then I would let them have it their way.
For anyone seeking to build a successful stock portfolio.......2001-02-21
In The End Of Shareholder Value: Corporations At The Crossroads, Allan Kennedy persuasively maintains that managing businesses solely to get the stock price higher is bad for workers, customers, suppliers, and ultimately bad business for the stock holders as well. While for the few who hold the stock, and the fewer still who manage the company and then cash out when the stock price is high, the style of managing for stock price benefits, will invariably result in an erosion of company value with employees and shareholder being adversely affected under a short-term management practice and perspective. The End Of Shareholder Value is "must" reading for anyone seeking to build a successful stock portfolio through buying shares in any corporation regardless of size, past performance, or managerial reputation.
Interesting study of corporate evolution.......2001-01-03
I'm not an economist and I don't have an MBA, but for the most part, I found this book to be easily understood and informative. I especially enjoyed the study of the three phases of the evolution of large companies, from family-derived to the greed merchants of the 1990's. Because I "cheated" and read the last couple of chapters first, I was concerned that Mr. Kennedy appeared to have a somewhat anti-business view of how to correct things (power to the people and all that). But I have to admit that his remedies do make a great deal of sense, and that it will take some real revolutionary changes to get us out of this mess we're in.
I must say that, for the most part, big corporations (and I've worked with quite a few, as a customer, employee and supplier) do take advantage of the "other" stakeholders (employees, suppliers and customers!) and that, often, senior management is much more concerned with feathering their own personal nest than in doing the job that they're paid a lot of money to do. That's pretty frightening, because it's in the hands of these managers that the future of corporate America rests. I just hope that somehow we can get them to listen.
I'd sure like to buy about fifty copies of this book and send it to some senior managers I know (anonomously, of course!)
thoughtful assessement of state of shareholder value.......2000-12-29
Kennedy bases his assumptions on Benjamin Graham's and David Dodd's classic, SECURITY ANALYSIS, and argues that as he was writing his book, the stock indexes were as crazed as the tulip craze of the 1630s when tulip bulb values were run to more than $20,000. (See Mackay's EXTRAORDINARY DELUSIONS for an excellent early recounting of the tulip and other crazes.) Kennedy's book looks not just at the Internet stock run-up but also the P/E values of other companies, such as GE, which he argues are also over-valued based on their earnings. His picture painted is a bleak one and his question of whether the leaders of the dot-com movement such as amazon.com will ever have enough margins to boast any profits are especially prescient given the dot-com downturn that followed the publication of his book. (See Geoffrey Moore's LIVING ON THE FAULT LINE for an opposing view of shareholder value.)
A "must" for anyone building a successful stock portfolio........2000-09-08
In The End Of Shareholder Value, Allan Kennedy persuasively maintains that managing businesses solely to get the stock price higher is bad for workers, customers, suppliers, and ultimately bad business for the stock holders as well. While for the few who hold the stock, and the fewer still who manage the company and then cash out when the stock price is high, the style of managing for stock price benefits, will invariably result in an erosion of company value with employees and shareholder being adversely affected under a short-term management practice and perspective. The End Of Shareholder Value is "must" reading for anyone seeking to build a successful stock portfolio through buying shares in any corporation regardless of size, past performance, or managerial reputation.
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The Caspian Region at a Crossroad: Challenges of a New Frontier of Energy and Development
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 031222351X |
Book Description
The emergence of the Caspian region as a new frontier of energy and development in the 1990s was one of the most surprising events to follow the collapse of the former Soviet Union. However, because of the "oil rush," interstate rivalry, and the hasty approaches to studying the area’s potential and needs, a very lopsided understanding of the region has emerged. The Caspian Region at a Crossroad attempts to correct this deficiency with essays by recognized experts in the region.
Customer Reviews:
The best so far !.......2001-06-02
Firstly let me begin by stating that I have read this work cover to cover three times and several chapters many times more. It is the best I have read to date and I have nearly every work (in English) on the Caspian - in regards to energy expliotation there is, so I do speak from a position of knowledge.
Although printed in early 2000 I did not get my copy until mid 2000. Compared to other works this is in a league of its own - both for content and the broad range of contributors. One of the things that bug me about works on the Caspian region is that IRan is relegated to a passing comment - because America's influence or its pipeline mentality seems to overcome other writers. This does work does not. Iran is central through this work.
Divided into 5 sections, with 16 chapters, this work natually being an edited work allows the reader to pick and choose sections or chapters to read. I particularly enjoyed the emphaise throughout the work on Iran - it was even-handed in its measure - which is what you would expect.
As with other works there is a section on the legal perspective of the Caspian and the chapter by Mirfendereski is very good - providing insights I have not come across in other works or articles.
The work is nearly 300 pages in length including notes, and was worth all of the $..... I paid for it - hardcover and a falling Australian Dollar did not help. This book is for those already with a reasonable knowledge of the region and with that in mind other introductory works such as Amineh or Crossiant/Bulents works may be better suited for the novice - of course there will always be overlaps between similar works but by far this is the best yet.
Part of the reason why I enjoyed this work so much is that it focuses on littoral communities of the region (and a brief chapter to America as well)(can't get away from them ) so in that regard it is not an all in one compendium, and there is a strong emphasis throughout the work on the actual Caspian Sea itself - as well as the energy reserves. It is a good book and worth the money.
Book Description
"Mass tort litigation against the gun industry, with its practical weaknesses, successes, and goals, provides the framework for this collection of thoughtful essays by leading social scientists, lawyers, and academics. . . . These informed analyses reveal the complexities that make the debate so difficult to resolve. . . . Suing the Gun Industry masterfully reveals the many details contributing to the intractability of the gun debate."
-New York Law Journal
"Second Amendment advocate or gun-control fanatic, all Americans who care about freedom need to read Suing the Gun Industry."
-Bob Barr, Member of Congress, 1995-2003, and Twenty-First Century Liberties Chair for Freedom and Privacy, American Conservative Union
"The source for anyone interested in a balanced analysis of the lawsuits against the gun industry."
-David Hemenway, Professor of Health Policy & Director, Harvard Injury Control Research Center Harvard School of Public Health Health Policy and Management Department, author of Private Guns, Public Health
"Highly readable, comprehensive, well-balanced. It contains everything you need to know, and on all sides, about the wave of lawsuits against U.S. gun manufacturers."
-James B. Jacobs, Warren E. Burger Professor of Law and author of Can Gun Control Work?
"In Suing the Gun Industry, Timothy Lytton has assembled some of the leading scholars and advocates, both pro and con, to analyze this fascinating effort to circumvent the well-known political obstacles to more effective gun control. This fine book offers a briefing on both the substance and the legal process of this wave of lawsuits, together with a better understanding of the future prospects for this type of litigation vis-à-vis other industries."
-Philip J. Cook, Duke University
"An interesting collection, generally representing the center of the gun-control debate, with considerable variation in focus, objectivity, and political realism."
-Paul Blackman, retired pro-gun criminologist and advocate
Gun litigation deserves a closer look amid the lessons learned from decades of legal action against the makers of asbestos, Agent Orange, silicone breast implants, and tobacco products, among others.
Suing the Gun Industry collects the diverse and often conflicting opinions of an outstanding cast of specialists in law, public health, public policy, and criminology and distills them into a complete picture of the intricacies of gun litigation and its repercussions for gun control.
Using multiple perspectives, Suing the Gun Industry scrutinizes legal action against the gun industry. Such a broad approach highlights the role of this litigation within two larger controversies: one over government efforts to reduce gun violence, and the other over the use of mass torts to regulate unpopular industries.
Readers will find Suing the Gun Industry a timely and accessible picture of these complex and controversial issues.
Contributors:
Tom Baker
Donald Braman
Brannon P. Denning
Tom Diaz
Howard M. Erichson
Thomas O. Farrish
Shannon Frattaroli
John Gastil
Dan M. Kahan
Don B. Kates
Timothy D. Lytton
Julie Samia Mair
Richard A. Nagareda
Peter H. Schuck
Stephen D. Sugarman
Stephen Teret
Wendy Wagner
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Sources of Medical Technology: Universities and Industry (Medical Innovation at the Crossroads)
Committee on Technological Innovation in Medicine , and
Institute of Medicine
Manufacturer: National Academies Press
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0309051894 |
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Public Enterprise at the Crossroads
John Heath
Manufacturer: Routledge
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ASIN: 0415044723 |
Book Description
In many parts of the world, public enterprise is in crisis. Privatization programs are being widely promoted as the solution to many of the problems of inefficiency and slow rates of growth associated with public enterprise. This book discusses the underlying causes of those problems, and critically examines some of the solutions that have been adopted.
Public Enterprise at the Crossroads has a wide geographical scope and cuts across the political spectrum. The experiences of countries in four continents are analyzed, with explorations of current problems. The contributors find recurrent patterns; problems are often found to be political as well as economic, and bureaucracy and administrative confusion are seen as a major cause of poor financial performance. Yet since political aims, the economic environment, and administrative and managerial capacities vary so widely, universal solutions remain more difficult to define than universal problems.
Books:
- Encountering the Chinese: A Guide for Americans (The Interact Series)
- Encounters with the Archdruid
- Entrepreneur's Notebook: Practical Advice for Starting a New Business Venture
- Family Reunion Handbook: A Complete Guide for Reunion Planners (Family Reunion Handbook)
- Fundamentals of Multinational Finance (2nd Edition) (Eiteman Series)
- Global "Body Shopping": An Indian Labor System in the Information Technology Industry (In-formation)
- Global Crises, Global Solutions
- Golden Arches East: McDonald's in East Asia, Second Edition
- Governing in Europe: Effective and Democratic?
- Guests of the Ayatollah: The Iran Hostage Crisis: The First Battle in America's War with Militant Islam
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