Balanced Scorecard

Book Description

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

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

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

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

Customer Reviews:

Excellent.......2007-10-22

This is a product that help me to alling the objetive of our organization to the lowest levels

Effective Strategic Management Tool.......2007-10-16

The book is a classic that has revolutionalised the way executives view their organizations, be it a for profit or not-for-profit entity. The Balanced Scorecard, an approach to strategic management that was developed by Robert S Kaplan and David P Norton, is a concept for measuring a company's activities in terms of its vision and strategies, to provide managers with a comprehensive view of the performance of a business. The key new factor is focusing not only on financial results but also on the human issues that drive those outcomes, so that organizations focus on the future and act in their long-term best interest.

The traditional means of measuring success through financial performance focuses on achievement to date. It is backward looking and can be counter productive in terms of securing a successful financial future. According to Kaplan and Norton financial measures are inadequate for guiding and evaluating the drive that information age firms must make to create future value through investment in customers, suppliers, employees, processes, technology and innovation.

The Balanced Scorecard balances financial success with processes that will generate success in the future. The scorecard retains a financial perspective and achieves balance by introducing a customer perspective, an internal perspective and a learning and growth perspective. In addition, it introduces objectives and measures, identifying both critical success factors and critical measurements.

The Balanced Scorecard is a management system (not only a measurement system) that allows organizations to clarify their vision and strategy and translate them into action. It provides feedback around both the internal business processes and external outcomes in order to continuously improve strategic performance and results. When fully deployed, the Balanced Scorecard transforms strategic management from an academic exercise into the nerve centre of an enterprise.

The Balanced Scorecard methodology builds on some key concepts of previous management ideas such as Total Quality Management (TQM), including customer-defined quality, continuous improvement, employee empowerment, and measurement-based management and feedback.
The Balanced Scorecard suggests that we view the organisation from four perspectives, namely the financial perspective, customer perspective, internal business processes and learning and growth perspective. The approach requires managers to develop metrics, collect data and analyze it relative to each of these perspectives.

This outstanding book is recommended to managers at all levels of an organisation, as well as business management students and strategy consultants.

The Balanced Scorecard - translating strategy into action.......2007-10-06

The order process was quick and easy,the information updates on status of delivery were accurate, the book arrived before ETA, and it was in excellent condition.

Thank you for a great transaction.

Now I just have to read it!!!
Regards

Breed Lewis

they are the ones.......2007-04-09

They invented it and there's no way to plan a BSC without knowing where it came from.

You don't notice that it's been 10 years since it was written.

Are you adding or destroying value ? - Find it out with The Balanced Score Card.......2006-07-13

The financial performance of an organization is essential for its success. Even non-profit organizations must deal in a sensible way with funds they receive.

In 1992, an article by Robert Kaplan and David Norton entitled "The Balanced Scorecard - Measures that Drive Performance" in the Harvard Business Review caused a lot of attention for their method, and led to their business bestseller, "The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action", published in 1996.

In this book Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton develop and describe the Balanced Score Card, a multidimensional approach to measuring corporate performance that incorporates both financial and non-financial factors.

The Balanced Score Card method of Kaplan and Norton is a strategic approach and performance management system that enables organizations to translate a company's vision and strategy into implementation, working from 4 perspectives:
1. financial perspective,
2. customer perspective,
3. business process perspective,
4. learning and growth perspective.

- Financial perspective: Kaplan and Norton do not disregard the traditional need for financial data. Timely and accurate funding data will always be a priority, and managers will do whatever necessary to provide it. In fact, often there is more than enough handling and processing of financial data. With the implementation of a corporate database, it is hoped that more of the processing can be centralized and automated. But the point is that the current emphasis on financials leads to the "unbalanced" situation with regard to other perspectives. There is perhaps a need to include additional financial-related data, such as risk assessment and cost-benefit data, in this category.

- Customer perspective: recent management philosophy has shown an increasing realization of the importance of customer focus and customer satisfaction in any business. These are leading indicators: if customers are not satisfied, they will eventually find other suppliers that will meet their needs. Poor performance from this perspective is thus a leading indicator of future decline, even though the current financial picture may look good. In developing metrics for satisfaction, customers should be analyzed in terms of kinds of customers and the kinds of processes for which we are providing a product or service to those customer groups.

- Business Process perspective refers to internal business processes. Metrics based on this perspective allow the managers to know how well their business is running, and whether its products and services conform to customer requirements (the mission). These metrics have to be carefully designed by those who know these processes most intimately. In addition to the strategic management process, two kinds of business processes may be identified: a) mission-oriented processes, and b) support processes. Mission-oriented processes are the special functions of government offices, and many unique problems are encountered in these processes. The support processes are more repetitive in nature, and hence easier to measure and benchmark using generic metrics.

- Learning and Growth perspective includes employee training and corporate cultural attitudes related to both individual and corporate self-improvement. In a knowledge-worker organization, people are the main resource. In the current climate of rapid technological change, it is becoming necessary for knowledge workers to be in a continuous learning mode. Government agencies often find themselves unable to hire new technical workers and at the same time is showing a decline in training of existing employees. Kaplan and Norton emphasize that 'learning' is more than 'training'; it also includes things like mentors and tutors within the organization, as well as that ease of communication among workers that allows them to readily get help on a problem when it is needed. It also includes technological tools such as an Intranet.

The integration of these four perspectives into a graphical appealing picture have made the Balanced Scorecard method a very successful methodology within the Value Based Management philosophy.

In addition to this book you may want to consider the following books on the subject:
- Robert S. Kaplan. Alignment: Using the Balanced Scorecard to Create Corporate Synergies.
- Paul R. Niven. Balanced ScoreCard Step-by-Step: Maximizing Performance and Maintaining Results.
- Paul R. Niven. Balanced ScoreCard Step-by-Step for Government and Nonprofit Agencies.
- Nils-Göran Olve. Performance Drivers: A Practical Guide to Using the Balanced Scorecard.
- Robert S. Kaplan. The Strategy-Focused Organization: How Balanced Scorecard Companies Thrive in the New Business Environment.
- Robert S. Kaplan. Strategy Maps: Converting Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes.
- Robert S. Kaplan. Putting the Balanced Scorecard to Work.
- Robert S. Kaplan. The Balanced Scorecard: Measures That Drive Performance.

Strategic Corporate Finance: Applications in Valuation and Capital Structure (Wiley Finance)

Average customer rating:

Strategic Corporate Finance: Applications in Valuation and Capital Structure (Wiley Finance)
Justin Pettit
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Corporate Finance | Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0470052643

Book Description

Essential guidance for the corporate finance professional — advisor, Board Director, CFO, Treasurer, business development executive, or M&A expert—to ask the right questions and make the critical decisions. Strategic Corporate Finance is a practical guide to the key issues, their context, and their solutions. From performance measurement and capital planning to risk management and capital structure, Strategic Corporate Finance, translates principles of corporate finance theory into practical methods for implementing them. Filled with in-depth insights, expert advice, and detailed case studies, Strategic Corporate Finance will prepare you for the issues involved in raising, allocating and managing capital, and its associated risks.

Book Description

A new perspective on risk management
Risk management has evolved to address the more strategic issue of optimization of return on risk. This has been accompanied by statistical, mathematical, and financial techniques which-when actively applied-can aid an institution in producing disproportionately high returns on risk. Adding Value Through Risk Management aims to describe these techniques, illustrate their application, and discuss their strategic value for financial institutions.
David Belmont is Director of Group Risk Control for Nexgen Financial Solutions Group (NFS).

Customer Reviews:

Very timely. Thoughtful presentation.......2005-05-03

This book is a gem - very timely and well-thought out. David Belmont obviously has a lot of experience in this area, but also has put in a lot of thought-leadership into this book. He traces the Basel II accord to its roots in M&M economics, and convincingly argues why bank risk management is a critical function. He then traces a thread from risk management to capital management and shows why and how banks can make use of Basel implementations to achieve a high degree of control and positioning of their operations.
The only knock on this book is that I found several typos and simple editing errors - it is clear that deadlines won over editorial quality. Hopefully the next edition will be cleared up in this regard - nevertheless I highly recommend this book.

Risk management as an asset, not a cost.......2004-05-01

This is a book that every bank board member should read. Sure, any board member worth his/her salt will be familiar with Basel II and risk measures such as VaR, but how many think of Basel II as a cost or imposition, and VaR as just another piece of information? Mr Belmont's easy to follow approach should allow readers to examine the way in which they can differentiate their own institution by using the investment in regulatory risk management to create, rather than just protect,shareholder value.

Thankfully, Mr Belmont strikes a good balance between theory and reality, both in his explanantion of market behaviour and in the presentation of his arguments. This is a book that the "mathematically challenged" like me can still enjoy and benfit from.

Timely and useful for bankers contemplating BIS 2.......2004-04-14

Even without the incentives provided by the upcoming Basel 2 guidelines, this book is timely and convincingly puts forth the proposition that active risk management is in itself a valuable component in the creation of shareholder value. Returns on investment in more sophisticated tools for risk quantification will be enhanced when the information is not only used for performance measurement, but also for such shareholder value-added activities such as capital allocation and balance sheet structuring.

I recommend this book for all practitioners of risk management.

Practical Application.......2004-03-22

Belmont has done an exceptional job at communicating the importance and practical application of risk measures for today's business environment. The book offers the reader a thorough assessment of what banking executives face everyday and how best to manage these risk and regain the control necessary for any banking executive to grow its business without putting into jeopardy the best interest of its shareholders, which in no small measure is a testament to Belmont's clear understanding of the challenges faced by most executives and the demands they face in terms of managing near term performance goals with long term stability.

Essential Reading for Risk Managers Implementing BIS 2.......2004-03-17

Given the dual pressures banks face from regulators and investors to address the challenges of Basle 2 and create shareholder value, this book is highly relevant and timely. It provides practical, concise and real world guidance to any senior bank executive seeking to add value in his institution by optimizing the usage of economic capital. Economic capital based performance measures are clearly presented and illustrated with real life examples. Additionally, anyone implementing Basle 2 must ask how this can be done and what value it creates for the organization. This book provides the answers.

The book quickly gives a real world context the value of risk management information to bank CEOs, CFOs, institutional security analysts, and investors. It then goes on to demonstrate theoretically and practically how risk management information can be used to address key strategic decisions faced by senior bank management.

Any risk manager, CFO, or CEO in a financial institution should find this book valuable if they seek to create shareholder value in their institution. Similarly, anyone seeking to rise to the executive suite must understand the issues addressed in this well written book.

Average customer rating:

Review Update

Good for managers bad for students

Cost Management: A Strategic Emphasis (4th Edition)
Edward Blocher , David E. Stout , Gary Cokins , and Kung Chen
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill/Irwin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Cases & Readings to accompany Cost Management

Intermediate Accounting

Study Guide for use with Cost Mangement: A Strategic Emphasis

Contemporary Financial Management (with Thomson ONE - Business School Edition and InfoTrac ) (Contemporary Financial Management)

Intermediate Financial Management (with Thomson One)

ASIN: 0073128155

Book Description

Cost Management: A Strategic Emphasis, by Blocher/Stout/Cokins/Chen is the first cost accounting text to offer integrated coverage of strategic management topics in cost accounting. The text is written to help students understand more about management and the role of cost accounting in helping an organization succeed. This text aims to teach management concepts and methods, and to demonstrate how managers use cost management information to make better decisions and improve their organization’s competitiveness. In teaching these key management skills, the text takes on a strategic focus. It addresses issues such as: How does a firm compete? What type of cost management information is needed for a firm to succeed? How does the management accountant develop and present this information? This text helps students learn why, when, and how cost information is used to make effective decisions that lead a firm to success.

Customer Reviews:

Review Update.......2007-06-10

To All Readers of the Posted Comment regarding Cost Management: A Strategic Emphasis--the posted comment refers to the 2nd Edition of this text. The most recent edition, of which I am now a coauthor, is the 4th edition, which carries a 2008 copyright date. The latest edition of the text is materially different from the previous editions. Please keep these points in mind as you consider the latest edition of the text. Thank you.

David E. Stout
Youngstown State University
destout@ysu.edu

Good for managers bad for students.......2003-07-29

I bought this book to help me studying for my part 3 CMA exam.

The reason I removed the fifth star from my rating is:
First : It does not have enough questions, or questions are irrelevant to the ones you get in a CMA exam. Besides, there are no answers given to help you evaluate your self.

Second: Though it has a good website for student support ... some main chapters are still under construction!!

My Conclusion is that If you are a manager, you will find this book very helpful more than any other book but if you are a student you better use another text book like Horngren .

Average customer rating:

Great read on scorecarding

Another Glowing Success

Beyond the Balanced Scorecard: Improving Business Intelligence With Analytics
Mark Graham Brown
Manufacturer: Productivity Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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: Business Process Management and the Balanced Scorecard : Focusing Processes on Strategic Drivers

Performance Dashboards and Analysis for Value Creation (Wiley Finance)

Key Performance Indicators: Developing, Implementing,and Using Winning KPIs

Keeping Score: Using the Right Metrics to Drive World Class Performance

Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning

ASIN: 1563273462

Book Description

Improve the "Health" of Your Organization by Using the Right Metrics! The vast majority of companies use some form of balanced scorecard (performance measures), yet recent research suggests that most scorecards are based on singular, unsophisticated measurements, providing flawed data on the state of the organization.

Beyond the Balanced Scorecard: Improving Business Intelligence with Analytics, by Mark Graham Brown, provides managers with the right metrics for evaluating important aspects of performance that are not accurately tracked by most companies and government organizations.

Leaders will learn how to objectively measure:

Relationships with Customers Employee Satisfaction External Business Environment Supplier/Vendor performance Strategy and Financials This book will show you how to construct a performance index, as well as provide you with example metrics of various aspects of performance that are difficult to measure.

Customer Reviews:

Great read on scorecarding.......2007-09-10

I must say that I became a huge fan of Mark Graham Brown's after reading his book "Get it, Set it, Move it, Prove it", so of course I had to pick up his next book on analytics. What I like the most about Mark's books is that they are really easy to understand. He talks about real life examples from recognizable companies he has worked with in every industry. There are some great industry specific scorecard samples in the book which I found really informative. Whether you are just beginning your Balanced Scorecard or performance management initiative, Mark describes what is important to the success of your performance management initiative, key failures, best practises and how to develop your scorecard to reap the most benefit and success of your organizations strategic goals. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is just starting their performance management initiative or to anyone who wants to improve their scorecard.

Another Glowing Success.......2007-03-16

One of the key points I took away from Mark's new book is that analytics can form the basis of a dynamic approach to performance management. Dynamic in the sense that analytics can be adjusted to be more responsive to changing directions in the market, the economy, employee profile or whatever is important to the organization. Because an analytic is a composite or aggregate of sub-metrics, each sub-metric necessarily carries a weight that can be based on its importance to the company's business results. As business conditions inevitably change, such as the surfacing of a new competitive threat, the weights of the sub-metrics can be quickly changed to reflect their current significance. This can reduce or eliminate the need to create another scorecard. Not only can a scorecard be balanced, the aggregate analytics can be dynamically adjusted to indicate the affects that changes in business strategy have on business results; a sensible approach for remaining stable, yet agile in a turbulent business environment.

Strategic Investment: Real Options and Games

Average customer rating:

Right book for executives

Strategic Investment: Real Options and Games
Han T. J. Smit , and Lenos Trigeorgis
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0691010390

Book Description

Corporate finance and corporate strategy have long been seen as different sides of the same coin. Though both focus on the same broad problem, investment decision-making, the gap between the two sides--and between theory and practice--remains embarrassingly large. This book synthesizes cutting-edge developments in corporate finance and related fields--in particular, real options and game theory--to help bridge this gap. In clear, straightforward exposition and through numerous examples and applications from various industries, Han Smit and Lenos Trigeorgis set forth an extended valuation framework for competitive strategies.

The book follows a problem-solving approach that synthesizes ideas from game theory, real options, and strategy. Thinking in terms of options-games can help managers address questions such as: When is it best to invest early to preempt competitive entry, and when to wait? Should a firm compete in R&D or adopt an accommodating stance? How does one value growth options or infrastructure investments? The authors provide a wide range of valuation examples, such as acquisition strategies, R&D investment in high-tech sectors, joint research ventures, product introductions in consumer electronics, infrastructure, and oil exploration investment.

Representing a major step beyond standard real options or strategy analysis, and extending the power of real options and strategic thinking in a rigorous fashion, Strategic Investment will be an indispensable guide and resource for corporate managers, MBA students, and academics alike.

Customer Reviews:

Right book for executives.......2007-03-20

I develop practical Game Theory Simulation Models for strategy formulations, experiments, and selection. This book provided me with a practical guide how to use Game Theory and Real Options for strategic analysis.
The use of Real Option with Game Theory was new for me.
Well written this book it is a must for executives.
[...]

Structured Finance and Insurance: The ART of Managing Capital and Risk (Wiley Finance)

Average customer rating:

great expertise knowledge

Structured Finance and Insurance: The ART of Managing Capital and Risk (Wiley Finance)
Christopher L. Culp
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0471706310

Book Description

Praise for Structured Finance & Insurance

"More and more each year, the modern corporation must decide what risks to keep and what risks to shed to remain competitive and to maximize its value for the capital employed. Culp explains the theory and practice of risk transfer through either balance sheet mechanism such as structured finance, derivative transactions, or insurance. Equity is expensive and risk transfer is expensive. As understanding grows, and, as a result, costs continue to fall, ART will continue to replace equity as the means to cushion knowable risks. This book enhances our understanding of ART."
—Myron S. Scholes, Frank E. Buck Professor of Finance, Emeritus, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University

"A must-read for everyone offering structured finance as a business, and arguably even more valuable to any one expected to pay for such service."
—Norbert Johanning, Managing Director, DaimlerChrysler Financial Services

"Culp's latest book provides a comprehensive account of the most important financing and risk management innovations in both insurance and capital markets. And it does so by fitting these innovative solutions and products into a single, unified theory of financial markets that integrates the once largely separate disciplines of insurance and risk management with the current theory and practice of corporate finance."
—Don Chew, Editor, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance (a Morgan Stanley publication)

"This exciting book is a comprehensive read on alternative insurance solutions available to corporations. It focuses on the real benefits, economical and practical, of alternatives such as captives, rent-a-captive, and mutuals. An excellent introduction to the very complex field of alternative risk transfer (ART)."
—Paul Wöhrmann, PhD, Head of the Center of Excellence ART and member of theExecutive Management of Global Corporate in Europe, Zurich Financial Services

"Structured Finance and Insurance transcends Silos to reach the Enterprise Mountaintop. Culp superbly details integrated, captive, multiple triggers and capital market products, and provides the architectural blueprints for enterprise risk innovation."
—Paul Wagner, Director, Risk Management, AGL Resources Inc.

Customer Reviews:

great expertise knowledge.......2007-10-23

This book provides a great details and knowledges about structured finance. If you are interested in the overall depth understanding about this area, this book is a good buy.

Profit Strategies for Air Transportation (Aviation Week Books)

Average customer rating:

Comprehensive Textbook
Too much, too little, need more -- focus

Profit Strategies for Air Transportation (Aviation Week Books)
George Radnoti
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Professional
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0071385053

Book Description

* Presents practical and profitable solutions to problems encountered by commercial and regional airlines, charter, cargo, and corporate aircraft operations, businesses, and fractional and lease aircraft companies
* Details save-money, make-money strategies and simulates trips for profit-and-loss analysis
* Includes performance case studies
* Covers methods of fuel conservation, environmental concerns, maintenance, and more

Customer Reviews:

Comprehensive Textbook.......2007-03-25

This book provides a comprehensive coverage of the technical and economic aspects of various facets of air transportation including commercial airlines, charter operations, corporate services and other related businesses such as leasing company operations and fractional ownership. The reader gains insights into the areas where costs can be saved and revenues enhanced. For example, the author presents various strategies to minimize fuel usage and hence improve the bottom line.

The book is well written allowing it to be accessible to people working in various specialties in the air transportation business that have opportunities to learn about economic air transport operations. Among the subjects covered include aircraft maintenance economics, various aircraft financing options enabling managers to evaluate those most beneficial for their business and revenue enhancement strategies. The reader will be pleased to learn that environmental issues are not forgotten.

Overall, a useful and helpful book for managers in the air transportation industry who need to learn how to minimize costs, improve revenue and thus enhance profits.

Too much, too little, need more -- focus.......2003-12-13

The title is misleading. I searched through every chapter to decipher how to make a profit with passenger, cargo, and/or other areas of air transportation. It covers a tremendous amount of information like aircraft configurations and technical designs. Unfortunately, and all so common, lots of problems given about aviation; but few solutions offered about profit strategies!

Each chapter technically covers an area of air transportation, but even the short chapters are not extensive enough. Only the most fundamental elements are written. There is not enough pertinent information delivered for the reader to absorb a firm understanding about air transportation.

Book Description

How to use pricing as a strategic tool to increase revenues and win the war for profit

One of the greatest pitfalls in the war for profits is corporate strategists' lack of a practical understanding of the link between overall revenues and overall costs. In Winning the Profit Game, the thought leaders at A. T. Kearney unveil a revolutionary new approach to establishing clear, strategic links between the top and bottom lines. No dry academic treatise, Winning the Profit Game is a guide to growing profits, in boom times and bust, using smart top-line strategies that optimize price, costs, customer behavior, and volumes. The authors clearly lay out the basic principles involved and also include:

Proven strategies for transforming added value into revenues and winning the war for profits
Prescriptive frameworks for putting the principles and strategies into action, immediately
Numerous success stories based on experiences of A. T. Kearney clients worldwide

Customer Reviews:

Key insight from Winning the Profit Game.......2007-10-23

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1V2XM3N7C12W4 The key insight of this book is that "pricing" is an effective way to communicate with your customers.

Insightful!.......2004-08-04

Re-engineering, downsizing TQM, CRM - you've seen them all. But businesses are still trying to find ways to lead their markets and beat their competition. The authors of this book suggest that pricing deserves the kind of attention that, a decade ago, your organization lavished upon procurement. They believe pricing strategy will be the important competitive differentiator in times to come. That is certainly plausible, and this book offers extensive guidance on how, when, why and according to what guiding principles businesses should change prices. Its copy editors should have been more diligent, because spelling and grammatical errors abound, but the book is nonetheless surprisingly readable. The book makes some valuable points, and we believe it merits marketing officers' scrutiny.

Newspaper and Electronic press comments on this book.......2004-03-01

Readers might find the the March 15, 2004 reviews of this book in the Miami Herald and the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram to be useful:

"[The Authors] have produced something analogous to an eagle in the realm of business books... Like an eagle, Winning the Profit Game is distinguished by its farsightedness. Its clear, precise prose soars above that of most business books."

"The opus opens with a musical metaphor, reminding readers that every era has its own music and its own signature instruments: the driving drums and multiple guitar riffs of rock n'roll, the thundering brass of the Swing Era's big bands and the virtuoso string sections of classical music. 'If we make the analogy with business, what skills is emerging even now as the lead instrument of the 2000s? What will be the key to success in an environment that's tougher, more competitive than ever before?' the authors write. Their answer is pricing-- not by itself but integrated with brand, cost management and product development."

The authors cover the waterfront on pricing comprehensively and lucidly [including]Quick Hits for management."

Readers might also wish to know that this book has been mentioned on yahoo.com's Finance website (2/20/04), and on Consultant News's consultant-news.com (2/24/04). Their comments were (respectively):

"... executives reading this book will learn tools to help them... develop an effective, integrated price and brand strategy, use price as a language which speaks to customers [and] optimize price to increase revenue."

"... by putting brand at the center of their framework, the authors challenge the conception of branding as a mysterious function separate from price. Rather, the two are inextricably connected and a superior price strategy cannot exist without a solid brand strategy."

Incidentally, I would not say we put brand at the center of our book. We do give it a lot more attention than any other book on pricing, however.

Hope this is helpful.

Rob Docters
(Co-author)

Maybe the best book yet on pricing and branding.......2004-01-20

In fact I was surprised at how good it really was. Most business books are nothing more a string of anecodotes and platitudes, whereas here the reader gets a combination of pragmatic detail and genuine insight into what pricing can accomplish if unleashed. A great book to bring to the meeting room since the emphasis is on upper managament getting involved. From a technical perspective, it would appear the authors have spent time in the trenches, not just on their fannies in academia somewhere, as the stategy and tactics they recommend are fresher than anything to be found in Nagle or Dolan. As an example of this check out the chapter on "price as a language" for starters, then go from there.

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