Book Description
A compelling vision. Bold leadership. Decisive action. Unfortunately, these prerequisites of success are almost always the ingredients of failure, too. In fact, most managers seeking to maximize their chances for glory are often unwittingly setting themselves up for ruin. The sad truth is that most companies have left their futures almost entirely to chance, and don’t even realize it. The reason? Managers feel they must make choices with far-reaching consequences today, but must base those choices on assumptions about a future they cannot predict. It is this collision between commitment and uncertainty that creates THE STRATEGY PARADOX.
This paradox sets up a ubiquitous but little-understood tradeoff. Because managers feel they must base their strategies on assumptions about an unknown future, the more ambitious of them hope their guesses will be right – or that they can somehow adapt to the turbulence that will arise. In fact, only a small number of lucky daredevils prosper, while many more unfortunate, but no less capable managers find themselves at the helms of sinking ships. Realizing this, even if only intuitively, most managers shy away from the bold commitments that success seems to demand, choosing instead timid, unremarkable strategies, sacrificing any chance at greatness for a better chance at mere survival.
Michael E. Raynor, coauthor of the bestselling The Innovator's Solution, explains how leaders can break this tradeoff and achieve results historically reserved for the fortunate few even as they reduce the risks they must accept in the pursuit of success. In the cutthroat world of competitive strategy, this is as close as you can come to getting something for nothing.
Drawing on leading-edge scholarship and extensive original research, Raynor’s revolutionary principle of Requisite Uncertainty yields a clutch of critical, counter-intuitive findings. Among them:
-- The Board should not evaluate the CEO based on the company’s performance, but instead on the firm’s strategic risk profile
-- The CEO should not drive results, but manage uncertainty
-- Business unit leaders should not focus on execution, but on making strategic choices
-- Line managers should not worry about strategic risk, but devote themselves to delivering on commitments
With detailed case studies of success and failure at Sony, Microsoft, Vivendi Universal, Johnson & Johnson, AT&T and other major companies in industries from financial services to energy, Raynor presents a concrete framework for strategic action that allows companies to seize today’s opportunities while simultaneously preparing for tomorrow’s promise.
Customer Reviews:
Requisite uncertainty and human capabilities.......2007-08-22
Zachary Stein ((Harvard Graduate School of Education) & Theo L. Dawson (Developmental Testing Service)
We agree with many of the other reviewers of this book. It combines high quality scholarship and accessibility, making it stand out from most of the popular leadership literature. But we think most of the other reviews have missed a key dimension of Raynor's model, a facet of his vision that sets it apart from the more traditional literature on strategies and organizations. With a nod to the research of Elliot Jaques, Raynor makes it clear that the proposed model of "requisite uncertainty" would have us build organizations that are sensitive both to the demands of the marketplace and the realities of human capabilities. We all know that organizations need to be responsive to socio-economic trends and uncertainties, but only a select few are privy to the notion that organizational hierarchies need to be designed in light of facts about human cognition and cognitive development. In our minds, this latter point is what sets the "Strategy Paradox" apart.
Individuals occupying different roles are faced with different demands. This we all know. But Raynor helps to clarify just who should be doing what, and moreover, what those at the top need to do to handle the unprecedented uncertainties of post-modern socio-economic conditions. As Raynor explains, these high-level demands cash out in terms of dialogically rich inquiry-based procedures for "crystallizing and preserving a diversity of opinions" regarding strategic options. Needless to say, that's a tall order that not just anybody can fill. What's preferable is not always possible. Our only criticism is that Raynor has too little to say about the cognitive capabilities that would make his vision possible. There is a rich literature about adult cognitive development and its measurement that Raynor does an inadequate job of referencing. Jaques and Kegan are the tip of a very complex iceberg. And frankly it's an iceberg that might sink this ship.
From where we sit, the model is incomplete without further consideration of the cognitive demands of "Strategic Flexibility." Any life-span cognitive developmental psychologist will tell you that less than 3% of the adult population in the developed world has the cognitive skills to meet these demands. We don't mean to rain on the parade, but for this model to work we need to ensure that those who engage in the highest levels of strategic planning are equipped with the requisite cognitive and discourse skills. Without them, real-world implementations will be less than stellar.
To sum up, our reading of the "Strategy Paradox" reveals a devil in the details. We think that Raynor's radical suggestions regarding human capabilities and organizational strata are the trend-setting elements of his model. Zeroing in on these suggestions exposes a formidable challenge.
Raynor has put time back into strategy.......2007-08-14
I won't repeat the powerful insights stated by many of the other positive reviewers. Read them yourself. They are special in their own right!
Raynor's latest book is beautifully written. It should all be savoured (slowly if necessary)...
The chapters which I believe Raynor will be truly remembered for are nestled in the middle (chapters 6-8). In these wonderful pages he rightfully restores "time" into strategy-making ("who stole time?", should indeed give rise to several more business books).
Leveraging Elliott Jaques' seminal work on time-spans of discretion, Raynor introduces "strategic flexibility" with compelling clarity and irrefutable logic. As an added bonus, he also illuminates the real role of corporate boards with such lucidity, that reading SOX prescriptions in future will seem sadly impoverished.
I have seen and heard Raynor speak in public. He is a virtuosic whirlwind on stage. Read this book. It is even better than the live performance.
Key Concepts Make it Worth Buying.......2007-08-08
I enjoyed The Strategy Paradox, and have added it to the Pearls of Wisdom page on my site. Powerful concepts in the hands of enlightened leaders, particularly those leading large organizations:
1. Extreme strategies do not come without risk
2. You don't have to predict the future to be successful
3. Divide responsibility for strategy formulation by time horizons
4. Give your organization a chance to adapt and succeed in the most likely future scenarios through options not commitment
In my mind if you get come away from a business book with one or more useful insights, then it was more than worth the time invested. This book is definitely worth the time if you are already (or aspire to be) a corporate leader or strategist.
Five star content!
Read this book before your competitors do.......2007-07-31
I have very high hopes for Raynor's book - it might force business practitioners to think more deeply about formulating real strategy and structuring the organization for competitive advantage. Most treatments of strategy address competitive dynamics (in the line of Porter), likewise positioning, or competency leverage (Collins). Raynor brings forward insights from his research and publishing in innovation (The Innovator's Solution), Harvard doctoral research, and the practical understanding that comes from actually consulting. While his book could anchor a top-notch MBA course, it might lead a good company's board to make much better strategic decisions.
I would not compare The Strategy Paradox with popular business books, such as The Long Tail or even Good to Great, but instead deeply-researched work like Alfred Chandler's. Raynor reveals the perils and promises of strategy formulation, the management of strategy and commitment, and the design and execution of strategic options. Keep in mind that most of what's published in journals and books is very loose, or even just junk research. Strategic management remains largely influenced, in the actual practice of corporate decision making, by Porter's 1980's work, resource allocation, and what I call Powerpoint SWOT. So who should care? Just about every executive and business unit-level manager. And, of course, educators and consultants focusing on business strategy and organizational dynamics.
It is one of the few works on competitive strategy that guides organizational structure as well as business positioning - not directly through guidance on design, but in terms of organizational function necessitated by requisite uncertainty. Raynor never mentions "strategic alignment," a troublesome notion from consulting with no good research support. Rather, he demonstrates how organizational focus on strategic action (as implied by "alignment") results from appropriate structural management, where uncertainty and commitment are appropriately weighted in the hierarchy. In time for Alfred Chandler's handoff to history with his passing in May, Raynor retrieves the original effectiveness of hierarchical management, and maps it functionally to uncertainty. This cleanly obviates the necessity for fuzzy nostrums such as "strategic alignment." (Or perhaps it saves it, for fans of alignment approaches).
Raynor explains complex business scenarios with a brisk storyline. The footnotes are a fascinating secondary read - the points are backed up by his research, Harvard studies, and dozens of well-cited papers. While optional to the main points, the research is actually useful and interesting. Some key concepts are novel in strategy research, such as the application of Elliott Jacques' work on requisite organization to support the principle of Requisite Uncertainty.
I highly recommend this book, and if you are an executive or board advisor, I urge you to read it before your competitors do.
The system encourages mediocrity........2007-07-23
Raynor's book is not the easiest read, but then again, that says more about the reader than it does about the book. The concept is rather revolutionary--and thus, difficult to digest immediately--in that it suggests almost everything we know about strategy and success is wrong. All the books, studies and anecdotes are comparing successful companies and mediocre companies instead of what they claim to do: compare success and failure. If they actually did compare the two, Raynor claims, you'd find a lot of similarities. That all too often, the keys to success are the recipes for failure. And that the people who we hold up as fearless leaders are really just one change in fate away from being the people we mock as losers. He's saying that this is inevitable, after all, how can a study include the business that started and failed and no one ever heard of? Thus, we only see wild success or middle of the road, bet hedgers.
Von Clauswitz talked of this too, saying that as we examine history, before we judge military defeats we must consider what our opinion would be had they succeeded. In other words, if the insurgent resistance in Iraq hadn't been so strong or if the WMD had materialized, would Bush's unilateral, undertrooped strategy be as derided as it is right now? Or if weather hadn't beaten back the Persians at Thermopylae, would we still think them arrogant and brash?
Accordingly, Rayor's book is a very unique look at some of the most illustrious examples of business failure. We see that some of Sony's biggest gaffs, had the market gone the way they'd hoped, would have been their biggest successes. This is true because of the theories two assumptions:
1) A successful strategy requires full commitment
2) Full commitment, in light of unpredictable futures, can mean catastrophic failure
And thus, the more you strategize, the more likely you are to be both massively successful and massively unsuccessful. The only middle ground--and often the most commonly taken--is mediocrity, where the company is neither successful or driven out of business.
Raynor poses a conclusion we often find ourselves also coming to:
"The only way [Company X] could have managed the situation any better is to have predicted the future...and that of course, is impossible. The future never gets here."
He sees strategies as equity or stock. You're purchasing the stock, and if you guessed right, you make money and if you guess wrong, you lose. The real way to succeed then, is to buy options on stocks. Essentially, to set up multiple, concurrent strategy options, from which you can then "agree to buy" the winners. These options then make your chosen strategy mobile in the face on an unpredictable future. This gives you strategic flexibility.
Overall, this was a very interesting book. The review deriding it above are to be expected--if we could all understand this, it wouldn't exactly be a paradox or problem would it? Pick it up and even if you don't understand every word, merely being cognizant of the dilemma would help you.
Book Description
One of the key determinants of success for today’s high-technology companies is product strategy—and this guide continues to be the only book on product strategy written specifically for the 21st century high-tech industry. More than 250 examples from technological leaders including IBM, Compaq, and Apple—plus a new focus on growth strategies and on Internet businesses—define how high-tech companies can use product strategy and product platform strategy for competitiveness, profitability, and growth in the Internet age.
Customer Reviews:
very good - lots of examples.......2007-01-19
the Core Strategic Vision approach for determining strategy is interesting, and is a good framework to develop a realistic vision.
The boundaries test to determine whether your vision will deliver what you expect (it forces you to expect something!) is something companies can't forget.
And the vision of a set of product's as not only one offering, but as one containing a platform and its pre-planned offerings, with pricing strategy, is essential to get profits for a long time.
It is full with examples, specially from the software arena. Recommended.
Comprehensive coverage.......2006-03-12
This book offers a study of the strategic options for high tech firms. The coverage is wide and detailed. This is a great book.
A first approach to Product Strategy.......2006-01-31
A big number of business examples, and good explanation of concepts. A deeper vision could be found in another books about this subject, so in my oppinion this book could be a good starting point, not recomended for advanced IT product managers.
targeted for core products at large companies.......2004-05-22
I love this book: the concept of a "vector" for product
development is a terrific way to think about competition.
IMHO, this book is a must-read for all product managers,
product marketers and people involved in strategic decisions,
i.e. all senior executives.
That said, speaking as a five-time startup engineer, the advice
and examples in this book seem geared towards the core product
lines in larger companies, where you can credibly talk about
"two years from now" as opposed to wondering if you'll even be
in business, which is also the problem for new product lines at
large companies. The experience for the book comes from the
PRTM consulting firm, which was made famous for their work with
parallel product development at Intel. We hired them in the
early days at Inktomi, and found mixed success with their
process because we were terrified of immediate failure, and
they wanted to talk about version 3. Obviously, there's a
successful middle ground because Inktomi was a huge success in
the short term, but ultimately lost its strategic direction.
watch out cost to implement in ur office before do it.......2003-12-05
For example, author addressed the benefits to have a product platform strategy are focusing managemnet on key decision at the right time;enabling products to be deployed rapidly and consistently; encouraging a longer-term view of product strategy; leveraging significant operational efficiencies; helping management anticipate replacing a major product platform.
However, he may forget to remind readers that these require cost before enjoying the benefits, such as you need to hire a new tier of middle management if you company is too small to afford before; to establish the new channel capabilities to justify the investment on the platform bcz to access new markets; the IT system to calculate operation efficiencies such as engineering head count, material cost, and supply chain cost is also not cheap if you only have the option to use turn-key solution.....
It may be reasonable to equip product platform strategy only when benefits are greater than costs.
Book Description
In the worldwide bestseller The Innovator's Dilemma, Clayton M. Christensen exposed a crushing paradox behind the failure of many industry leaders. By doing what good companies were supposed to do-focus on pleasing their most profitable customers-leaders were paving the way for their own demise. How? By ignoring "disruptive technologies"-new, cheaper innovations that initially target small customer segments but evolve to displace the reigning product.
Now, Christensen and coauthor Michael E. Raynor cut the Gordian knot of the "innovator's dilemma" with The Innovator's Solution. This groundbreaking book reveals that innovation is not as unpredictable as most managers have come to believe. While the outcomes of past innovations seem random, the process by which innovations are packaged and shaped within companies is very predictable. By understanding and managing the forces that influence this process, companies can shape high-octane business plans that create truly disruptive growth.
Drawing on years of in-depth research and using new theories tested in hundreds of companies across many industries, the authors identify the processes that create successful innovations, and show managers how to tailor their strategies to the changing circumstances of a dynamic world.
Comprehensive yet practical, The Innovator's Solution is an actionable prescription for innovation-driven, profitable growth.
"A good business book makes managers stop and think. A great business book teaches managers how to stop and think. This is a great book. It is hard to imagine an executive team that would not benefit from devoting an entire day to discussing it."
-Geoffrey Moore, Chairman and Founder, TCG Advisors, and author, Crossing the Chasm and Living on the Fault Line
"In The Innovator's Solution, Christensen and Raynor address the holy grail of all organizations: how to generate growth and sustain it over long periods. Avoiding the temptation to provide simplistic formulas, they guide the reader through carefully constructed frameworks that teach how to think about the issues that limit-and provide-growth to organizations."
-Dr. Andrew S. Grove, Chairman of the Board, Intel
"Christensen and Raynor have done a superb job of creating a framework for helping to understand the industry dynamics and for planning your own growth alternatives."
-Pekka Ala-Pietilä, President, Nokia Corporation
"Singapore, as a small nation, needs to be innovative and sensitive to disruptive changes more than other countries. Christensen and Raynor have provided an excellent framework to reduce the randomness of the innovation process. This framework will help in our effort to nurture an environment conducive for enterprises to create and capitalize on disruptive innovations."
-Teo Ming Kian, Chairman, Singapore Economic Development Board
"The Innovator's Solution goes directly to the heart of why large companies have failed to sustain innovation. Christensen and Raynor have a deep insight into the challenges that innovative companies face, and they propose practical, realistic solutions to the dilemmas of innovation. This book will be extremely useful to all managers who are committed to using innovation to sustain their growth."
-Bill George, former Chairman and CEO, Medtronic, Inc.
Customer Reviews:
Disruptive Innovations Key to Spicing Up Competition.......2007-10-01
Clayton Christensen and Michael Raynor set the tone immediately by showing that most companies cannot sustain growth and by explaining to readers how stock markets factor in growth in the price of any publicly-traded stock. Growing faster than what stock markets see now and expect in the future is essential to move up a stock price.
The resource allocation process is the key culprit in humbling many market leaders when dealing with disruptive innovations. That process typically invites up-market flight rather than head-to-head fight with new market entrants. That flight mechanism is applicable not only to product/service makers, but also to their distributors and retailers. Unlike a sustaining innovation, a disruptive innovation is not compatible with the business model of market leaders. Christensen and Raynor call this behavioral pattern asymmetric motivation.
The way out of asymmetric motivation is for the leadership of an established player 1) to frame the disruptive innovation as a threat during the resource allocation process and 2) to shift responsibility for the project to an autonomous organization that has the relevant experience to frame it as an opportunity. The leadership needs to have a clear understanding of the respective impact of resources, processes, and values on what an organization can or cannot accomplish. Resources and processes are often enablers while values often represent constraints. Unlike deliberate processes, emergent processes should dominate when the future is hard to predict and the right strategy is not yet clear. That is especially true at the beginning of a company's existence. Once the winning strategy becomes clear, deliberate processes become a must to maximize the changes of success.
Christensen and Raynor continue their analysis by sub-dividing disruptive innovations into two categories: new-market disruptions competing with "non-consumption" and low-end disruptions that go after the proverbial "low-hanging fruit." Charting the upward path for a new-market disruption is more daunting because nobody has ever walked the walk. In practice, the distinction between the two types of disruptive innovations is not always clear-cut due to the existence of hybrid disruptions that combine new-market and low-end approaches. Christensen and Raynor also point out that an innovation that passes the new-market or low-end test must be disruptive to all of the significant established players to deserve the label of disruptive innovation.
Christensen and Raynor clearly show that new entrants in turn do not escape from the up-market urge. After driving out the last established market player competing in a certain market segment, cut-throat competition forces new entrants to also move up market for greener pastures.
Christensen and Raynor also reflect on why an overwhelming majority of new products fail miserably in the market-place. Attribute-based segmentation for which data are often available is the lead explanation for these failures. That type of market segmentation too often ignores the jobs that people and companies need to get done and how a product or service can be "hired" for that purpose. Targeting a product or service at the circumstances in which the target audience finds itself, rather than at the target itself is the key to success. Christensen and Raynor drive that point home very well with their story about the milkshake doing a different job for a bored commuter and his/her child at different times of the day. Christensen and Raynor blame the counterproductive attribute-based segmentation to 1) fear of focus, 2) senior executives' demand for quantification of opportunities, 3) the structure of channels, and 4) advertising economics and brand strategies.
Christensen and Raynor pursue their analysis by looking at the traditional distinction between core and non-core competences. Unlike competitiveness that is focused on what a customer values, core competence, as it is usually practiced by managers, is ominously inward looking. The rigidity of that categorization results in downplaying the evolving product architectures and integration over time. Christensen and Raynor highlight the respective impact of interdependent architectures that optimize performance in terms of functionality and reliability and modular architectures that optimize flexibility on industry structures.
Dis-integration that modularity makes possible does not preclude re-integration down the road if market circumstances change or vice versa. Savvy managers anticipate where the money will be instead of solely focusing their companies on the profitable businesses of the past. Developing this intuition is essential to avoid the process of commoditization. If commoditization already happens, de-commoditization can be achieved as well. Christensen and Raynor describe both processes in much detail. For example, the integrated American automakers are evolving toward modular architectures for their mainstream models in order to compete on speed and flexibility. This has in turn led to a significant consolidation of their suppliers.
Christensen and Raynor also clearly demonstrate that none of the attribute-based categorizations of funding such as venture capital vs. corporate capital and public versus private capital are a reliable predictor of a new venture success. Christensen and Raynor correctly point out that the best money is patient for growth but impatient for profit in the first years of a new business. The deal spiral from inadequate growth as Christensen and Raynor call it, results from impatience for growth and patience for profit.
Finally, Christensen and Raynor highlight the three roles that senior executives have to play in leading new growth:
1) Short-Term: To be at the juncture between disruptive growth businesses and the mainstream businesses to decide on the allocation of the company's resources and processes
2) Longer-Term: To lead what Christensen and Raynor call a "disruptive growth engine" to repeatedly launch successful growth businesses
3) Perpetual: To anticipate when the circumstances are changing, and to pass on their know-how to others to identify these signals.
To summarize, Christensen and Raynor made with The Innovator's Solution an important contribution to the better understanding and harnessing of disruptive innovations that are an essential ingredient of what Joseph Schumpeter called "creative destruction."
Motivation assymetries.......2007-06-11
Already a business classic, this book does not disappoint. Picking up from where the 'Innovator's Dilemma' left off, Christensen and Raynor examine in detail the barriers towards innovation and growth. Perhaps surprisingly, the concepts discussed are as applicable to large enterprises as they are to one man startups. The problem is one and the same - enterprise readers will learn about the pitfalls of institutionalized processes and sustaining innovation; startup teams will learn how to position their products for future success. Whether you are an aspiring entrepreneur, or a high-ranked executive, 'Innovator's Solution' should be at the top of your reading list.
The Purpose of Your Product.......2007-04-05
Exceptional. Who wants their customers to rave about their products and services? Who wants to know "exactly" what your customers need? Who wants to experience revenue growth for their company? If you answered yes to these then the "Innovator's Solution" is a MUST READ. Clayton Christensen and Michael Raynor have taken us back to the fundamental issue facing a company... that being "what job does my product or service satisfy?" Moving away from features, advantages and benefits and back to the basics of so-what-can-you-do-for-me will bring value to anyone tasked with the duty of using innovation to drive revenue growth. CEO's... read on!
Interesting theory for big company innovations.......2007-02-23
This is a well researched and informative book that I read after reading "The Innovator's Dilemma" by Christensen. This book answers the questions raised in the first book. I therefore strongly recommend reading the "The Innovator's Dilemma". The books are complementary and outstanding. Christensen and Raynor explains so eloquently and compellingly, the problem of managing and sustaining growth as large companies suffer from the problem of "stalling" since innovations that address small markets get eliminated in the resource allocation process. Conventional market research methodologies are often unable to reveal the potential for markets that do not exist. Disruptive innovations are targeted at exploiting the markets of products that are "good enough" or are competing against "non consumption".
The book provides solution frameworks for design, manufacturing, distribution, organizing and financing of successful strategies of disruption. This book identifies the processes that create winning innovations and the strategies that can be applied in your own project. References at the end of each chapter provide you with useful and insightful sources for further reading should you wish to pursue this subject further. The researcher made good use of these references in piecing together their theories. The authors reinforce their arguments, claims and solutions with real-life examples from many different companies including IBM, Sony, AT&T, Microsoft, and others.
This book focuses on new product ideas at big enterprises and how they should be effectively pursued. When there is no current market for these innovative products and hence no customer base, these technologies are called disruptive. The authors explain how innovation can be a predictable process that can result in sustainable and lucrative growth. They identify the factors that result in poor judgment by managers and present their ideas and a new framework to help product developers to timely create viable and profitable disrupting-technology that meets the needs of the market.
I recommend this book to managers who are interested in cutting edge innovative solutions. This book should be helpful to define a strategy to form the idea into a commercially viable product or service. This book is excellent reading if you wish to understand the forces that can drive or hinder a firm's growth with numerous real-life examples throughout the book.
Excellent Insights and Ideas.......2007-02-20
A key point in "The Innovator's Solution" is that financial markets relentlessly pressure companies to grow, and to keep growing faster and faster. Yet, considerable evidence exists that once a company's core business has matured, the pursuit of new platforms for growth entails daunting risk - roughly only 10% succeed over more than a few years - thus providing an above average increase in shareholder returns, and often the effort causes the entire corporation to crash. (Twenty-eight percent of those that stall lose 78% of their market capitalization; most of the rest also incur significant, though lesser, losses.)
AT&T is used as an example of what can go wrong. After the '84 mandated divestiture of local phone services, its first attempt at growth was based on the widely shared view that computer systems and phone networks were going to converge. AT&T first tried building its own computer division, achieving at best, losses of at least $200 million/year. It then acquired NCR, but sold it in '96 for a loss of over $6 billion alone, and $10 billion for the total computer venture. AT&T then tried wireless (lost another $5 billion), and broadband (lost another $40 billion).
Incremental innovations are likely to be used by established, leading firms to reinforce their dominance. In computers, G.E., Honeywell, RCA, and AT&T could not muscle in on IBM - that required the disruptive innovation of PCs brought by others. Likewise, IBM and Kodak couldn't beat Xerox at copying - Canon did that via its disruptive table-top.
In disruptive circumstances, the entrants are likely to defeat the incumbents because industry leaders are always motivated to go up-market and almost never motivated to defend small new/low-end markets that new entrants find attractive.
"The Innovator's Solution" uses minimills to illustrate the point. Minimills worked their way up from rebar in several cycles (angle iron, structural steel, sheet steel) that each ended with price/profit collapse after the last integrated producer left the market. The integrated mills were motivated to flee, and the minimills were forced to go up-market to escape their own fierce competition. Toyota et al vs. G.M., Ford, and Chrysler provides another example.
Finally, Christensen and Raynor offer organizational suggestions for nurturing successful disruptive technology development within large firms.
An excellent and insightful book.
Amazon.com
In e-Business 2.0, Ravi Kalakota and Marcia Robinson present a survey of how the processes of business have changed as a result of computer-assisted communications, data storage, and data analysis. They explain recent technological advances--and those that may take place in the near and middle future--and explain how companies that sell products and services might put them to profitable use. With an emphasis on companies that sell things to large numbers of consumers, the authors argue convincingly that information technology isn't an end in itself, but a tool that can facilitate valuable changes in business processes.
This is a book for managers and organizational planners, but it commits none of the sins typical of such books. It neither oversimplifies technical matters nor serves as a mere platform for catchy phrases and obtuse illustrations. e-Business 2.0 is properly focused on the big technologies on which successful companies will capitalize. Kalakota and Robinson argue that it's a good idea to supplement live salespeople with self-service sales facilities, such as those on a Web site. They call this a part of selling-chain management.
The authors also explain how inefficiencies in the selling chain can make it prohibitively expensive to provide built-to-order products, which consumers increasingly want. They then present solutions: Internet and customer relationship management (IRM and CRM) software, sales automation systems, and proposal-automation tools. In each case, they cite specific examples (usually companies and products), enabling readers to dig deeper into specifics if they want. Similar attention goes to enterprise resource planning (ERP), trend-spotting tools, and half a dozen other technologies. Read this guide as you think about how to make strategic changes in your company's operating practices. --David Wall
Topics covered: Recent developments in technology that change the way companies do business, particularly in terms of determining and fulfilling customers' needs and interacting smoothly with vendors. More broadly, this book deals with sharing information efficiently among all relevant parties inside and outside an organization. Technologies covered: Internet sales infrastructures, customer relationship management (CRM) suites, enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, knowledge management tools, and data warehousing and analysis products.
Book Description
Shows how e-commerce has evolved into e-business, identifying 20 key e-business trends that prevail in today's economy. Reveals how managers are changing their strategies and the structure of their organizations to take advantage of the benefits of e-commerce and e-business. Previous edition: c1999. DLC: Electronic commerce.
Customer Reviews:
A bit long winded & pretentious but still valuable.......2007-01-20
I came at this book from the point of view of a web designer. It is, unfortunately for me, written more for the business person (ie: divisional manager / executive within a mid to large sized company). It argues quite convincingly that the various applications & systems within a business need to be integrated for it have be a successful ecommerce presence. However it gives no technical insight into how this is to be achieved. The authors simply drop names of companies that provide software that can do whatever function they are talking about in that chapter. (Or at least, companies who were doing this several years ago, when the book was published. The book is really is a bit old now to be completely relevant on the topic of the present business environment).
I get the feeling that an executive or divisional manager reading this book would not understand half of what the authors are talking about. At least that has been my experience with business people at this level. They really don't have much of a grasp of the working of websites, or of software applications generally for that matter. They simply leave it all for their IT department to take care of.
From my experience, most execs reading this book would just be looking to be able to pick up enough of the jargon to be able to sound like they know what they are talking about. Customer relationshiop management, supply chain management, front office, back office, etc, etc... I think the book achieves this result. Perhaps that is why it had such hype around it. However the authors could have written a much slimmer book & achieved the same aim. They ramble on at length about the significance of each issue before actually broaching it. I don't know how many times a sentence like "the company that fails to do this will soon be left behind!" is used in each chapter. After a while, it starts to get a little ridiculous.
There is alot of rhetoric, which you eventually just start to switch off to, & look for the next actual point to arrive. (Fortunately, the points themselves are quite engaging).
There is also a section at the end of each chapter called "memo to the CEO". This revises what was dealt with in the chapter. I just found this "memo to the ceo" scenario kind of ridiculous too. It seems to suggest that only CEOs are going to be reading the book. Memo to AUTHORs, isn't that limiting your readership somewhat to assume this? Or to shape the material in this way? What about addressing us mere mortals too. We paid our money at the bookstore counter too!
Despite the heavy-handed prose (a bit of sensible editing would have done wonders for the flavour of the book) it is an interesting theoretical study of what ecommerce SHOULD be about. I would recommend it on this basis.
The book is basically about apllications integration, & how this can lead to cost savings (for the company) plus better experiences for customers. They can do more, faster, at lower cost, & with greater quality assurance.
It is interesting, reading it now, to see some things the authors mention have become the norm in ecommerce today. So they were clearly right on the general significance of this issue of integration.
You just have to switch off to the grandiose nature of their style occasionally. It really seems akin to an Anthony Robbins book at times ("You can do it! You can be the best. If you choose to succeed. But you must act. Many will fail. Will you be one of them?" etc, etc) I am exaggerating there, but if you read the book you will see what I mean.
Lots of big words and no explanation of what they mean.......2005-04-09
After seeing all the glowing reviews of this book, I'm beginning to wonder if it's just me. I've only gotten through the first 3 chapters and already I've run into a multitude of terms that are not explained at all. My class uses this book for its text and I have to answer discussion questions about brand-intensive vs. capital intensive, disaggregation and reaggregation (Dictionary.com didn't even have 'reaggregation' in its database), etc. It sure would be nice to include a glossary of terms used. I'm really dreading the rest of this book.
Very insightful.......2004-02-07
This book still holds up rather well given all the changes that took place in the e-business space in the last couple of years.
The authors really seem to understand this space. I heard Ravi Kalakota speak at a seminar in Cincinati. He was fantastic. He is very articulate about the trends that are shaping the e-business and e-commerce landscape.
Highly recommend this book to those who want to understand the basics of e-business.
Techie vs. Business point of Review.......2002-08-21
I really liked this book. I am doing an MBA at the moment in the Michael Smurfit Business School and was trying to get an example for an eBusiness Model. The choice in the end came between Weil's Book 'Place and Space' and Kalakota's, but, there was no choice. Even though I have the greatest respect for Weil. Kalakota was pragmatic. At first as I staggered through the earlier chapters I thought, 'Hello' ... have you heard of dot.con ( we are talking about techie stuff...)and then it clicked , literally , this guy , or should I say lady and gent, have it all sussed. All eBusiness models should be based on sound business principles.
'e' has changed the principles but it is still the same message. Incorporate and get on with it. That's the message and do it as soon as possible. That's the reality! Business has not changed, just the tools, and the speed ...But beware once you do it, you have to keep on doing it, to come out on tops, it'a a reiterative cycle, OK babe...
A good text, a powerful understanding........2002-07-12
I read this for as a text for a course in ECommerce and I enjoyed the candid dialogue that the author used in this book. The examples and ideas are not outdated. Not a how to book, but more of a these are the main business concepts and opportunities you can benefit from, book.
Really enjoyed it.
Book Description
Learn why GE has always had the best inventors, the best strategic planners, and the best results
William Rothschild, who witnessed GE’s revolution firsthand, explains the five keys that made GE a global phenomenon—and gives managers a complete toolkit for duplicating its remarkable success. He explains the GE Code—the hallmark of all GE leadership teams—and provides a far-ranging prescriptive plan for strategizing the GE way.
Customer Reviews:
Built to Last Analysis of GE's Unique History.......2007-05-14
I first thought about GE and its management practices in 1973 when a prospective client asked me for help in implementing a detailed strategic planning process and handed me a one-page version of the process (you can see a disguised version of that process on page 161 of this book). The initials in the corner were W. E. Rothschild, author of The Secret to GE's Success. Naturally, when I saw this book, I couldn't wait to see what this strategic planner extraordinaire had to say.
Most people see GE in terms of the Welch era. Why? Because that's when GE got the most press coverage. Also, the Immelt era's heritage isn't clear yet. It hasn't been long enough. Prior to that, few remember that Reg Jones was once considered a legendary CEO. Further back, only GE alumni can mention many names after Thomas Edison.
I found this book to be a helpful history of GE's continuing success, tying together many themes that I had missed. In addition, it was interesting to see how many GE "innovations" were really simplifications of earlier work . . . or continuations of long-held concentrations of focus.
Unlike many books that seek to pursue too many themes, Mr. Rothschild conveniently selected only five to illuminate and explore:
1. Choosing leaders well and pursuing an inclusive leadership style.
2. Finding effective ways to adapt to new conditions, success, and setbacks.
3. Identifying, nurturing, and encouraging excellent people.
4. Being prudently proactive in engaging stakeholders.
5. Creating connections to others that allow everyone to accomplish more.
Although Mr. Rothschild is appropriately proud of the company's success, he doesn't shrink from pointing out missteps, areas where processes need to be adjusted, and unnecessary delays in taking needed actions. He also wisely suggests that other companies not copy these practices, but rather adapt the practices to their own circumstances. In some conceptual exhibits, he provides helpful clues for how such adaptation might be done (see especially pages 59, 181, 208, 209, and 255).
Ultimately, of course, the limitation of a management book based on one company is that you don't see the lessons as clearly as you would if you had more comparisons. That's the strength of Built to Last, for example. As a result, I think most people will get more out of this book if they read Built to Last first.
The only point that I hear many management observers make about GE that Mr. Rothschild doesn't make is how slow GE usually is to adopt helpful, new practices that originated in other companies. You only see hints of that problem in the long delays involved in correcting some of the missteps. The press coverage of the company stresses the opposite point: Everything was invented by GE. But that's not really the case.
Good work, Mr. Rothschild.
A Layman's View.......2007-04-20
William E. Rothschild's book The Secret to GE's Success is a very good read.... even for laypeople like myself who are not versed in management strategies. It captures your interest and holds it from beginning to end.
The book gives an illuminating history of the company from its inception
126 years ago and its' emphasis on leadership and strategic planning for the future, as well as how each CEO paved the way for his successor. Little did Thomas Edison realize what he started in the late 1870's.
General Electric has always had a vested interest in its employees .... a rarity in the current big business climate. Rothschild notes that GE's motto: "Do right voluntarily" extends to its employees and business practices today.
Five Stars for The Secret to GE's Success.......2007-04-03
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Bill Rothschild's latest book The secret of GE's Success. I only wish I was young enough to apply some of his insights into my own endeavors. Although Bill addresses his TAKEAWAYS to CEO's and upper management, this book is a "must read" for up-and-coming junior executives so they have a basis for comparison to their own organizations. I suspect that most organizations do little in the way of Succession Planning. Usually the CEO is secretly planning his own exit to his next opportunity while the Board is secretly searching for his replacement.
Interesting in parts, but hard to apply (3.25 stars).......2007-03-26
First, a disclaimer: unlike most (all?) of the previous reviewers, I'm not a GE alumnus. So I can't opine as to how intense will be the waves of nostalgia this book may induce in you if you currently work or previously worked for that company.
For outsiders, this book describes some interesting history. But I was disappointed at the relative shallowness of the discussion. The book seems designed to be read during a flight from L.A. to Chicago; the author duly adheres to commandment #1 of contemporary business book writing, namely don't trust your reader to be able to concentrate on one topic without interruption for more than 1.25 pages. (It also doesn't add depth that he relies on websites for most of his references.) Compared to, say, Robert Burgelman's study of Intel, "Strategy is Destiny", this book is very unsatisfying if you're interested in strategy. Considering that the author had been a senior corporate strategist at GE, one could reasonably have hoped for more.
Instead, the lion's share of the discussion is about the personalities and decisions of GE's leadership, and issues of succession. Even strategic issues are refracted through this leadership lens. Not that this was uninteresting -- but unless you're a CEO or a board member of a company, you aren't going to be able to apply these lessons on the job.
The author's decision to structure the book chronologically rather than, say, thematically, constrained him to draw edifying strategic conclusions from each of GE's administrations, even when the performance of some of them had been less than exemplary. As a result, some of the "takeaways" can be a bit banal, such as "Review your strategy from the top to the bottom and make sure it is internally consistent" (@ 69). Sometimes the advice seems inappropriately retro or unsubtle, e.g. using Edison's experience to justify patenting everything and litigating aggressively (@ 17). This ignores other possible ways of getting value from IP portfolios, as well as the fact that managing the costs of filing, litigating and maintaining multinational patent portfolios is a much bigger headache today than in Edison's time. The author tells us to judge business practices by the standards of their day, rather than the present; OK. But whether those historical practices can tell us much useful for the present has to be judged by the standards of today. And those standards include globalization, antitrust regulation in the US and EU, hair-trigger financial markets, and many other factors that have changed radically during GE's 126-year history.
Nonetheless, the most interesting aspect of the book for me was the discussion of GE's management team from 1922 until the early years of the Second World War, especially CEO Gerard Swope (who served about as long as Jack Welch). As amazing as it sounds, Swope was a Socialist. When the Depression hit, he and chairman Owen Young instituted a variety of progressive benefits policies, including offering all employees a 4-day work-week (to avoid having to fire 20% of the workforce) and profit-sharing. They also invited the CIO to unionize the company, which allowed GE to avoid strikes until the late 1940s (under Swope's successor). As an adviser to FDR, Swope became the prime architect of Social Security, among other New Deal programs. At the same time, Swope and Young also instituted a number of very smart, very capitalist moves that enabled the company to grow under the so-called "Benign Cycle" based on GE's consumer products and power generation systems product lines. To think that there were such complex and idealistic business leaders in the past -- now, *that* made me feel nostalgic.
Best insight on what makes GE great........2007-03-24
The best, latest and most interesting insider revue of what has made General Electric the great enterprise it still is and why in these times of international growth and competition. Lessons for all companies.
Amazon.com
Get More Money on Your Next Job: 25 Proven Strategies for Getting More Money, Better Benefits & Greater Job Security, by employment attorney and human resource executive Lee Miller, is a compilation of tactics that anyone can use to negotiate optimum deals when changing jobs. Outlining overall principles along with specific techniques, the book details how employment candidates can boost their cause by properly responding to questions--and in turn asking the right ones--during the interview process. Get More Money on Your Next Job also offers advice especially for women and the unemployed, and information on using headhunters and other professionals in a job search.
Book Description
Maximize your bargaining power and get the best package possible, with the help of a seasoned professional who has negotiated hundreds of employment packages. Lee E. Miller—human resources executive, college professor, and counsel to numerous Fortune 1000 companies and senior executives—prepares you for every step of the process, disclosing secrets that can garner a higher salary, better benefits, bonuses, and little-known perks. Twenty-five can't-miss techniques plus "10 unbreakable negotiating commandments" provide invaluable help and information for everyone who works for a living, at every level of employment.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent for executives below C level.......2004-08-26
This book is full of information and negotiating strategies that are very useful for more junior executives, where hiring an employment attorney is probably not necessary. It enables you to do a decent job of getting the most you can without going over the line. It is especially good at giving practical examples that can help you make tradeoffs that create win-win outcomes (most negotiating books have this concept but are too abstract). Finally, it is very helpful in making sure you are protected if things don't work out. I bought some of the other recommended books in this category, but they are much too basic if you are an executive.
Its worth the money.......2004-05-18
I bought this book recently when I was changing my job. I was desperate to take the new job and would have taken the job even without negotiation.This book provided me the strategies to increase my salary by almost 10%. The book has several good examples ( that fit very well atleast to my situation ).
A must read even if you are not changing jobs.
Excellent book on negotiating.......2003-02-11
Excellent book - The author's approach is very logical and he clearly has the experience to validate his comments. He uses sound principles, excellent examples and memorable quotes. I would definately recommend this book - an excellent book which is hard to put down.
This is a great read!.......2002-11-16
I actually took Prof. Miller for a course in negotiating and he was excellent. If you're not lucky enough to get to see him in person, read this book. He was on the management side and knows what they're thinking. If you incorporate some of these techniques in negotiating your next salary you will come out ahead. Also, most of these techniques can be applied to any negotiation. Read it, you will not be disappointed.
Practical and useful guide.......2002-04-07
Great book. This book covered everything I needed to know to get a great salary and perks that I would not have thought to ask for. It was very readable and the advice was easy to use. I would recommend this book to anyone changing jobs.
Book Description
The tactics, strategies, philosophies, and attitudes in this book represent the essential qualities of Civil War general Robert E. Lee's leadership, wisdom and personal integrity. Today's leaders will find Lee's wise counsel to be practical, invigorating, and inspiring. The book is divided into sections dealing with such subjects as ambition, character, compassion, discipline, duty, politics, and vision.
Customer Reviews:
A Kind and Gentle Leader.......2001-09-29
The first book I read by Mr. Holton was a similar book, just about U. S. Grant. I liked that one a lot (I have a review here also), so much so that I went ahead and got this one too. I figured that I'd give both sides a fair chance...
Well, I was not disappointed in the least. The style is the same as the Grant volume, and the format is the same. None the less, it reads very well and is very informative, although not as entertaining as I would have liked, thus the 4 stars. One thing for sure, you'll get to know Lee very well reading this book. And there are many lessons to be had from the reading, possibly one on every page, if you feel so inclined.
As with the Grant volume, Mr. Holton takes one area of leadership and reports how Lee acted in regards to that item (Patriot Voice, Duty are 2 examples). Each discussion is contained on one page! A very good use of words by the writer makes this work. Then it's on to the next, then the next, the next, and so on. One can read one page and think about it, or take a couple of hours and polish off the whole book!! I perferred the slower method.
However you choose to read this bbok, make sure that you do read it, and the Grant volume also. You'll get a good look at 2 very important military minds of our short history. You'll also learn some important lessons on how to deal with people and situations, in both business and personal life. Well done Mr. Holton. Thank you!
strong leadership ideas.......2001-08-10
i bought this book for a $... at another retailer one day not thinking too much about it. read it and thought it was one of the better books i picked up in a while. quality ideas to follow and good reasons to self-reflect on your own management styles
A Life of Excellance!.......2000-08-26
"Leadership Lessons of Robert E. Lee" is a well written, thought provoking book. Lee was a man of outstanding character and moral values. Any manager can learn a tremendous amout from reading and placing the principles contained in this wonderful book into his daily life. An excellant book that I most highly recommend to any one who manages or leads people
Book Description
An increasing number of investors are entering the high-risk world of electronic day trading—often before they’ve learned the basic principles and safeguards. Financial Freedom Through Electronic Day Trading combines Van Tharp’s mastery of trading psychology with Brian June’s nuts-and-bolts expertise to give day traders the proven strategies and information they need to survive and succeed.
From little-known day trading entries and exits to techniques that foster winning attitudes and styles, these practical ideas will help readers develop their own personalized trading systems. The perfect combination of psychological preparation and hands-on practice, it discusses:
*Market analysis from a day trading perspective
*Techniques for determining a market maker’s position
*The best day trading software
Download Description
Financial Freedom Through Electronic Day Trading combines Van Tharp's mastery of trading psychology with Brian June's nuts-and-bolts expertise to give day traders the proven strategies and information they need to survive and succeed.
Customer Reviews:
content rich.......2007-04-18
This book contains a wealth of information - I strongly recommend it! The content is excellent, and the writing style is understandable and candid. Brian June not only discusses the nuts-and-bolts of day-trading (Level II screens, time-and-sales data, 'ax' market makers, direct-access systems, trading strategies) but covers in detail how one should prepare prior to the market opening and how one needs to debrief trading after the close. Dr. Van Tharp covers two of the most important concepts of trading: risk management (i.e., capital preservation) and money management (i.e., position sizing). If you have not internalized these concepts into your belief system already read these chapters, memorize them. They are key disciplines as they will keep you in the game.
Good book for the nuts and bolts of trading.......2006-10-20
This book was a great addition to the other books I have read about trading for a living. While Gary Smith's book was his actual trading process and Alexander Elder's covered the psychological dynamics of creating a system, this book really got into the technical dynamics of risk and expectancy with formulas and excellent explanations of how to be profitable based on your amount of trades/risk/expectancy.
The six key elements you will understand for making money in the market from this book are:
1. System reliability
2. reward to risk ratio
3. cost of trading
4. Your trading opportunity level
5. What you can do based on the size of your equity
6. Your position sizing algorithm
This is a more technical read than other books and comes across very tedious at times, but I found it well worth the effort for the added insights I received.
A Must Read for day traders.......2006-03-12
I would recommend the book to stock traders,but also if you're trading futures -as in my case- the book is worthwhile as a blueprint for devising business and trading plans. Mind you, the advice given in the book about equipment, software and hardware is already obsolete since the book was written a few years ago.
A great supplement to TYWTFF.......2006-03-07
In his follow up to his first book 'Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom' Van K Tharp expands on some of the ideas presented specifically in the realm of trading electronically.
Though not as revolutionary as his first book, this one is still packed with 'not found elsewhere' useful information for both beginning and experienced traders. Treat it as a supplement to his first book and you will learn something useful.
Best Book on how to write a trading plan.......2005-07-23
My trading coach recommended this book to me so I could better write my trading and business plan for my trading business. After studying and applying the books material I was able to format a proven and tested plan. I later met with my trading coach to review my plan and he said it was one of the best plans he has seen. Thanks to this book I am able to sucessfully maintain a trading career.
Book Description
Sales and distribution are the lifeblood of any business — socially responsible businesses are no different. To make a difference in the world, a business has to make its product or service available and get the public to buy it. But how can one compete with businesses for which the bottom line is the only measure of success? You need to get creative! In this practical and inspiring guide, Nadine Thompson and Angela Soper draw on real-world examples to show how a values-driven business can establish a foundation from which innovative sales and distribution strategies naturally flow. They lay out concrete steps for communicating a powerful, motivating vision for the business, and for designing sales and distribution strategies that fit the needs, interests, and habits of the target customer. Values Sell will help any socially conscious entrepreneur develop competitive sales and distribution strategies while staying true to his or her distinctive mission.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent guide to doing socially responsible business.......2007-04-23
Today, more and more business leaders are beginning to realize that it's not enough to just make a buck, but that their business legacy should be something more -- something that does lasting good for customers and communities. In their book, Values Sell, authors Nadine Thompson and Angela Soper provide numerous real-world examples of companies -- including Tom's of Maine, Seventh Generation, Honest Tea, and many others -- that are living their values, making a good profit, and transforming people all at the same time. If you're a business owner, executive, or manager wondering how to turn your purpose into profit, this is the book for you. And if you're an employee who hopes to influence your own company and move it in a more socially responsible direction, this too is the book for you. Highly recommended.
Amazon.com
It is widely acknowledged that businesses today must harness the Net to effectively utilize the myriad details they glean from--and then pass around to--their various stakeholders. But how best to do that? e-Business Intelligence, by the head of a global company that helps others develop such efforts, lays out a variety of interrelated methodologies already in use by pioneering corporations around the world. In doing so, author Bernard Liautaud explains how to move from data (the extensive raw stats to which most contemporary firms are privy) to information (the proper context in which they must be applied) to intelligence (the collective knowledge from which appropriate actions are initiated). Liautaud shows how companies like Eli Lilly, MasterCard, and British Airways have created electronic relationships among employees, suppliers, consumers, and business partners to boost marketing, customer service, quality control, purchasing, and other activities. He explains how internal "information democracies" allow them to instantaneously distribute pertinent details throughout their organizations, while external "information embassies" facilitate the rapid transfer of pertinent facts to outside constituencies. To help readers develop their own individualized strategies, he presents specifics on gathering "customer intelligence," sharing product information, optimizing supply chains, and performing other critical tasks. --Howard Rothman
Book Description
Internationally celebrated ebusiness innovator, Bernard Liautaud, explains why the key to ebusiness success is knowing how to transform the vast reservoir of raw data found in every company into a corporate intelligence gold mine.
This book focuses on the three main areas of ebusiness intelligence—intranets, extranets, and business-to-business ecommerce. He describes cutting-edge strategies for accessing, analyzing, and sharing corporate data both internally and externally with customers, partners, and suppliers. With the help of case studies from Lucent, Dow Chemical, Disney, Go Network, and other ebusiness giants, Liautaud explains the what, why, and how of ebusiness intelligence in the new information economy.
Bernard Liautaud (Palo Alto, CA) is CEO of Business Objects, the world's leading provider of ebusiness solutions, and, according to Intelligent Enterprise magazine, one of the "12 Most Influential Companies in the Information Technology Industry." In 1996, five years after founding Business Objects, Liataud was named one of BusinessWeek's "Hottest Entrepreneurs of the Year."
Customer Reviews:
very good.......2006-02-03
Great for someone who is looking to expand his knowledge of what is BI and how to use it to improve his performance results.
Buy it, worth the money!
Exactly to the point.......2005-03-12
This book goes exactly to the point that hurts most of the companies even in this days of year 2005. It will take some time to define the standards in this BI industry but definitely this book marks the beginning of it. Other more detailed more sophisticated books might be written by others but the most difficult is to write the first one. Others inspired by this book will probably write new ones.
Not enough details to be useful.......2003-08-19
I found this book to be very weak in details and concepts. It's easy to say that companies need business intelligence and throw around some very vague and general facts and examples. And that's what this book does. The case studies offer no details at all. If you've never heard of e-business or intelligence (basically if you've been living in a cave) then this book will introduce the topic at a high level. But if you're looking for more information you'd better look some place else. I know the author is the founder of Business Objects, but I just expected more from this book and was very disappointed.
No business intelligence, just business promotion.......2002-11-27
While doing periodical research on the business intelligence subject, I found this book as a new acquisition at the university library; sorry, but it is a long white paper on the advantages and why to use a software tool for doing business intelligence, never minding about any data/facts that may be found out of the bits and bytes world: Informal sources? External data? Competitor intelligence? Who cares, if you want a 360° view of your customer, don't need more than a computer and some software--at the end, culture, attitude and pure business sense seem like a waste of time. Suddenly, I discovered why this bothered me: The autor is one of Business Objects' top executives! Now, it all made sense: It is like other books written by people who need to sell a product (and Business Objects is a good seller indeed) so writting down their way of seeing the world gets them a guruesque position in front of their customers and prospects. If you need to really learn about business intelligence, don't bother reading it: you can find lots of free white papers that cover the same subject in the BI software vendors web sites. Trying to understand business intellingence as something that needs nothing more than a software tool, leaving behind all the intelectual and analytical work to do, is equivalent to define mathematics as the use of a scientific calculator.
Should be read by all managers!.......2002-08-26
This book was written for managers in mind. This book does not cover technical details of data warehouses or data mining. Given its scope this book accomplishes its task efficiently, with no real wasted anecdotes and personal opinions. The author a well-known expert on business objects really displays his ability to convey the information accurately and illustrates his points well. This will aid any manager get up to speed on the missing information sources that can occur in any business and apply them to their own business. Overall, this book accomplishes what it intends to do and that is to inform the reader on the various methods a business can utilize information to gain efficiency and a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Books:
- The Successful Business Plan, 4th Edition: Secrets and Strategies (Successful Business Plan Secrets and Strategies)
- To Live Until We Say Good Bye
- Trade Show & Event Marketing: Plan, Promote & Profit
- Understanding Basic Statistics
- Using SPSS for the Windows and Macintosh: Analyzing and Understanding Data (3rd Edition)
- Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies, Fourth Edition
- Venice from the Ground Up (From the Ground Up)
- Waltzing With Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects
- Warehouse Distribution and Operations Handbook (McGraw-Hill Handbooks)
- What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Exercises for the Whole Brain: Neuron-Builders to Stimulate and Entertain Your Visual, Math and Exec
- Tree Houses You Can Actually Build: A Weekend Project Book
- Shows About Nothing: Nihilism in Popular Culture from the Exorcist to Seinfeld
- Scientific Evidence in Civil and Criminal Cases
- The Great Bust Ahead: The Greatest Depression in American and UK History is Just Several Short Years
- Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny
- The Uspc Manual Of Horsemanship
- Financing Transitions: Managing Capital and Liquidity in the Family Business
- Ten Steps to Fundraising Success: Choosing the Right Strategy for Your Organization
- The Importance of Being Ernestine: An Ellie Haskell Mystery
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning
The Halo Effect: ... and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
Payback: Reaping the Rewards of Innovation
Unstoppable: Finding Hidden Assets to Renew the Core and Fuel Profitable Growth
