Book Description
Of all the tech tigers in India, Wipro is one of a handful that stands out from the pack. In the past five years, it has become one of the most accomplished tech services providers in the world, delivering business value through a combination of process excellence, quality frameworks, and service delivery innovation. Totally dedicated to customer satisfaction, Wipro is known to go above and beyond to make customers happy. It’s a move that’s paid off handsomely, with a 24 percent operating profit in its tech services division—more than twice the industry average.
Bangalore Tiger is the story of Wipro’s transformation and its impact on the tech services industry and the rules of global competition. BusinessWeek senior writer Steve Hamm takes you inside the halls of this transnational phenomenon to reveal the true secrets of Wipro’s superior business: its people, principles, and core competencies.
From Wipro’s triumphs to its missteps, Hamm mines a treasure of business lessons, explaining how and, more important, why it is necessary to:
- Expand quickly without stumbling
- Follow the new rules for outsourcers
- Innovate every day—or else
- Be obsessive about customers
- Motivate employees the Wipro way
- Plan three years ahead to prepare for rapid growth
Hamm also gives you a rare glimpse into the mind of Wipro’s charismatic chairman and thought leader, Azim Premji. Guiding Wipro’s growth every step of the way, Premji was one of the first business leaders in India to decree that his company would not pay bribes. You’ll see how his adoption of world-class business processes helped Wipro thrive—and how Wipro is helping to fulfill his dream of a better educated, more prosperous India. Removing the shroud of secrecy around Indian management principles, Hamm provides a real-world blueprint for operating a successful transnational organization, as viewed through the eye of the Bangalore Tiger.
Customer Reviews:
When your labor force only costs you 20 cents an hour instead of a dollar, then it is not all that difficult to compete!.......2007-09-14
This was a very good book. It is clearly written and easy to follow. It explains the 40-year history of one of India's most successful companies at present - Wipro. What started out as a peanut oil company owned by the current Chairman's father has morphed into a huge outsourcing company serving many of America's largest corporations. It has also become an adept mergers and acquistions company to help fuel its growth.
Since the book is a good read and it candidly explains how Wipro has grown over the past 40 years to become a multibillion-dollar company, I certainly recommend entrepreneurs, businessmen, and corporate executives take a look at it. However, the business principles cited are nothing new. And when the US economy tanks, then so will this company. Basically this company stands out because it is leaching off the US's elevated standard of living that cannot continue to exist if companies like Wipro continue to grow.
Two mornings ago I was reading a newspaper article about a lake in California that has been infested by Canadian Northern Pike. The Pike have no predators and they are killing the lake since they exist at the top of the food chain. I bring this up because Wipro is kind of like the Pike, and the US is kind of like the lake.
This book has five parts:
1. Taking on the West
2. People principles to lead by
3. Build on core principles
4. Success stories
5. How to inject the tiger in your own company
I'd give this book a 5 star rating if it had stopped at Part IV. But when it added Part V and tried to tout that Wipro was something for US companies to aspire to, I had to cut back a bit on my rating. If you were to drop Wipro into the US and force it to use US labor, then it would go belly-up. And that being the case, it certainly is not a poster child for US companies to examine.
What readers of this book should get from it is that the US is a lake and Wipro and other companies providing outsourcing services are a Pike. And if the US continues to let India, China, and Mexico provide cheap labor for US companies TO THE DETRIMENT OF US WORKERS, then the US is going to fail and at the same time the revenue source for these "pike " is going to fail. Not a good picture. 4 stars!
Excellent study of a high-tech trendsetter.......2007-08-24
From humble beginnings as a manufacturer of vegetable oil in India, Wipro reinvented itself, with stunning speed, as one of the world's leading providers of high-tech and business-process outsourcing (BPO) services to clients around the globe. Early in this decade, Wipro's annual revenues were $500 million. B the end of the first quarter of 2007, Wipro revenues had risen to $3.47 billion - a 41% increase over the same period in 2006. The firm is an acclaimed high-tech trendsetter. It received the accolade most prized by true business cognoscenti: becoming the subject of a Harvard Business School case study. The school examined how Wipro applied the principles of Toyota's "Lean" production system to its operations. So who is Wipro, what does the company do, and how did it become so successful so fast? We recommend that executives and managers read this book to discover the answers. Learn how your company can adopt the Wipro Way to turbocharge its operations.
A title with a much broader message!.......2007-07-09
Steve Hamm's Bangalore Tiger is a very readable book for anyone interested in understanding how Indian companies (Wipro is what he has showcased here) operate, or should operate, in today's global climate. As a journalist, Steve leverages both his observation skills and writing mastery, and, as a Westerner, looks at Wipro (and outsourcing) through an expert lens. His message is quite universal for anyone or for any company trying to succeed in today's world. Although the first four parts are Wipro specific, the subtext of his message in those parts is actually much broader in its implication. His final and the fifth part is the most useful for anyone who wants to emulate the success Wipro has achieved. All in all, it is a must read for anyone who is trying to understand how to work in India today. In fact, as their career coach, to many of my clients, who are transitioning back to India, I recomend them this title to round out their returning plans.
Indian outsourcers are now where the Japanese automotive companues were in 1969 - huge changes are coming.......2007-02-19
Steve Hamm has given us a useful book about an important company. The emergence of the big Indian outsourcers is one of the most promising developments of the past decade and is every bit as important as the rise of Toyota, Honda and the rest of the Japanese automotive industry. Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, HCL, NIIT (a smaller player, but important in learning and as an enabler) and of course Wipro are redefining the world of software services, and in all likelihood we are just at the beginning of the transformation that this will catalyze.
In Bangalore Tiger the story of the rise of Wipro from a small Mumbai food-oil company to a multi-billion dollar information services and business process outsourcer is well told. The discipline and vision of its management, led by Azim Premji, comes across clearly, as does the culture of efficiency, innovation, and customer service that he and his team have created. Extremely important for those of us who collaborate and compete with the Indian tigers is the way they have adopted and then transformed key management tools. The Indian tigers have shown true leadership in implementing CMM (the Software Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model), making rigorous use of techniques such as UML (something Hamm misses in his book), ISO standards and even Six Sigma. Wipro's application of Toyota's lean production system to software and business services is an important development and one worthy of much more attention. The Deming is to Toyota as SEI CMM is to Wipro analogy works for me. And then to bring this full circle by applying the Toyota way to software is a lovely development.
So why only four stars? Part of this is a response to Hamm's irritating comments on US companies, which often seem to be poorly informed. In fact, people in Western services business work every bit as hard as those at Wipro, at least the ones I work with, and are as open and aggressive about applying new methodologies. The book also suffers from the occasional technical errors (I suppose his editors should have caught these). In order to get a fuller view of the rise of the Indian IT and business process outsourcers one must read much more widely on the overall structure of Indian business (the role of Indian generic drug manufacturers for example), understand the strengths and weaknesses of the Indian educational system, and put this in context of the emerging competitive partnership with China.
But read the book. I know Wipro reasonably well, have visited Indian companies in India, and try to keep current in the area, and I learned a great deal.
More Valuable When Generalized!.......2007-01-11
"Bangalore Tiger's" purpose is to provide insight and praise for Wipro, a large and growing outsourcing company in India. (Market capitalization 2/06 of $20 billion, vs. $13 billion for EDS - the original outsourcer.) However, the book's real value is to document outsourcing trends in the software and business process re-engineering areas. (Also remember that libraries are full of analyses of successful companies at the height of their impact, only to flame-out 2-3 years later.)
Hamm asserts that '03 profit margins at the top six Indian software etc. technology firms averaged 21.7%, vs. 4.3% for the top Western firms (eg. IBM, EDS, HP, etc.). While the Indian share was only 3% in '06, it had grown 33% in just the last year, and was projected to hit 10% by '08. Meanwhile, it is also expanding to legal, market research, online education, and medical areas. Experts believe India's economy will be the world's 3rd largest by 2050, behind China and the U.S.
Addition insight into the power of the Indian challenge is provided by returning to Wipro data: 1.2 million apply/year, but only 20,000 are hired. Wipro operates about 40 Centers of Excellence at any one time - these focus on integrating emerging technologies into business process.
Finally, as to the credibility of the Wipro (think India) threat - Hamm reminds us how people laughed at Toyota when it first sent cars to the U.S.
Large business managers and politicians need to read "Bangalore Tiger," as well as other books summarizing the China and illegal Mexican immigrant threats to the U.S. One may be OK - all three provide serious challenge.
Book Description
The 2003 International Building Code addresses the design and installation of building systems through requirements that emphasize performance. Fully compatible with all the International Codes, the 2003 edition provides up-to-date, comprehensive coverage that establishes minimum regulations for building systems using prescriptive- and performance-related provisions. Content is founded on broad-based principles that make possible the use of materials and building designs. Structural as well as fire- and life-safety provisions covering seismic, wind, accessibility, egress, occupancy, roofs, and more are included.
Customer Reviews:
international building code 2003 3 ring binder.......2007-03-16
book arrived on time in great condition, better than i expected. I was a little concerned about buying on line but this was worth it no dought!! great investment for my small business, Arctic Aloha Drafting, Thank you.
The IBC more than just another building code.......2006-03-22
The IBC is the long-time-coming consolidation of the three major building codes in the US and there is nothing "international" about it. Back in the 70's the 3 code organizations formed BOCA and put out a 1 & 2 family dwelling code. The 3 members them gradually made changes to the individual building codes that brought them into similar formats, then they combined them into one code in 2000, the IBC, and modified the dwelling code to be the IRC (Int. Residential Code)and changed the organization's name to the ICC, the Int. Code Council. There little to review about the content since it is either the law in your area or it is not. For comparisons to previous codes and other information try the ICC's website http://www.iccsafe.org/
A Strucural Engineer's Necessity.......2005-09-06
It is pretty difficult to review a specification that you must have.
49 states are now adopting this Code.......2003-09-07
Better learn this code. Local codes are being swept away by one standard. Here is Colorado each town had its own test, amendments and licensing system. California is the only state, having revamped its code 2 years ago, to keep its system.
I finish basements, often for homeowners who think they can do it. From Loveland, I can work any city without irate inspectors wondering why I don't know their specific requirements. Good book.
Book Description
This text combines a strong foundation in international finance theory with current, practical applications. It provides thorough, up-to-date treatment of cutting-edge international finance issues along with traditional treatment of international financial management. This book is known for its readability and clear explanation as well as its extensive use of hands-on, real-world applications and student-oriented pedagogy.
Customer Reviews:
Good Book.......2007-10-17
I bought this book to use in an undergraduate business class (International Finance)
Two of my teachers have commented on the fact that it is primarily used for graduate courses, however the concepts are explained clearly enough for a undergraduate to understand.
International Financial Management (with Xtra!, World Map, and InfoTrac).......2005-09-26
I recibed the Instructor's edition book, but there is a note in the back cover of the text:"NOT FOR SALE EDITION" and I paid for it $128 USD. I hope will exist more retailer`s control.
Great Book.......2005-09-12
The Book arrived on time, and was brand new just as stated.
Worth it.......2005-05-17
I have had many textbooks over the years and this is one of the best I have had. Some textbooks I have not even bothered to read but this one clearly explained the concepts it presented and was a great addition to my instructor's lectures. It gave a lot of real life examples in order to show applicablility and I actually didn't mind reading the chapters. The key learning objectives were really good as well as the questions at the end in order to meet educational needs. The online tools available with this book were also essential to passing exams with good grades. It was worth having to buy for my class.
Excellent for International Business!.......2003-04-24
The book was one of the best books I used throughtout my career, it's good for economist, finance people, and anybody who is in the international field in general.
Amazon.com
Daniel Yergin's first prize-winning book, Shattered Peace, was a history of the Cold War. Afterwards the young academic star joined the energy project of the Harvard Business School and wrote the best-seller Energy Future. Following on from there,
The Prize, winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, is a comprehensive history of one of the commodities that powers the world--oil. Founded in the 19th century, the oil industry began producing kerosene for lamps and progressed to gasoline. Huge personal fortunes arose from it, and whole nations sprung out of the power politics of the oil wells. Yergin's fascinating account sweeps from early robber barons like John D. Rockefeller, to the oil crisis of the 1970s, through to the Gulf War.
Book Description
Pulitzer Prize Winner -- and Now an Epic PBS Series
The Prize recounts the panoramic history of oil -- and the struggle for wealth power that has always surrounded oil. This struggle has shaken the world economy, dictated the outcome of wars, and transformed the destiny of men and nations. The Prize is as much a history of the twentieth century as of the oil industry itself. The canvas of this history is enormous -- from the drilling of the first well in Pennsylvania through two great world wars to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and Operation Desert Storm.
The cast extends from wildcatters and rogues to oil tycoons, and from Winston Churchill and Ibn Saud to George Bush and Saddam Hussein. The definitive work on the subject of oil and a major contribution to understanding our century, The Prize is a book of extraordinary breadth, riveting excitement -- and great importance.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting, important, well-written, well-researched history.......2007-10-20
Fascinating account of the history of the oil industry. I would say that just the four chapters on World War II--and the oil role in it--are worth the book. Reads like a novel, where Yergin jumps back and forth between history and details about the industry main players. And the amount of details that enrich the historic account is just perfect. The research done to put this work together must have been mind boggling.
First to cover the topic, but still a facile book.......2007-09-17
Yergen gets kudos for being the first to cover this topic, but his account (perhaps because it's now outdated) is facile and pro-oil company. Every time the oil companies are thwarted he seems to blame straw men for it: tree huggers, the people that hounded poor misunderstood Tricky Dick Nixon, the Saudi sheiks (best friends of Bush, Cheney, et al). He never turns his gaze on the corruption of the oil companies themselves. We hit peak oil in the U.S. in the 1960s. The oil companies suppressed any attempts since then to find alternative fuels. Now we are up the creek, so to speak, with the Oil Men running the Show. Some "Prize". I'd say it's the booby prize. The best overview of our current fix is Lawrence Wright's The Looming Tower.
The Age of Oil.......2007-07-04
We are living in the Age of oil.
World and human civilization have experienced different "ages" such as the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Gilded Age, and so on. The 20th and 21st Centuries are indeed, the "Oil Age." We are living in it. This book is one of the most informative and relevant books published in recent years, In my opinion. This work by Daniel Yergin was and still is prescient today, in 2007. "The Prize" tells the story of where we are today, and how we got here. It also latently foresees where we're going in the future. The book doesn't tell us - we just know. We're human. This book is so comprehensive and has so much information only a small portion of it can be noted. Below relates to WWII, and former Iranian leader Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh.
"The Prize" proceeds chronologically. And within the chapters there are numerous mini-subtitles for sub-chapters that connect the big picture. The bibliography and index are excellent and can be used to tie in different figures and historical occurrences. The 'history of oil' is actually the history of the world: humankind, business, innovations, globalization, war, and geo-political power-plays. The very survival of a nation-state is based upon oil.
"The Prize" begins with tiny puddles of black, sticky, goo, in Pennsylvania in the mid 1800s. Locals collected this goo and realized its many uses. In 1859 oil was struck. Almost immediately, the wealth and power amassed from possession and control of oil was realized. The initial trust acts in the U.S. are related to the oil industry, in which Barons quickly gained gargantuan amounts of wealth and political power.
Enter WWII:
The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor because of oil. Japanese conquests throughout South-East Asia and the Pacific were motivated not only by the quest for dominance but for securing oil and keeping their oil (fuel) supply lines open. Without supply lines of oil, the war machine would completely break down, as it later did (Chapter 8).
The Americans sacrificed a lot, but Japan in large part lost WWII because of its lack of fuel for planes, ships, and ground forces. Domestically, the Japanese economy collapsed because of its inability to import oil. The Kamikazes were brought into existence after the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Philippines, in 1944. Lack of oil meant lack of fighter plane fuel. Fuel supplies became so low they actually stopped training Japanese pilots at all. Pilots were ordered to "follow the leader" to the attack site because they didn't even have navigation training.
There was even an "Oil Czar" In the U.S. during World War II in PAW, the Petroleum Administration for War. The Oil Czar was Harold Ickes.
In the European Theater's Eastern Front Germany invaded Russia with Operation Barbarossa mostly to get the oil in the Caucuses (In addition to "lebensraum" and "untermensch" beliefs). In addition, a needed land-route to Iron Ore in Scandinavia via the Baltic SSR Republics was a factor. Hitler also began making synthetic oil because without enough of it Germany's war machine, domestic economy, and arms production were doomed. These synthetic oil factories were top targets in Allied bombing missions.
Oil and the Cold War World:
The Soviets dominated Eastern Europe and exerted its influence after WWII for 45 years because the Allies ran out of gasoline. When the British 3rd Army and U.S. 1st Army were advancing eastward toward Berlin chasing demoralized, retreating, and broken German troops in disarray. But because of the lack of gasoline for the Allied Armies, a million people ended up losing their lives and war was prolonged because the Germans were able to retreat and re-organize (page 388).
If someone says "it's not about the oil" today in 2007, tell them to read this book. Oil encompasses almost all things in our daily lives, whether we are are conscious of it, or not.
Oil, Military, and Economic Interests:
Democratically elected governments are overthrown by foreign governments because of oil. In 1953 Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh was democratically elected in Iran. He was an anti-communist. He didn't like the 93% to 7% profit sharing split with a British Oil company operating inside Iran. He changed it to 50-50. The CIA sponsored a coup to overthrow him. Americans were repeatedly told by the U.S. media that Mossadegh was a communist and communist sympathizer, although factually untrue. The American public believed this propaganda, according to poll results. Gullible? Mossadegh was ousted and the Shah was placed in power. Democracy has never been supported in the Middle East and it isn't now by the U.S. government. Also see the Carter Doctrine of 1980.
Most of us as individual consumers literally need oil to function. Dependence upon oil is for the continuation of the nation-state, its military machines, and domestic economy. More critical today, is that nation-states need a *sufficient* supply of it.
This is a positive book. It's a history book.
We're in the heart of the "Oil Age."
Amaze.......2007-06-19
This book is the better form to say what means the oil in the world. The history is well clear end real. There are many important information and who is curious or needs to know the subject this is a perfect one.
It's interesting to know the past to forecast the future..........2007-06-14
I really appreciated Daniel YERGIN's book.
The history of oil is crucial to try to solve the huge demand for future oil. History tells us that oil is limitless in virgin deserts...
Customer Reviews:
Best Distribution channels book around.......2006-07-05
Excellent book both in terms of framework and use of practical examples.Comprehensive coverage.Quite updated and international coverage due to the alliance with E. Anderson that teaches in Insead. The mix of the authors's background clearly enriches the book. Highly recommended and easy to see why it is in its 7th edition.
every CEO should read this book.......2006-02-08
This edition is really a significant leap forward with so many great examples bringing the framework and principles to life. All the other changes help to broaden the readership appeal and increase the book's usability.
For me, this is the definitive text in the emerging discipline of routes to market and is of tremendous value to channels managers, marketing managers and anyone responsible for their organisation's routes to market.
In fact, never mind the marketeers, every CEO should be required to read it.
Theorical and Practical.......2003-01-09
This book, containing plenty of cases in accordance with each topic in every chapter, gives readers hand-on perception on how the theory exists within the business world. I especially love chapter 8:"Channel Power", which specifies 5 powers a manufacturer or distributor may owns and how to deploy them properly in different situation or period. While you read, the book keeps you thinking about your own business and desiring to apply these breakthrough knowledge tomorrow, great!
Great update for a seminal book (REVIEW UPDATE: March 23, 2006).......2001-03-28
Marketing Channels is a must-own for any executive who thinks strategically about the way in which customers buy their company's products.
Like the sixth edition, the seventh edition is organized around a comprehensive framework for channel strategy. Each chapter walks through a different element of the framework. This approach integrates a wide range of material while making it easy to sample just the strategic topics that are relevant to your business.
The seventh edition continues the evolution of the book toward an approach well-grounded in the real-world economics of channels. Much of the content has been carried over from the sixth edition, although the book's structure is more streamlined. A lot of superfluous and outdated material from earlier editions has finally been cleaned up.
The chapter on vertical integration has been rightly moved into the "Channel Implementation" section. This is an outstanding chapter that provides a truly unique synthesis of marketing strategy and economic reasoning.
I have only two minor quibbles. One, the book is beginning to lag behind actual management practice. For instance, the discussion of margin vs. fee payments, new to the seventh edition, receives a scant four paragraphs. Two, the chapters on channel institutions (Retailing, Wholesaling, and Logistics) should either be expanded or more closely integrated with examples in the text. In addition, the data presented in these chapters are often out-of-date, in some cases by more than ten years.
As both a channel strategy consultant and one of Erin's former students, I can personally vouch for the validity of their insights into channel strategy. You will not be disappointed by the quality and rigor of thinking in this book.
Outstanding book on marketing channel behavior........1999-02-27
In a business world that is constantly changing, it is absolutely critical to understand the function and behavior of marketing channels -- that is, the roles that manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers play in the channel of distribution. The businesses that understand these tenets will be able to adapt to changes in the marketplace, and those who do not, will ultimately fail.
This is the 5th edition of the original book that developed the theories that explain the structure and behavior of marketing channels. There is still nothing better. For those who understand the significance of channels, it provides a clear roadmap for the analysis of changes. For those who do not, it will explain channel member behavior and illuminate recent successes due to channel management (Walmart, Dell Computer), so that you can understand how the lessons can be applied to your business.
I recommend this book to all business managers, not just to read once, but to keep in your office and refer to often through the years in order to navigate the high seas of channel change.
Book Description
Now an insider takes you inside the incredible Disney service culture and presents simple, powerful concepts in a fun, memorable way.
Customer Reviews:
If only every company used these princples.......2007-01-15
I was in the process of introducing some new processes relating to dealing with our cusotmers, so I purchased this book. It is wonderful - and if you want a real treat attend the park after reading it. It will amaze you how this organization goes out of their way to EXCEED the customer's expectations. In the world today, it seems customer service is no longer a priority to some establishments.
This is a great book on customer service.......2007-01-10
I had read this book a few years ago and wanted to reread it. I realized I had given my last copy away to someone who really need it. They story is easy to follow and the lessons stay with you for a long time. If you work in customer service and really we all do, this is a great read.
Both Honest, and Dishonest, Just Like the Magic Kingdom.......2006-07-09
I can't give this book a one because it does summarize Disney's business morals well, BUT, it leaves out what is obvious, it's lack of respect for God. Disney, as this book shows, relies on pleasing the customer, not God. It's also helpful in that it does give some good business advice.
Here is a summary of the "keys" to the magic kingdom, so to speak (these are quotes):
1. competition is always who the customer compares you with
2. pay fantastic attention to detail
3. everyone walks the talk (every cast member [employee] is asked to help the guests [customers]
4. everything walks the talk [meaning all the products and scenery is to reflect Disney's care for the customer's happiness at Disney and with Disney]
5. customers are best heard through many ears [meaning through survey's and the letters they send to Disney]
6. reward, recognize, and celebrate [the employees if they do a good job, if not, lol, don't say anything (how nice)]
I have no clue where to put this since it wasn't one of the keys, but here it is:
-Always make eye contact and smile
-Exceed guest expectations and seek out guest contacts [whatever that means]
- Always give outstanding quality service
-Greet and welcome each guest
-Maintain a personal standard of quality in your work [and if it's personal it's automatically gonna be a good thing cuz...]
-go beyond the call of duty
-Demonstrate strong team initiative
-Communicate aggressively with guests and fellow cast members
-Preserve the magical guest experience [meaning?]
(And the above instructions are guidelines not rules the book says)
7. everyone makes a difference
This is a good book to read (tho not buy) to see how the how some secular business minds think and how it parallels the Bible's laws in some ways.
Seven Keys to Success.......2006-06-30
This is a fun book, easy to read, great ideas to make your business more successful and customer friendly. I would recommend it highly and it is a great tool for a staff training or retreat.
Customer Service 101: A Must Read for Your Staff.......2005-10-29
This is an excellent tool for managers. While a good manager knows the seven secrets, the presentation in this book reinforces what you know. The secrets are presented in a different format that makes you think of other ways to motivate your staff. What makes this book really stand out is it is an easy, interesting book to read. Most books of this type are presented in a boring, academic format...while this is presented through various characters...those we have in our workplaces. I would recommend this book for all managers...especially those first time managers.
Book Description
This text continues to dominate the field of International Marketing. Its long standing tradition as the market leader is strengthened in this edition with an increase in coverage of technology¿s impact on the international market arena and a more comprehensive website, helping to provide updates to text content in this continually changing field.
Customer Reviews:
This is my textbook.......2007-05-14
I hope that it could help me to get a good result in this semester!
Very Good Text For MBA International Marketing Course.......2006-08-17
I don't understand how people could complain about this book being too complex, poorly-written, or poorly organized. Everything is presented clearly and logically, and the case studies are relevant and interesting. I found it simple to read, informative, enlightening, and actually fun for the most part. My only criticism is that the authors don't, in my opinion, give an entirely neutral treatment of some of the politically-charged issues raised in their book. It seemed as though they would sometimes more heavliy emphasize one point of view (their point of view, quite obviously) over others.
Not as bad as others are saying!.......2006-06-20
I purchased this book for an International Marketing course I had to take for my MBA Program. I have to disagree with what I have read about in other reviews - I found this book easy to read, and simple to understand. The examples used help clarify concepts and I felt the book was well organized. I especially liked the Country Notebook section in the back of the book. It was the perfect course-long project to apply the concepts and knowledge we learned about in class. I feel that this book is just about as good as an International Marketing MBA textbook can get!
Knowledgeable authors-boring writing.......2005-12-14
I took an International Business class for my MBA. I read every chapter in this book. There was a lot of knowledge included but there is often too much wordy writing and the book drones on. The definitions need to be in the margins. The last chapters are more of a cross cultural study of doing business with Japanese. It was a boring read-but good before bedtime for those that do not fall asleep easily.
Wordy, poorly organized, requires significant supplements.......2005-06-15
I used this book in an MBA International Marketing course. The text is a very cumbersome read. While the book contains adequate anecdotal information, the information is poorly organized and often fails to engage the reader. I routinely found myself searching for more concise supplemental materials for concepts the book failed to develop. The narratives are extremely wordy and consistently obfuscate salient points. If I were using the book as an instructor, I would use the country notebook section as a course guide and scrap the rest.
Book Description
From the author of the classic study of the aviation industry, The Sporty Game, a new book that chronicles the high-stakes rivalry between the world’s two largest aircraft manufacturers—companies that will bet the house on a single airplane.
Long one of America’s most successful and admired corporations—and its biggest exporter—Boeing struggled to maintain 50 percent of the market share for commercial aircraft after being overtaken by the European upstart Airbus in the late 1990s. But Airbus did not remain on top for long. By 2006, the company suffered from mismanagement and had adopted the kind of complacent, risk-averse culture that had once characterized its competitor.
Incorporating interviews he conducted throughout the industry—with everyone from company leaders, past and present, and Wall Street analysts to design engineers and factory workers—John Newhouse takes us inside these two firms to help us understand their struggle for supremacy in a business based as much on instinct as on economics. He examines the critical issues that Boeing has faced in recent years, including its difficult merger with McDonnell Douglas, its controversial move from Seattle to Chicago, and a series of corporate scandals that made front-page news. And he analyzes the troubles that have beset a once ascendant Airbus, notably an institutional structure aimed at satisfying the narrowly focused interests of its European stakeholders. Newhouse also explores the problems that now face Boeing and Airbus alike: potential competition from China and Japan, the challenge of serving burgeoning Asian markets, and the need to undo years of mismanagement.
Boeing Versus Airbus is a fascinating, informed, and insightful tale of success, and failure, in the turbulent, do-or-die world of the aircraft industry.
Customer Reviews:
A Must Read for All Aviation History and Airline Buffs.......2007-10-17
If you follow the Aviation and Airline businesses, you need to read this book. It is well written and organized, especially in describing the alternating ascendency of Boeing and Airbus. As a fan of Boeing and US aviation in general, I am personally pleased to see Boeing in the lead right now. However, I will not be surprised to see the pendulum swing again, and I hope that John Newhouse will be around to write a sequel to this excellent volume. Oh, and by the way, every airline passenger needs to read the chapter on the airlines. in fact, if you buy or borrow this book, be sure to have some of your air traveling friends read that chapter. My wife hates to fly, but is fascinated by airline operational details. She loved it.
Well-written, detailed and enjoyable.......2007-08-28
As a lecturer of tourism and aviation, I find this book very helpfull by its ability of exposing the reader to "the story behaind the story": highlighting managerial, economical, and marketing decisions of the 2 giants: Airbus and Boeing.
Highly recommended!
Hillel Avihai (PhD)
Inside look at the giants of the aircraft industry.......2007-07-12
John Newhouse, an experienced journalist and former "New Yorker" writer, has already written one book on the airplane industry ("The Sporty Game"). His fans will welcome the return of his expert insights, and may see this as a bonus supplement or extension. He has collected some fascinating new material for this work, so it is deeply informative, though perhaps not as dramatic as its title portends, since the titular competitors take turns winning. Newhouse clearly conducted extensive fresh research, and he presents interesting interview material throughout, although he gets a little awkward when he uses numerical data. We recommends this look behind the hangar doors of the airplane industry to business historians and, especially, to aviation buffs.
The case study in aviation.......2007-07-10
If you are interested in the rivalry between these two firms, look no further than this text...everything you need to know is in this book.
Second Act.......2007-07-05
"The Sporting Game" by the same author was a blockbuster. It described how Boeing gambled its net worth on developing a completely new and revolutionary airliner, the 747. After a rocky few years, this became a great commercial success, vindicating the daring gamble.
The new book, "Boeing Versus Airbus," describes an equally primal contest for survival, and the diametrically opposite strategies pursued by Boeing and Airbus. Unfortunately, the book is neither as well-written nor as well-edited as the first book, repetitive and full of opinions that don't always stand the test of time. Think of the book as a collection of articles, put into one set of covers. If you are or were involved in this industry (as I was) it's still a good read -- but more like a magazine article than the coherent book I had anticipated.
Amazon.com
The End of Oil is a "geologic cautionary tale for a complacent world accustomed to reliable infusions of cheap energy." The book centers around one irrefutable fact: the global supply of oil is being depleted at an alarming rate. Precisely how much accessible (not to mention theoretical) oil remains is debatable, but even conservative estimates mark the peak of production in decades rather than centuries. Which energy sources will replace oil, who will control them, and how disruptive to the current world order the transition from one system to the next will be are just a few of the big questions that Paul Roberts attempts to answer in this timely book.
As Roberts makes abundantly clear, the major oil players in the world wield their enormous economic and political power in order to maintain the status quo. Of course, they get plenty of help from the tens of millions of consumers, particularly in the U.S. and Europe, who guzzle oil as if there is an unlimited supply. And this demand shows no sign of abating--nearly half of the world's population lives without the benefits of fossil fuels and they desperately want to be among the haves. In countries such as China and India, where energy systems are already breaking down, Roberts discusses how they are looking to oil to fuel their race for development, in many cases ignoring environmental considerations altogether.
Though there is much to be pessimistic about, Roberts does uncover some positive developments, such as the race for alternative energy sources, notably hydrogen fuel cells, which could help to ease us off of our oil dependence before a full-blown energy crisis occurs. No one book could cover every aspect of what Roberts calls "arguably the most serious crisis ever to face industrial society," but The End of Oil is a remarkably informative and balanced introduction to this pressing subject. --Shawn Carkonen
Book Description
You live in this world. You use oil. You must read this book. The situation is alarming and irrefutable: within thirty years, even by conservative estimates, we will have burned our way through most of the oil that is readily available to us. Already, the costly side effects of dependence on fossil fuel are taking their toll. Even as oil-related conflict threatens entire nations, individual consumers are suffering from higher prices at the gas pump, rising health problems, and the grim prospect of long-term environmental damage. In this frank and balanced investigation, Paul Roberts offers a timely wake-up call. He talks to both oil optimists and oil pessimists, delves deep into the economics and politics of oil, and considers the promises and pitfalls of alternatives such as wind power, hybrid cars, and hydrogen. A new afterword brings the book up to the minute. Brisk, immediate, and accessible, this is essential reading for anyone who uses oil, which is to say every one of us.
Customer Reviews:
Fair minded and objective overview of big energy.......2007-09-23
Very readable....Roberts does an excellent job of presenting opinions fairly and from many pro/contra angles. He has fully immersed himself in his topic and the book is chocked-full of fascinating energy facts.
What to do about our energy future has become as politically polarized as abortion - Conservatives favor fossil fuels and the Moderate - Liberal folks want to go Renewable.
Roberts is bare-knuckled about what he feels the agendas are behind the current debate, which leads him to a (slightly) reserved pessimism about our chances of making it out of the mess we've made, by putting all our energy eggs in one basket. He does not hide his contempt for later-day politicians who can't see the forest for the trees and won't take action to avert the coming energy drought.
A must read, but with lots of salt........2007-08-14
This book is both well-written and well-researched. The analysis is sound, in so far as I understand this complex set of issues.
But I have serious doubts. First, I found the writing hysterical and humorless. Granted, he's a journalist, and this is subject is serious, but my first instinct on reading a book written like this is to call BS. I've seen too many books over the years on subjects like Japanese industrial dominance, the death of the whales, economic collapse, etc., to believe that mankind won't self-adjust somehow. To forecast the "end of civilization" in re: Diamond's Collapse, is to make lots of dubious assumptions about causation.
That is not to trivialize the real dangers he exposes with regard to our energy supply. The trifecta of petro-terrorism, climate change, and the energy lobby in DC is surely dangerous. Danger, however, does not spell Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. It spells real problems, that may limit our taste for luxury, but I don't think it's a given that a coming "perilous new world" will make Austin, TX the new Camden, NJ. (Camden's not even that bad).
I think it's instructive to look back to the two basic views on human nature undergirding our liberal legal system: Hobbes and Locke. Roberts seems to believe that a constrained energy supply will lead us to the war of all against all. I'm not so sure we're all that anti-social, and humankind's seen this discussion around 1550-1700. So, if the end of oil poses a crisis in wealth, we will all have to cope, but I'm not sure we'll all become like "dogs fighting in the street over pieces of meat", to quote from the oilman in Syriana.
Wake up call for Americans.......2007-04-15
A lot of these reviews are very good. I think the book is very informative and deeply researhed. I also recommend reading "Blood Oil", look it up.
Great book, but a little scary.......2007-03-15
An excellent, thorough and fair review of the global energy situation and the options for our future. It's just a little scary and frustrating that we really aren't doing anything about the challenges the author presents.
Fantastic! Eye-opening, timely, and useful guide for these times!.......2007-03-09
This book gives you a thorough history of our relationship to energy sources, and prepares us for the bumpy roads ahead. Highly recommended. I can now dive into current oil/global warming/energy issues and headlines with a greater understanding of the overall picture. Thankfully, since this was written, the Inconvenient Truth movie was released, and people are getting clued in to the realities of climate change.
Book Description
How have Japanese companies become world leaders in the automotive and electronics industries, among others? What is the secret of their success? Two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi, are the first to tie the success of Japanese companies to their ability to create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. In The Knowledge-Creating Company, Nonaka and Takeuchi provide an inside look at how Japanese companies go about creating this new knowledge organizationally. The authors point out that there are two types of knowledge: explicit knowledge, contained in manuals and procedures, and tacit knowledge, learned only by experience, and communicated only indirectly, through metaphor and analogy. U.S. managers focus on explicit knowledge. The Japanese, on the other hand, focus on tacit knowledge. And this, the authors argue, is the key to their success--the Japanese have learned how to transform tacit into explicit knowledge. To explain how this is done--and illuminate Japanese business practices as they do so--the authors range from Greek philosophy to Zen Buddhism, from classical economists to modern management gurus, illustrating the theory of organizational knowledge creation with case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, Nissan, 3M, GE, and even the U.S. Marines. For instance, using Matsushita's development of the Home Bakery (the world's first fully automated bread-baking machine for home use), they show how tacit knowledge can be converted to explicit knowledge: when the designers couldn't perfect the dough kneading mechanism, a software programmer apprenticed herself with the master baker at Osaka International Hotel, gained a tacit understanding of kneading, and then conveyed this information to the engineers. In addition, the authors show that, to create knowledge, the best management style is neither top-down nor bottom-up, but rather what they call "middle-up-down," in which the middle managers form a bridge between the ideals of top management and the chaotic realities of the frontline. As we make the turn into the 21st century, a new society is emerging. Peter Drucker calls it the "knowledge society," one that is drastically different from the "industrial society," and one in which acquiring and applying knowledge will become key competitive factors. Nonaka and Takeuchi go a step further, arguing that creating knowledge will become the key to sustaining a competitive advantage in the future. Because the competitive environment and customer preferences changes constantly, knowledge perishes quickly. With The Knowledge-Creating Company, managers have at their fingertips years of insight from Japanese firms that reveal how to create knowledge continuously, and how to exploit it to make successful new products, services, and systems.
Download Description
Manufacturers around the world have learned much from Japanese manufacturing techniques. However, any company that wants to compete on knowledge must also learn from Japanese techniques of knowledge-creation. Managers at Japan's most successful companies recognize that creating knowledge is not simply a matter of processing objective information. Rather, it depends on tapping the tacit and often highly subjective insights, intuitions, and ideals of employees.
Customer Reviews:
Not even worth one star.......2005-11-21
I was very disappointed by this book. Not only was it painful to read, because it dragged on and was full of academic nonsense, the authors views were also unconvincing and based on old research.
This book is outdated and not relevant to the way Japan is today. The authors use a lot of research and examples from the 80s and even the 70s. They make the claim that Japanese firms experienced a lot of success in the late 70s and 80s because of their superior ability to "create knowledge." They seem to be in complete denial that Japan's economic bubble had anything to do with this "success" that they are talking about. Also, the book was written over 10 years ago, before the financial crisis and before people realized that a lot of this so-called success was just cooked in the books by accountants.
They do give some reasonable examples of knowledge creating firms that are successful, but that's all they are, just a few examples and not an accurate representation of the whole picture of Japanese Management. Also, most of the examples are of Japanese manufacturing firms. What about the service sector? Suspiciously they did not use examples of companies from Japan's service sector, which are extremely inefficient and not the text book perfect examples of successful "knowledge creating" firms.
The theories and models in this book are a bunch of overly abstract vague pretentious academic nonsense. The real life examples are so nebulously related to the theories and models that most successful (or unsuccessful) companies can be used as examples.
If you want to read a bunch of nonsense based on old research with the names of Harvard professors and some philosophy thrown in to make the nonsense seem legit and intelligent, then by all means, read this book. But if you are like me and want to learn about Japanese management, don't waste your time or money on this book.
BEWARE! Digital version is only a 10 page summary!.......2004-03-16
Don't get caught like I did.
From information-processing machine to knowledge-creating co.......2002-08-28
This book is the classic in the organizational learning approach. But it¡¯s more than that. This book is not about lean production or Japanese kaizen system, but about how to enhance a firm¡¯s adaptability to turbulent environment through knowledge creation. with suggesting new concept of knowledge-creation as the tangible base of organizational capabilities or innovation, this book serves as the bridge between organizational learning school and resource-capabilities view.
As the being to survive in environment, the firm processes signals or information from environment. Knowledge is the framework to process info to interpret the state of environment. Up to 1980s, the company was viewed as information-processing machine. Indeed, firm is the flow of information. That kind of view has been justified against the business reality. Actually, it¡¯s the very picture of bureaucratic organization which culminated in GM¡¯s M-form model. Here, CEO like Jack Welch is the hero. Such an organization is effective when the environment is stable and predictable. But since 1970s, things have changed. Uncertainties have been amplified with the hypercompetition on global scale. Now the framework to interpret the signal from environment, itself should incessantly and systemically be adapted to turbulent reality. Knowledge and innovation have come the words of the day. Not surprisingly, there has been growing dissatisfaction with traditional organizational structure. Kao¡¯s CEO, Maruta put it in this way: ¡®The intelligence of a firm does not come from the president nor top management. That must come from the gathering of all knowledge of all members.¡¯ This book is about to how to build organization as the effective innovation site. To do so, all the available knowledge in and out of company should be able to be mobilized and freely flow throughout the firm. For instance, front line employees are constantly in direct touch with the outside world. They can obtain access to the up-to-date info on the market, technology, or competitors. But their knowledge is, in most cases, not able to be expressed in explicit way. Generally, it¡¯s the tacit knowledge. But to survive more and more intensified competition, the firm should be apt to mobilizing their tacit knowledge. To achieve such a goal, task force or bottom-up organizational model emerged. In those model, the creative knowledge worker, in Peter Drucker¡¯s term, is the hero. But in those models, knowledge tends to be confined to narrow front line, and comes and goes with creative employees. And worse, the firm can¡¯t react as an efficient unit to threats from environment. As a result, innovation is the haphazard event. So there should be some integrating mechanism like hierarchy. To be efficient unit, knowledge should flow all over the company. Here, authors rediscover the significance of middle managers. They play the role of midwife and amplifier of knowledge from front line employees and between various divisions in the firm. They coordinate the flow of knowledge and maintain the firm as a coherent knowledge-creating unit. In short, the firm should be organized as the melting pot of member¡¯s knowledge. Authors take examples from Japanese firms to illustrate what¡¯s like such a site.
A look at knowledge creation.......2001-11-26
I came to this book through a reference in Novak & Gowin. What caught my eye was that someone was willing to talk about an epistemological stance other than the analytic, reductionist view held in science. For the most part, I found this book's understanding of Western epistemology to be reasonable; I can't speak for the Japanese epsitemology cited. What interested me, and for which I recommend the book, is their view of knowledge creation. The case studies lend weight to their view, but they do explicate a possible model for turning subjective knowledge into explicit knowledge. They suggest a management model for making it happen. The book is very well written and edited.
I believe the book needs a very careful read *outside* the business community. I would put this book down as the business version of Feynman's *The Character of Natural Law*.
An essential book on knowledge management.......2001-09-28
This is perhaps one of the most important books presently available on knowledge management. The authors demonstrate how 'knowledge' is vital to innovation within Japanese firms, with clear distinction made between 'tacit' and explicit' knowledge. An effort is made to distinguish the differences between Japanese and Western firms through an emphasis on the importance of 'tacit' knowledge and a 'middle-up-down' management process. Other than Chapter 2 (a review of philosophical background relating to epistemology which might put some readers off), this book has minimal jargons and complexities and would be an easy and enjoyable read even for non-academics. The arguments presented by the authors are well-illustrated with relevant industrial examples. Overall, this is a book that not only brings a new perspective to knowledge management but also raises questions for the ardent researchers who might ponder over its relevance to non-Japanese firms.
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