Customer Reviews:
Not the most useful, but comprehensive........2007-09-09
This book by Anthony Boardman et al. is a heavy read. It is not a book you would want to read from A to Z in order to understand Cost-Benefit Analysis or CBA, but it is one of the better reference books I have found. The only downside I found was a very theoretical approach and lack of really useful examples. Nevertheless, not one element of CBA seems to be left untouched. This book is a valuable reference to anyone relying on CBA as a decision-making tool, because it will assist you in understanding what it is that you are analyzing when applying CBA.
Wonderful.......2007-02-22
I have received in the data they promised me, very quick, even I received it early in the morning!!!!!!!
Even the prof had a difficult time getting through it.......2006-12-31
I had to buy this book for a class I took on Cost-benefit analysis (which is probably why you're thinking of buying it, too). The contents of my review won't have much influence on your choice to purchase it, as that decision has already been made by your prof. But I think I owe you a few warnings.
Some of the chapters are well-written (the chapters on discounting and compounding and time value), but most of them are confusing (the chapters on option value and the section about the optimal growth discount model). Even our professor, who has a BA in econ from Yale and a PhD in econ from Berkeley, had trouble getting through these sections. Some of the homework problems at the ends of the chapters ask about material that the text never fully explains. In a few instances, the book reminds you why you hate integral calculus.
So although I can't stop you from buying this, I can at least warn you that your trip through its pages will be nothing like a trip through the beautiful mountains on the cover. Unless you were planning on climbing the mountains. In January. Without GPS or crampons.
Straightforward.......2003-01-25
The authors have put approached this topic in a step by step way. It explains important background topics as well. I bought this book for a class, so I really didn't have much choice in the matter. I expect that most buyers will do so for the same reason. To them, I say "don't worry about it," this won't hurt as much as you think." If you are considering this for pleasure reading, well, don't let me stop you.
Complete, Comprehensive, but lengthy.......2003-01-17
Probably one of the few only books available that talks about CBA. Lacks in real life examples, otherwise a good read for grasping basic concepts and tools.
Book Description
Over the next decade, two out of every three companies will face the challenge of their corporate lives: redefining their core business. Buffeted by global competition and facing an uncertain future, more and more executives will realize that they must make fundamental changes in their core even as they continue delivering the goods and services that keep them in business today.
Unstoppable shows these managers how to look deep within their organizations to find undervalued, unrecognized, or underutilized assets that can serve as new platforms for sustainable growth. Drawing on more than thirty interviews with CEOs from companies such as De Beers, American Express, and Samsung, it shows readers how to recognize when the core needs reinvention and how to deploy the "hidden assets" that can be the basis for tomorrow's growth.
Building on the author's previous books, Profit from the Core and Beyond the Core, this book shows how any company in crisis can transform itself to become truly unstoppable.
Customer Reviews:
A good book that stands on its own.......2007-10-10
Normally the third book in a series either rehashes the prior two books, or requires that you read all three to understand the authors points. Unstoppable is unique in this regard as the book stands on its own and does not require you to read the other books.
Zook talks in depth about how enterprises can find source of growth from the core of their company either by finding hidden assets, customers or capabilities. The strength of this book is its detailed discussion of each of these sources of growth from the core and extending the core. Zook also provides detailed tools to help the reader apply these ideas to their company. This is particularly unique in a book that addresses issues of growth and growth strategy.
In some ways, Zook's book should be used as a companion to the book "BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY" which talks about identifying opportunities where there are no competitors. Used in combination, Blue Ocean will open up new possibilities, while Unstoppable will provide a way to execute on these opportunities and build off of your core to achieve them.
The book is clearly written with detailed case studies and verbatims form actual companies going through their growth processes. This is unique for any business book and Zook's use of extensive interview comments makes the book seem real and actionable rather than academic.
While Zook's book is well researched, there is a subtle and important bias in the research. Zook's results and statistics are largely based on analyzing projects that he and his company have conducted, rather than looking at the general marketplace. This is strength in that the book can talk about implementation details because they did the work. However, it is a subtle weakness in that the cases suffer from selection bias that has a tendency to color the results and conclusions. Zook's attention to detail, pragmatism, and exposing tools do compensate for this research weakness and for most it will not matter, but recognize that it is there.
Overall, I would recommend this book for any executive who is looking to change their enterprise or recognize the need to do more in order to grow. This is one of the top 10 business books I have read so far this year so highly recommended.
How to use the power of hidden assets to redefine your core business.......2007-09-28
Chris Zook has written two previous books about paying attention to the core of your business and how to mine it for every dollar it will yield. This book talks about what to do when your core is beginning to falter. Rather than letting the rapid changing marketplace stop your company he suggests redefining your core. However, rather than leaping onto some popular bandwagon that has nothing to do with your present core, he advocates finding hidden assets within your company. He offers a process for understanding where you are in your strategic cycle, the Focus-Expand-Redefine (FER) growth cycle. Using this structure, he shows you how to know when it is time to redefine your core and the dangers of getting it wrong.
Zook shows you what to look for in the way of platforms that you could promote from secondary status to become primary areas for your business. These might be technologies you acquired along with the purchase of a company, but it wasn't why you bought the company. It could be adjacent geographic areas, or markets that you could expand into without having to completely recast your company. Or it might be orphan products that you can use to exploit changing market conditions and the new opportunities they often create.
I also agree with and enjoyed the author's emphasis on paying attention to the things your customers can teach you. If long term customers are leaving you they are being served by new competitors, new technologies, or are going out of business. You need to find out exactly what is happening. This also includes learning to segment your customer base as finely as possible. If you can learn to serve micro-segments of your customer base rather than having to treat them as if they were all the same kind of person, you will be able to develop those markets more fully. Your customers will also offer suggestions for improvements to your existing products and services, so pay attention. If you don't meet their needs, your competitors will. When they suggest new products to you, listen even more closely.
The other place to find hidden assets are in your capacities. That is the ability your company has to execute and repeat value creating tasks at a high level of quality. You should inventory the dozens to hundreds of capacities your company has and then figure out which are the most critical. Those are your core capabilities. Are there other things you could use them for? Are there capacities that are important in supporting the core that could be recast to become core capabilities in their own right?
I think this book offers some important food for thought. When you can work the FER cycle of growth you can become unstoppable, not because the old core doesn't burn out, but because you kindle and ignite a new fire to run your company's engine before it does.
reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI
'Unstoppable' - A contemporary approach to business strategy.......2007-07-18
In an age of ever-shortening corporate life-cycles, Chris Zook examines the way in which some companies have successfully adapted to a harsher and more investor and public conscious corporate environment by expanding, redefining and reinventing their core businesses. As the future of large successful corporate conglomerates becomes increasingly uncertain in the wake of market forces, such as private equity buyouts, hostile or activist shareholder activity and other evolving market forces, which threaten to undermine long-standing successful market strategies, some companies somehow emerge from the shark-infested waters with little resemblance of their former selves and do so with greater vitality, profitability and vigor than ever before. Never before has one author caused a reader to re-examine the strategies that have shaped the global corporate atmosphere for so many years. Companies can no longer simply search for traditional market synergies among affordable competitors, or simply aim to lower production costs or hope to engineer a new product or discover a new market. Instead, these companies will be forced to seek out lesser known `hidden assets' in order to shift their core profit structure. They will also be forced to focus and refine that core and defend it vehemently against emerging low-cost competitors who seek to steal or infringe upon their core. Companies today will be forced to take actions such as these in their aim to become unstoppable, or they will inevitably suffer the consequences which more and more companies find themselves succumbing to.
Pogo was right........2007-06-18
In two previously published books, Profit from the Core (2001) and then Beyond the Core (2004), Chris Zook shares what several years of extensive and intensive research revealed about "how companies fail to recognize the potential of their core business and, as a result, prematurely abandon it in pursuit of hot markets or sexy new ideas, only to realize their error - often, when it is too late." He suggests a systematic way for organizations to assess their full potential and to make certain, also, that they do not fall into "this common, and typically human, trap."
In this volume, Zook draws upon an even wider and deeper wealth of research sources that include about fifty interviews, mostly of CEOs. The title is explained by the fact that he and his associates chose to study most closely those companies "that beat the odds. We also analyzed patterns of failure and estimated the odds of success offered by various paths in various situations." He goes on to observe that all of the success stories built their renewal on their "hidden assets" that had been previously been undervalued, unrecognized, and/or underutilized. "These assets were not central to the strategy of the past, but they held the key to the future. Furthermore, the older and more complex the company, the greater was the likelihood of finding promising hidden assets." In other words, many companies already "hold most of the cards for "a winning hand" but do not realize it.
I highly recommend all three of Zook's books because, together, they answer three separate but related, and critically important questions:
1. How to define and grow an organization's core assets? (Profit from the Core)
2. How to expand its boundaries into new territory? (Beyond the Core)
3. How to redefine and renew its core? (Unstoppable)
No company is forever "unstoppable" but most (if not all) companies can take full advantage of the information and counsel Zook provides in this book to find correct answers to all three of these questions achieve core renewal without "leaps to distant and hot new markets, ...being the first adopter of a pioneering new strategy,...[or making] as `big bang' acquisition." In fact, unless a given organization has "beaten the odds" by sustaining profitable growth, it should first define or redefine its core assets and then grow or renew them, before committing any resources to organizational and/or territorial expansion.
Zook is to be commended on the care with which he defines various terms. For example, undervalued business platforms "that might have once been secondary in importance but now have the potential to be the foundation for a new major core business"(e.g. IBM's Global Services Group). Also unexploited customer assets that tend to exist in three primary forms: "knowledge gathered as part of serving the customer but that, over time, accumulates an inherently greater value of its own...a unique position of trust of relationship with a set of customers [that gives] much more access and influence than has been recognized (e.g. American Express and Harman International). And finally, underutilized capabilities ("the most difficult hidden asset to discern but no less powerful") that result in losses of position to competitors in terms of cost, speed, logistics, design, and quality of customer service (e.g. the United States Postal Service's inability to invest as much as FedEx and UPS in system upgrades). "At the root of such competitive reversals we often find a yawning capability gap that was undetected, dismissed, or ignored."
I especially appreciate Zook's skillful use of various reader-friendly devices such as check-lists that focus on key points covered within a chapter: "Seven Steps to Redefining Your Core" (pages 24-25), a "State of the Core Diagnostic" (Figure 2-3 on Page 44), "Detecting Undervalued Business Platforms" (Pages 82 and 83), "Identifying Hidden Customer Assets" (Page 115), "Defining Your Core Capabilities" (Page 140), and "Ten Principles of Core Growth and Redefinition" (Page158). These and other check-lists facilitate, indeed expedite frequent review of key points later.
Although hidden assets are the "real key" to redefinition and capabilities are "the building blocks of renewal," and I agree with Zook that they are, it is important to keep in mind that transformation and renewal initiatives should never end. Zook asserts that "the real focus of business should be external - on competitors, shifts in technology, and customer dynamics." However, ironically, for many companies now searching for profitable growth, some "of their most challenging demons are internal" and their "most difficult foes" are often themselves. Unless they identify and then leverage the hidden assets they already have or to which they have easy access, they will either be out-of-business or acquired by another company within the next ten years.
A BIG help!.......2007-06-17
I have read and enjoyed all three of Chris Zook's strategy books, Profit from the Core, Beyond the Core, and his latest, Unstoppable. They are filled with compelling analysis, which Zook uses to offer practical insights on how companies can grow profitably and create value for shareholders.
Zook's description of the focus, expand, redefine cycle of growth is insightful. As the business world becomes less certain, more and more companies will need to move through this cycle. The stories that Zook describes of companies that have successfully navigated around this growth cycle offer guidance to other companies wishing to survive and grow.
All of Zook's books are focused on implementation. In Unstoppable, he clearly outlines the questions that need to be answered in order to understand how your business is doing and where to look for hidden assets that can help redefine a company. Any corporate executive should think through Zooks's ten principles of core growth and redefinition and take to heart his message about the need to focus. It is not often that you find action-oriented advice written in such an easy-to-read style.
I highly recommend reading Unstoppable.
Book Description
Marthinsen's MANAGING IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY: DEMYSTIFYING INTERNATIONAL MACROECONOMICS is written specifically for MBA students and addresses important issues confronting business managers. This exciting new first edition presents macroeconomics in the context of real world decision-making, It helps students grasp practical "big picture" concepts, nurtures an understanding of what causes macroeconomic variables to change, and relates these changes to issues confronting managers. Marthinsen integrates the three major macroeconomic sectors (i.e., the real goods market, real loanable funds market, and foreign exchange market) in a user-friendly way with a minimum of math and only supply and demand analysis. Liberating readers from dry, overly complex macroeconomic models, Marthinsen uses theory only as a means to an end for practical understanding. Clear and concise, the book focuses on concrete business examples to show how economic shocks, such as monetary and fiscal policies or shifts in international capital flows, affect management decisions. The book was written for MBAs who were not necessarily economics majors, making it appealing to students with a variety of undergraduate backgrounds. Marthinsen keeps readers visually engaged with strategic use of figures, tables, charts, and illustrative exhibits. MANAGING IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY offers a strategic focus, emphasizes the interaction among markets, and equips MBAs with a macroeconomic perspective that will last (and be used) for years.
Customer Reviews:
Great.......2007-04-11
I happened to be one of the student who had access to this texbook a year before it was released. Fantastic Material! You really start getting the Macro Econimic picture in terms of where the exchange rates, interest rates are headed etc. Great book for a person who wants to understand forecast the state of economy and its business impact
Macroeconomics made easy.......2007-04-05
I had the opportunity to take a Macroeconomics class with Professor Marthinsen when he was putting the final touches on the book. It is easily the most accessible economics text I have read, which was important because I was a Psychology major in undergrad (not a business major). The book has a great blend of being comprehensive/thorough while still being accessible. I recommend it to any MBA interested in understanding macroeconomics and how these macro factors can influence a business.
Book Description
Stressing the concrete applications of economic forecasting, Practical Business Forecasting is accessible to a wide-range of readers, requiring only a familiarity with basic statistics. The text focuses on the use of models in forecasting, explaining how to build practical forecasting models that produce optimal results. In a clear and detailed format, the text covers estimating and forecasting with single and multi- equation models, univariate time-series modeling, and determining forecasting accuracy. Additionally, case studies throughout the book illustrate how the models are actually estimated and adjusted to generate accurate forecasts. After reading this text, students and readers should have a clearer idea of the reasoning and choices involved in building models, and a deeper foundation in estimating econometric models used in practical business forecasting.
Average customer rating:
- high thickness to content ratio
- This really _IS_ Brain Surgery!!!
- A sound theory and practical methods
- Root-Cause Analysis and Reality Trees
- Tools for reaching The Goal!
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Goldratt's Theory of Constraints: A Systems Approach to Continuous Improvement
H. William Dettmer
Manufacturer: ASQ Quality Press
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Breaking the Constraints to World-Class Performance
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Theory of Constraints
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Critical Chain : A Business Novel
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It's Not Luck
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The Goal
ASIN: 0873893700 |
Book Description
Organizations live or die as systems not processes. Their success or failure is a function of how well the different component processes interact with one another. Real quality improvement isn't possible without the knowledge that comes from an understanding of the theory of knowledge, knowledge of variation, an understanding of psychology, and appreciation for systems. Goldratt's Theory of Constraints addresses best-selling author Eli Goldratt's unique approach to dramatically improving corporate performance, found throughout his books, The Goal (North River, 1992) and It's Not Luck (North River, 1994). This book thoroughly explains the theory of constraints, as well as detailing for the reader exactly how to problem solve using TOC.
Customer Reviews:
high thickness to content ratio.......2007-09-13
This book is padded to 378 pages. It is repetitive with long summaries and example at the end of each chapter. A table of contents at the begining of each chapter. Rhetoric questions in the text. Diagrams for simple ideas that don't need them.
I was looking for a book to explain the basics of TOC and to this end the book was helpful - it just could have been half the size.
This really _IS_ Brain Surgery!!!.......2006-12-20
Some folks who just now may be getting to know the Theory of Constraints (TOC) might be surprised at what they find in this book. Open it at random to any page, and you are looking at a diagram of some sort! This text is not about bottle necks and constraints; it is not about Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM). Rather, it is about the "Thinking Tools" of TOC.
So many great philosophies and theories of management become fashionable -- only then to suffer the indignity of superficial implementations at the hands of hasty zealots. TQM and Lean are two examples of important movements which were the basis of many failed projects in industry. In the final analysis, "Knowing what you are talking about" is often the missing ingredient. Moreover, when you are struggling to get "out of the box," how can you be sure you don't fall victim to the same assumptions (to your own self-deceptions) that put you there in the first place?
Dettmer's cornerstone text "Goldratt's Theory of Constraints: A Systems Approach to Continuous Improvement" takes you in [baby] steps through the entire TOC Thinking Process. Many will find this process excruciating perhaps, but this is what it takes. There are five graphical tools, five different [network] trees, one uses to analyze problems and solutions, and the especially important path between these two "realities." Dettmer takes great care to show you how to be sure of every single piece of your puzzle as you seek honestly to characterize your Current Reality, the Future Reality, the Prerequisites, and the Transition (the step-by-step plan). These represent four of the "Trees" (CRT, FRT, PRT, TT), and the Conflict Resolution Diagram (CRD) is the fifth. In addition to these, Dettmer explains the "Categories of Legitimate Reservation," which are the logic rules one uses to guide the TOC Thinking Process.
On page 22 Dettmer says, "These trees, the Categories of Legitimate Reservation, and how to use them is the subject of this book." Indeed, it really is. Nearly 400 pages of precision, it's no barrel of laughs; I can tell you that! But after scanning a dozen other books for exactly how to do this, I was happy to find someone who finally was willing to bite the bullet and get it done.
Plus, he knows what he is talking about.
Once you have the Transition Tree, you'll possibly want to formulate and track your implementation project using the Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) methods of TOC (as opposed to the failure prone Critical Path Method). There are many books on that subject. And there are now CCPM Add-Ins for Microsoft Project from several companies. But it would be easy to question your plan if it were not subjected to the same degree of rigorous analysis described by Dettmer's book. In the final analysis, "Knowing what you are talking about" is all too often the missing ingredient.
A sound theory and practical methods.......2006-01-20
This is a very readable book for which we intend to build courseware around. The book is laid out in a logical and progressive order. Each chapter table of contents can be used as headers for class notes. At the end of each chapter, there's an excellent summary and graphic diagrams or tables that can be used as jobaids. If you read, understand, and apply the information in this book it will definetely enable you to make more accurate assessements of "undesirable effects" and propose sensible solutions.
Root-Cause Analysis and Reality Trees.......2005-09-10
Dettmer's discussion on finding root causes of undesirable conditions or effects is the best I've seen. It's easy to go down a rathole when trying to drill into a set of what appears to be causes of the undisirable conditions. He also shows strong value of using reality trees to define what is and how we might be able to get to what ought to be.
Tucson, Arizona
Tools for reaching The Goal!.......2004-04-23
Many readers are familiar with Eliyahu Goldratt's hugely successful business novels The Goal and Its Not Luck. In these two books and his non-fiction work, Goldratt presents his "Theory of Constraints" and examples of how to apply it in practice.
Until now, Goldratt fans have had limited options for putting the Theory of Constraints into practice. Developing the methodology from the limited treatments in the novels may work in simple situations, but is unlikely to achieve its full potential in all but the most straightforward applications. True believers can take several days of formal training at the Goldratt Institute and earn the "Jonah" credential, but this approach is beyond the budgets and zeal of many.
Between these extremes, the American Society for Quality has published two very useful books by H. William Dettmer: Goldratt's Theory of Constraints - A Systems Approach to Continuous Improvement and Breaking the Constraints to World-Class Performance. Each is a superb tool, but they are appropriate for different audiences.
The first book, Goldratt's Theory of Constraints, is a thorough, textbook style treatment of how to develop the logic trees that underlie all Theory of Constraints analyses. It is most useful to people who will apply the Theory of Constraints in their organizations and want "how-to" training. It is also appropriate for a graduate level course in the methodology. The diagrams and graphics in the book are excellent and are critical to its usefulness.
The second book, Breaking the Constraints..., is aimed at general business readers and senior managers who want to understand the Theory of Constraints and its potential for improving an organization, but do not need the full complement of tools to become a full-fledged "Jonah". The book makes excellent use of case studies and examples. It, too, boasts diagrams and graphics that are essential to its value.
Breaking the Constraints..., will appeal to the wider audience. It is appropriate for readers who are interested in the Theory of Constraints, but want to have a deeper understanding of it before deciding to make it a core element of their approach to quality. It is also a tool to help champions of the Theory of Constraints educate both team members and bosses.
Both books will appeal to Theory of Constraints practitioners, while Breaking the Constraints... is more appropriate for the reader with an interest in the topic, but who will not be leading the team applying it.
(Robert Bradford is CEO of the Center for Simplified Strategic Planning and co-author of Simplified Strategic Planning)
Customer Reviews:
A Good Book!.......2000-06-23
I first met the book in the uni library. Having been teaching natural resources and environmental economics, I find this intermediate textbook with is useful and worthy of recommendating for those postgraduates who have strong interests in theoretical exploration. Since almost all textbooks in the market are elementary and are not suitable for the advanced readers, this book with new approaches has been increasingly used in the uni. However, this book does not pay enough attention to environmental policy. This should be considered by the authors when the third edition is composed.
Amazon.com
The coauthor of Reengineering the Corporation offers insights into the consequences of today's process-centered reengineering that marks the end of the Industrial Revolution. This book is required reading for executives and front-line workers, for students and investors, for everyone who wants to be prepared for the new world that is at our doorstep.
Book Description
Reengineering has captured the imagination of managers and shareholders alike, sending corporations on journeys of radical business redesign that have already begun to transfigure global industry. Yet aside from earning them improvements in their business performance, the shift into more-process-centered organizations is causing fundamental changes in the corporate world, changes that business leaders are only now beginning to understand. What will the revolutions final legacy be? Beyond Reengineering addresses this question, exploring reengineering's effects on such areas as:
Jobs: What does process-centering do to the nature of jobs? What does a process-centered workplace feel like?
Managers: What is the new role of the manager in a process-centered company?
Education: What skills are vital in the process-centered working world, and how can young or inexperienced workers prepare?
Society: What are the implications of process-centering for employment and the economy as a whole?
Investment: What are the characteristics of a successful 21st-century corporation?
An informed look at one of the most profound changes to ever sweep the corporate world, Beyond Reengineering is the business manual for the 21st century.
Customer Reviews:
Mr. Hammer has little knowledge of the real business world.......2004-01-26
I come from four generations of independent businessmen, none of whom needed a book to tell them how to run one. And none of whom ever failed at the business they owned. I currently work for a company that has been in business for 102 years, and this book has sold some of the marketing types in management down the Hammer River of "process", whose implementation and loose interpretation of this book has resulted in mass retirements; fragmentation of skilled staff; loss of communication between working departments, and physical movements of employees that follow no logical purpose. The effect upon moral as a whole has de-motivated all of us. You cannot come to work or take a break without small groups of people venting their outrage at what's going on. There are increased hand-offs and rather than report to one person, now we must go through five, wait for a number to be generated for each task we perform (2 to 5 days). It's the craziest way to run a business that I've ever seen! We are left trying to figure out who is the leader and how we are supposed to get a project completed. None of us can figure out why management would go along with what Mr. Hammer proposes, when we won the JD Powers award for Customer Satisfaction in 2003. If we were not successfully doing our jobs before this "process change implementation", I'd like to know how this company stayed in business for 102 years! His proposals have intentionally set us up to fail. The only reason I can find for a company to use his recommendations is if they intend to be bought, want to get rid of all their employees, and want to cause general dishelvement and frustration. We were told that no jobs would be eliminated, this was not a reorganization, not a restructure. And yet entire departments that were instrumental in the core business of this company have been dissolved. And those who have retired would not have otherwise done so, had this company not chosen Mr. Hammer's path. Staff that has left is not being replaced. And no one prefers the job title "Subject Matter Expert" over the one they had before. Nobody wants "Process Leader" on their business cards. We all want to be productive, to feel that our work has real purpose and relevance. Mr. Hammer would have us all be nothing more than the by-product of some process that was unnecessary. I'd like to be there the day they lock Mr. Hammer away for insanity. I guess it's worth the price of this book just to buy it for a dartboard (which is precisely what I intend to do). Yes, Mr. Hammer, this has definately impacted my life, and I hope I never see you stranded by the side of the road: the result will be the implementation of a process you didn't mention in your book...
Heresy.......2002-03-14
Sorry, but I'm not as impressed by Hammer as he is of himself. I work for a large Fortune 100 company as a Director of Business Process Reengineering, and I'm NOT convinced after reading this that Hammer has rolled up his sleeves and gotten dirty (we all think it but no one will admit to it out loud). Just read the chapter about process owners and his theory about managing the employee and it is clear he has littler or no experience working with front-line $20K/year employees that are found in our operations. Sure, if you're working with professionals making $50K+ his theories are more plausible.
My boss swears by Hammer but when it comes to planning and performing the Redesign work she calls on my team to get it done. We aren't disciples of Hammer, but everyone on my team has read this book and in order to understand the terminology. Using the methodology found in this book will be of minimal use for planning and completing your BPR.
A must read for anyone interested in how organizations work.......1999-04-06
I recently had the privilige of attending a Dr. Hammer seminar in Boston and can tell you that this book tracks closely with his seminar which was the best I have ever attended. The book however goes into much greater detail and depth than a one day high level seminar can go to. The portions that described the first principles of business (chapter 6)and the dramatic impact that process centered organizations will have on employees (the entire book)were standouts. I have already used information contained here in my work as a consultant for a major federal systems integrator. I am also going to try and get my children who are attending college and high school to read at least chapter 14 (What I Tell My Children)so that they can take advantage of Dr Hammer's guidance with respect to the selection of fulfilling educational and career choices. I think it is the best book on business that I have ever read.
I also understand the book was written for a general audience but it would have been nice to have some footnotes and research to underpin some of the pronouncements of business benefits. I tried to track the performance of American Standard, Texas Instruments, and GTE to see if I could confirm Hammer's assertions but it would have taken too much time. Maybe he can publish an addendum for those of us interested in such matters.
Almost a homer, just a long double off the top of the wall.......1999-03-09
After the first nine chapters, I thought this book was better than the original, Reengineering the Corporation. But the second half of the book wanders off into repetition, ambiguity and irrelevance. Oh well, it is still worth the cost just to read the first half of this sequel, because it adds depth to the original book.
It is a shake-down to tradition!.......1998-10-30
After going thru all the series of Michael's "state-of-the-art" books, I also applied some ideas and approaches while doing consulting work with my clients. However, it is not a happy ending for every case I consulted with in the real world. But to myself, I definitly believe in what Michael promoted all about - process thinking, process organizing - without any doubt. The "thing" we deliver to the customer, even we can say the reason why a comapny can exist is VALUE, not product, technology, or so-called "service". I know it's hard to define what VALUE means, but what I do believe is to delight the customers may represent they feel the value! By the way, Chapter 7 in the book - A Football Team is my favorite part, because I also use "Basketball team" to motivate my staff! And believe me, it does WORK!
Book Description
Robert C. Merton's widely-used text provides an overview and synthesis of finance theory from the perspective of continuous-time analysis. It covers individual financial choice, corporate finance, financial intermediation, capital markets, and selected topics on the interface between private and public finance. For this revised edition a new section on managing university endowments has been added. The book begins with a foreword by Paul Samuelson.
Customer Reviews:
Collection of past papers.......2000-02-26
This book is a collection of thier(most of the parts are Merton's) papers written during the past 25 years. The papers are little bit changed so as to be cross-referenced through the book. Also You can find some comments in the book for the recent literatures. As you know, Dr. Merton introduced continuous-time approaches into the finance. This book deals with basic mathematics for the continuous time finance, portfolio selection, option pricing, and theory of intertemporal equilibrium. The value of this book is greater than that of papers copied separately in the library. Also it is a great pleasure to see how his theory has been evolved through the book.
The bible of continuous time approach to financial theory.......1999-10-08
I think the Nobel Prize was not enough to thank Professor Merton for his thought. The absolute and necessary book to approach continuous time Finance.
Book Description
This accessible textbook in macroeconomics is designed specifically for emerging economies. It provides a textbook model that upper-level undergraduate students use to understand economic events in their countries, and separate analysis of the key macroeconomic problem areas that these economies have confronted over the last two decades. These problem areas include fiscal deficits, financial sector reform, and exchange rate policies. The book differs from development textbooks in that it contains up-to-date macroeconomics.
Download Description
This book is a rigorous, yet nonmathematical analysis of key macroeconomic issues faced by emerging economies. The first part develops an analytical framework that can be used as a workhorse model to study short-run macroeconomic issues of stabilization and adjustment in such economies, comparable to the IS-LM framework widely used in intermediate-level macroeconomics textbooks for industrial countries. The rest of the book considers fiscal issues, financial sector issues, and issues concerning exchange rate regimes and policies. In the fiscal area, the focus is on the formulation of intertemporal policies, i.e. fiscal sustainability, seigniorage, and the roles of central bank independence and privatization of public enterprises in achieving fiscal credibility. The analysis of the financial sector examines its role in promoting welfare and growth. Finally, the book explores recent developments in the theory of appropriate exchange rate regimes and management, and provides an overview of recent currency crises in emerging markets.
Customer Reviews:
Readable and insightful.......2004-01-14
Although the title Macroeconomics in emerging markets seems rather straightforward at first sight, it makes one wonder whether the foundations of macroeconomics in emerging markets really differ from those in industrialised countries. Why a separate macroeconomics textbook for this category of countries? In this extremely lucidly written book, Peter Montiel easily convinces the reader that it is a useful complement to existing textbooks for at least two reasons. First, because the idiosyncrasies of many emerging economies - most notably their often weak financial and legal systems - may require a different macroeconomic management focus. While macroeconomic policies in industrialised countries often relate to business cycle developments, policy makers in emerging economies are compelled to spend much more time on irregular episodes of financial instability, which may require different types of action. Second, because some assumptions of standard theoretical models do not hold for most emerging economies. Market-determined floating exchange rates and a risk-free rate of return on short-term government debt do for instance not apply to many countries in the developing world.
The book is divided into four parts. The first one introduces a clear analytical model, to which later chapters refer when treating issues of macro-economic stabilisation. And although the author does not formally define the term "emerging market", the model developed in Chapters 2 and 3 shows that a typical emerging economy is characterised by real and financial openness (though with imperfect substitutability between domestic and foreign financial assets), an officially determined exchange rate regime, and a relatively strong reliance on monetary policies and stabilisation rather than fiscal policies (when compared to industrialised countries). Although the discussion of the model is clear, it would have benefited had the letters denoting the variables been more intuitively logical (e.g. why not use n to designate the nominal exchange rate rather than s?).
In the subsequent three parts the author gives an overview of specific areas of macroeconomic policy: fiscal management, management of the financial sector, and exchange-rate management. In general, the discussion of these themes is both comprehensive and profound. However, in my view the second part of the book, on financial sector policies, is somewhat unbalanced. The author discusses at length the literature on financial repression and financial liberalisation, but pays virtually no attention to the (more recent) so-termed legal view literature. The empirical results of this literature carry important implications for emerging economies, as they underline that the positive growth effect of financial system development mainly depends on the extent to which the financial system is rooted in an enforceable legal system. Only in Chapter 11 some oblique remarks are made with respect to the influence of the legal system on contract enforcement costs. Another omission is that, while dealing with the theoretical (dis)advantages of banks vs. financial markets, Chapter 11 does not discuss the empirical research into this matter, which basically shows that financial structure as such appears to be inconsequential for economic growth.
An important point in favour of the book is that, using the benchmark model from the first part, the author systematically shows that in emerging economies fiscal policy, financial sector issues, and exchange rate management are mutually interdependent. An interesting case in point is the very clear treatment of exchange rate management and currency crises in the last part of the book. Here, the differences between industrialised and emerging countries come clearly to the fore in a discussion of the ability of countries to perform moderate devaluations if a gap between the actual and equilibrium real exchange rate becomes apparent. While industrialised countries have been able to limit such devaluations, emerging economies have often experienced more extreme market reactions due to a lack of confidence. Paul Krugman already referred to this "double standard" of financial markets in The Return of Depression Economics (1999), but Peter Montiel elaborates on this theme, linking it to self-fulfilling liquidity crises and his discussion of financial sector fragility in earlier chapters.
All in all, this book provides for a readable and insightful analysis of macroeconomic management in emerging and transition economies, generally based on the state-of-the-art as regards theoretical and empirical research on this topic. Given the largely non-mathematical approach, the book may also serve well as an updated, more concise, and "light" version of Agénor and Montiel's second edition of Development Macroeconomics (1999). In doing so, this book also shows that clear and precise analytical writing on (macro)economics can be done without casting each and every argumentation into a mathematical mould.
Book Description
A follow-up to Grant McCracken's groundbreaking Culture and Consumption, this new book trades the usual platitudes about the consumer society for a more detailed, exacting anthropological treatment. Each section of the book pairs a brief essay with an academic article. The essay is designed for a quick, provocative glimpse of the topic; the article provides a deeper anthropological treatment. The book opens with a broadside against the now thoroughly conventionalized attack on the consumer culture. Essays follow on homes, cars, people, and social mobility; celebrities, consumerism, and self-invention; museums and the power of objects; the anthropology of advertising; and marketing, meaning management, and value. Like McCracken's previous volume, this new book is an engaging, informative, and eye-opening foray into modern consumer culture.
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