Book Description
A lively insider's guide to starting a successful small business selling items old and new on eBay, written with personal anecdotes, well–kept secrets, and insider tips by Adam Ginsberg, eBay's most successful private salesperson.
This is the insider's guide to making money on eBay. Adam Ginsberg is the most successful seller on eBay, moving around a million dollars' worth of merchandise every month. Not only will he impart his personal secrets on how to sell on eBay –learned through years of experience – and his tips on expanding your small business using eBay as a global market, but he'll also give fun side–notes and anecdotes, keeping the book lively and making it a fun and interesting read.
This book will be a must–have for all current and aspiring eBay sellers, all small–business owners, and anyone who wants to learn how to start a million–dollar company.
Customer Reviews:
Only for the newbie.......2007-10-22
Just finished the book last night hoping to find ideas that I could implement in my eBay sales. No real new info here. More geared for the eBay novice. If you have any experience buying or selling on eBay you already know 99% of the info provided in this book.
I found it odd that the author claims to have sold a 4 year old pair of very worn sneakers on eBay for $21 in the beginning of the book and then talks about it again later in the book but the sale price was $26.
Also, the author refers you to links to third party paid services which he owns.
Read this book is one sitting..........2007-10-09
What really stood out for me was the writing style of the book. It was conversational with great stories that were fun and interesting.
Along with great tips, this book is not written in the typical "textbook" format. I read the entire book in less than a day and would definitely encourage anyone to read it!
Simply a GREAT Book!.......2007-10-09
Not only was this book easy to read - the content helped me go from a new eBay seller to an advanced one. I went from 19 feedback to 175 feedback in 60 days using the techniques I learned.
I'd highly encourage anyone interested in learning more about eBay to read this book!
Great eBay book.......2007-06-14
a Gotta Have book if you are planning on starting an eBay business in your home in 30 days. Great reference for the experienced eBayer.
Garbage.......2007-06-08
This book is one big fat advertisement for Ebay and for Adam Ginsberg's other ventures. It had very little useful information, and NO information that cannot be found easily on-line or on Ebay itself. It was a waste of my time reading it. It was utterly repetitive and took forever to actually get to any sort of information or advice. There is hardly enough information in this book to fill a 10 page pamphlet...let alone a 300 page book!!! I'm just happy I got it from the library and didn't end up wasting my money as well as my time.
I wish there was actually a book out there to help people who are not complete ebay beginners. The biggest ebay woe is finding sources for products, and there is little help in this book....OH, unless you want to go to the website Adam plugs and buy more stuff from him. SURE, then he'll help you out. HA, RIGHT!
Book Description
You don't need an office. Start-up costs are low. And you don't need any costly special equipment. All you need is this book and a desire to succeed.
Customer Reviews:
Good but outdated.......2007-09-12
I enjoyed this book and its simplicity, however, found it was a little out of date.
Good Product.......2007-05-12
Very informative. It was a quick read, and gave lots of ideas for places to go for more information. Some of the links listed in the book are out of date, but considering how fast information changes on the web, I'm not surprised. A much better value than many of the other consultant books out there, and an excellent starting point for anyone considering this field.
OK for a how to book.......2007-03-09
OK for a how to book. It does not give real world experience.
Real in depth...........2007-02-07
The book goes in great detail of every aspect( financial work,alliances with certain business, all the little odds and ends for your business ) of starting the business, really really informative if you are serious of starting your shop or service.
Superior Content in this Book. A 5 Star Winner!.......2006-11-05
This book was exceptional and full of practical and useful knowledge. I obtained my wedding consultant certificate and found this book invaluable and packed with information on how to realistically start my future business. The principles were well thought out and an excellent resource. Five stars. Buy it! Elaine Bales Anchorage, Alaska
Book Description
Bootstrap serves as a useful reference for the prospective or newly established entrepreneur and offers valuable lessons for anyone interested in building a self-funded company, regardless of industry. Ken Hess lets the reader step into the shoes of the entrepreneur, and benefit from first hand experiences on what worked well and what failed. Written in narrative form, the book takes the reader through the evolution of a company, from one employee to one hundred, and highlights the fundamental business philosophies that enabled this entrepreneur to achieve success. The book covers topics applicable to any company, such as: how to hire the right employees, developing a functional organizational structure, creating a vision that translates into actionable objectives for every employee, managing the product portfolio, and understanding your customers needs and market trends to stay one step ahead of the competition.
Customer Reviews:
Great inspirational story for anyone thinking of starting a company.......2007-09-07
The 10 year story of starting a company scratch with no outside money, and taking it to US$17/million annual revenue and 80 employees over the span of 10 years.
Lots of great advice for any owner-CEO, especially in the high-tech software field.
A page turner for anyone thinking of starting a high-tech software company (me), or working on high-tech marketing or product development.
Lessons from real life........2007-06-10
A story that talks as much about the satisfactions, disappointments, and inter-personality issues (both people-wise and corporate-wise) involved in starting a business as it does about strategy, finance, product development, and marketing. I found it very enjoyable to read and essentially filled cover to cover with insights and lessons learned. I would highly recommended it. Read other books to learn the details of running a business; Read this one to expose yourself to one man's hard-earned wisdom.
Bootstrap, by Kenneth Hess.......2007-02-26
This is a thoroughly insightful chronology of the author's journey from employee to technology start-up entrepreneur, and back around again (though substantially wealthier). Business tactics, mistakes, family life, and attendant emotions are the main topics.
I'd like to operate my own business someday and I've dog-eared numerous pages of this book to refer back to for insights like:
"A product's sales volume is like a rolling snowball. As the snowball tumbles along, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. In a similar fashion, having a higher sales volume at one retailer makes it all that much easier to obtain distribution at yet another retailer, further increasing sales. Higher volumes also make it more cost-effective to do sales promotions, which in turn increase sales. A collection of [mediocre] products would not have this snowball effect, but one single, strong product would."
Interesting but not particularly educational.......2007-02-07
An interesting book that would have been more useful had it delved into some of the 'mistakes' a bit more. Hess makes it all sound so simple, a straight, clear path that was always obvious to him. Any mistakes (like new products started and abandonded) are dealt with in a very cursory way. As the owner of a bootstrap software company I was hoping for more insight and to learn a thing or two. I was entertained (athough slightly irritated by some of it) but would not really recommend it other than as a bit of light reading. I bought this book because of the rave reviews on the Amazon site, but would have to say that overall I was disappointed. All those people who provided 5 star reviews clearly need to get out a bit more and read something of substance for a change!
Bootstrap.......2007-01-22
This book was recommended for me to give to my friend as a gift.
I have not read the book. Sally Bidlack
Book Description
The Exclusive Story behind Intuit's Hard-Won Success
It's a modern-day David and Goliath story for the business world: a company dreamed up at a kitchen table, built on explosive PC growth, and forced to battle a giant in the race to revolutionize an industry. This is the story of Intuit, creator of renowned software products like Quicken, QuickBooks, and TurboTax-the company that beat mighty Microsoft and changed the way 25 million people manage their finances.
Written by Intuit veteran Suzanne Taylor and seasoned business manager Kathy Schroeder-who were granted exclusive interviews with founder Scott Cook and other key figures- Inside Intuit tells this company's original and fascinating tale for the first time. The book vividly recounts each dramatic stage of Intuit's development: from initial conception to "bet the company" investments; from strokes of marketing genius to disastrous product launches; and from battles for survival to successive victories against arch-rival Microsoft-the company no one else could beat.
Evident throughout this account is the power of Intuit's relentless customer focus, which guided the company from tiny start-up to a 6,000-employee, $1.4 billion business. Instructive and inspiring, Inside Intuit chronicles an enduring company's extraordinary success against overwhelming odds.
"This important book doesn't take any shortcuts in analyzing the building blocks of success. Taylor and Schroeder have written a fascinating blow-by-blow account of the thousand and one decisions that have made Intuit what it is. Highly readable, thorough, and extremely well researched Inside Intuit is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand success in Silicon Valley."
-Emanuel Rosen, author, The Anatomy of Buzz
"Inside Intuit is more than the history of a start-up that grew to dominate a major software category. It is a blueprint of success for entrepreneurs and investors who want to build great businesses in difficult environments."
-Roger McNamee, cofounder, Silver Lake Partners and Integral Capital Partners
"Inside Intuit is a very entertaining book. Any entrepreneur at heart will enjoy and learn from the story of how Scott Cook and Tom Proulx faced so much adversity and came back from the brink of disaster to build a very successful, highly admired Silicon Valley company. Readers can learn many lessons from both Intuit's successes and mistakes. In the end, good ideas, hard work, determination, and strong values really do pay off!"
-Dan Rudolph, Senior Associate Dean/Chief Operating Officer, Stanford Graduate School of Business
"I was thrilled to read the inside story of how Intuit was born and raised. I've always admired Intuit's strict attention to customer needs and feedback. Now I have a much better idea of how that culture was created."
-Stewart Alsop, General Partner, New Enterprise Associates
"Inside Intuit offers readers the secrets behind that company's extraordinary success. The authors' insights into how Intuit trounced Microsoft alone are worth the price of the book!"
-Andrea Butter, coauthor, Piloting Palm: The Inside Story of Palm, Handspring and the Birth of the Billion Dollar Handheld Industry
Customer Reviews:
good read.......2007-05-07
This book has a compelling start and middle but tails off towards the end. I will read it again soon though....I liked it.
A nice inside view.......2007-02-12
Being an Intuit supporter for 15 years as well as an alpha tester of Quickbooks for windows I admit with no hesitation I am biased when it comes to Intuit related things. This book exceeded my already high expectations as a great inside view of the start, sputtering and surge of Intuit. The Microsoft connections were very interesting to read as well. Being a business owner it showed how culture dedicated to providing excellence to the customer can pay off as well even though it looks like it might cost alot to perform. It was an easy read and I strongly recommend it....
Not Quite the Whole Story.......2005-05-31
The book is written by insiders. They make the new CEO out to be quite a hero. Better ask some Intuit customers about that.
Great Case History of a Continuing Business Model Innovator!.......2004-05-02
How many companies have survived direct battles with Microsoft? Not very many. How many lived to win over direct battles with Microsoft? Even fewer. Intuit is in that elite company. That experience alone would make the book worth considering.
The authors have done an outstanding job of building on that potentially fascinating subject matter by successfully capturing the key elements of how Intuit has continued to succeed as a business model innovator through four CEOs. I was especially pleased to see that the book captures the values that led to this innovation, the organizational and process methods used to stimulate and pursue the innovation, and the motivations of the key innovators.
In addition, the book moves down into the organization to capture the thoughts and emotions of many of the Intuit employees as it moved from its P&G style focus on customer needs to a broad-based expansion through acquisitions to a GE-style disciplined approach to achieve performance in key areas.
In fact, this book was so fine that I had to ask myself what was missing before I could spot any flaws. The only area where the book is a little light is in describing the details of how Intuit's software development changed over time, and what the lessons were. Now, don't mistake my point. There's plenty on that subject (especially when Intuit was a start-up), but there could have been more . . . if this book were to become a case history source on software engineering.
But no book can be everything to everyone, and currently there are few books that explain continuing business model innovation through generations of senior management. So Inside Intuit becomes a must read for those who want to master this critical leadership and management task.
By the way, Inside Intuit is a very apt title. The authors seem to have had unrestrained access to company insiders. The book comes away much richer as a result than any other Silicon Valley saga that I can remember reading. Most of those books focus on one to three people in the company, and leave it at that.
As I finished the book, I wondered what improvements in its continuing business model innovation Intuit will make next. I can hardly wait to find out!
Wonderful!.......2004-04-04
When Inside Intuit arrived in the mail, along with four other books I'd ordered, it was the first one I picked up to browse. Seven hours later, I finished the book! Reliving the experiences, placing myself in the events (I worked for Intuit for over fourteen years - by way of ChipSoft), was an overwhelming experience for me.
I remember the first time I met Scott Cook. Leo Redmond, at the time managing the Intuit Supplies Group, and I had just finished lunch in Palo Alto. As we drove back to his office, we talked about Quicken and how it was the second product I bought for my first computer in early 1989 (the first was Sim City). Leo said that he'd like me to tell Scott about it. Scott was excited - "You have five years of Quicken data?" He told me to install the latest Quicken beta as soon as I got home - he wanted to know how it handled large data files (mine was over two megabytes at the time). That was nearly ten years ago.
What an experience! Having been hired by Evy Chipman in late 1988 and working closely with every top-echelon executive on the ChipSoft side (Gaylord, Harris, Gleicher, Lane), I never thought I'd be so intimidated - stammering - as I chatted briefly with Scott in his office.
Reading Inside Intuit brings you into Scott's (and many others) office - you are in the presence of greatness when you read this book.
Book Description
An award-winning journalist breaks through the wall of secrecy to reveal the many astonishing ways Wal-Mart's power affects our lives and reaches all around the world.
The Wal-Mart Effect: The overwhelming impact of the world's largest company--due to its relentless pursuit of low prices--on retailers and manufacturers, wages and jobs, the culture of shopping, the shape of our communities, and the environment; a global force of unprecedented nature. Wal-Mart is not only the world's largest company; it is also the largest company in the history of the world. Americans spend $26 million every hour at Wal-Mart, twenty-four hours of every day, every day of the year. Is the company a good thing or a bad thing? On the one hand, market guru Warren Buffett estimates that the company's low prices save American consumers $10 billion a year. On the other, the behemoth is the #1 employer in thirty-seven of the fifty states yet has never let a union in the door.
Though 70 percent of Americans now live within a fifteen-minute drive of a Wal-Mart store, we have not even begun to understand the true power of the company and the many ways it is shaping American life. We know about the lawsuits and the labor protests, but what we don't know is how profoundly the "Wal-Mart effect" is shaping our lives.
Fast Company senior editor Fishman, whose revelatory cover story on Wal-Mart generated the strongest reader response in the history of the magazine, takes us on an unprecedented behind-the-scenes investigative expedition deep inside the many worlds of Wal-Mart. He reveals the radical ways in which the company is transforming America's economy, our workforce, our communities, and our environment. Fishman penetrated the secrecy of Wal-Mart headquarters, interviewing twenty-five high-level ex-executives; he journeyed into the world of a host of Wal-Mart's suppliers to uncover how the company strong-arms even the most established brands; and journeyed to the ports and factories, the fields and forests where Wal-Mart's power is warping the very structure of the world's market for goods. Wal-Mart is not just a retailer anymore, Fishman argues. It has become a kind of economic ecosystem, and anyone who wants to understand the forces shaping our world today must understand the company's hidden reach.
Customer Reviews:
Good read about off shoring and big business.......2007-10-22
This is a great book about how Walmart works with some good examples of the good and the bad. The stories about certain companies and products that walmart deals with gives a good example of some of the effects of off shoring on quality and our own health. Good look at the effects of our drive for bargains and the true cost.
Walmart at it's best and worse!!.......2007-10-11
Amazing writting! Very informative as well as entertaining!
The author covers all the ends. I recommend this book 100%.
You won't see this book selling in Wal-mart any time soon!
Good cover of the topic.......2007-10-06
Provides a good coverage of a subject which is not obvious to the naked eye. May attenuate your shopping habits and the way you define a good deal. A must read for americans
Impact beyond price.......2007-09-24
Having spent the past 18 months researching and writing on the negative impact on the economy of poor customer service, go to ACSI research at University of Michigan School of Business, I have found that Wal-Mart's fanitical focus on price, and consumers that focus only on price are having a very negative impact on our country and society. Of all of the books I have read on Wal-Mart, Fishman presents the most detailed factual and insightful information on which to base an opinion on the impact Wal-Mart has made on our communities.
Balanced & Comprehenisve .......2007-09-17
Like many, I begrudgingly shop at Wal-Mart familiar with the arguments of it's negative impact on locally owned business's, and it's poor wages and benefits--------trying in vain to strike a balance between social responsibility and self-interest. It's always struck me as large version of the beloved "five and dime" where I bought my baseball cards growing up. I marvel at the low prices, and the sheer variety of merchandise. Fishman has permanently purged me of the that nostalgia. His backstory on Wal-Mart is utterly convincing in it's pernicious effect on our economy. He ably tells the story of Wal-Mart's rise with it's hyperfocus on pricing. But he's after something bigger here, and that's corporate secrecy. Like many large corporations, Wal-Mart is a closed and secret society. Consumers are robbed of the information that would assist them in identifying the true cost of consumption. Fishman is saying that the rise of the mega-corporation, with their ability to dominate a whole sector of the economy, is both anti-free market and anti-consumer. Though vague, he argues that we must consider stronger governance and regulation. This is where his book left me wanting. I wanted to know what exactly that would look like. That said, this is a well-researched, balanced and important book for our times.
Customer Reviews:
IF YOU ARE SELF-EMPLOYED, THIS BOOK IS A GREAT MOTIVATOR!!!.......2002-07-17
I've had this book for 15 years and think of it often, EVEN THOUGH I'M NOT IN THE PIZZA BUSINESS!! For some reason, I can really identify with Tom Monaghan.
It is a bit biographical, but that isn't a negative. When I want to know about successful people, I like to know all about them. It isn't just their business savvy that got them where they are, it is a combination of many other personal traits that help add up to business success.
One trait that really stuck with me is to interview many people about your product--including people who HATE IT. You can learn a lot about why some people avoid you and your product. Just this one tidbit of advice had helped me to make thousands of exta dollars over the past 15 years.
Pizza Tiger.......2002-04-24
If you are in the pizza business or if you are thinking about getting into the pizza business - you must read this book.
Easy to read - but a bit slow in parts - the nature of biography in my opinion .. so overall subject matter for me was excellent and I am in the pizza business.
On a literary scale the book was only a 2 star - but 5 star for me as I used some of the ideas and confirmed some concepts.
Daddio
Great Inspiration.......2002-01-08
I checked this book out of the public library at a time when my business was near failure. It gave me the spirit to keep on and have a sucessful turnaround. Monahan is a hell of a great story and it comes from the heart. An orphan, high school dropout who overcomes everything and becomes a billionaire. Only in America.
Not great literature and hard to find but well worth having. Now that I own my own copy, I will never give it up.
Pizza Tiger is a great motivating tool for anyone wanting to run their own business.
Don McNay...
Average customer rating:
- Good information, but they're not story-tellers
- Excellent
|
The Bre-X Fraud
Douglas Goold , and
Andrew Willis
Manufacturer: McClelland & Stewart
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Economics
| Business & Investing
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ASIN: 0771033346
Release Date: 1997-08-29 |
Book Description
The history books will add the Bre-X saga to other legendary frauds like the South Sea Bubble. When the Bre-X bubble burst, the stock that had soared from fifty cents in 1994 to the equivalent of $286 in 1996 was worth nine cents in May 1997, before trading halted forever. And the Busang deposit, supposedly as much as 200 million ounces of gold, worth about $70 billion U.S. – the biggest gold find in history – was actually the century’s biggest fraud.
How did this happen, right under the noses of the financial world?
In this book the experienced investigative team from The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business that broke the story of Bre-X’s troubles has combined forces to answer that question. With literally hundreds of Bre-X interviews behind them, and drawing on resources from several continents, they have been able to explain the twists and turns of this complex tale. The result is a fascinating true story that reads like the wildest fiction.
Customer Reviews:
Good information, but they're not story-tellers.......2005-06-19
This was a very interesting book about sleeze, corruption, culture clash, and outright fraud. From an informational point of view, it was excellent. If you are doing research on Bre-X and want facts, this is your book.
However, this book was not written by story-tellers. There were two co-authors, and I don't think they read each other's material carefully, because there was a lot of unnecessary repitition. Also, the story read like a series of newspaper articles. (The authors are newspaper reporters.) There was no sense of the "big-picture" story until the very last chapter.
So I recommend this book to someone who wants to learn about Bre-X. If you're just looking for an entertaining fraud story, I'm not sure this is the best choice.
Excellent.......1999-12-01
An excellent cautionary tale about sleaze, error, and blind faith. The Bre-X fiasco was perpetrated on people who should have known better, but it also hurt a lot of ordinary Joes. Ironically, Calgary, Toronto and on Wall St are the real villans here, not Indonesia. Even the Suharto family, famed for its corruption, can't keep up with the greed of Western mining promoters, elite underwriters, and savvy investors.
Many people were ruined when Bre-X shot up 10,000 percent, and then tanked in a couple of hours. No one ever seems to learn, not after Keating, BCCI, Drexel Burnham, and Maxwell. Only those of us too poor to be in the stock market ever seem to see this coming. We can only ask ourselves "who's next?" in macabre anticipation.
Amazon.com
In the short but wild history of the Internet, few companies have developed such an ideal approach to utilizing the uniqueness of the medium for business as eBay--hence the title of Adam Cohen's colorful and insightful corporate biography The Perfect Store. Cohen, chief technology writer for Time magazine before joining The New York Times' editorial board, is the only journalist to receive complete cooperation from the company for such a project, and the combination of access and experience leads to a well-researched and well-written tale capturing the essence of this online auction-house phenomenon. In the process, Cohen reveals how the pioneering site first developed into a vibrant virtual community, then a cultural icon and a model for Web-based commerce that reported revenue of $749 million in 2001.
From its beginnings as a hobby site on a Silicon Valley PC, to its maturation as a real company under the burgeoning fiscal pressures of cyberspace, to its present status as one of the few original e-business practitioners to survive the dot.com implosion, eBay has always been part of the crowd while managing to stand out from it. Cohen helps us understand why by taking us inside the heads of major players like Pierre Omidyar, the cofounder who imbued his site with a Libertarian philosophy responsible for its heart and soul, and Meg Whitman, the seasoned manager who brought business savvy and a Harvard MBA to its roller-coaster world. What helps make the book so readable and informative, though, are Cohen's accompanying observations of the many other people and events that also helped eBay develop its trademark direction and characteristic personality: the company that formulated its distinctive logo, the Kansas City clothing-iron collectors whose pastime was transformed by the upstart Web site, the quirky listings that generated controversy (and publicity) like the one in 1999 for a "fully functional kidney," even detractors who decry its big-business underpinnings. Fans of the site, along with students of the online world in general, will find Cohen's account both instructive and enjoyable. --Howard Rothman
Book Description
In the short but wild history of the Internet, few companies have developed such an ideal approach to utilizing the uniqueness of the medium for business as eBay--hence the title of Adam Cohen's colorful and insightful corporate biography The Perfect Store. Cohen, chief technology writer for Time magazine before joining The New York Times' editorial board, is the only journalist to receive complete cooperation from the company for such a project, and the combination of access and experience leads to a well-researched and well-written tale capturing the essence of this online auction-house phenomenon. In the process, Cohen reveals how the pioneering site first developed into a vibrant virtual community, then a cultural icon and a model for Web-based commerce that reported revenue of $749 million in 2001. From its beginnings as a hobby site on a Silicon Valley PC, to its maturation as a real company under the burgeoning fiscal pressures of cyberspace, to its present status as one of the few original e-business practitioners to survive the dot.com implosion, eBay has always been part of the crowd while managing to stand out from it. Cohen helps us understand why by taking us inside the heads of major players like Pierre Omidyar, the cofounder who imbued his site with a Libertarian philosophy responsible for its heart and soul, and Meg Whitman, the seasoned manager who brought business savvy and a Harvard MBA to its roller-coaster world. What helps make the book so readable and informative, though, are Cohen's accompanying observations of the many other people and events that also helped eBay develop its trademark direction and characteristic personality: the company that formulated its distinctive logo, the Kansas City clothing-iron collectors whose pastime was transformed by the upstart Web site, the quirky listings that generated controversy (and publicity) like the one in 1999 for a "fully functional kidney," even detractors who decry its big-business underpinnings. Fans of the site, along with students of the online world in general, will find Cohen's account both instructive and enjoyable. --Howard Rothman
Customer Reviews:
If Only..........2007-04-12
As someone who has sold on ebay for a long time, I was excited to read this book. It was a fascinating read, but what made me sad was that ebay has changed so much... for the worse. If only the vision of Pierre was still easily attainable.
"toes the company's line" and is very out of date.......2007-01-14
Unfortunately, just like most books of its kind (histories of specific firms written with full cooperation from the firm involved), "The Perfect Store" is way too obsequious to eBay's official "party line", and doesn't engage in real, hard-hitting, investigative journalism. Moreover, the book is severely out of date -- it tells you nothing about the last several years of eBay, and in a sector that changes as fast as internet commerce, this is a serious problem. The book is well-written and competently organized, but that doesn't make up for the substantial problems with the quality and timeliness of its conents.
The best business book out there!!!.......2006-12-21
This is one of the most fascinating business books I have read. It covers the idea of EBay as a perfect market which economically is an interesting idea. The book goes through the history and business growth and has excellent analysis. Overall it is just fascinating to see how this company grew up and delivered profit quarter after quarter. I really wish there would be an update as it is a little dated. Highly recommend as the number one business book.
Funny and Interesting.......2006-12-02
The author give a strong detail on how the giant auction site become a household name to anyone. the thing i like with the book is how the founder really dedicated their site to community.they don't call their client as costumer but a community that belong to family, I like that.
the book is interesting and a lot of times humorous,you will never get bored reading it. In example, the investor who walk in their office one day in their early stage thinking what ebay look like and found out it was on a rented office, no receptionist was on hand to greet them and there was absolutely no chance anyone was going to offer him a cup of coffee
Nat
Wonderful story, well written.......2006-05-02
Author Adam Cohen presents the story of eBay in a clear, flowing style, depicting the growth from a modest beginning to the giant the company has become. What I enjoyed the most, unexpectedly, were the many stories of businesses that spawned from eBay, such as the gal who generated a business selling packaging materials to eBay sellers. Without fail, these spawned business germinated, not from a grandiose scheme with a formal business plan, but rather from the seed of a slightly creative idea, which, once put into practice, gained momentum. Perhaps a valuable paradigm can be found here for the self-help crowd, most of whom maintain that success must start with a grand, large-scale idea.
Book Description
In today’s volatile marketplace, it’s rare for firms to last—much less consistently increase earnings—for more than four decades. That’s what makes the story of 115-year-old global manufacturing and technology leader Emerson so remarkable, and so valuable, for today’s managers. How does Emerson do it? And what can other companies learn from its success?
Celebrated business leader Charles F. Knight—who was CEO of Emerson for 27 of its 43 consecutive years of increased profits—says the secret behind Emerson’s long-term competitiveness is a dynamic management process carried out with unrelenting discipline. In Performance Without Compromise, Knight breaks down the key components of the Emerson management process in detail for the first time, and shows how this core process enables Emerson to address and overcome major challenges ranging from technological discontinuities to intense global competition.
A remarkable success story, Performance Without Compromise is filled with insightful lessons about leadership, management, and competitiveness that can be applied in any company or industry.
Customer Reviews:
Good overview of the Emerson business planning systems, but could have included some more interesting stories!.......2006-08-11
This book clearly lays out the Emerson business planning model, which is the process used to run the business. I work at Emerson, so i aready know a lot about this planning cycle. I think the average reader will not find this book that interesting, but it will useful to know the great information inside it. I wish that Mr. Knight would have shared some more stories about inside the board room and some of the more exciting history of his career. It would also have been interesting to get more about what he personally went through at Emerson and before. Finally, he should have included more about management and the HR side of developing the people.
Great inspiration for managers.......2006-03-22
This book is a clear exposition of why Charles Knight is one of the great CEO's of the last fifty years. Emerson is a focussed, consistently profitable company. Any manager, or person who wants to be a manager, deserves to read this book and learn how it's done.
must read.......2006-03-18
excellent book to be as a motivation tool to get creative juices flowing. don't necessarily agree with the all of the principals but the book is a quick read and has lot's of excellent ideas that can be massaged for your own uses as needed.
a good read presenting insightful business operations and management.......2006-03-09
Provides insight into the mindset and energy (no pun intended) into the Emerson organization. Anybody engaged in business decisions and management would benefit from the thought process presented in the book.
A culture of planning, accountability and trust.......2006-02-21
Performance without Compromise gets right down to business and exposes the cultural underpinnings and successful management process that has made Emerson an unparalleled success story of American and now global business. This is not a how-to book; there are plenty of those. When you look beyond the mechanics of the process, the levels of planning meetings and relentless follow-up, you will see how they foster a business climate of trust, accountability and effective communication at every level of the organization. If you don't see Management as a PROCESS for today's fast-paced, globalized world of business, you will, and within the first few chapters.
Book Description
eBay Trading Assistants are experienced eBay sellers who indicate their willingness to sell your items for you, for a fee. It’s a great service for people who want to sell items on eBay, but lack the time or know-how to do it themselves. eBay Entrepeneur will guide would-be eBay Trading Assistants in setting up successful eBay Trading Assistant businesses.
Topics include:
-Planning, starting & executing a profitable Trading Assistant business
-Finding the best clients
-Low-cost marketing programs
-Unlocking unlimited free publicity
-Avoiding technology pitfalls
-Streamlining day-to-day operations
-Profiles and case studies of the most profitable home-based success stories
Customer Reviews:
Full of Fluff! Highly Over Rated........2007-06-11
Mr. Spencer has apparently done well running his company. His book, however, it mostly the tired old stuff like: How to lease commercial space, How to buy real estate, how to buy a computer, what kind, how many megs memory, how to get connected, and on and on about stuff most everybody already knows, or can easily find out. (online, and updated info at that). Sure, there are some nuggets. About 3 type-written pages worth. It's a real chore to buy the book and spend all your time sifting through the rubble. He also warns you about wasting "your" time, and he should take his own advice.
He's proably a great guy, but certainly not a concise author. I'd pass....
What a wonderful starter guide for ANY entrepreneur that wants to start a service business!.......2007-04-15
This is a really good book for someone who is interested in starting a service business. I can't praise it enough in the few paragraphs I'm writing in this review. Regardless of whether or not you want to start an eBay Trading Assistant business, but you KNOW you want to start SOME small business selling your services, then I highly recommend you get a copy of this book and read it and study it. Much of what is covered between its covers applies equally to just about any start-up. And the author does a wonderful job spoon-feeding us the material.
My background is NOT in retailing. And eBay is one big online retail store. So I'm not going to say how good or bad it is to get involved with retailing. And if you become a Trading Assistant, then you are getting involved in retailing even though the main thrust of your small business will be simply providing a service.
I will say that I haven't been convinced that becoming an eBay Trading Assistant is something I would want to become or that I would recommend to my SCORE clients to consider becoming one. What I do recommend is that any owner of a retail store should consider having someone on the payroll who can do what an eBay trading assistant does. And by reading this book you will get a pretty good understanding of what a trading assistant does.
Although I liked ALL 23 chapters, my favorite chapters were 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 14-17, 22, and 23. These I consider to be the universal topics regarding how to start a service business.
Last Fall I had to help put on a SCORE seminar about selling on eBay. I read a few books on the subject (including this one), got a couple of magazines on the subject, and scoured the Net for articles on eBay. I also signed up to use eBay and studied the eBay site. What I learned in preparing for the seminar was that eBay is always changing. I doubt the instant book is still up-to-date since it was written a couple of years ago. But the basics covered in this book are definitely current and well worth your time to read if you are thinking about becoming a trading assistant. 5 stars!
One word, "Awesome!".......2007-03-19
Very informative, most of the information is right on target. An easy book to read. Straight to the point. Some of the information is slightly dated, but everything about the internet especially eBay changes so fast. Highly recommended reading for anyone who wants to take eBay to the next level.
A Must Have!.......2006-12-08
It is a must have for anyone who is contemplating an Ebay business. Also, a great read for the experienced Ebay Seller. This book is well written. I would highly recommend.
Great book for helping you get started on eBay.......2006-12-05
This book is great for anyone wanted to start or truly creating a business on eBay. He provides a lot of information which most people would not know about, unless they have started their own business before.
If you want to start an eBay business this book is a must have!!!!!
Books:
- In Defense of Advertising: Arguments from Reason, Ethical Egoism, and Laissez-Faire Capitalism
- Information Technology for Management: Transforming Organizations in the Digital Economy
- International Management: Managing Across Borders and Cultures (5th Edition)
- Killing Floor
- Leading Change
- Machers and Rockers: Chess Records and the Business of Rock & Roll (Enterprise)
- Mastering Elliot Wave: Presenting the Neely Method: The First Scientific, Objective Approach to Market Forecasting with the Elliott Wave Theory (version 2)
- Mastering Elliot Wave: Presenting the Neely Method: The First Scientific, Objective Approach to Market Forecasting with the Elliott Wave Theory (version 2)
- Micromotives and Macrobehavior (Fels Lectures on Public Policy Analysis)
- Monetary Theory and Policy, 2nd Edition
Books Index
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