Review of The Attention Economy : Understanding the New Currency of Business (Hardcover)

The war for eyeballs and attention can only grow fiercer over the next few years. In the Information Economy we all suffer from overload and the need to multitask through the day. Tom Davenport and John Beck makes the case that in the future we will need to `attention manage' as a metric. They ask whether `we are the first society with ADD' (attention deficit disorder), and they list symptoms of organizational ADD.

As mentioned in the editorial review the Attention Economy is littered with anecdotal pull-outs and "overheard" comments; as well as random factoids such as that the Sunday edition of the New York Times contains more written factual information than was available to reader in the 15th century. Though these factoids are intriguing they can be distracting as they are not always connected to the main body of material. But in some ways they exemplify the attention problem as you are often drawn to reading them.

The main body of the book is devoted to looking at tactics for companies to achieve and manage attention both on an internal basis and with their customers and partners. Softer issues such as personal time management are looked at in the context of the wider picture and have implications for both people and organizations. I found the book however to be missing a `model' or framework that companies could really use. Aside from having an in-depth awareness of the issue, I am unsure what I would do/have done differently after reading it.

The book is well written and engaging, and the authors present an excellent perspective on this most-precious resource.



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Review of Wharton on Dynamic Competitive Strategy (Hardcover)

Both editors are marketing professors at The Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania), which is the world's leading business school (BusinessWeek and Financial Times). George Day is well-known for his market-driven strategy, while David Reibstein is one of the leading scholars in the field of competitive marketing strategy. The book is split in 4 parts, each consisting of 3-to-5 stand-alone chapters.

Part I - Understanding Advantages in a Changing Competitive Environment - discusses competitive arenas, competitor analysis, and competitive advantage. The first two chapters expand largely on Michael Porter's (Harvard Business School) frameworks, whereby the other two chapters introduce approaches to include policy and technology trends into the strategic planning process.

The aim of Part II - Anticipating Competitors' Actions - is to get inside the heads of competitors. Chapters 5 and 6 explain the possible use of the game theory within competitive strate!gy and strategic decision making. Chapter 7 builds on these chapters to integrate the economic frame (chapter 5), the behavioral frame (chapter 6), with an coevolution frame. The final chapters of this part introduce frameworks and approaches to understanding competitor response and competitive relationships.

Part III - Formulating Dynamic Competitive Strategies - builds on the first two parts and introduces approaches to designing strategies. It introduces reactive strategies, preemptive strategies, signaling opportunities and uses, competitive positioning, and antitrust constraints (which is increasingly important to companies).

In Part IV - Choosing Among Alternative Competitive Strategies - the three chapters introduce methods and frameworks for choosing the right strategy. Chapter 15, in which conjoint analysis is combined with scenario analysis, is perhaps the most complicated chapter of the book. Part IV also introduces the possibilities to use simulation !tests for analyzing and testing strategies.

Although this book is named "Wharton on Dynamic Competitive Strategy", there are various chapters from other academic institutions. Each chapter is an excellent piece of work and can be read on a stand-alone basis. For beginners in the strategic field I recommend chapters 1 and 2 highly. The book is written in business US-English.



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Review of Pushing the Digital Frontier: Insights into the Changing Landscape of E-Business (Hardcover)

The Wild West days of the dot-com craze are behind us, but e-business strategy remains a largely uncharted frontier. In fact, e-commerce seems more bewildering than ever, now that many of the strategic maxims that the Internet bubble was built on have been proved false. To help you get a handle on the revolutionary technology that has survived the collapse, Nirmal Pal and Judith M. Ray have collected articles by researchers and executives, including many from their home base, the e-Business Research Center at Pennsylvania State University. This anthology constitutes a solid and well-researched book, which has sufficient gravitas (and jargon) for an academic and enough practical information for an entrepreneur. The multiple authors sometimes overlap as they dissect various e-business approaches, but all offer worthwhile ideas. We [...] recommend this book to executives at any company, since Internet technology is now ubiquitous, and distinctions between old economy and New Economy are fast falling by the wayside.




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Review of The CATERPILLAR DOESNT KNOW: HOW PERSONAL CHANGE IS CREATING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE (Hardcover)

Though the book is based on the American experience, managing change is an international phenomena.The book is therefore useful especially if you are change leader. In fact, the "critical insights" at the end of each chapter can be thought provoking and stimulate discussion in successfully managing transitions. A must read in any change management programme - personal or organisational.



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Review of MarketBusters: 40 Strategic Moves That Drive Exceptional Business Growth (Hardcover)

Ignore the glitzy title and concentrate on the solid material which is provided. As the subtitle of this volume correctly indicates, McGrath and MacMillan identify and then explain "40 strategic moves that drive exceptional business growth." Decision-makers in many organizations still do not understand that strategies resemble hammers in that they "drive" tactics which are comparable with nails. Of course, both strategies and tactics must be selected with meticulous care, then implemented effectively. The core of this book involves five strategies to create "marketbusters": Transform the customers' experience, transform your offerings, redefine profit drivers, exploit industry shifts, and consider entering (for you) new markets. No news there. The value of this book is derived from McGrath and MacMillan's explanations of (a) HOW to select the strategies which are most appropriate to your organization's current and imminent needs and (b) WHAT to do when coordinating those strategies with tactics (or "moves") during the implementation process.

To assist that process, they provide "Preparing Yourself: Audit Your Strategy and Clarify Your Process," a self-dianostic which poses most (if not all) of the key questions to be answered and most (if not all) of the key issues to be addressed. Of special interest to me is the provision, also, of a set of "Action Steps" at the conclusion of each chapter. With regard to the "40 Moves," they are organized as follows, accompanied by specific examples: Numbers 1-5 which involve changing the consumption chain (pages 25-39), Numbers 6-12 which various companies have used to shift the attribute maps for their offerings and create marketbusters (pages 54-76, Numbers 13-20 which suggest potential alternatives to a current unit of business (pages 92-113), Numbers 21-32 which can help to structure (or restructure) consideration of possible industrywide shifts (pages 119-148), and Numbers 33-40 which can assist the formulation of a typology of potential opportunity types and an understanding of what achieving success with each may require (pages 156-179).

McGrath and MacMillan then provide a "MarketBuster Case Study" of Royal Insurance Italy in which they demonstrate at least some of the potentialities of the cohesive and comprehensive process previously discussed, followed by an Appendix in which all 40 "Moves" are briefly but thoughtfully reiterated. I strongly recommend to those who read this book that they re-read the Appendix at least monthly so as to be prepared to recognize whichever new growth options and opportunities may emerge since first reading this book.

When concluding this brief commentary, I presume to offer a few caveats. First, beware of what Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton characterize as "The Knowing-Doing Gap" in the book which bears that title. More often than not, decision-makers fail to convert knowledge into action to achieve the desired results. In this context, I am reminded of Coach Darrell Royal's assertion that "potential" means "you ain't done it yet." Also, expect to encounter substantial resistance to change initiatives. For example, what Jim O'Toole characterizes in his book, Leading Change, as"the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." Moreover, once you have selected the most appropriate strategies, you must obtain buy-in and then maintain a steadfast commitment to them but be prepared to change tactics. Hence the importance of having an early-warning system as you rigorously measure organizational and individual performance. Finally,have a contingency plan in place so that you can respond immediately and effectively whenever new or revised tactics are required.



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Review of Strategic Six Sigma: Best Practices from the Executive Suite (Hardcover)

Thanks to endorsements from managerial heavyweights like Jack Welch, most people in business are by now familiar with Six Sigma as a process for measuring and reducing product defects. In Strategic Six Sigma, however, Dick Smith, Jerry Blakeslee and Richard Koonce demonstrate that the Six Sigma methodology can and should be applied to the highest levels of strategic planning. Simply put, the authors illustrate how the rigors of Six Sigma can improve your performance in terms of overall strategy, growth and customer satisfaction in the same way that it streamlines operations on a production floor. We...strongly recommend this book to business leaders, executives and managers, all of whom will benefit from its hands-on advice for integrating the tenets of Six Sigma into corporate strategy.



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Review of The Upside of Turbulence: Seizing Opportunity in an Uncertain World (Hardcover)

How well we deal with changes in our business environment is the most important issue that companies face. The Upside of Turbulence is a very riveting book that captures the many times that innovation and agility have to carry a company through some of the hardest issues that a company can face. I could not put this book down; it was that interesting and that good. While companies struggle to compete, and people struggle to compete for jobs, sometimes it is the inexplicable moments where even though the idea is unpopular that carries the company through rough times.

There are sections of the book I do not agree with, but most of the book has enough examples to show why things worked when they worked. Companies are struggling now to work out how to manage in what promises to be a very long recovery, the Upside of Turbulence demonstrates how this is the one golden opportunity for companies that understand how to take advantage of downturns and changes in business environments to not only survive but take advantage of the moment. That is what makes this a very good book to read, we all know when things are going badly, but often we do not know how to take advantage of things going badly. The Upside of Turbulence shows how others have done this, and some of the ideas can be applied to issues happening today. We live in a boom bust economy, this is one of the few books that goes back far enough to show how to leverage the boom and the bust and turn it towards an advantage for everyone who is running a company.

Rated 5 of 5 stars, because I could not put this book down, ended up reading it all day, much to my chagrin.







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Review of BrandDigital: Simple Ways Top Brands Succeed in the Digital World (Hardcover)

At a time when recession promises another culling of the on-line business world, Brand Digital offers both a survival guide for brands at risk and a consolidation guide for strong brands seeking to exploit weaker competitors.

Grounded in interviews with over 100 industry leaders, this book provides valuable context for the shift we have seen from the internet as a transactional medium to its new role as a relationship medium.In many industries the internet is now the primary medium for interacting with customers.Adamson walks the reader through the many levels of customer relationships the digital world offers for your business and brand.His first piece of advice is the digital equivalent of "Get out of the office and into the field talking to customers" (my phrasing not his). Adamson gives sound practical examples of the many ways managers in various industries are using the internet to engage with and learn from their customers outside of the transaction process.

Adamson then walks the reader through techniques for how to take what they learn on-line from customers and use it to hone product or service strategy, surrounding information services, brand image, and marketing strategies.He explores how to process the stream of customer information and make the trade-offs required for a focused, clear product strategy and brand image.Finally, he gives practical advice on making customer learning and product/brand refinement a continuous, evolving process. Many concrete examples from various industries keep the theorizing limited and the simple, practical ideas front and center.

The only shortcoming is that one would normally expect more visual content (charts, pictures, etc.) in a book about the visually-intensive digital world.But this small shortcoming is outweighed by the exceptional content of this book.

Net/net, an extremely valuable read for those who want to emerge from the recession with deeper relationships and stronger brand images across many more customers.




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Review of Technical Analysis Tools: Creating a Profitable Trading System (Hardcover)

As a thirty year veteran of the futures markets I am often asked by new traders for recommendations of educational resources.I think that Mark Tinghino's new book is a good overview of futures trading, terminology, and methodology.Of particular interest is his focus on market cycle analysis.He also has very good coverage of Candlestick charting and patterns.



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Review of Marketing Corporate Image (Hardcover)

Simplistic, outdated and self-promotional. If you know anything about branding, you'll be bored. If you don't know anything, you still won't after you read Marketing Corporate Image.



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Review of From Global to Metanational: How Companies Win in the Knowledge Economy (Hardcover)

What does a large company need to concentrate on for sustained success in a globalized world? Doz and his colleagues claim that it is to become metanational and to become good at innovating from a platform of bringing together knowledge from many different parts of the world. Metanationals differ from globalized companies in that they recognise that new ideas, products or directions may originate somewhere other than the corporate centre.

The focus of the authors is on innovation and they argue that this requires that the organization becomes good at :
* identifying where good ideas and special competencies are;
* mobilizing the often scattered capabilities and opportunities (they use the term 'becoming a magnet' for such capabilities); and
* optimising the size and configuration of operations for efficiency, flexibility and financial discipline.

This is a book that makes an important point about success in a globalized world, but presents one factor in success as if it was the whole. As with a number of books, I had an uncomfortable feeling that the content of a very good article was expanded into an only moderately good book.

The core message is important and useful. Organizations that operate on a global scale need to move beyond the extension of a unitary culture into new localities and recognise that new knowledge is found in unlikely places. They need to become excellent at recognising that knowledge, becoming an attractor for it, mobilizing it to provide a superior stream of innovations and operationalizing production, distribution and marketing into diverse markets.

The weakness is that the book is written at a fairly high conceptual level - for all the detailed example - that fails to get to grips with how to manage multiple cultures or the detail of innovation, or the issues of governance across countries. It also has surprisingly little on the major changes that are occurring in world consumer markets.

The book also falls into the 'one size fits all' trap. Issues of being effective globally are very different for a consumer fashion business, a high tech product or service industry and a major commodity business, but this is not recognised explicitly in the book.



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Review of Digital Enterprise : How to Reshape Your Business for a Connected World (A Harvard Business Review Book) (Hardcover)

This is a collection about the reshaping of the business enterprise. Whether the underlying driver of change is 'the digital revolution' or whether it is simply the emergence of new perspectives on business is probably not a profitable argument. Certainly some of the best articles in this collection have little to do with the Internet as such and a lot to do with rethinking business models.

Carr's introduction is particularly good - and is the one part of the book that subscribers to HBR will not have had the opportunity to read already.

In Part 3, there is a very engaging article by Ricardo Semler, best known for Maverick! It is essentially a description of how an entire enterprise has set itself up as a powerful forcing bed for developing and supporting every individual and group within the organization to act as entrepreneurs. By extension it is a powerful condemnation of the loss of potential creativity - and profit - in 'conventional' organizations.

Part 1 ends with a truly startling article entitled 'Transforming Life, Transforming Business: The Life-Science Revolution'. It is startling not for what it says, which is that genetic engineering in all its forms offers enormous business potential, but also carries with it great difficulties, both technically and of acceptance. The startling thing is that there is no mention - not even the whisper of a suggestion, either in the article itself or in the appended note by the Editors of Harvard Business Review - that there are ethical issues to consider and resolve. If this article reflects the thinking of those engaged in the genetic engineering industries, it is no wonder that they have a problem!



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Review of Small-Cap Dynamics: Insights, Analysis, and Models (Hardcover)

For the individual investor, I would give this book a single star.I should have seen the warning signs ... "Bloomberg Professional Library" and the author's "views are widely quoted in the financial press." Brokers may find thisvolume useful in providing market timing and trading strategies that their customers are expecting.

The author targets only subjective and qualitative "insights", with very little data and no statistical analysis. If the author's job title of "quantitative strategist" is to be taken seriously, we would expect some supporting evidence (ie returns data) that the strategies produce results. Show us the yachts.

If you are looking for a quantatative discussion of analysis and models, look elsewhere. Insights in this book impress me as purest hand-waving, and the text is loaded with equivocation, suggestion and speculation.



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Review of Intelligent Enterprise: A Knowledge and Service Based Paradigm for Industry (Hardcover)

Quinn's tome intellectually addresses the macro-economic trend of moving manufacturing, especially business-to-business durable goods, to a strategic enterprise model which instead of selling goods, will sell services that imbed the product that they manufacture.The intensity of Quinn's work is formidable! It has the same "feel" of a Peter Drucker work. ...which is a compliment to any author. This is not light reading....but it is worth every minute of effort



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Review of Strategic Business Forecasting: A Structured Approach to Shaping the Future of Your Business (Hardcover)

On July 5, Peter Pae wrote an article in the Los Angeles Times entitled, "Northrup Grumman's Ronald Sugar: Quietly in Command" (http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cover5-2009jul05,0,6167150.story).

In that article Pae spoke about how Sugar has walked quietly and carried a very big "strategic" stick in growing Northrup. Key to that strategy and one he spells out in this wonderful book are:

1. Create a comprehensive list of possible scenarios concerning your business - this will help you to break free of the short sighted, short term transactional myopia (make the numbers this quarter)
2. Utilize a scoring system to rate each scenario's merit as a serious and useful prediction - measuring things parallels your taking the undertaking seriously
3. Develop an effective plan that strategically shapes the future of your organization - after you select the best scenario for your company, develop a step by step plan to get there. I'll add that for each of those steps to be implemented they should "make sense," "feel right," and "be doable" to those who will implement it.Also keep in mind that "if only geniuses understand it and mere mortals don't, it won't get done."

Just because Ronald Sugar has flown under the radar as a leader -- at least in the public arena -- doesn't mean you should overlook this great book.

Buy it, absorb it, use it with your teams and then follow it.

Mark Goulston
author Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone and Get Out Of Your Own Way At Work, And Help Others Do the Same: Conquer Self-Defeating Behavior on the Job



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Review of The Six Month Fix: Adventures in Rescuing Failing Companies (Hardcover)

This is a great book on business turnarounds.It is eminently practical, humorous in spots and filled with interesting stories that highlight the advice being given.

The author offers 69 small chapters of advice.There's everything from what to do first on a turnaround... to how to get the best price selling your company.Nearly every page is heavily underlined in my book.

The topics that I particularly found valuable were: "Find the margin, cut all other costs"; "Specialize, do it where the margin lives, stop everything else"; "franchising is more about real estate than the business";his chapter on "make what sells" and the importance of low cost and his abundant advice on how to cut costs; his recommendations on increasing price on certain product types; setting your debt levels at the "10 year flood plain" for your company; demoting IT because it operates with its own agenda; stopping the CFO from gambling; cutting down on consultants and moving them over to more of a performance basis... well the topics go on, but you get the idea.

There's lots of advice.It's blunt and somewhat in your face.The text is easy to read and interesting too.There are lots of small stories that illustrate the points.

Overall I recommend this book most highly, not only for business turnarounds, but for any CEO or CEO wanna-bee.It would make a great book to take on business travel and read on the airplane.It's easy to read with the small chapters, and many topics.This is easily a 5 star book.

John Dunbar



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Review of The Well Timed Strategy: Managing the Business Cycle for Competitive Advantage (Hardcover)

Most business people who went to college were exposed to the principles of microeconomic analysis at some point.But most don't apply what they learned to their businesses.Professor Navarro's book is a lively look at some of the opportunities that are presented by adjusting your timing to buy low and sell high for:

- capital expenditures
- acquisitions
- hiring people
- adjusting your supply chain
- marketing (especially advertising and promotion)
- extending credit and collecting receivables
- dealing with volatility in raw materials, interest rates and foreign currency
- eliminating unnecessary risks when the environment is clouded
- dealing with natural calamities and wars

In addition, the book explains a variety of economic analysis tools that have proven to be helpful for business people.

Each chapter is clearly outlined and summarized.The key points are illuminated by vignettes about successes and flops (usually among those who ignored risk or didn't think it through properly).

The writing style is popular, rather than academic. You'll feel like you are reading a series of articles from the local business pages rather than a professor's book.

Much of the research for the book was done by students. That gives the book a lot of breadth. The weakness of that approach is that sometimes the students and Professor Navarro don't quite get it right.

I began to get nervous when Moore's Law was misstated as saying that the number of transistors on a chip double every year . . . rather than every two years.That concern increased when I read examples that I knew well from personal experience.The description of what happened and the reality were at odds.For instance, the famous case of Procter & Gamble losing on a derivative contract purchased from Bankers Trust is characterized as a bet against the bank by the soap maker.The relationship between the two wasn't like that at all.Bankers Trust was offering a way to reduce interest rate risk in a very complicated contract.Bankers Trust was supposed to be looking out for P&G. As the contract started to fall apart, Bankers Trust didn't play that fiduciary role.P&G was right to sue and Bankers Trust was right to take half the loss.Kmart's decent into bankruptcy is described as being totally due to cutting advertising.I'm sure that played a role, but Kmart's problems were bigger than that.

If you don't take the details of the examples too seriously, this is a valuable book.It's mostly aimed at those who are new to business such as business students and young entrepreneurs.But some seasoned managers in companies that don't use microeconomic analysis will find useful perspectives as well.

I don't know of a better book on how to adapt spending to various cycles.If that subject interests you, read this book.



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Review of Future Savvy: Identifying Trends to Make Better Decisions, Manage Uncertainty, and Profit from Change (Hardcover)

You will not find a better book than Future Savvy on how to cultivate a forecasting mindset. I teach futuring workshops for mid-career professionals. I have just adopted Future Savvy as a textbook for my graduate students. Why? Future Savvy is accessible. It contains a wealth of managerial wisdom about bias traps, perceptive frameworks, change drivers and change blockers. You may know your industry, but Future Savvy will help you think beyond the limits of trend extrapolation to analyze your changing macro context. It will teach you how to define a cone of uncertainty for your division or product line, and weigh the likelihood of alternatives disrupting your business. Finally, you will take away questions to ask any business or government forecast, to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Yes, you could find a more technical book on forecasting methods. You could get a more detailed book on short-term operational business forecasting. You could even buy a more entertaining book on erroneous predictions. But you will not find a better book to under gird both sense making and decision making in an organizational context. Unlike a lot of futurist fluff out there, this book delivers on its promise.



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Review of Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach [STUDENT EDITION] (Hardcover)

This book is a great start for anyone going into business.It covers everything from internal issues to external issues and covers theory of adjusting to those issues.It is a slow read.I equate it to a kid eating peas; it is not the most pleasurable thing out there, but you are so much better off consuming it.I would definately recommend it to a friend.



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