The Amazon Showroom
The Balanced Scorecard
by Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton
Hardback
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Amazon rating: 4 out of 5
Synopsis:
This text shows how managers can use the Balanced Scorecard technique to mobilize their employees and fulfil the company's mission. The authors demonstrate how senior executives in industries such as banking, oil and retailing are using the technique to evaluate current performance and target future performance based on financial and non-financial criteria like customer satisfaction, internal processes and employee learning and growth.
Review:
You will come away with a very clear cut understanding of what corporate strategic alignment is all about and why you must have it to succeed. Strategic alignment is an extremely powereful tool that is both intense and time consuming, but well worth the effort. The Balanced Scorecard methodology quickly points out whether your company's Purpose, Vision and Mission statements can truly hold water. As the authors warn, do not take implementation of this program lightly.
Blur: The Speed of Change in the Connected Society
by Stan Davis & Christopher Meyer
Paperback
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Amazon rating: 4 out of 5
Synopsis:
Blur: The Speed of Change in the Connected Economy, by Stan Davis and Christopher Meyer, is a shrewd appraisal of the new corporate reality. The authors, who both direct research at the Ernst & Young Center for Business Innovation, maintain that "connectivity, speed, and the growth of intangible value" have catapulted business into a period of unprecedented transition that demands immediate and creative attention. Citing disparate examples including Amazon.com, singer David Bowie, and the Beanie Baby toy phenomenon, they show how a willingness to step away from conventional thinking is crucial for continued success.
Review:
When new circumstances occur, many people have a hard time adapting because they keep applying concepts and ideas that do not apply very directly. For example, when the telephone was invented, most people could see no use for it because they assumed that all communications would still be face to face whenever possible. It never occurred to anyone that the circle of those contacted would grow, and the telephone would be essential. I liked this book because it addresses the mind-set that someone needs to pursue in order to be more successful now. I have implemented several new programs already based on what I learned in BLUR, and am very impressed with how well they are working. I have read quite a few books on compelxity theory, the new connected economy, and new ways to compete, but this one stimulated my thinking more than any other. I strongly encourage you to read it. If you need step-by-step aid in how to use these new concepts, you will have to develop that on your own. This is a book about ideas, rather than a "how-to" book. I have enjoyed Stan Davis's earlier books, and look forward to many more in the future.
The Experience Economy
by B. Joseph Pine II, B.J. Pine & James H. Gilmore
Hardback
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Amazon rating: 4 out of 5
Synopsis:
Sometime during the last 30 years, the service economy emerged as the dominant engine of economic activity. At first, critics who were uncomfortable with the intangible nature of services bemoaned the decline of the goods-based economy, which, thanks to many factors, had increasingly become commodity-ised. Successful companies, such as Nordstrom, Starbucks, Saturn and IBM discovered that the best way to differentiate one product from another--clothes, food, cars, computers--was to add service. But, according to Joseph Pine and James Gilmore, the bar of economic offerings is being raised again. In The Experience Economy, the authors argue that the service economy is about to be superseded with something that critics will find even more ephemeral (and controversial) than services ever were: experiences. In part because of technology and the increasing expectations of consumers, services today are starting to look like commodities. The authors write that "Those businesses that relegate themselves to the diminishing world of goods and services will be rendered irrelevant. To avoid this fate, you must learn to stage a rich, compelling experience." Many will find the idea of staging experiences as a requirement for business survival far-fetched. However, the authors make a compelling case, and consider successful companies that are already packaging their offerings as experiences, from Disney to AOL. Far-reaching and thought- provoking, The Experience Economy is for marketing professionals and anyone looking to gain a fresh perspective on what business landscape might look like in the years to come.
Review:
This is well crafted book and provides several examples to illustrate the points made. The book tends to sag towards the final three chapters. There are numerous messages one comes away. Highly recommended for business students and practitioners, specially in light of the new 'digital economy' taking shape
The One-to-One Future
by Don Peppers & Martha Rogers
Paperback
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Amazon rating: 5 out of 5
Synopsis:
What will life be like after mass marketing? Today, technology allows us to sell more goods to fewer people, which is far more efficient than selling fewer goods to more people. Peppers, an advertising executive, and Rogers, a marketing scholar, set out their new marketing paradigm in detail. A one-to-one competitor focuses on "share of customer" rather than the mass-marketer's "share of market." Learn to collaborate with the customer to build loyalty and build your opportunities for future profit. The strategies in this book work as well--maybe even better--for small companies as for the blue-chippers.
Review:
There's plenty of Oomph behind this vision and the case is undeniable. I'm convinced this is the way ahead. The first chapter summarises the whole book though and you can actually get away without reading the rest which repeats, emphasises and illustrates but doesn't illuminate any further if you already get the point. This book contains the one big basic revolutionary Idea, but it feels quite dated (already!) because the revolution's well underway now. If you are already a one to one believer read the chapter summary of this book but buy its sequel.
Funky Business
by Jonas Riddersrale & Kjell Nordstrom
Paperback
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Amazon rating: 4 out of 5
Synopsis:
The book, which is almost a virtuoso display of rhetoric and intellectual power, bursts at the seams with the exuberant force of its argument and the weight of its highly colourful supporting evidence. Sources quoted range from the Pope to the Prodigy. Funky Inc, they say, "isn't like any other company. It is not a dull, old conglomerate. It is not a rigid bureaucracy. It is an organisation that actually thrives on the changing circumstances and unpredictability of our times." This is great entertainment. But the slick veneer does not invalidate the way that the book pulls together many existing strands of thought about how business is developing and evokes a coherent and intriguing vision of a future whose main feature will be incoherence.
Review:
Pacy book that is designed to get you thinking rather than telling you what to think. Unlike most business books this isn't just aimed at middle managers, executives etc... Interesting for anyone with a job!
The New Alchemists
by Charles Handy & Elizabeth Handy
Hardback
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Amazon rating: 4 out of 5
Synopsis:
The New Alchemists is a series of interviews with people who have made something out of nothing. It is enhanced by Elizabeth Handy's own photography which captures each interviewee in their own environment. So we have an at-home and relaxed Richard Branson having a bet with the author that in three years time Virgin will be "by far the best railway", Robert Ayling from British Airways, Terence Conran and Charles Dunstone (Carphone Warehouse). Each short piece offers interesting insights into events that changed their lives and what makes them tick. But perhaps the most interesting parts are the summary chapters with some useful generalisations about the causes of success and some of the pieces on lesser-known folk. Look out for Dee Dawson who set up the first clinic for people with anorexia and Joanne McFarlane thinking big but still working from home with her silk scarf business.
Review:
Charles Handy recognises that all of his alchemists needed finance, encouragement, and a dream to grow into a reality. The book does not just show the successes in the lives of the Alchemists but also the failures and how these experiences were put to positive use. The difficulties in finding 'seed' capital, and the methods used by the different entrepreneurs to obtain their funding was enlightening.
Business @ the Speed of Though
by Bill Gates
Hardback
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Amazon rating: 4 out of 5
Synopsis:
In this business book using case studies from around the world to demonstrate the transformative power of technology in business, Bill Gates provides the reader with his view on technology's role in corporate evolution - not just at rival corporate giants but as small businesses as well.
Review:
This book provides an excellent overview of how a business needs to adapt its internal business systems to survive, adapt and embrace the latest technology. It is written in a non-technical way which makes it ideal for non IT managers.
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