Strategy & Competition Books - Page 12

CEO Logic : How to Think and Act Like a Chief Executive

C. Ray Johnson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

CEO Logic: How to Think and Act like a Chief Executive by C. Ray Johnson. 5 out of 5 stars.
15 of 16 people found this review helpful.

The reason I read this book is that I wanted to learn to be an effective chief executive officer (CEO) and how CEOs think and make decisions, as I aspire to be one in the next two to three years.
CEO Logic provides a wide perspective about the challenges of being at the top of an organisation. C. Ray Johnson provides the knowledge of how to rise to the top of an organisation; how to think like a successful CEO, how to run an organisation successfully and how to turn a faltering organisation around from a loss making company, to a profitable entity, among other interesting topics.

CEO Logic explains what drives the actions of successful CEOs. It explains how to think clearly and perceive the fundamental management issues that influence business decisions and the habits of mind needed to achieve success in business.

The book gives an exposition of the foundations of business success, development of a business philosophy that works, and the strategic application of that philosophy in an organisation. CEO Logic teaches the operating disciplines required to establish and grow a business.

What I particularly liked in the book was the information on how a CEO can effect a turnaround. Ray Johnson provides, in chapter 10 of CEO Logic, ten steps of turning an organisation around. Based on the ten steps, those responsible for changing the fortunes of a company have an excellent blue print they can rely upon.

Bonds: The Unbeaten Path to Secure Investment Growth

Hildy Richelson, Stan Richelson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In "Bonds: The Unbeaten Path to Secure Investment Growth", two veteran investors expose the myth of stocks' superior investment returns and propose an all-bond portfolio as a sure-footed strategy that can ensure results. The book, an expanded and updated version of "The Money-Making Guide to Bonds", is designed to educate novice and sophisticated investors alike and serve as a tool for financial advisers as well. It explains why bonds can be the right choice and how to use them to achieve financial goals. It presents a broad spectrum of bond-investment options, describes how to purchase bonds at the best price, and, most important, shows how to make money with bonds.

The wealthiest investors and financial advisers use the bond strategies outlined in this book to maximize the the return on their portfolios while providing security of principal. The strategies can help you determine how to use bonds in your portfolio and take control of your financial destiny. You'll be playing it smart while playing it safe.

Earn 15 hours of credit toward your CFP Board requirement.

Jack Trout on Strategy

Jack Trout

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Warmed over soup? 3 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Trout presents the subject in a readable and interesting manner with good examples. However, the book may be described as Intro to Business Strategy 100 for the beginner. And, if you've read some of Trout's or Ries' prior works, you won't find much new here.

Editorial Review:

From the bestselling coauthor of Positioning--essential tactics for success in every marketing arena

With his 1981 classic, Positioning, Jack Trout (along with coauthor Al Reis) forever changed the way marketing strategy is done. In the more than two decades since then, he has remained at the forefront of marketing and strategic thinking. Written in response to the demands by Trout fans, acolytes, and students worldwide, this book brings together the key ideas from his substantial body of work in a quick-bite format.

Trout on Strategy:

• Is an ideal introduction to the thinking of one of the century's most influential marketing innovators
• Explores Trout's major themes, including survival, perception, differentiation, and more
• Connects the dots in his major works and makes his ideas relevant to the biggest issues facing business today

The Solution Selling Fieldbook

Keith M. Eades, James N. Touchstone, Timothy T. Sullivan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The breakthrough process used by more than 500,000 sales professionals worldwide!

The Solution Selling Fieldbook helps you integrate the plan's nuts-and-bolts techniques into your own day-to-day practices, and immediately gain access to key decision makers, diagnose buyers' business issues, and increase top-line sales.

Building on the processes, principles, and management systems outlined in The New Solution Selling, this practitioner's workbook features:

• A complete step-by-step blueprint for sales success

• A trial copy of Solution Selling software

• A valuable Solution Selling CD-ROM that includes tools, templates, and sales letters

Includes Exclusive Solution Selling Software on CD-ROM

• More than 120 work sheets on negotiating, opportunity assessments, implementation plans, and more
• Letters/e-mail templates
• Coaching on Solution Selling techniques
• Import/export capabilities
• Links to more Solution Selling content

Beyond Reengineering: How the Process-Centered Organization is Changing Our Work and Our Lives

Michael Hammer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A must read for anyone interested in how organizations work 5 out of 5 stars.
22 of 26 people found this review helpful.

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.

Editorial Review:

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.

Innovation: The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers Want

Curtis R. Carlson, William W. Wilmot

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Nothing is more important to business success than innovation . . . And here’s what you can do about it on Monday morning with the definitive how-to book from the world’s leading authority on innovation


When it comes to innovation, Curt Carlson and Bill Wilmot of SRI International know what they are talking about—literally. SRI has pioneered innovations that day in and day out are part of the fabric of your life, such as:

•The computer mouse and the personal computer interface you use at home and work

•The high-definition television in your living room

•The unusual numbers at the bottom of your checks that enable your bank to maintain your account balance correctly

•The speech-recognition system used by your financial services firm when you call for your account balance or to make a transaction.

Each of these innovations—and literally hundreds of others—created new value for customers. And that’s the central message of this book. Innovation is not about inventing clever gadgets or just “creativity.” It is the successful creation and delivery of a new or improved product or service that provides value for your customer and sustained profit for your organization. The first black-and-white television, for example, was just an interesting, cool invention until David Sarnoff created an innovation—a network—that delivered programming to an audience.

The genius of this book is that it provides the “how” of innovation. It makes innovation practical by getting two groups who are often disconnected—the managers who make decisions and the people on the front lines who create the innovations—onto the same page. Instead of smart people grousing about the executive suite not recognizing a good idea if they tripped over it and the folks on the top floor wondering whether the people doing the complaining have an understanding of market realities, Carlson and Wilmot’s five disciplines of innovation focus attention where it should be: on the creation of valuable new products and services that meet customer needs.

Innovation is not just for the “lone genius in the garage” but for you and everyone in your enterprise. Carlson and Wilmot provide a systematic way to make innovation practical, one intimately tied to the way things get done in your business.


Teamwork isn't enough; Creativity isn't enough; A new product idea isn't enough

True innovation is about delivering value to customers. Innovation reveals the value-creating processes used by SRI International, the organization behind the computer mouse, robotic surgery, and the domain names .com, .org, and .gov. Curt Carlson and Bill Wilmot show you how to use these practical, tested processes to create great customer value for your organization.

Michael E. Porter on Competition

Michael E. Porter

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

On Competition, a collection of works by Michael E. Porter, is a critical examination of the dog-eat-dog international economy. A Harvard Business School professor, Porter is one of the most respected and innovative economists of his time. Author of 15 books, he advises key elected officials and business leaders in all parts of the world. On Competition features 13 of his best articles over the past 15 years, including 2 new ones. The essence of Porter's message is that every company, country, and person must master competition to thrive in brutal international and domestic economies. Competition is the key to excellence. Worried about losing your job or your services becoming obsolete? Porter believes that a little fear is good for everyone. "Companies that value stability, obedient customers, dependent suppliers and sleepy competitors are inviting inertia and, ultimately, failure," he writes in his 1990 study and essay "The Competitive Advantage of Nations." Porter is a longtime critic of the short-term thinking on Wall Street that often stifles competition and hurts the economy. In "Capital Disadvantage: America's Failing Capital Investment System," he calls for much lower capital-gains rates for people who invest for the long term. He also urges investors and businesses to start thinking together. He contends that pension funds and institutional investors should get a greater say over the companies they own. It's wacky to have company directors with little expertise or financial interest in the company, he writes.

Porter is often unconventional and asserts that businessmen must be, too. In his essay "Green and Competitive," he shows little sympathy for businesses that complain about environmental regulations. Rules to protect the environment don't have to strangle companies--they can actually improve productivity with the right attitude and approach. Rhone-Poulenc, a French chemical and drug company, proved this when it stopped incinerating a certain byproduct and began selling it as an additive for dyes and tanning. Readable and provocative, On Competition is vital for business, government, and financial leaders as well as small-business people and investors. --Dan Ring

Working Knowledge

Thomas H. Davenport, Laurence Prusak

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

When new-car developers at Ford Motor Company wanted to learn why the original Taurus design team was so successful, no one could tell them. No one remembered or had recorded what made that effort so special; the knowledge gained in the Taurus project was lost forever. Indeed, the most valuable asset in any company is probably also its most elusive and difficult to manage: knowledge. Authors Thomas H. Davenport and Laurence Prusak assert that learning how to identify, manage, and foster knowledge is vital for companies who hope to compete in today's fast-moving global economy.

Working Knowledge examines how knowledge can be nurtured in organizations. Building trust throughout a company is the key to creating a knowledge-oriented corporate culture, a positive environment in which employees are encouraged to make decisions that are efficient, productive, and innovative. The book includes numerous examples of successful knowledge projects at companies such as British Petroleum, 3M, Mobil Oil, and Hewlett-Packard. Concise and clearly written, Working Knowledge is an excellent resource for managers who want to better harness the experience and wisdom within their organizations.

The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypes

Margaret Mark, Carol S. Pearson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Disappointing 3 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

I was disappointed by the lack of rigorous thinking in this book.

Sure, different companies have different personalities and personality is part of the brand. We could even create our own set of Jungian archetypical brand personalities, and go about attaching them to different brands.

But now for a test. Is Coca Cola a Creator -- helping inspire its users to do great bubbly things? Is it a Caregiver -- showing care for others? Maybe it's a Ruler -- a tough competitor and long the top dog in Cola Wars? How about a Jester -- always at the center of a good time? Or just it's just the drink for Regular Guys and Gals? Look at the ads -- maybe its a Lover or at least a drink for Lovers sharing a soda with two straws? Or, how about an almost Heroic presence, again from ads? Sometimes, it has a sort of Outlaw feel (with folks like Mean Joe Greene playing Robin Hood handing a Coke to a kid). In the old days Coca Cola ads praised it both for giving energy and a calming effect -- though there's no archetype for either of those. So, maybe it is more a Magician -- think of some of those magical ads past and animated present and its ability to give both energy and calm the soul. Given Coca Cola's global ubiquity and appeal, it might well be the drink of Explorers. It might even be (given the caffeine) the energy drink for yuppie Sages? Well, it turns out (according to the authors), that Coke is clearly so successful because it's an "Innocent." The toughest competitor in the Cola Wars, a mixture of caffeine, water, and sugar, almost wizened from a century of success -- yeah, it's clearly an Innocent and that explains everything.

My point is that the book lacks any sense of rigor, proof, or science-like basis in fact. The authors do a clever job of retrofitting achetypes to brands, and several of the cases are interesting, but the whole thing appears to work better in hindsight than proven principles for brand success. One could equally well, in this reviewers opinion, talk about aligning your brand with top-rated TV shows, Tarot cards, signs of the Zodiac, or (with at least a tiny bit of science) Myers-Briggs personality types --- "proving" the case with stories about how GE, Toyota, Google, etc. etc. all fit some stellar or personality pattern.

The kernel of truth in the book is that people like their brands, products, and companies to have a predicatable, attractive, and aspirational subtext. Creating an enduring and attractive personality makes sense, at least as long as the personality remains relevant.

Speaking of personalities, what's the Jungian archetype for the Maytag repair man? Is he a Regular Guy, sidekick to a Hero, or a Jester? Is the Ultimate Driving Machine (BMW) a Hero or an Explorer . . . with maybe the 3 Series for Regular Guys and Gals with higher aspirations than Honda and Toyota owners? No doubt the authors could tell us, though I doubt their hindsight would be of much value in predicting past or future business success.

What might be of value to some readers, especially those who think Jung had the last meaningful words on human decision making, is that some structure (almost any structure, even the Yellow Pages or TV guide) can be useful in brainstorming product and brand alternatives.

Editorial Review:

A brand’s meaning—how it resonates in the public heart and mind—is a company’s most valuable competitive advantage. Yet, few companies really know how brand meaning works, how to manage it, and how to use brand meaning strategically. Written by best-selling author Carol S. Pearson (The Hero Within) and branding guru Margaret Mark, this groundbreaking book provides the illusive and compelling answer. Using studies drawn from the experiences of Nike, Marlboro, Ivory and other powerhouse brands, the authors show that the most successful brands are those that most effectively correspond to fundamental patterns in the unconscious mind known as archetypes. The book provides tools and strategies to:
• Implement a proven system for identifying the most appropriate and leverageable archetypes for any company and/or brand
• Harness the power of the archetype to align corporate strategy to sustain competitive advantage

Business Forecasting (9th Edition)

John E. Hanke, Dean Wichern

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

KEY BENEFIT: The ninth edition of Business Forecasting presents basic statistical techniques that are useful for preparing individual business forecasts and long-range plans. Written in a simple, straightforward style and making extensive use of practical business examples, the book includes many cases that provide readers with the necessary link between theoretical concepts and their real-world applications. Readers should have a basic knowledge of statistics and be familiar with computer applications such as word processing and spreadsheets.

KEY TOPICS: The book first presents background material such as the nature of forecasting and a quick review of basic statistical concepts; proceeds with the exploration of data patterns and choosing a forecasting technique; covers averaging the smoothing techniques and time series decomposition; emphasizes causal forecasting techniques such as correlation, regression, and multiple regression analysis; and concludes with judgmental forecasting and forecast adjustments.

MARKET: Useful as a reference for students and professionals with job titles including: forecasting manager, marketing manager, production manager, and analyst.