The Harvard Business School Press (HBSP) publishes some of the
most thought-provoking and enlightened work for the business community that's
available today.
Amazon.com
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.
MASS CUSTOMIZATION--the trailblazing book that showed companies
how to mass produce and individually customize their products and services--is
now available in paperback. New ways of managing, together with new technology,
make possible the seeming paradox of providing each customer with the "tailor-made"
benefits of the pre-industrial craft system at the low costs of modern mass
production. As author Joe Pine makes clear, businesses that learn to embrace
mass customization are able to create greater variety and customization
in their products and services at competitive prices, or better. This insightful
book shows how it's done.
Book Description
The Harvard Business Review has led the way in helping executives in every
industry adapt to the rapidly evolving network economy. Don Tapscott, bestselling
author of The Digital Economy and Growing Up Digital, collects the best
articles from the Review into a resource for business leaders who want to
understand how their businesses can create value and profit from the new
economy.
A rich mix of ideas and insights, Creating Value
in the Network Economy explores all aspects of the networked business world,
from the importance of trust in the virtual organization to the changing
nature of customer relationships to new ways that companies can generate
value through their intellectual assets. The contributors include many of
the leading names from the digerati: Regis McKenna, John Hagel, Stan Davis,
Jeffrey Rayport, and John Sviokla, as well as the incomparable Charles Handy.
Tapscott's thought-provoking introduction highlights
the key themes and unites the articles into a complete picture of the issues
business must address to survive--and thrive--in the networked world. Creating
Value in the Network Economy helps us to see and understand the
new and still-emerging customs, social norms, laws, and institutions that
surround the creation of wealth in the network economy.
Amazon.com
Chapter 1 of Information Rules begins with a description of the change brought
on by technology at the close of the century--but the century described
is not this one, it's the late 1800s. One hundred years ago, it was an emerging
telephone and electrical network that was transforming business. Today it's
the Internet. The point? While the circumstances of a particular era may
be unique, the underlying principles that describe the exchange of goods
in a free-market economy are the same. And the authors, Carl Shapiro and
Hal Varian, should know. Shapiro is Professor of Business Strategy at the
Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and has also served as chief economist
at the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department. Varian is the Dean
of the School of Information Management and Systems at UC Berkeley. Together
they offer a deep knowledge of how economic systems work coupled with first-hand
experience of today's network economy. They write:
Sure, today's business world is different in a
myriad of ways from that of a century ago. But many of today's managers
are so focused on the trees of technological change that they fail to see
the forest: the underlying economic forces that determine success and failure.
Shapiro and Varian go to great lengths to purge
this book of the technobabble and forecasting of an electronic woo-woo land
that's typical in books of this genre. Instead, with their feet on the ground,
they consider how to market and distribute goods in the network economy,
citing examples from industries as diverse as airlines, software, entertainment,
and communications. The authors cover issues such as pricing, intellectual
property, versioning, lock-in, compatibility, and standards. Clearly written
and presented, Information Rules belongs on the bookshelf of anyone who
has an interest in today's network economy--entrepreneurs, managers, investors,
students. If there was ever a textbook written on how to do business in
the information age, this book is it. Highly recommended.
Dallas / Oxford
Our recommendations for the best CD's from the
best artists.
Whether you're thinking of exploring an unfamiliar style or already building
a focused collection, our Essentials pages can streamline your musical search.
From alternative music to zydeco, bebop to hip-hop, the Essentials will
lead you to the hundreds of artists and thousands of recordings that matter.