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Showing posts with the label management books

Book Review: Buffett: the making of an American Capitalist

Rarely do we get a glimpse of the life of the successful and famous.   To many in the business world Warren Buffett is more like a god than a man. In his book Buffett: the making of an American Capitalist you won’t be receiving insider investment tips but you will come to know a little of the man that has been an inspiration to business students and investment gurus for a number of decades. You will learn what made him the man he is today. Sometimes, it is those little things in life that put on us on unique paths. Of particular interest is the information about Buffett’s life and his formation as a leading investor. He started as an odd but liked child who seemed more like a fish out of water than the confident billionaire he is today. A little socially awkward people came to accept him as he was. He watched the stocks while other boys made modeled airplanes. A boy who loved to play sports, talk of financial success, and attract other boys to him.  He loved to read and a

Book Review: Built to Last

Built to Last-Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras delves into the success of Eighteen companies. The project was started at Stanford University Graduate School of Business and analyzed what made companies successful from the stages of start-up, midsize, and large corporations. It is about those visionary companies that have made significant impact on the lives of their workers and the environment in which they exist. These companies contained a number of criteria that includes:  -Premier institution in the industry; -Widely admired by knowledgeable business people; -Made an indelible imprint on the world; -Had multiple generations of chiefs; -Been through multiple product cycles; -Founded before 1950 The authors discovered some interesting findings. Great companies often start out slower than other companies but win in the longer term. Most of the companies focused on building the proper infrastructure and foundations for fut

Book Review: Business Strategy by Jeremy Kourdi

The book Business Strategy-A Guide to Taking Your Business Forward by Jeremy Kourdi offers insight into understanding, developing and implementing strategy.   Each of these aspects is important for overcoming market difficulties that challenge and create difficulties for businesses. It is the ability of leaders to develop strategy and then implement that strategy in ways that are more likely to raise the success of an organization.  The author provides a definition of strategy as it, “…is the plans, choices and decisions used to guide a company to greater profitability and success”. Strong strategies create higher levels of outputs while poor strategies often fail in their ability to meet defined goals. Such strategies should be well thought out and the alternatives should be weighed. Henri Fayol, who established the classical school of management around 1910, developed some general management activities that fit within five sections: planning, organizing, commanding, co-

Book Review- Essential Deming: Leadership Principles from the Father of Quality by Dr. Joyce Orsini

The book Essential Deming: Leadership Principles from the Father of Quality by Dr. Joyce Orsini provides a strong read for managers who seek to understand the nature of quality and how to improve operations.   The book covers a number of important concepts such as management problems, quality development, methodology, research studies, knowledge vs. information, and management predictions. Each of these concepts leads the reader to understand higher methodologies in running corporations. The book contains a number of important lists for administrators to study. It indicates that there seven deadly diseases in the way managers think. It recommends that they understand these all important concepts to improve profits:  1.       Lack of constancy of purpose: Having proper plans that keep the company in business. 2.       Emphasis on short-term profits: An excessive push for dividends and short-term profits. 3.       Evaluation of Performance: Rewards for people who do w