Competitions Books

A good selection of illustrative business cases, occasional thoughts that we had at the back of our mind organized and presented in a clear and enlightning way. Logical and convincing theory. Good reading for managers who want their daily routine to be in tune with the global picture.

With so much being written about 'delighting customers', the 'customer experience', 'customer satisfaction' and the like it is great to read a book that really goes beyond the ordinary, to really dig into how organisations can really leave their competitors behind.
And it's none of this; engage customers differently or deliver compelling offers, this book really takes it to the next level.....Compelling Value, Power Offers, Vibrant Satisfaction, Vibrant Engagement and Vibrant Retention.
Great descriptions that really help organisations understand the need to go beyond good to the heart of building momentum.
If you've read all the standard texts on the topic, I'm sure you'll find a stimulating, thought provoking journey beyond ordinary thinking.
Enjoy!

This book is about how to create profitable growth and sustain that growth indefinitely. Achieving this state of indefinite profitable growth is called momentum. Momentum results from an intense customer focus that permeates the enterprise. Notions relating to customers - insights, value, equity, offering, satisfaction, retention, and engagement -- are given qualifying labels, explicit momentum oriented definitions, and represented as modules of a system of an iterative synergistic process. This process develops traction with customers and removes resistance to growth while focusing all the sources of energy of the firm on building and keeping the momentum going. This is a complete framework for what the title of the book claims - how to ignite exceptional growth. Each stage of the process is described along with related case studies that provide evidence of the effectiveness of the process.

Applying this momentum framework as an interpretive lens to businesses reveals compelling insights. One insight is that a business with a disciplined approach to providing compelling customer value and creating vibrant customer satisfaction actually does this at a lower cost than a business not so oriented. And, of course, the kicker is the phenomenal profitable growth and value that accrues to the firm practicing the principles of momentum. Another insight is the cumulative results that come about with such a tight-knit discipline. Over time, even small advantages in cost or growth factors in the business result in tremendous leads over competitors - like the miracle of compound interest - putting a firm into a whole new arena, i.e. leaving competitors trailing in their wake.

What is particularly good about this book is the thoroughness with which a very complex subject has been addressed. Each essential idea, such as `compelling equity' or `power offering,' is explicitly defined to bring home what it means specifically to this process. Frameworks and constructs explain how to pragmatically address the essential idea in each module of the overall process. For example, there is an Insight Discovery Matrix for flushing out Compelling Insights. There is the Customer Value Map and Wedge to define what the customer perceives as value. The frameworks bring effective guidance to what are otherwise too often unstructured activities. One particularly powerful framework is the Action Roadmap to Momentum that guides the mobilization of stakeholders, detects friction and insights, and converts customers. Disciplined use of this framework, even by the most successful firms, will prevent management from falling into the traps of hubris or complacency. Essential to effective management, possible performance metrics related to each of the essential ideas are provided as well.

What I think makes the momentum approach particularly effective is that the inherently messy process of exploration is given the structure needed to manage it but, at the same time, not destroy the messiness that is essential for creativity to thrive. A vital element of exploration is the technique of iteration. The power and value of iteration is often unrecognized and untapped by impatient management. Here it is a central theme to the whole approach.

An important contribution to the discussion of business models is noting the design and execution of the firm's offering as a business model in and of itself. Larréché identifies three renditions of an offering creation business model as it has evolved over time. First is the product-focused model: develop the product, make the product, and sell the product. Next is the value-delivery model: select the value proposition, create the value, and communicate the value. These first two models are linear models. The third model, the momentum model is an iterative, interactive, and integrative model that brings the design and execution of offerings into one symbiotic relationship.

The employee momentum, the internal momentum that complements the external momentum, is addressed with the same model and principles as the one that addresses the customer. The leadership to build momentum and create synergy between customer momentum and employee momentum is also addressed. Both the employee momentum and momentum leadership are part of the overall momentum puzzle to be solved.

A lot is packed into this book. It may require some study to capture its full value. It is a valuable contribution to the art and science of management.

THE MOMENTUM EFFECT - HOW TO IGNITE EXCEPTIONAL GROWTH covers all aspects of management, both external and internal, of a successful company sustaining high growth. It demonstrates how momentum powered firms significantly increase value for all stakeholders, including customers, employees and shareholders through the following eight steps:
* Momentum Design
o Compelling insights that can only come from time spent with customers;
o These insights lead to compelling values by understanding the deeper human drivers;
o Compelling values lead to power offers meaning power with customers and power to generate growth;
o Power offers generate customers with compelling equity maximizing the value of customers to the firm;
* Momentum Execution
o Power offers are continuously tweaked and improved until they become irresistible;
o The delivery of the power offer leads to superior customer satisfaction what the author calls vibrant satisfaction;
o Vibrant satisfaction leads to vibrant retention and
o Vibrant engagement of the customer. Momentum companies engage customers at an emotional level to generate positive, momentum-driven action.

Each of these eight essential components of momentum strategy are described in detail and richly illustrated by real life stories from momentum companies like Wal-Mart, BMW, Skype, Apple and IKEA, to name just a few. These momentum driving components allow you to systematically harness the powerful, sustainable energy that can take your firm to the new efficiency frontier, driving the exceptional growth that will propel you into a different league. Finally, the Momentum Effect is a never ending journey, not a destination.

Jean-Claude Larreche is professor at the renowned European management school INSEAD and a consultant with leading global corporations.

THE MOMENTUM EFFECT is a joy to read and a must read for anybody who needs to excel in today's competitive world. Kai Wenk-Wolff (MBA INSEAD) is a turn-around specialist for manufacturing operations.

When I first leafed through this book, I thought it was a novel. How else could one interpret the fact that tables, figures and diagrams are just a small part of only the 10% of its total pages! Authors of scientific, marketing and management books have not used us to such a minimalism. J.C. talks substance, not visuals. Even for this reason, this book is exceptionally impressive. This "nothing less than exceptional growth" book smells strong, innovative thinking. It's a book on business total philosophy rather than a simply marketing or management text. It provides a sharp anatomy of things, supposedly known in a business enterprise, with the result that bold substance is revealed. Doing things right is not enough for Larreche. One has to do things exceptionally right. "Very satisfied customers" is not enough. Delighted customers should be the basic purpose of any business. Superb, total value to customers is running throughout the book. More revenues for less relative marketing expenditures is to look for. Anything else does not provide proof of the existence of momentum in a business firm. Larreche, a recognized expert of marketing, emphasizes its customer value building wisdom, rather than its routine functional elements commented about and stressed in all common marketing texts. This book, as product, provides the customer with real super value. It has been some time since I read a real best seller to be!

Arie provides a very good picture of companies that have sustained centuries of change. His research reveals what makes them click and what they aare doing that others are not doing. Some of his insights are packaged within the context of a company that truly has life time employment which some of us can not even imagine. His experiences in management and leadership will not necessarily ring true to many of us. Many of us simply will never have the opportunites that he has had. On the other hand, the work that he captures is excellent on sustainability and I highly recommend that if sustainability in business is an interest to you, that you read this book.

I am re-reading the book, and was compelled to share my love and appreciation of the deep understanding and unique approach to organizations and to the ways of dealing with change offered by Arie de Geus.

I'm undergoing through deep change in my life; my business is growing and changing. The book gives courage, foresight, support, tools and a map both to pass through the process holistically, and take responsibility for the future. I see how my whole company is taking responsibility for its future. I give credit for this movement to the ideas and concepts laid out the the book.

This is a must read for all those people who are interested in the subject of organizational learning. The book illustrates clearly the challenges companies face in encouraging its employees to learn. Also, it provides a lot of examples and strategies from Shell. Overall, it is an excellent for a any person, even if they are not in a managerial position in a company. If the reader is such a position, then this is a must read.

Companies die all the time. The current business climate favors short term profit over long term survival, and most companies don't adapt fast enough. De Geus explains why this is, and what we can do about it, but what makes this book an essential read is that he gives us a new way of looking at organizations and the meaning of work.

The problem is that, in management, you get what you reward. This is a well-known truth and explains the dysfunction we see in most companies. As de Geus puts it, "The difficulty lies in our definition of corporate success...the dominant school of thought in business administration measures success purely in terms of quantity: the maximization of revenues, market share, share value, or proceeds."

The solution de Geus comes up with is novel and revolutionary. It is to look at companies differently -- not as machines, but as living beings. In fact, he goes even further than this, saying that companies actually are living beings. It is only because they are living that they can learn and adapt and hence sustain themselves over long periods of time.

This view seems extreme, but it is soundly based in philosophical argument and it is preferable to the alternate view that companies operate like clockwork and their employees are simply assets. The complexity of organizations can indeed be understood better by analogy with human psychology and biological ecosystems. And a company is able to survive and learn only because it has an identity that outlives any of the people working within it.

de Geus draws on the work of leaders in the fields of psychology, philosophy, evolutionary biology and immunology. He agrees with other management writers like Drucker, Collins and Buckingham on basic management truths, like the need to focus on strengths and develop people continually so as to maximize their effectiveness. However, he provides fresh and original insights on management and helps us look at our organizations in a new way.

For example, the natural consequence of thinking of organizations as living beings is that a company's primary goal becomes survival. This in turn leads to a different way of looking at the company's people. The company will survive only if there is synergy and an underlying contract between the company and its members whereby the members are helped to reach their potential in return for support of the company's goals.

Many years ago, I read Peter Senge's book, "The Fifth Discipline," and its depiction of the learning organization became an ideal for me. I didn't expect to be as profoundly affected by "The Living Company," but the ideas are, if anything, even more basic to finding meaning in work, and will likely stay with me. This book is essential reading for any leader wanting to build a sustainable company, but it's also thought-provoking for anyone who wants to make change happen in any organization.

Graham Lawes

I found this book to be a relief and escape to the way the corporate world has evolved. By taking a look at long living companies, the author has extracted some timeless advice for corporations to pay attention to. The thing that "lowered the score," so to speak is that there were hardly any statistics or hard numbers involved to back up his claims, regardless of the intuitive excellence of their teachings. If this book is to make a difference and it has the ingredients to do so, I thought some hard results outside of the longevity would have to be produced and they weren't. What I particularly liked was how the distinction was made between living companies and economic companies. More importantly, how people need to realize that you can't run a company with some of one philosophy and some of the other. You'll have to pick this up and read it to understand this, but I think if you do, you'll see that most companies are attempting to mix oil and water today and unfortuneately, I agree that they will be "dead before their time." Overall, this was a very insightful book and upon reflection to my own life, sarcastically entertaining.

Underdog Advertising is a unique book written with the small business in mind. It shows how the small business can take proven marketing principles and compete in the marketplace and win.
The author opens the book with the tale of David and Goliath. Just as in the old story, David represents the small business and Goliath is the giant advertising agencies.
The underdog principle consists of the Underdog Advantage Principles, the Big Dog Branding Process, and the Junkyard Dog Execution. The Underdog Advantage Principles goes into depth on the ten foundation priciples that guide the development of marketing strategies and tactics to help your business compete and win. It teaches you how to consistently deliver creative, nontraditional ways to win the high ground with limited responses. Big Dog Branding Process is essential so your business can carve out a niche in your chosen field and puts your company in the minds of your customers. The Junkyard Dog Execution shows you how to find unique ways to stand out from the crowd and how to impliment them.
David and Goliath are revisited as a review of how to use all three of the disciplines to help your business compete and win advertising spots against the Goliath's. To help you put the principles and disciplines into action, the author provides a workbook at the end that takes you through each ten principles. Also included are branding worksheets that allow you to find your target prospect, define it and validate it.
Every small business should have this book in their libraries so they can follow Mr. Flower's principles to help them define an advertising campaign that will reap benefits for their business.
This is a book that will be used over and over again. A must have, keeper for your business.

This book is a great tool for helping small businesses focus their marketing efforts. It is a great follow up to taking a marketing course. The former primarily provides the "what", this book provides the "how". The concepts and strategies are equally applicable to large busnesses.

First of all, let's have a look of the proven principles preached by the author:-

1. Think outside the box
2. Take risks
3. Strategy before execution
4. Be contrary
5. Select your battlefield
6. Focus! Focus! Focus!
7. Be consistent
8. Demonstrate value
9. Speed & surprise
10. Have patience

Cliche and common sense? Depends! Nevertheless, the beauty of it is not the provision of unique and extravagant concepts, but easily understandable and adoptable ideas furnished with plenty of real life practical examples. The two workbooks from page 175-206 of step to step guidance to apply the 10 principles well worths the price of the book (consider how much you have to pay for an external consulting agency). If you had not taken any marketing course before and you have to do marketing now, highly recommended! (though I think the much emphasized David vs Goliath metaphor is quite out of place)

Below please find some of the passages I like the most for your reference:-

You miss 100% of the shots you never take. - Wayne Gretsky pg 32
Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat. - Sun Tzu pg 34
Strategy is the who, what, when, where, and why of advertising...Execution is the how...Because the key to creating effective advertising is to have the right strategy. pg 35
The superiority in numbers is the important factor in the result of combat...the greatest possible numbers of troops should be brought into action at the decisive point. - Karl von Clausewitz pg 78
Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until they are brought into focus. - Alexander Graham Bell pg 90
It is better to overwhelm a few than to underwhelm many. pg 100
Any damn fool can put on a deal, but it takes genius, faith and perservance to create a brand. - David Ogilvy pg 134

p.s. In the very case you want to read something of the advanced level, "The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding" by Al Ries is a very good choice.

I've spent the last 15 years in marketing and always enjoy reading about principles and concepts to apply to my work. This book focuses on the "underdogs" - but not necessarily the small business owner. Some of the "underdogs" he profiles have large enough advertising budgets to allow them substantial print campaigns to compete with their bigger competitors. For this reason smaller business owners should read this book and take note of the bigger picture of what author Paul Flowers is saying. The concepts he mentions are solid and refreshingly free of the usual marketing jargon. I especially appreciated the attention Flowers paid toward attitude and mindset, as I feel this is something that can define success in an organization.

Paul Flower's UNDERDOG ADVERTISING is a gem for every small business owner. I especially appreciate Mr. Flower's honesty throughout this book, particular in the anecdote he shares in his introduction, where he reveals how he and his partners realized (to their horror, no doubt) that they themselves had "...fallen into the trap of copying what our bigger competitors ... did--the same trap we were warning our clients to avoid." It takes guts to be honest in marketing, and Mr. Flower's has guts ... in spades.

His recognition of David (of David/Goliath fame) as the archetypal underdog is brilliant, and Mr. Flowers uses the David/Goliath metaphor as a touch-stone throughout the book. BTW, much of the Underdog Advertising philosophy seems to be very much in keeping with the philosophy of the non-violent martial art of Aikido.

Mr. Flower's Ten Principles of Underdog Advertising are worth the cost of the book alone (for myself, I'm continually working on the last one - #10. Have Patience).

Kudos to Mr. Flowers for his discussion of psychographics for in the chapter on "Know Your Prospect". (I continue to be amazed at the marketing books that I read that stress demographics without ever mentioning psychographics).

Finally, when approached with an open mind, the appendix of the Underdog Advertising Workbook can provide you with a wealth of information for improving your brand.

My copy of Underdog Advertising is full of highlighted passages and notes in the margin. I'm planning on implementing these strategies over the next six month.

I can think of no higher praise to give a book.

Again, my 6 year old picks it up and we play quiz games with each other.

When I took the State Qualification Test after reading and studying this book, I feel confident that this book helped me with large quantities of the questions! If you read this book it will almost ensure you sucsess! It is a nessesity for anything "Geographic" related! Not only dooes it quiz your knowledge like some study guides, but has many, many, many atlases, country informaion, state information; even general geography bee info. like how to study, what to expect for each section, what to expect for each level, and it's information has been right on target so far! Buy it! You'll win for sure!

This book was the best resource we found for the review of world geography as our son prepared for his school Geography Bee. We reviewed it as a family. We all learned a great deal.

My son started showing an interest in Geography in the 3rd grade so we bought him several books & this was one of them!! He is now a walking text book! watch out!! He has won several Geography bees & this is one of the books he has studied from!! Plus he just loves reading the information & sponging up the information!! This book had a lot of great tips about what to expect at & from a Geography bee. Tips for kids & for parents (which I felt helpful.) We recognized several of the study questions were used in the bee to... not his questions :) - But it was enjoyable as a parent too to learn the facts from this book! Enjoy!

My son is going through this with lot of enthusiasm. Well structured and very popular amongst others.

I was raised in Southern California and now reside in Indiana. I could not be happier that Coach Wooden also called both places his home. Though he clearly is a midwesterner at heart---as am I now---his legend truly grew in Los Angeles.

As my title indicates, we need more coaches like John Wooden here in 2008. Can you imagine what the current crop of college ballers would be like if they had a mentor and role model like Wooden? He had depth, insight, was spiritual, a reader, a thinker, etc. This was not required, but he knew all these attributes were necessary to grow "student athletes" into successful players and adults. Even a hippie like Bill Walton, the antithesis to a noble, mature person like Wooden---respects and admires "Coach." Wooden knew how to reach all. His quotes---taken from other coaches, his father and his own mind---are ones to heed. I have the Pyramid of Success on my wall at work.

He hated dunking, showboating, selfishness, hedonism, etc. He'd loathe the brainwashing and lack of civility rampant on today's college and high school campuses.

This bio spans a wonderful, rich life, leaving no stone or thought unturned; no mind or theory unchallenged or ungrown.

A remarkbale living legend, G-d bless Mr. Wooden (who is still alive at the age of 97) and all he has done for the game and collegians everywhere.

John Wooden has figured out some of the secrets of life. And he passes them on directly, in a way that can be transformational for a reader.

John Wooden is a hero of mine. His own heroes include Abraham Lincoln and Mother Theresa. Like them, he is a treasure for all of us because his life and lessons demonstrate what it means to live to "our personal best" in a way that is simple, profound and so clear.

This book should be required reading in "Human Being 101".

We grow up hearing about the importance of developing " good character", not always knowing what it is, or just how to obtain it. All of Wooden's books give his personal guidelines for developing character and living a decent life, whether we are athletes, musicians, teachers, or anything else.
Wooden's teachings have stood the test of time. His life and those he has influenced are proof of that.
I use his wisdom for myself, and I pass it on to all my students. They all know who John Wooden is. His life blesses us all.

This is a great book to help any coach of any sport get a good feel for the right way to coach young players. Teach them good life lessons and skills. It gives an insight into a great coach and even greater man.

John Wooden is one of my heroes. When I was growing up, his teams were dominant, but more importantly, they made the game beautiful to watch. After he retired at the peak of his game, he quietly stepped off the stage. With the rush of books on leadership in the 1990's through the present, it was inevitable, and overdue, that folks take time to examine Coach Wooden's approach to leadership. This has led to a cottage industry in Wooden books.

This book is short, personal and focuses on life lessons learned from the narrative of Coach's life. It doesn't attempt to be weighty, just a good read, that imparts wisdom without hitting you over the head with it. It touches on each chapter of Coach Wooden's life, and particularly shows the infuence of his father, his high school and college coaches and his growth thru experience

This is a fun, easy read that leaves the reader wiser. Highly recommend

Perry Ludy's book, Profit Building examines a powerful dichotomy for business in the new millennium. It empowers commerce to make effective choices to achieve profit building by cutting costs without cutting people.

Profit Building is also an imperative to examine conventional business models during periods of economic uncertainity. This book is precise, concise and truly on the cutting edge of contemporary issues in today's economy.

Profit Building is a must read for savvy business management - or those who expect to join the ranks - to "get ahead of the curve" or virtually reinvent the human possibilities.

Reviewed by former Group Publisher CBS.

If you are looking for a way to increase profits in your organization, I strongly recommend that you start by first reading Profit Building - Cutting Costs Without Cutting People. Mr. Ludy takes you step by step though the process of building an on-going profit build team for your organization. We have used it as a blueprint for our company and it has really turned our employees. The book moves fast and I found it to be an easy read.

Perry J. Ludy, a seasoned executive, presents his strategies for building profits and cutting costs in this well conceived book. He provides a team-based, profit-making plan that companies of any size could implement. In this simple, highly effective book, Ludy dispels myths about cutting costs and building profits. He uses examples from his professional experience to show his suggestions in action. We [...] recommend this book to managers and executives who are responsible for cost cutting and profit building.

As one CEO said to me recently, "No one who has a conscience ever wants to lay anyone off." Yet the headlines are filled with announcements that companies are making massive cuts in jobs and employees. Recently, these cuts are even coming in the fastest growing technology industries. If people don't like to fire anyone and people don't like to be fired, why is this happening?

Mr. Ludy argues that faced with missing budgets, the orders come down to spend less. Most people do know how to fire someone, so that option gets plenty of attention. Most people do not know many other ways to cut costs or boost profits in the short term, so the alternatives get little attention.

Our firm did a study more than a decade ago that has been quoted in dozens of books and magazine articles. We found that the stocks of companies which did layoffs usually underperformed the stocks of companies that did not. By the end of four years, the differences were enormous in favor of those who did not do layoffs.

Many people believe that this is because people do layoffs poorly, and many people do. But it also because the effort that goes into the layoffs could be better deployed in activities that increase profits. Usually, the bulk of those who go are the most employable people. They end up working for the competition, or having to be hired back as expensive consultants. How does either alternative help, while you are paying severance benefits as an additional cost?

Mr. Ludy points out, based on his extensive experience, that most executives, managers, and supervisors know little about profit improving.

Much of the recent training in companies has been on how to reduce errors, and that may help cut costs in main processes. That learning is often of little help in secondary processes and in areas where the processes need to be totally replaced, revised, or outsourced. Xerox and Motorola are both famed for their quality processes, and both companies are struggling now to make a profit.

Mr. Ludy has developed a process described in the book that helps to get people focusing on the best opportunities, and following through to implement the opportunites that they select. He also provides lists of items which many companies ignore, to help get the process started.

Although I have not seen this process working in practice, it is similar enough to elements of successful processes I have seen that is has credibility to me.

If you decide to pursue this process, I suggest that you can improve upon it. First, rather than just having one small team working on this, you should try to get as many people working in small teams as possible. The most successful profit-improvement program I ever saw involved over 14,000 people in suggesting ideas. Second, be sure to compare the performance you are achieving in one part of the company with what you are achieving in another part of the company in the same activity. Most large companies get their best ideas from benchmarking to their own best practices. Third, be sure to create an e-intelligence capability to get more information to everyone about how the company is performing. E-Business Intelligence is a book that can help you understand this point better.

The three strengths of Mr. Ludy's process to me are:

1. The emphasis on finding ways to improve profits, without hurting people.

2. Training people about how to improve profits.

3. Eliciting questions to locate opportunities.

In regard to the second point, you may find it helpful to read Dr. Ram Charan's new book as well, What the CEO Wants You to Know. That book focuses on simple business concepts and metaphors to make everyone better able to relate to the issues of the enterprise.

One of the major weaknesses of companies is that leaders are often asked to pursue tasks for which they do not have relevant information, experience, or training. Where else does your company have this issue? In my experience, two areas stand out.

(1) Finding better solutions to repetitive problems.

(2) Choosing directions that will lead to better results, regardless of business conditions.

May you find more intelligent, and more humane, ways to profit!

It is axiomic that the role of the firm is to maximise profit; some would say to maximise shareholder value. Profit can be increased by selling goods and services at a premium price that the customer is prepared to pay. However, in a highly competitive environment, prices can be depressed and the company may have to focus on cutting costs whilst maintaining an acceptable level of service and quality.

With the various economic shocks that the world is subjected, one typical and favourite target for cost cutting is reducing the workforce. This short-sighted approach to cost cutting not only causes a lot of human suffering but seldom achieves the intended objective of reducing costs in the long-run. Perry Judy proposes a more progressive approach that focuses on profit improvement. The Profit-Building Process that the author proposes appears to be an effective and workable method for building profit without employing the short-sighted and often self-defeating cost-cutting through cutting people.

I work in the airline industry where people cutting is a favourite strategy employed during lean times. Very often, following the drastic reduction in manning levels, service levels are reduced to such an extent that customers are turned away, further worsening the plight of the airlines concerned. The step-by-step approach of building on-going profit through motivated teams appears to be an excellent strategy for companies to employ when cost-cutting is required.

The book is required reading for all managers tasked with the responsibility to cut costs and build profits in any department.

All of the cookbooks in this series are AWESOME. I collect cookbooks but these are the ones I turn to everyday. All of the receipes are easy and my familly loves them.

This is not elegant French cuisine or elegant cooking of any other type, but it is THE BEST church-basement, homey, pot-luck supper, midWestern style cooking collection of recipes I've ever had the pleasure of finding. I recommend it with one tiny reservation, that tiny reservation being that some of the recipes forget that spices don't begin and end with salt and pepper, there are others available now. Otherwise, it is a terrific book, worth far more than the trivial price.

This cookbook is a great addition to any cook's collection. I have found the Soy Marinated Salmon recipe to be a hit- even with those who say they don't like fish. Whenever I want to try something new, I always pull this book and my Paula Deen book off the shelf. It is a great staple in the simple home cooking category. Enjoy!

Very good -- am in theprocess of trying out a few of these. Good work!!!

I received this cookbook as a wedding gift, and I think it has been the one thing I have used over and over. I have yet to make a recipe from this cookbook that is "average." If you make nothing else, the Applebarn Fresh Apple Cake is worth the price of this book. I need to buy a second volume because the original is wearing out!

Through the years I've read heaps of marketing books, some great, and some not so great. This book falls into the category of great books!
As always Jack Trout makes tough and complicated things easy and comprehendable. As all of his books this is a great read, but if you haven't read 'positioning' and 'marketing warfare' I would highly recommend you to read them first.

Since you are not tasting an apple I can Not Help you to feel it, have one and you will see the result, THIS BOOK IS A MUST FOR ANY ONE WHO IS LIVING ON THE PLANET OF EARTH, In this Book You can learn either LIFE lessons OR Business Lessons, So if you are looking for others idea like ME, Invest on it, IT IS WORTH 10,000,000,000 MORE than its price, God bless JACK TROUT!

Few marketing books has the enjoyable read character. it is safe to say that Big Brands...Big trouble leads the pack. Concise yet informative, the book focus on the notion that marketing is about winning your customers' minds and hearts.

By going through ample examples of famous brands, Mr. Trout dispel some of the conventinoal strategies most companies blindly undertake. Line extention according to him, has done nothing but damage to At&T and Miller Brewing. The giant P&G has lost big on the toothpaste line becasue they forgot what made their brand a hit. Fashionable outlets such as Levi' and M&S needs to rise out from the past and look more into the future by developing their own unique "brand lifestyle".

On the dark side, the book is relatively redundant and by the end of it, it looses out. Also, the recurring negative remarks on another business guru "Michel Porter" was needless and hence lost the book the full the mark.

¡§Big Brands Big trouble¡¨ is a very interesting and comprehensive book. This book have a clear organization which comprise several types of popular mistakes with different big brand cases, how to select a board of directors and how to be a good CEO. I think this book is suitable for anyone who is interested in Marketing or Branding because you could gain a lot of insight from it. After reading this book, you will understand why some brands cannot be established well even they have spent a lot money on advertising, introducing many new products.

This book impress me the most is that Jack Trout illustrated all mistakes clearly by showing how the big brands, like Levis, Burger King, AT&T and Marks and Spencer made in the past. Then you may discover that some of the existing well-known brands are actually making mistakes for their marketing strategies. Moreover, you may get surprise that some of the popular marketing strategies, like line extension, benchmarking cannot promote your product, conversely, they will hurt your company seriously. So you must read this book if you want to surpass your competitors by using appropriate marketing strategies for your company.

Overall speaking, this book is easy to read and understand because Jack Trout delivered a concise and important message in the book ¡V ¡§Marketing is a battle of perception, not product¡¨

¡§Big Brands Big trouble¡¨ is a very interesting and comprehensive book. This book explains several types of popular mistakes with different big brand cases, how to select a board of directors and how to be a good CEO. I think this book is suitable for anyone who is interested in Marketing or Branding because you could gain a lot of insight from it. After reading this book, you will understand why some brands cannot be established well even they have spent a lot money on advertising, introducing many new products.

This book impress me the most is that Jack Trout illustrated all mistakes clearly by showing how the big brands, like Levis, Burger King, AT&T and Marks and Spencer made in the past. Then you may discover that some of the existing well-known brands are actually making mistakes for their marketing strategies. Moreover, you may get surprise that some of the popular marketing strategies, like line extension, benchmarking cannot promote your product, conversely, they will hurt your company seriously. So you must read this book if you want to surpass your competitors by using appropriate marketing strategies for your company.

Overall speaking, this book is easy to read and understand because Jack Trout delivered a concise and important message in the book ¡V ¡§Marketing is a battle of perception, not product¡¨

After reviewing several books on Strategic Execution, I was continuously left with the feeling that the authors had ommitted a key ingredient. This book has convinced me that that key ingredient was "Alignment".
This book was published 10 years ago (OK, I am embarrassed that I have only just got around to reading it) but it is as significant today as it was when it was first published. Probably more so considering the rapid state of change that most companies are faced with today.
It is a simple read, and the concepts are easy to follow. What I enjoyed most about the book is that the suggestions are practical and you can take them and implement them immediately within an organization.
I noticed that one of the readers who has reviewed the book said that the book was required reading for his MBA course. 10 years on, I still think it should be required reading for any business executive.

I'm always looking for visual ways of understanding critical elements of strategy. The Power of Alignment offers a very helpful way of thinking about four important ingredients in keeping the main thing, the main thing. Vertical alignment, the relationship between your strategy and the people on your team, "energizes...provides direction, and offers opportunity for involvement." Horizontal alignment refers to the connection between your processes and customers. Taken together the two measures provide some great insight into the development of genuine alignment.

One of the most interesting elements of the book is a 16 question diagnostic tool that is designed to provide a graphic view of your organization's alignment. Very helpful!

Great book! The basic premise is that once a business has a raison d'etre, or a 'main thing', that profits are maximized by the alignment of four key business areas: Strategy, Processes, People, and Customers. Built on this premise are actionalbe ways to build a self-aligning organization. I got the sense of discovering truth while I read this book. Leadership isn't really about power, it is about responsibility. This book shows a manager at any level how to align his area to the overall strategy of the company and to the end products of the company. It shows how processes should be designed and what factors should be used to reward, recognize and evaluate employees. Great food for thought and realistic to implement.

Five Stars

Quite simply, this book was one of the best business management and leadership books I have ever read. It was well-written and expertly balanced management and leadership concepts with real-world examples of effectively aligned organizations, such as Federal Express and Southwest Airlines. This book should be read and discussed by leaders and managers at all levels, especially by mid- to senior-level executives.

In brief, alignment deals with the relationships among the people, processes, strategy, and customers of an organization relative to that organization's purpose, or what the authors called "the main thing." Alignment is both a noun, a state of being, and a verb, a set of actions. Vertical alignment connects organizational strategy with the people responsible for transforming that strategy into meaningful work. Horizontal alignment deals with understanding your customers' wants and then creating processes to deliver what your customers want, when and how they want it. Effective leadership nurtures the organizational culture that is built around and upon "the main thing," and it is this culture and leadership combination that drives and sustains self-aligning organizations in turbulent times.

The authors' analogy of landing a plane helped me to visualize the dynamics involved with organizational alignment. To land a plane, a pilot must adjust and react to multiple simultaneous factors and conditions (i.e. air speed, altitude, angle of approach, wind speed and direction, etc.) and then understand how a change in one will affect the others. Likewise, to align an organization, a leader must adjust and react to feedback about his people, processes, strategy, and customers, and then understand how a change in one will affect the others.

The authors clearly and thoroughly explained the alignment factors and conditions throughout the book. They followed their explanations with incisive questions for readers to ask about themselves and their organizations to assess their degree of alignment. Those questions were definitely a highlight of the book for they really helped to stimulate my thinking and should help inspire organizational progress to alignment. Another highlight was the appendices that contained examples of actual tools and products used and created by some of the aligned organizations studied by the authors.

The inside back cover jacket sums up why I give the book my highest recommendation: "Essential reading for all managers and executives, "The Power of Alignment" offers a new way to reestablish focus and sustained energy, and is a dynamic approach for staying balanced and achieving extraordinary levels of performance."

I found this book easy reading, concise, and presented it's basic premise well with specific examples and good suggestions for creation and implementation.

Working as a Director in Managed Care for several pharmaceutical companies, it creates a focus for any organization and a roadmap for the future(physician, health plan, pharmaceutical company) to avoid many of the mistakes and pitfalls that have already been experienced in an attempt to align with the ever changing healthcare landscape.

For those who do account management, it provides a construct and roadmap to use to optimize alignment with internal customers and maximize resources to create value and return with the external customers (....and their customers.) As the authors point, alignment is a continuing process, not a single event in time. Many companies become quickly aligned with the past, and misaligned with the present & future, and can not sustain the competitive edge because they forget this basic premise that the authors reinforce.

The concepts are basic and fundamental, but usually overlooked and forgotten in the day to day business of rapidly growing companies and changing environments.

I just read Dr Butler's book and the title is accurate. It is a 2 hour read that doesn't even seem like you're reading an economics text. It has well distilled insights into how markets work and why they are a good thing, and these are couched in colourful examples from Butler's real life experience. I highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to appreciate the market in a way that much more laborious treatments fail to do.

I haven't finished this book yet, but for me it actually IS "the best book on the market." I am no economist, but I have read Sowell's "Basic Economics, and Hazlitt, as well as large helpings of Ludwig von Mises and Hayek. All of these people wrote excellent books, but this particular minor classic rises to the status of a classic because of the author's very dry sense of humor, and also because of his excellent use of comparisons.

These things are not what comes "easily," or "naturally." My favorite comparison (so far) is with the old-fashioned cars which actually had a temperature gauge rising from the engine so you could tell when the engine was overheating. A dissatisfied customer complained that his gauge always read "hot." The author's father "fixed" the problem by soldering some gears in the gauge together, so that it would always read "normal."

Bad fix -- worse than a kluge. What happens when the engine actually boils over?

This "bad fix" is compared to ALL government attempts to regulate prices. They ALWAYS fail and they are ALWAYS a bad idea. It's just like soldering the gears together.

As one of a billion examples, during the recent tsunami in Thailand, the then Prime Minister came out with a bold speech promising to punish those who were "profiteering" from the catastrophe, and fixing all prices in the area of the tsunami. Could anybody think of a surer way to ensure starvation in that area? Of course, this being Thailand, it is highly probable that everyone overlooked the Big Speech.

I also particularly enjoyed the author's selection of Princess Diana's death as an illustration of the efficiency of the price system. The price of flowers in London went through the roof, and this information instantly reached flower wholesalers on the Continent, and shortly reached Kenya -- which instantly began to send more flowers to satisfy the overwhelming demand. As the author points out, in a centrally-planned economy, it would have taken at least a week for the current report on the "Flower Situation" to hit the desk of the appropriate minister, and at least a month for the Ministry of Flowers to do anything about it.

A classic book! (And I don't say that lightly.)

Witty and gripping. Butler's penetrating gaze includes fair trade, black markets, and equity. He believes that when markets are allowed to work without government interference but within the framework of just laws they can create "a richer, freer and more peaceful world".

Eamonn Butler, Director of the Adam Smith Institute, has a wonderful ability to express the fundamentals of economics and exchange in ways that lay readers can understand and enjoy - and empathise. This ability combines with an essential technique - to start at the beginning! The path from a single deal between two consenting people (possibly in different countries) to large-scale free enterprise, is a simple continuum. Requiring only the freedom to associate, at every point participants are free to exchange - or not - and the choice may or may not be made with regard to ancillary matters such as specialist advice and contracts. Thus Dr Butler starts with a visit to a street market in Lanzhou, China, and ends (or nearly ends) in discussing multi-national companies. On the way, he covers most of the important consequences of this freedom; for example specialisation and exchange, (to the point where exchange is the fundamental social relation) money, the informative role of prices, and capital accumulation.


Dr Butler is (among other things) a proper economist. By this I mean he has no time for the Keynesian macro-economics churned out by most universities; markets, and life itself, are never in equilibrium, so why build up a "science" on the assumption that they are? There is no Utopia; it's just that markets and freedom from governments are much nearer to it, adjusting constantly in their quests to do better. As he says, "the free-exchange system [markets] has an uncanny power to steer the right resources to the right place at the right time". "Unorganised order", he calls it. In contrast government is working in a vacuum; its operations are based on whims not price signals, and it torpedoes markets whenever it can (starting with money, where "governments manage to make paper completely worthless by printing pictures of dead presidents on it").


Dr Butler rightly castigates big government as the arch-enemy of markets, censoring them and their miraculous signals at every turn. Yet the failure of government projects is an endemic feature, while their perpetrators sing the "market failure" mantra at every opportunity - nowhere more loudly than on the environment, where as Dr Butler points out, markets don't exist.


He might have added "because they were nationalised". But elaborating on that takes time and space, whilst a major feature of this wonderful little book is that it is, well, little; you can read it in one sitting - although many readers will use it as a handy reference as well.


The book is similarly succinct in addressing government regulation of business. Often deliberately sought as a means of protection from competition, this practice is rife and provides government with a scapegoat when things go wrong. (A thorough nailing of this issue and its true causes is long overdue.)


Dr Butler has touched on scores of other matters which are best dealt with by markets not governments - the benefits of competition, prices as messengers, transaction costs, externalities, (where tax itself remains the supreme externality) patents, licences, entrepreneurs (as opposed to "experts") the crucial role of property, and the essential morality of free markets. (Enforced behaviour has no moral component, of course, and in any case charities are within the free market rather than outside it.)


Definitely the best book on the market that's on the market!

I think Dr Butler has penned an excellent, succinct and effective introduction to the case for liberal, free markets. It is particularly effective for anyone who has not encountered these arguments before, because it is fair, jargon-free and resists the temptation to ram home the ideologial message too hard.

It covers all the main bases well. If I have a tiny quibble, I would argue that on complex issues such as patents, copyright and limited liability companies, it might have been useful to explain that even among ardent free marketeers, there is a lot of debate on whether, for example, patents are either justified or right.

But that is a minor point. This book ranks alongside such works as Basic Economics by Tom Sowell, Free To Choose by Milton Friedman and Economics In One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt as a superb introduction to the field. It can be read easily in an hour or so. It should be on the reading list of young students interested in business and might help to counter a lot of lazy, statist thinking.