Business-valuation

This is a required text at my school, but after having read the first 5 chapters there is almost nothing of value that I have read. I have spoken to several people that have used this text for the class in prior semesters and they told me that they had stopped reading it after the first several chapters also.

This review applies to the edition WITH CASES. This isn't recommended for anyone who is just starting out with choosing investments. Beginners might be better off with a more general overview of financial statement analysis (FSA) like Higgins' "Analysis of Financial Statements" or Fraser and Omriston's "Understanding Financial Statements".

This was one of two textbooks used in a financial statement analysis course I took for my MBA. Most chapters are down-to-earth and as a whole the book is well-written.

The other text we used was Penman's "Financial Statement Analysis and Security Valuation" which was also a great resource as far as gaining a basic understanding of the mechanics of financial statements and how to build a valuation model.

I contrast the two books because while Penman provides a run-down of several different models analysts can use (and does a good job of arguing for the Residual Income Model of valuation model as being the best), Palepu delves into the implications of companies' choices of accounting methods and provides more insight into what different kinds of businesses should look like in terms of their financial statements.

The cases at the end of each chapter add a lot of value to the text because they get students to focus on the specific issues detailed in each chapter. By picking apart different companies' financial statements we learned to use financial statements to assess the success or failure of companies' efforts to carry out their business strategies.

I rate it "Good - 4 stars"

This book is an excellent description of all the elements that would go into reviewing a potential investment opportunity. It is not a detailed book in one category, such as financial accounting, but it ties business strategy analysis, financial analysis, forecasting analysis, and valuation analysis together. Most other books focus on one area and don't tie all of these together well. This one takes you down the path to evaluating the opportunity to its fullest. It is an excellent capstone book after you have sifted through the details of strategy, finance, and accounting.

This book is a comprehensive and holistic approach to brand , although a but out-dated. For more updated concepts I reccommend 60-Minute Brand Strategist by Idris Mootee. The author presents an expanded view of the meaning and role of brands and gives a new dimension, deeper than the single, limited conceptualization of a brand as a product. The role of the organizational associations, of the culture values and the emotional imput is very well integrated to understand the multidimensional meaning of a brand. Both books will help brand, marketing and/or commercialization managers to best leverage their corporate, range and product brands. Additionally, the insights presented to understand brand and company valuations are very well explained.

Branding appears to be a mushy, unquantifiable subject. Before I bought this book I read through countless articles on the subject that just didn't make much sense. Reading Aaker's book provided the opposite experience: crystal clear, a compelling argument for why brand matters and how best to build one.

The single most useful book I've found on brand development. Aaker presents a thorough, but easy to read exploration of the many branding complexities. Giving the reader a framework of inter-related concepts, he gels the essence of each point with useful examples. You immediately understand the idea and move comfortably on to the next - quite an accomplishment for such a complex subject.

If I have one frustration, it's that even with his flowcharts and figures, I suspect there is a comprehensive diagram to be had which would tie all the branding issues and dimensions into a single profile. After reading the book I found myself trying to flowchart it all to better see the relationships involved. It would have been helpful if the author had done it for us.

Even so, I value the book highly and it will become a central reference for my entire staff.