Corporate-finance

Sure, it is easy to criticize it now. So why not? The thesis of this book is on page 2: "American business is fat, overweight, slow, and failing fast." Besides such amusing propositions, the author gives lots of tables and figures, most of them absolutely meaningless because they do not belong to any specific context. The Japanese are beating us everywhere, claims the author, and it is only getting worse. This book was written during the recession of the early 1990s. It exists somewhere between total boredom and farce.

Although the economic situation has changed since this book was written (Americans no longer tremble before the Japanese juggernaut), the advice in this book is certainly still relevant.

Humorous and to-the-point, the author points out the follies still rampant in traditional American management style - the caste system of hourly and salaried workers, the unwillingness to engage the workforce, the traditional appraisal system, "Management By Objective", and the failure to view the business as a web of interconnected micro-processes. His argument is based on the philosophy of Dr. Deming and other leading quality practitioners.

True - American business has changed somewhat, but we're not as good as we think we are. This book can still open some eyes, and deserves to be read.

Since his review was written in July 2001, maybe it's easy to criticize, but why not? American business has been shown to be fat, overweight and in very serious trouble. Maybe had more businesses taken Doctor Lareua's advice, we wouldn't have had the Enron, Worldcom, Tyco type debacles and shareholders would still be interested in investing in Corporate America. You may not like the messanger of American Samurai, but ignore its message to your own peril!

At classic auto shows today, you can see lots of old Chevys, Fords, and Chryslers. But it's hard to find any examples of independent automotive manufacturing. Not many people seem to care about Packard, Studebaker, Hudson, Nash, and, of course, American Motors or AMC. They seem to seen as junk, not worth the steel they're made of. Patrick R. Foster in "American Motors : The Last Independent" does a wonderful job of informing the public of what effort and talent went into creating these fine cars that were a good portion of time as good, if not better, as anything the Big Three put out. You learn that AMC's demise wasn't sudden, but gradual, starting in the early 1960's. There are detailed facts about the cars that were shipped out of the Kenosha, Wisconson factory. "American Motors : The Last Independent" is all in all a good read. One of the few things it lacks is an index which I miss dearly. Even though, I would recommend it to my friends.

....But I found this book to be fascinating.

AMC, over the years has produced some very unusual cars, some very UGLY cars and some very successful cars.

This book chronicles them all, and tells the story of the rising AMC under George Romney, its near death under Roy Abernethy, and all the ups and downs of the seventies and eighties. Even if you never felt compelled to buy an AMC car, you have to come away with a profound respect for the survival instinct of this underdog company.

I found this to be one of those books I could not put down. The book is a good mixture of history, inside stories and pictures. Ooooh the pictures. You get to see the 57 Rambler mock-ups wearing both a Nash and Hudson badge. Lots of other exclusive photos also. Great history of AMC mangement. Unique look into the different approachs taken to run the company and the mistakes made by each person in charge. Each time a mistake was made AMC bounced back, but a little weaker. You'll find youself wishing the ending was different.

Called 'American Dreams' it might have been justly titled 'American Commercial Trivia'. Each year from 1889 thru 1989 has a business idea explained in a few hundred words and stock archive photos. Of course, in some years not too much happens, the spread for 1956 covers the interstate highway program and 1935 gives a page to National Labor Relations Act and the AFL CIO.

A book of interesting ideas and products that have changed our lives explained in a superficial way. I would have expected something with more substance from The Wall Street Journal...'the daily diary of the American Dream!

This is undoubtedly one of the best books ever written about the building of a truly American business empire, (The Reader's Digest Association) and how that empire affected the lives of its founders, Dewitt and Lila Wallace.The author poignantly details how the founders,who were undoubtedly handson managers of the Digest for most of their lives,became prisoners of their empire, and how those who inherited the reigns of the Digest abused that powerand abandoned the original goals the Wallaces developed for it.