Corporate-finance

Excellent book. With so many "here's what's wrong with your company" books available, this is one of the best. Not only does the author suggest what's wrong...i.e., which part of the life cycle is your company in, he tells you how to do something about it.

If I'd only been able to read just one book, I am glad I choose this one.

It's not necessarily that as a company grows from the garage into the boardroom that bad things happen . . . it's that some things are inevitable and are a function of growth.

This book sumarizes the multiple facets involved in such growth and allows the reader to compare the growth cycle of companies at varying stages. It's impact on people, org behavior, culture, awareness and other areas that the "garage shop" does not need to consider at early stages. It's a key read and assessment as companies find themselves in transition from a heavily entrepreneurial spirit to a more entrenched corporate being and notes many of the patterns such growth requires. Read between the lines and you may find companies who are currently faltering because of a lack of transition mindset to allow them to sustain managed growth or the new "size." Overall, it's a great academic read.

By comparing the lifecycles of corporations to those of civilizations, this book helps to explain how all sorts of organizations, not just corporations, can become "sick" through bureaucracy and poor leadership. This book helped me to understand why there is so much institutional opposition to correcting even localized corruption and dissolution in a large, bureaucratic GOVERNMENT institution. It helped save my sanity. I with the author would write a similar book dealing with governmental organizations.

Another book which may help if you are trying to "fight city hall" is Stanley Milgram's Obedience to Authority.

I feel sorry for author. Dennis Welt BC Canada

Microsoft unveiled --- a fascinating story. What has always been suspected but never actually disclosed. Never before have we had an opportunity to view Microsoft's business practices as witnessed through the eyes of several of the company's most respected developers, many of whom are still on the company's payroll. The authors of Barbarians led by Bill Gates offer a refreshing and strikingly different view of Gates & company than that which the Microsoft PR wizards have spun for outsiders. The book gives its readers a front row seat to witness firsthand the company's phenomenal ascendance from a 100 person startup in 1982 to its extraordinary present day market dominance of the PC software industry. Most previous Microsoft books have either been PR sanctioned or researched through outside sources. One would suspect that this may be the first and last view from the inside of one of this century's most successful businesses, as it's a certainty that this kind of penetration of the company's developer community will not be tolerated again.

Really cool description about how Microsoft(MS) does biz. Author tracks MSs story right from the beginning of time when MS was trading as a penny stock. He pretty humorously points out a lot of flaws (who doesn't) in MSs biz model and how luck favored MS all the time.. and how MS is becoming corrpupt slowly... may be due to its success

The acronyms that prevail in MSs biz environment has been very funnily described. I could not control my laughter when he says that the marketing people are better equipped in sucking upto IBM.

Looks like the author ended up working in the unsuccessful pen computing project and ended up losing his importance and power in MS. This has been reflected through out the book but for a few chapters. So, the moral of the story is: "If you are in IT field watch out what you are doing, you better bet on the right horse" Kinda hard to do, but atleast you should put an effort.

Overall, it is a really funny book on technology and has been published at the right time. Overall its a great book and would make a good coffee table book as long as MS/DOJ was goes on..

Uncle Bill should read this...

Barbarians provides a detailed look into the biggest LBO in history - RJR Nabisco. The author does any amazing job of describing the events, people, industry and money involved in this transaction. The author paints a perception of what drives men in the LBO industry - ethically and economically. He doesn't try to sway your opinion one way or the other. The chain of events, themselves, makes this book worth reading - no player in this transaction is left untouched. I recommend anyone interested in LBOs to pick and read this book. Tremondous insight into the LBO/power player industry

To start explaining this book you must understand that the book has been written by two investigative reporters, so it reads like a well written novel. In fact with some of these books you must remind yourself that it is not fiction.

The other thing is that the authors emphasize the people and what they think, their motivations, their egos and their vulnerabilities. It is not a financial book. It is more of a novel. When you combine the writing plus with the emphasis on the people you get a best seller - as we have.

Here is the situation. The CEO's of some of these corporations get greedy and decide that making millions per year and having a fleet of their own jets - is not enough. They want to borrow money and buy the whole company. That is what we had here. The CEO Ross Johnson proposes a leveraged buy out (LBO) of RJR-Nabisco, which had previously merged. His idea is to borrow money and buy all the stock. So it is really a story about Ross Johnson and whether or not he could pull of this (theft) purchase from the shareholders by borrowing enough money. He is abetted by bankers and investment people, and they all want a piece of the action and large fees. It is all quite fascinating stuff.

But he hits a snag. The prize is too big and draws other people into the fray.

Like sharks smelling blood in the water he attracts KKR runs by Henry Kravis - a New York based LBO company. It decides it wants to get involved. The book takes us like a suspense novel through various negotiations and heavy duty meetings in Manhattan until it is finally settled. It makes for a fascinating read.

Recently I read another book that I thought was quite different but just excellent. Ross Johnson in the present book RJR-Nabisco was the CEO of a large public company and he became such by working his way up through the ranks. To me a more fascinating book is Losing my Virginity by Richard Branson also at Amazon.com. Branson starts his career by himself selling a magazine as a teenager, starts Virgin Records, takes on and beats back British Airways with Virgin Airways, and does it all with a flair for the dramatic - and often he owns the companies.

Jack in Toronto

Why read fiction when all that you have to do is open the Wall St. Journal? Barbarians at the Gate gives the reader insight into the behind the scenes details that go into a major corporate transaction. Laymen, don't be swayed!!! This work of non-fiction reads like a Grisham or Turow novel. Deals are cut, backs are stabbed, and a lot a money changes hands. Just another day at the office for players in this arena. Having become a mergers & acquisitions advisor subsequent to reading this book, I have come to realize how true to life it actually is. Heylar and Burroughs do an excellent job of explaining the complexities of a buyout without inundating the reader with boring (trust me...boring) details. This book is a must read for people interested in a good story, as well as people interested in life on the Street.

Reading this guy's work is a real testimony to the staying power generated by doing something first. His 1967 paper on bankruptcy was the first to estimate a multivariate default prediction model. THAT'S 35 YEARS AGO. Things like computers and more data make both his estimation algorithm and parameter estimates relics of little significance, and his inability to recognize this is symptomatic of a more cluelessness exhibited in his discussion of other matters (he doesn't simply reference the old model; it's now irrelevant structure is examined and built upon throughout the book).

Very little of what is here is new, and what's new isn't that good either. Freshmen looking for succinct references to someone their professor has heard of but not read will appreciate this volume. I suggest reading S&P or Moody's research instead.

I was really disappointed with this book, particularly given that it was written by seasoned bankruptcy experts. The book is very skinny on content - it spends about 30 pages on bankruptcy law and its procedures, a few on case studies that are superficial/poorly written and several on bond analysis, and standard research tools that are well-known to a person with basic financial knowledge, ie the sort of people who would be interested in something relatively exotic as Bankruptcy Investing. The few useful pages that there are are marred by poor writing, and a complete absence of analytical frameworks that stay with the reader.

Bankruptcy is a complex topic and there is a need for a book of the sort Branch and Ray have attempted. However, this is most certainly not that book.

Great introduction and overview of the world of distressed and bankruptcy investing. The authors managed to synthesize a very complicated subject into an easy-to-read and understandible book. Of course no one book can cover the entire subject in detail, but this one comes amazingly close. Highly recommended.

This book has everything I needed to make money in this market. They do need to update their data and bring it forward, but the analysis is first rate and the methodology was very new to me although quite understandable in plain english for someone without a law degree or an mba. I now understand what is going on here and I can see how the vulture investors get the large returns. I reread the first part after several months of buying and it all still held together. Interesting and moneymaking as well.