Corporate-finance

Michael Craig, a securities attorney, describes the basis for success or failure in 50 big money business deals. He examines the strategy, risks and personality dynamics involved. Craig highlights 10 rules for success he gleaned by observing patterns in these deals, rules you can apply to your own business transactions. This well-crafted book groups several deals to illustrate each rule, although many of the deals reflect several principles. At the end of each story, the author recaps the lesson at hand and explains what went right or wrong. While executives, company owners, and those who do deals for them will find this book especially valuable, we at getAbstract also recommend it to general readers, who will enjoy reading these inside accounts of well-publicized deals.

After having read many business and political articles by Michael Craig, I'm glad to see his talent has finally been noticed by publishing houses. This book is not only entertaining but a must read for anyone in business or anyone considering starting a business. Oh, to have this book 100 years ago!!!

This is when business is at its most exciting -- when the façade of carefully laid plans and beautifully executed plays fades into a reality of last-minute decisions, Hail Mary passes and ego-driven competitiveness. This book looks at 50 such moments, dividing them into ten categories, such as "Do Your Homework" (The disastrous formation of Cendant from the merger of HFS and CUC Int'l) and "Take Advantage of Your Adversary's Weakness" (John Kluge buys and breaks up Metromedia). From small but critical decisions (Michael Robertson purchases the domain name MP3.com) to gigantic transactions (Quaker Oats acquires Snapple), from those that worked out beautifully (Berkshire Hathaway purchases Coca-Cola stock) to those that failed miserably (Novell acquires WordPerfect), deals are dissected. What emerges is a compelling case that dealmaking, at least as much as running a company or creating products, is what separates good companies from bad.

Mike Craig is one of my very favorite business writers. As he's demonstrated time and again on the website that I edit, he's in possession of one of the rarest traits in business writing: hands-on knowledge of how deals are put together. Having defended, sued, represented and antagonized dozens of public companies over his decade and a half as a corporate attorney, Craig knows how these deals are put together. Better, he knows how to explain them with flair.

This book is at its best when Craig is taking a company to task for a bad decision. Sony's ruinous acquisition of Columbia Pictures is gleefully detailed, from the initial overpayment to the hiring of Peter Guber and Jon Peters at inflated rates to the way Sony laid down when Warner sued them for hiring that duo. You can almost hear Craig giggling as he chronicles the missteps.

The total number of companies on a list such as this need not be 50. Moreover, there can be (and is) honest disagreement about the inclusion of some companies and not others. My own opinion is that all of the 50 companies which Rothman selected are worthy of inclusion...as are several others. The great value of this book is that Rothman is more than a list maker and a writer of mini-profiles. As he explains in the Introduction, his purpose is to examine 50 companies "that have dramatically and permanently altered us. In the process, you will also see how the general structure of business -- and along with it, our society -- has evolved over the past few centuries. You will meet with some individuals with extraordinary vision, courage, and commitment who struggled to realize their ideas and drive their companies to success. n a very real sense, they are the true forces that have changed our world."

According to criteria which are unclear to me, Rothman ranks the 50 in terms of their relative impact: Microsoft is #1 and H.J. Heinz is #50. In doing so, Rothman also invites honest disagreement about his ranking decisions. I certainly disagree with the ranking of Wal-Mart at #10. Oh well. He devotes about four pages to each of the 50 companies, with a "Fact File" preceding his brief commentary. He also includes a section called "Honorable Mentions" following by an extensive Bibliography.

This is a solid and sensible but not especially thought-provoking book, except to those who disagree with Rothman's selections and ranking of them, one which provides quite a bit of information on companies which have obviously made significant contributions to our society and, in most instances, to the global marketplace in which they have competed. To his Bibliography, I presume to add H.W. Brands's Masters of Enterprise, Stuart Crainer's The Management Century, the Forbes Greatest Business Stories of All Time, and John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge's The Company.

Howard Rothman, a writer who specializes in technology and management, profiles the 50 companies that had the strongest impact on the development of modern business. He sought input from high-tech executives, teachers, public relations professionals, engineers, business writers, shopkeepers, salespeople and managers in selecting the top 50, which he ranks in the order of their influence. While many of the stories in these four-page portraits are familiar, the book presents helpful historical profiles of how each company developed and influenced the business world and society. While some readers may like tackling all these capsule bios as a collection, many may prefer to regard the book more as an encyclopedia or directory and draw on the corporate information as needed. We [...] appreciate the solid work here, although the result may be more interesting as a reference book than as a cover-to-cover page-turner.

After hearing Rothman on NPR's Marketplace I wanted to read more and was not disappointed. "50 Companies" is positioned as a kind of encyclopedic guide to the top businesses of our time, and it certainly is that. But even more so, I believe, it's about the reciprocal relationships between all of business and all of society and individual businesses with each other. And in this it succeeds even more. Rothman mentions in the beginning how many of these companies touched his life as he was writing the book, and I found even more connections with my own life.

This book is very vague and general in content. In trying to determine how much of our home office furniture was deductible I looked up "furniture" and the book points you to "Business Assets" and within business assets there is no mention of furniture or like assets. What is written is a short very general list what "might" be deductible. I expected 422 deductions to be "specific deductions" or more importantly "how to determine" the eligibility of deductions. This book is far to vague to understand what is deductible and how to determine the eligibility.

Prior reviewers seem to have been disappointed with this book because they expected it to be something that it isn't designed to be. It is an encyclopedia of tax deductions for small businesses. If you're wondering if something is deductible, turn to that page in ths book (deductions are in alphabetical order), and you'll learn whether it's deductible and, if so, what category on your return it should be listed under. There won't be much information about who's eligible to deduct it or what records you need to keep to prove it but it does answer the question I always have of "can I deduct XX?" If you use this along with a general small business tax book, you'll have most of the information you need. I recommend either Kamaroff's Small Time Operator or Jan Zobel's Minding Her Own Business. The JK Lasser small business tax book might be fine too.

Now in a fully revised and updated edition, 422 Tax Deductions For Businesses & Self-Employed Individuals by certified public accountant and tax specialist Bernard B. Kamoroff is an alphabetical listing of tax deductions that business owners and the self-employed can apply to save themselves money on their tax bill. Ranging from depreciation of athletic facilities; to the cost buying, feeding, and maintaining a watch dog; to the creation of Medical Savings Accounts, 422 Tax Deductions presents its entries in brief, simple terms which are entirely accessible and "user friendly" for non-specialist general readers. 422 Tax Deductions For Businesses & Self-Employed Individuals is a superbly presented and strongly recommended tax preparation supplement for small business owners and the self-employed.

Shaping and building brands is a central issue in design, and a key aspect of design management. Building brands effectively requires an appreciation of how customers - and potential customers - experience every aspect of the products and services we design. It also demands sensitivity to the complex system of physical, affective, and, cognitive issues involved in any product or service. This complexity is particularly subtle and important for products bundled with or supported by services, and for the hybrid service products that typify many offerings today.

Thomas Gad is a respected practitioner in the field of brand development. He proposes three conceptual models to use in building brands. The 4-D brand model is organized around the concept of Brand Mind Space. Gad's schema considers four dimensions of a brand: functional, social, spiritual, and mental. The next model is the Brand Code. This code structures the attributes of a band in terms of product/benefit, mission, vision, values, styling, and positioning. Gad uses these two concepts to develop a number of applications, including a customer research instrument. He ends the book with 10 commandments for building a brand with a future.

Gad argues that, "branding literature remains largely theoretical because of the mystery inherent in the subject." He argues that scientific interest in why effective brands work is less important than an appreciation for the fact that branding does work - and an ability to make makes work in practice. In contrast to this position, one might suggest that a robust theory of brands would contribute to better practice. While Gad does not take a scholarly approach, he does propose a theory for analyzing brand opportunities and building successful brands in series of well-written, insightful case studies. Gad's conceptual models and sensitizing concepts deserve consideration in the context of a larger research program.

Review of European English edition published in Design Research News, Volume 6, Number 6, June 2001. ISSN 1473-3862.

We recommend this book and its toolkit to our members, providing this summary of what 4D branding trains you to do:

>Profile 4 dimensional branding you need: lowest dimension "function" suits product & advertised models of brand execution, but inhibits top "spiritual" dimension that corporate and global brands need >Experience futurised 4D brands: capable of leading organisational change and interacting organisation-wide service of value >Simplify DNA of futurised brands - vision, mission, values, styling, positioning, flagship product - so that the company can live the brand once you've taken the essential Brand Code on tour across company >Refresh the 4D Brand by intranetting such exercises as : concocting brand recipe for every audience, creating a mental movie for being the best brand in the world >Know why most company brands are still far down the learning curve as organisms of the network economy, and how the ideology of 4D branding can help you futurise just ahead of the competition

4D Branding is currently one of the top 10 toolkits in our members catalogue of frameworks used by Brand Leaders

Chris Macrae...

In the face of a great deal of "No Logo" brand hostility, it's good to see a response which paves the way for brands with more sensitivity and imagination. Have to admit that I picked this up in Europe because I liked the cover, but 4D proved to be an engaging and useful guide to more emotional branding. More process than puff, this is the best of the recent cluster of branding books, and shows that branding demands a commitment to imagination, innovation, responsibiliy and values. As Brit, Richard Branson (a walking brand if ever I saw one) says in the Foreword, "It is easy to be cynical about such things, but much harder to be successful." 200 pages less so now. Gad shares an enthusiasm and coherent approach to this stuff with Jesper Junde, who wrote Corporate Religion (the orange book!).

Doctor B has done it again! This is the third of his books that I've read. In each one, he has demonstrated a complete and thorough understanding of his subject, boiled the concepts down to the core ideas and presented those ideas in an easy to understand (and easy to enact)manner. His common sense approach, both in his books and in person, plays well in all settings, from corporate headquarters to the factory floor. And more importantly, it drives business results!

Mr. Bilanich's book says it simply and with useful tools for any size organization. Not the latest fad, just practical and easily incorporated 'secrets' that are the fundamental basics of achieving a high performing organization.

This book was easy to ready yet full of very good suggestions that can be used on a daily basis. I found myself trying his methods before even finishing the book! It's concise, practical, and a sensible approach to the many issues that face us in our daily business lives. I would recommend it to any manager that wants to increase productivity and motivation with their staff.

Students interested in consulting have to really prepare ahead of time for the job search. I'm still two years away from graduating, but definitely have a future in consulting in mind. This guide was really helpful in giving me a general overview of the larger firms as well as the industry overall. Along with each firm profile, there is a special section on hiring with information specific to undergrads, which gave me a really good idea of where I stand, and how to prepare to get my foot in the door of the firms I'm most interested in. The Interview Tips were also really helpful.

Once again, WetFeet doesn't let me down when it comes to its competency in the field of management consulting. I've already bought the Careers in Consulting guide as well as a couple of the company guides such as McKinsey and BCG. I thought I'd have a look at this guide to make sure I was considering the entire field and who might be a viable employer for me. I'm now considering some of the smaller players like the Advisory Board Committee and Monitor based on what I read in this guide. This is def. a good launching board for further research into some of the top consulting companies in the industry.

This guide is a good start for anyone interested in getting into the consulting industry. It lets you know who the big (and smaller) players are, how they've done in the past year, and where it looks like they're headed over the next year. I now have a good idea of who's hiring, and who's not, where I should expend my energy, and what to expect as I enter the recruiting process. I like that Wetfeet gives me the quick and dirty on 25 of the top firms. It helps me understand the basic and most vital facts and then figure out where i want to look to get more.