Corporate-finance

I treasure this "hard to find" book. If you are into strategic management, you would get an instant "easy to understand" presentation of the typologies. The knowledge base is amazing, with software support to enable user assess business units' strategic processes and explore virtual what-if scenarios. Undoubtedly, this is a book for discerning strategy educators and practitioners.

My feeling is that the target audience for this book is practitioners who did not study strategic management back in school but want to adopt a strategic thinking in their businesses. The book would be a good read for that purpose. This book was one of my first readings in my graduate level research involving strategic management. While I enjoyed reading it, after reading other strategy books like Aaker's "Developing Business Strategies", Porter's "Competitive Strategy" and Mintzberg's "The Strategy Process", I never had to go back to this book again. The process proposed by the author is essentially an optimization process to find the optimum solution, which they call "breakthrough strategy". However, the book falls short of demonstrating how the proposed process can be used to address real life problems which are often complex and dynamic. Even though the authors claim they were able to formulate consistently breakthrough strategies in the past using this process in real life, I think the book does not provide enough evidence to support that claim. On the other hand, I also acknowledge that there is a need for structured processes to help planners to formulate effective strategies even if they are not tested thoroughly. The book is a good attempt to meet that need.

I am the technologies director of my firm, and I have read many books on the subject of strategy formulation and innovation management, as well as a host of other business subjects. I find that they all have one common flaw, they do not provide answers to the thought provoking questions they ask. Business Strategy Formulation, on the other hand, has all of the answers to some of today's biggest challenges in business. Mr. Ulwick obviously has a tremendous understanding and practical knowledge of creating breakthrough strategies and solutions for organizations. He demonstrates this with incredible case histories and his detailed explanation of problem areas. Additionally, Mr. Ulwick explains his ground-breaking new technology with precise terminology, leaving no room for question. When I was finished reading this book, I felt that I had, for the first time ever, a clear understanding of what strategy formulation should be. I also finally understand why it is so difficult to grasp what my customers value and how to deliver that value. This book is a must read for anyone interested in learning more about strategy formulation, managing innovation, or creating customer value.

This is the best book you could find in the market for industry analysis. The aurthor fully implemented the ideas from Micheal Porter to security analysis. Very unique way of presenting the material. Definitely not a book for novice analyst.

This latest fifth edition provides a fine compendium of business statistics in this country, from key features of the 1999 revision of the GDP accounts to over a hundred data tables presenting years of annual data and monthly historical statistics. An excellent addition to any corporate research department or serious college-level business reference book collection.

This is the story of ethics, choices, and business presented the tale of one Edgar Benchley, a nerd who studies well and enters the world of business, where his questionable dealings keep resulting in his being fired. Ethics are brought to real life in this fable, which uses the story format to impart basics of ethics in the business world.

I absolutely love the new book on ethics by Marianne M. Jennings. She uses a parody to follow four students through their life from high school to middle age. One student, Edgar, has a big rabbit as his conscience. The rabbit appears whenever Edgar faces an ethical dilemma. Edgar repeatedly struggles through life as he sees his three friends achieve major financial gains by being unethical. Ms. Jennings does a wonderful job of illustrating the long-term benefits of running one's personal and business decisions through an ethical filter prior to action. This book should be mandatory reading for all college students.

I have a unique relationship with the author. While I was an MBA student at Arizona State, she was my teacher. Now, I'm her literary agent. Not only is Jennings the nation's leading authority on ethics, but she's an incredible writer who will make you think and make you laugh. The book is a fable--in the spirit of WHO MOVED MY CHEESE and THE ONE MINUTE MANAGER--that you'll be able to read in one sitting, yet the lessons will last for a lifetime. If you own a company, this is a book you should buy for all your employees.