In factories around the world, Toyota consistently makes the highest-quality cars with the fewest defects of any competing manufacturer, while using fewer man-hours, less on-hand inventory, and half the floor space of its competitors. The Toyota Way is the first book for a general audience that explains the management principles and business philosophy behind Toyota's worldwide reputation for quality and reliability. Complete with profiles of organizations that have successfully adopted Toyota's principles, this book shows managers in every industry how to improve business processes by: ·Eliminating wasted time and resources ·Building quality into workplace systems ·Finding low-cost but reliable alternatives to expensive new technology ·Producing in small quantities ·Turning every employee into a qualitycontrol inspector

The #1 New York Times bestseller: a brilliant account—character-rich and darkly humorous—of how the U.S. economy was driven over the cliff. When the crash of the U. S. stock market became public knowledge in the fall of 2008, it was already old news. The real crash, the silent crash, had taken place over the previous year, in bizarre feeder markets where the sun doesn’t shine, and the SEC doesn’t dare, or bother, to tread: the bond and real estate derivative markets where geeks invent impenetrable securities to profit from the misery of lower- and middle-class Americans who can’t pay their debts. The smart people who understood what was or might be happening were paralyzed by hope and fear; in any case, they weren’t talking. The crucial question is this: Who understood the risk inherent in the assumption of ever-rising real estate prices, a risk compounded daily by the creation of those arcane, artificial securities loosely based on piles of doubtful mortgages? Michael Lewis turns the inquir

If you’re enrolled in an executive education or MBA program, you’ve probably encountered a powerful learning tool: the business case. But if you’re like many people, you may find analyzing cases and writing about them challenging or frustrating. That’s not surprising—cases are not simple narratives, and good ones are typically nonlinear and can even be purposefully misleading. Apply the conventional approach to understanding business cases, and you may waste time (at best) and arrive at weak or meager conclusions (at worst). The Case Study Handbook presents a powerful new approach for analyzing, discussing, and writing about cases. By using sample Harvard Business School cases, you’ll master a number of useful topics, including: How to recognize case situations and apply appropriate tools to solve problems, make decisions, or develop evaluations How to quickly establish a base of knowledge about a case How to write persuasive case-based essays How to talk about c

What do Bill Gates, Henry Ford, J. P. Morgan, Mary Kay Ash, and Walt Disney all have in common? Uncompromising vision, a willingness to take risks, and exceptional business acumen. Not only did these individuals amass great fortunes, they revolutionized the business world and helped shape society as we know it. Theirs are just a few of the stories collected in this anthology of commercial ingenuity. Drawing on a wealth of sources, this priceless collection brings to life extraordinary achievements, many of them forgotten or little known: how Robert Morris, the preeminent merchant of the eighteenth century, financed the American Revolution with his personal credit; how Ray Kroc used a shrewd real estate strategy to turn a faltering hamburger franchise operation into the McDonald's fast food empire; and how Mary Kay Ash built a billion-dollar direct sales cosmetics company by preaching a message of economic empowerment to women. Enlightening and fascinating, Forbes(r) Greatest Business Stories

Business revolves around making decisions, often riskydecisions, usually with incomplete information and too often inless time than we need. Executives at every level, in everyindustry, are confronted with information overload, less leeway formistakes, and a business environment that changes rapidly. In lightof this increased pressure and volatility, the old-fashioned waysof making decisions–depending on intuition, common sense, andspecialized expertise–are simply no longer sufficient. Distillingover thirty years of groundbreaking research, WinningDecisions , written by two seasoned business advisers and worldleaders in behavioral decision studies, is a comprehensive,one-of-a-kind guide to the proven methods of making criticalbusiness decisions confidently, quickly–and correctly. Decision-making is a business skill which managers often take forgranted in themselves and others–but it's not as easy as some mightthink. The authors, whose expertise has been sought out by over ahundred companies, includi

Praise for the First Edition of MARKETING TO THE SOCIAL WEB: "We've been liberated! Communicating with existing and potential customers used to mean one-way broadcasts of your company's product messages—'buy buy buy' we all said. But Marketing to the Social Web enables smart marketers to communicate in a much better way: by creating compelling content that people actually want to consume and interact with. Larry Weber knows his stuff—he's been part of this revolution from the beginning." —David Meerman Scott, bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR "I was pleased to read a book that actually suggests how to do something with social networks, instead of just ponder them. Larry's pragmatic and useful recommendations will help brand builders manage the complexity of social interaction in a digital age." —David Kenny, Chairman and CEO, Digitas, Inc. "Consumers are using technology to grab power from companies, the media, and the government. Marketing to the Social Web succinctly out

An updated edition of the ultimate guide to understandingbiology Ever wondered how the food you eat becomes the energy your bodyneeds to keep going? The theory of evolution says that humans andchimps descended from a common ancestor, but does it tell us howand why? We humans are insatiably curious creatures who can't helpwondering how things work— starting with our own bodies. Wouldn'tit be great to have a single source of quick answers to all ourquestions about how living things work? Now there is. From molecules to animals, cells to ecosystems, Biology ForDummies, 2nd Edition answers all your questions about how livingthings work. Written in plain English and packed with dozens of illustrations,quick-reference Cheat Sheets, and helpful tables and diagrams, it cuts right tothe chase with fast-paced, easy-to-absorb explanations of the lifeprocesses common to all organisms. More than 20% new and updated content, including a substantialoverhaul to the organization of topic

Harvard Business Essentials The Reliable Source for Busy Managers The Harvard Business Essentials series is designed to provide comprehensive advice, personal coaching, background information, and guidance on the most relevant topics in business. Drawing on rich content from Harvard Business School Publishing and other sources, these concise guides are carefully crafted to provide a highly practical resource for readers with all levels of experience. To assure quality and accuracy, each volume is closely reviewed by a specialized content adviser from a world class business school. Whether you are a new manager interested in expanding your skills or an experienced executive looking for a personal resource, these solution-oriented books offer reliable answers at your fingertips. Effective marketing can mean the difference between runaway successes and costly flops. Covering everything from customer programs to ad campaigns to sales promotions, this is every marketer’s hands-on guide to turning opportuniti

You're holding a handbook for visionaries, game changers, andchallengers striving to defy outmoded business models and designtomorrow's enterprises. It's a book for the business modelgeneration.Disruptive new business models are emblematic of ourgeneration. Yet they remain poorly understood, even as theytransform competitive landscapes across industries. Business ModelGeneration offers you powerful, simple, tested tools forunderstanding, designing, reworking, and implementing businessmodels. Business Model Generation is a practical, inspiring handbook foranyone striving to improve a business model - or craft a newone. Business Model Generation will teach you powerful and practicalinnovation techniques used today by leading companies worldwide.You will learn how to systematically understand, design, andimplement a new business model — or analyze and renovate an oldone. Business Model Generation practices what it preaches. Coauthoredby 470 Business Model Canvas practitioners from forty-f

Zeroing in on the specific skills that make great managers stand out from the pack, this comprehensive guide is both an essential primer for new managers and a valuable resource for seasoned executives. From hiring and retaining good people to motivating and developing team members, from understanding key financial statements to delegating work effectively, and from setting goals for others to managing your own career, this actionable guide walks readers through every aspect of managing in a complex business world. Filled with practical tools and tips, this essential toolkit will help managers to stay at the top of their game. The Harvard Business Essentials series is for managers at all levels but is especially relevant for new managers. It offers on-the-spot guidance, coaching, and tools on the most relevant topics in business. Each book includes the critical information that managers need on a given topic-from budgeting to hiring to communication to strategy-and offers interactive tools and worksheets

Christian Reflections on The Leadership Challenge gathers together in one place a remarkable collection of leaders who share insights on faith and leadership. Well-grounded in research, this reflective and practical book shows how Christian leaders - no matter the setting - put into place The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership: Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart.

The guide that defines the results required at eachorganizational level to sustain business success It's not enough to build a company full of people withleadership skills. The Performance Pipeline digs deep into the realwork of executing business results at each leadership layer. Filled with lessons and examples from the author's 40 years ofexperience Shows how to set performance standards, make sure the rightwork is being done, and remove performance barriers Illustrates how leaders can make the transition to the nextlevel and achieve full performance This book gives leaders in any industry an advantage over thecompetition.

A compelling vision. Bold leadership. Decisive action.Unfortunately, these prerequisites of success are almost always theingredients of failure, too. In fact, most managers seeking tomaximize their chances for glory are often unwittingly settingthemselves up for ruin. The sad truth is that most companies haveleft their futures almost entirely to chance, and don’t evenrealize it. The reason? Managers feel they must make choices withfar-reaching consequences today, but must base those choices onassumptions about a future they cannot predict. It is thiscollision between commitment and uncertainty that creates THESTRATEGY PARADOX. This paradox sets up a ubiquitous but little-understood tradeoff.Because managers feel they must base their strategies onassumptions about an unknown future, the more ambitious of themhope their guesses will be right – or that they can somehow adaptto the turbulence that will arise. In fact, only a small number oflucky daredevils prosper, while many more unfortunate, bu

On your rise to the top, hard work and experience areimportant, but they can take you only so far. To lead in yourindustry or profession, you must be ready to assume the leader'sspeaking role. In survey after survey, the number-one skilldetermined to be indispensable to leaders is communication. Mustyou be born with this talent, or can you learn how to command aroom? In Speak like a CEO Suzanne Bates proves that you don't have tobe a natural-born speaker to develop a compelling communicationstyle all your own. Whether you're in the corner office or the OvalOffice, at the dining room table or before an audience of millions,you'll find a blueprint to speak like a leader and get results. Notanother one-size-fits-all guide to better presentations or publicspeaking, Speak like a CEO is a sophisticated approach based on thephilosophy that successful leaders have their own uniquecommunication styles. Its self-assessments, exercises, andcustomizable self-improvement plans let you zero in on yourstrengths

How can companies perform so well that their industry counterparts are competitors in name only? Although they operate in the same industry, serve the same market, and even use the same suppliers, these “rabbits” lead the race and, more importantly, continually widen their lead. In Chasing the Rabbit, Steven J. Spear describes what sets high-velocity, market-leading organizations apart and explains how you can lead the pack in your industry. Spear examines the internal operations of dominant organizations, including Toyota, Alcoa, Pratt & Whitney, the US Navy's Nuclear Power Program, and top-tier teaching hospitals--organizations operating in vastly differing industries, but which share one thing in common: the skillful management of complex internal systems that generates constant, almost automatic self-improvement at rates faster, durations longer, and breadths wider than anyone else musters. As a result, each enjoys a level of profitability, quality, efficiency, reliability, and agility unmatched

“I’ve got the name for our publishing operation. We just saidwe were going to publish a few books on the side at random. Let’scall it Random House.” So recounts Bennett Cerf in this wonderfullyamusing memoir of the making of a great publishing house. Anincomparable raconteur, possessed of an irrepressible wit and anabiding love of books and authors, Cerf brilliantly evokes theheady days of Random House’s first decades. Part of the vanguard of young New York publishers whorevolutionized the book business in the 1920s and ’30s, Cerf helpedusher in publishing’s golden age. Cerf was a true personality,whose other pursuits (columnist, anthologist, author, lecturer,radio host, collector of jokes and anecdotes, perennial judge ofthe Miss America pageant, and panelist on What’s My Line? )helped shape his reputation as a man of boundless energy andenthusiasm and brought unprecedented attention to his company andto his authors. At once a rare behind-the-scenes account of bookpublishing and a fascinat

By exploring measures that have transformed businesses, DavidParmenter has developed a methodology that is breathtaking in itssimplicity and yet profound in its impact. Now in an updated andexpanded Second Edition, Key Performance Indicators is a proactiveguide representing a significant shift in the way KPIs aredeveloped and used, with an abundance of implementation tools,including: The four foundation stones that lead the development and use ofKPIs A 12-step model for developing and using KPIs withguidelines A KPI resource kit including worksheets, workshop programs, andquestionnaires A new and pragmatic approach to finding critical successfactors Over 300 performance measures Implementation variations for small to medium enterprises andnot-for-profit organizations New implementation short cuts How to brainstorm performance measures Templates for reporting performance measures A resource kit for a consultant who is acting as a coach /facilit

The authors who brought you the bestseller in game theory, Thinking Strategically, now provide the long-awaited sequel. Game theory means rigorous strategic thinking. It's the art of anticipating your opponent's next moves, knowing full well that your rival is trying to do the same thing to you. Though parts of game theory involve simple common sense, much is counterintuitive, and it can only be mastered by developing a new way of seeing the world. Using a diverse array of rich case studies—from pop culture, TV, movies, sports, politics, and history—the authors show how nearly every business and personal interaction has a game-theory component to it. Are the winners of reality-TV contests instinctive game theorists? Do big-time investors see things that most people miss? What do great poker players know that you don't? Mastering game theory will make you more successful in business and life, and this lively book is the key to that mastery.

YaYa CEO Ferrazzi works with "Inc." writer Raz to explain theguiding principles he has mastered over a lifetime of reaching outto explain what it takes to build the kind of lasting, mutuallybeneficial relationships that lead to professional and personalsuccess.

Quickly get up-to-speed in all basic accounting principles andprocedures and apply that knowledge to real-world financialdecisions and requests The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Accounting Coursehas been the gold standard for anyone looking for a fast,no-nonsense primer in all the fundamentals of financial,managerial, and tax accounting concepts. Now thoroughly revised andupdated, the fourth edition features new coverage of thetechnological developments in the field, the recent sweeping taxreforms, and the latest Financial Accounting Standards Boardpronouncements. The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Accounting Course offerssuch up-to-date coverage as: Complete analysis of the currenttrends in computer hardware and accounting software Coverage ofcurrent tax issues, such as the revision of tax rate structure, newdeductions and credits for higher education costs, and taxation ofSocial Security benefits New test problems throughout to help yougauge your progress, as well as a final exam that can earn you aCertificate of Achieve

Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties,showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-termsustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of anenterprise from the verybeginning. But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? Howcan good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieveenduring greatness?

The best guide to using Twitter to market toconsumers-revised and better than ever Since 2006, forward-thinking companies like Apple, JetBlue,Whole Food, and GM have discovered the instant benefits ofleveraging social media site Twitter to reach consumers directly,build their brand, and increase their sales. Some companies havewhole teams of specialists whose only job is to respond to thetweets of consumers. In this revised and updated edition of Twitter Power, online marketing guru Joel Comm explores the latest trends in howbusinesses and marketers can integrate Twitter into their existingmarketing strategies to build a loyal following among Twittermembers, expand awareness of their product or service, and evenhandle negative publicity due to angry or disappointedcustomers. Updated with thirty percent new material, including all thelatest business applications for Twitter Includes new, recent case studies of companies at the forefrontof the Twitter movement Helps you develop your own social netw