If Rupert Murdoch and Sumner Redstone are so smart, why aretheir stocks long-term losers? We live in the age of big Media, with the celebrity mogulstelling us that "content is king." But for all the excitement,glamour, drama, and publicity they produce, why can't these mogulsand their companies manage to deliver better returns than you'd getfrom closing your eyes and throwing a dart? The Curse of the Mogullays bare the inexcusable financial performance beneath big Media'sfalse veneer of power. By rigorously examining individual media businesses, the authorsreveal the difference between judging a company by how many timesits CEO is seen in SunValley and by whether it generatesconsistently superior profits. The book is packed with enoughsharp-edged data to bring the most high-flying, hot-air filledmogul balloon crashing down to earth.
An essential guide to doing business in Central and SouthAmerica, complete with communication and etiquette tips. This is the essential guide to business etiquette and customs foranyone doing business in Latin America. It features everything thereader needs to know-from getting an appointment to securing acontract. Doing business in Latin America can pose unique,substantial challenges to a non-native, and this book demystifiesthe entire process. From the two-hour "business lunch," at which nobusiness is ever discussed, to handing out business cards the rightway, Diran covers every crucial nuance. He also addresses: ? How things move at a much slower pace than most Americanbusiness processes and deals ? How family truly comes before business, even if it meansskipping an important meeting to take care of a loved one ? The importance of connections and mutual Acquaintances ? How to work with translators and bilingual assistants to getthe job done ? Proper dress, body la
In the summer of 2003, the New York Times Magazine sent Stephen J. Dubner, an author and journalist, to write a profile of Steven D. Levitt, a heralded young economist at the University of Chicago. Levitt was not remotely interested in the things that interest most economists. More... Instead, he studied the riddles of everyday lifefrom cheating to crime to child-rearingand his conclusions turned the conventional wisdom on its head. For instance, he argued that one of the main causes of the crime drop of the 1990s was the legalization of abortion twenty years earlier. (Unwanted children have a greater likelihood of becoming criminals; with so many unwanted children being aborted in the 1970s, the pool of potential criminals had significantly shrunk by the 1990s.) The Times article yielded an unprecedented response, a deluge of interest from thousands of curious, inspired, and occasionally distraught readers. Levitt and Dubner collaborated on a book that gives full play to Levitts most compelling ideas.