Authors: Edwin S. Rockefeller.
Hardcover, 124 pages
Publisher: Cato Institute
Publication Date: 2007-10-25


Reviews :

    Many successful American businesses have been accused of anti-competitive practices. Drawing on 50 years of experience with U.S. antitrust laws, attorney and author Edwin S. Rockefeller sheds light on why lawmakers, bureaucrats, academics, and journalists use arbitrary and irrational laws and enforcement mechanisms to punish capitalists rather than promote competition. The Antitrust Religion argues that everything most people know about antitrust is wrong. The orthodox view is that antitrust was created to protect competition. But Rockefeller's account is strikingly different. He argues that antitrust in practice has often benefited, not the public, but specific businesses that wanted to take down their competitors. In cases ranging from early antitrust targets like Standard Oil to the more recent IBM and Microsoft cases, he reveals why some companies are punished for being winners in the market. Rockefeller vividly shows how antitrust has been transformed into a quasi-religious faith. He explains that this antitrust religion relies on economic theories that bestow a veneer of objectivity and credibility on law enforcement practices that actually rely on hunch and whim. On issues such as mergers and price fixing, Rockefeller thoroughly examines arbitrary antitrust laws that lead to ill-informed juries and bureaucratic abuse. He concludes that those laws also create a perverse incentive for entrepreneurs to hold down sales volume and avoid improvements in price, quality, and service. Otherwise, such entrepreneurs could become the next targets of the antitrust priests. The Antitrust Religion will greatly assist business professionals, journalists, policymakers, professors, judges, and all others interested in government regulation of business in understanding how our antitrust laws actually work....

Authors: Darryl J. Roberts.
Paperback, 238 pages
Publisher: 5 Star Publications
Publication Date: 1997-03


Reviews :

    This is the expose' that still has the funeral and cemetery industries reeling from aftershocks. Industry insider Darryl J. Roberts uncovers how the death care industry manipulates consumers into overspending at the most vulnerable time of their lives. He also tells readers everything they need to know about making final arrangements--including how to save up to 50% in costs....

Authors: Suzanne Taylor. Kathy Schroeder. John Doerr.
Hardcover, 304 pages
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Publication Date: 2003-09-04


Reviews :

   

The Exclusive Story behind Intuit's Hard-Won Success

It's a modern-day David and Goliath story for the business world: a company dreamed up at a kitchen table, built on explosive PC growth, and forced to battle a giant in the race to revolutionize an industry. This is the story of Intuit, creator of renowned software products like Quicken, QuickBooks, and TurboTax-the company that beat mighty Microsoft and changed the way 25 million people manage their finances.

Written by Intuit veteran Suzanne Taylor and seasoned business manager Kathy Schroeder-who were granted exclusive interviews with founder Scott Cook and other key figures- Inside Intuit tells this company's original and fascinating tale for the first time. The book vividly recounts each dramatic stage of Intuit's development: from initial conception to "bet the company" investments; from strokes of marketing genius to disastrous product launches; and from battles for survival to successive victories against arch-rival Microsoft-the company no one else could beat.

Evident throughout this account is the power of Intuit's relentless customer focus, which guided the company from tiny start-up to a 6,000-employee, $1.4 billion business. Instructive and inspiring, Inside Intuit chronicles an enduring company's extraordinary success against overwhelming odds.

"This important book doesn't take any shortcuts in analyzing the building blocks of success. Taylor and Schroeder have written a fascinating blow-by-blow account of the thousand and one decisions that have made Intuit what it is. Highly readable, thorough, and extremely well researched Inside Intuit is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand success in Silicon Valley."

-Emanuel Rosen, author, The Anatomy of Buzz

"Inside Intuit is more than the history of a start-up that grew to dominate a major software category. It is a blueprint of success for entrepreneurs and investors who want to build great businesses in difficult environments."

-Roger McNamee, cofounder, Silver Lake Partners and Integral Capital Partners

"Inside Intuit is a very entertaining book. Any entrepreneur at heart will enjoy and learn from the story of how Scott Cook and Tom Proulx faced so much adversity and came back from the brink of disaster to build a very successful, highly admired Silicon Valley company. Readers can learn many lessons from both Intuit's successes and mistakes. In the end, good ideas, hard work, determination, and strong values really do pay off!"

-Dan Rudolph, Senior Associate Dean/Chief Operating Officer, Stanford Graduate School of Business

"I was thrilled to read the inside story of how Intuit was born and raised. I've always admired Intuit's strict attention to customer needs and feedback. Now I have a much better idea of how that culture was created."

-Stewart Alsop, General Partner, New Enterprise Associates

"Inside Intuit offers readers the secrets behind that company's extraordinary success. The authors' insights into how Intuit trounced Microsoft alone are worth the price of the book!"

-Andrea Butter, coauthor, Piloting Palm: The Inside Story of Palm, Handspring and the Birth of the Billion Dollar Handheld Industry...

Authors: Karl Koch III.
Paperback, 416 pages
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Publication Date: 2003-08-26


Reviews :

    “Building the [World Trade Center] was a project that pushed the limits of human endurance and engineering know-how. This is a curiously engaging story of the family dynasty that took it on.”

In the tradition of David McCullough’s The Great Bridge, Men of Steel is a compelling insider’s look at the construction of the Twin Towers and the three generations of men who built them. Written by Karl Koch III, whose grandfather and father founded the Karl Koch Erecting Company in the 1920s, and award-winning author Richard Firstman, this remarkable book is an incredibly detailed first-hand account of how one family turned 20,000 tons of steel and more than 6 million square feet of floor into the world’s two tallest buildings.

Men of Steel chronicles the fascinating story of the creation of the World Trade Center: the politics behind its conception, the innovative thinking that went into its design, the drama of its construction, and the truth behind its destruction. It also brings to life the rough-and-tumble iron working culture, a dangerous world where the Koch family established their empire and went on to build many of America’s most important edifices, including the U.S. Supreme Court and the Library of Congress buildings. A brilliant evocation of a family dynasty inextricably intertwined with the steel that makes up many of our nation’s most prominent landmarks, Men of Steel is a rich, multilayered narrative that exposes the heart and soul that goes into making these remarkable structures....

Authors: Robert Bryce.
Paperback, 440 pages
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Publication Date: 2004-01-07


Reviews :

    A classic investigative narrative of how Enron's business practices led to its own downfall, Pipe Dreams reveals what went wrong not just on the books, but in the minds and hearts of the company's managers.

The self-destruction of Enron, once America's seventh-largest company, was the most spectacular failure of a company in a generation, with devastating impact on workers, investors, and the American economy. Anyone interested in business or in our culture needs to know just how it happened. Robert Bryce's Pipe Dreams, widely praised as the best book published on Enron, is a hard-hitting, incisive, and compelling narrative that explains the company's rise and fall while illuminating the personalities, egos, and dreams of the people who built the company and of those who destroyed it.

In a new afterword to the paperback edition, Bryce also examines the current "state of the suits" and their enormous cost to the American public.

"Finally, an Enron book that actually explains what happened at Enron," said Publishers Weekly: "This isn't just the first book to make sense out of the debacle; it's a vivid cautionary tale about the consequences of the lurid excesses-personal and professional."...

Authors: Ronald Oligney. Armando Izquierdo.
Hardcover, 220 pages
Publisher: Round Oak Publishing Company
Publication Date: 2000-03-01
Edition: 0

Reviews :

    The primary colors of oil today are money (lots of it), technology (basic but demanding) and people (special ones). The colors of the rainbow can be seen in the 100 oil producing countries. There are a dozen large petroleum producing and exporting countries. Yet most have little in their history that links them to wealth, technology and management. Corruption among the elite and governments, mismanagement and the squandering of the petroleum wealth are endemic. Culture is everything, and no other human endeavor makes this as pointedly obvious as the world of petroleum....

Authors: David Verklin. Bernice Kanner.
Hardcover, 221 pages
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: 2007-04-20


Reviews :

    A media and advertising CEO explains how his world shapes ours
The TV program coming into our living rooms isn't free. It's a simple Faustian bargain consumers have made but one with enormous implications. It means that David Verklin, CEO of one of the world's largest ad-buying companies, and his clients-the world's largest advertisers-control what TV programs get aired, what magazines get published, and how Google and Yahoo stay in (very healthy) business. In Watch This, Listen Up, Click Here, Verklin and Kanner expose the inner workings of the media, marketing, and advertising industries. Readers will learn why their favorite shows get cancelled, why Oprah gives away cars, and how money, people, politics, and new technologies are transforming TV, the Internet, radio, magazines, and other media Americans consume every day.
David Verklin (New York, NY) is CEO of Carat Americas, the world's largest independent media buying operation. He frequently speaks to executives in marketing, media, and management. Bernice Kanner (d. 2006) was a marketing expert and author for 13 years of New York magazine's "On Madison Avenue" column....

Authors: Morgan W. McCall. Michael M. Lombardo. Ann M. Morrison.
Hardcover, 210 pages
Publisher: Free Press
Publication Date: 1988-07-01
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    Tells how to learn from job assignments, fellow workers, and hardships, shares the lessons of successful executives, and shows how to evaluate the developmental value of a job....

Authors: Katrina Pescador. Mark Aldrich. San Diego Air and Space Museum.
Paperback, 128 pages
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Publication Date: 2008-09-17


Reviews :

    Founded by Reuben H. Fleet in 1923, Consolidated Aircraft Corporation (later Convair) became one of the most significant aircraft manufacturers in American history. For roughly 60 years, this prolific company was synonymous with San Diego. In fact, whole sections of the city were designed to provide homes for the Convair workers and their families. These men and women were responsible for building some of the most significant aircraft in aviation history, including the PBY Catalina, B-24 Liberator, F-102 Delta Dagger, as well as the reliable Atlas missile, which was vital in launching America into space. To this day, more than a decade after the company passed from the San Diego scene, tens of thousands of San Diegans still celebrate a seminal connection with Reuben Fleet, his company, and his popular slogan, Nothing short of right is right....

Authors: John D. Robertson.
Hardcover, 272 pages
Publisher: Cars & Parts
Publication Date: 1998-11


Reviews :

    A fascinating and informative look at the history of the Chevrolet as told through General Motors archive photos. The book was written and compiled by John D. Robertson, retired product expert from the GM archives. Book #2 is part of a four book set that covers the years 1940-54...