Authors: Laura Klepacki.
Hardcover, 264 pages
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: 2005-04-11
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    A Winning Formula for Selling to Women Around the World

Avon has come a long way since handing out its first perfume sample back in 1886. The company, long famous for ringing customer doorbells, is now the world's largest direct sales organization-with almost five million representatives in more than 140 countries.

AVON: Building the World's Premier Company for Women is the first book ever to show how this cosmetics juggernaut achieved such incredible success, while revealing secrets any business can use to effectively market products of all kinds-especially to women.

Through this entertaining journey, you'll not only learn the colorful Avon story, but also see how every company, big or small, can benefit from its unique approach to sales and product development.

"By providing women with an unlimited opportunity for career success, Avon harnessed the power of a committed sales force to win customers and grow the business. The company's success story is testimony to the importance of focusing on your core business while recognizing the changes taking place with your customers and the environment."
-Mary Sammons, President and CEO, Rite Aid Corporation

"The book is an excellent primer on how to successfully make alternative forms of distribution work."
-Allen Burke, Director of Merchandising, QVC, Inc.

"The author's incisive revelations . . . capture the extraordinary personalities and entrepreneurial strategies of one of America's most spellbinding success stories."
-Annette Green, President Emeritus, The Fragrance Foundation...

Authors: Edgar H Schein.
Hardcover, 317 pages
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Publication Date: 2003-06
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    The 40-year story of the rise and fall of one of the pioneering companies of the computer age...

Authors: Resolving the Tension between Theory E. O of Change <I>By Michael Beer. Nitin Nohria</I>.
Hardcover, 512 pages
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Publication Date: 2000-10


Reviews :

    Organizational change may well be the most oft-repeated and widely embraced term in all of corporate America-but it is also the least understood. The proof is in the numbers: nearly two-thirds of all change efforts fail, and they carry with them huge human and economic tolls. Lacking any overarching paradigm for change, executives of large, underperforming organizations have been left with little guidance in how to choose the strategies that will lead them to sustained success. In "Breaking the Code of Change", editors Michael Beer and Nitin Nohria provide a crucial starting point on the journey toward unlocking our understanding of organizational change. The book is based on a dynamic debate attended by the leading lights in the field-including scholars, consultants, and CEOs who have led successful transformations-and presents a series of articles, written by these experts, that collectively address the question: how can change be managed effectively? Beer and Nohria organize the book around two dominant, yet opposing, theories of change-one based on the creation of economic value (Theory E), and the other on building organizational capabilities for the long haul (Theory O). Structured in an unusual and engaging point-counterpoint style, the book enlists the reader directly in the debate, providing a comprehensive overview of the strengths and weaknesses of each theory along every dimension of the change process-from motivation to leadership to compensation issues. The editors argue that the key to solving the paradox of change lies not in choosing between the two processes, but in integrating them. They identify the crucial considerations leaders must make in selecting strategies that satisfy shareholders and develop lasting organizational capabilities. With a groundbreaking conceptual framework applicable to established corporations and small organizations alike, "Breaking the Code of Change" is a unique and authoritative contribution to academic research and management practice on the process of organizational change. Michael Beer is the Cahners-Rabb Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Nitin Nohria is the Richard P. Chapman Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School....

Authors: Charles Handy.
Paperback, 320 pages
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Publication Date: 1995-09


Reviews :

    In this striking sequel to his best-selling book "The Age of Unreason", Charles Handy shows how the changes he predicted are upon us. New developments in technology, radical changes in the global economy, and the relentless pursuit of productivity have altered forever our organizations, our careers, and our lifestyles. These changes are inevitable and irreversible, and they bring a host of new problems and paradoxes. This book identifies the unintended consequences of change and provides a set of guiding principles to cope with the paradoxes of modern life, leading to a more balanced existence for individuals, greater rewards for organizations, and a more just society for all....

Authors: Robert A. Pitts. David Lei.
Paperback, 560 pages
Publisher: South-Western College Pub
Publication Date: 2005-07-25
Edition: 4

Reviews :

    Do you know how to get the competitive advantage? STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT: BUILDING AND SUSTAINING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE shows you in detail how the world's top companies build, extend, and sustain a competitive advantage. How do they do it? Through distinctive competence, quality, globalization, change, and ethics. And because this business textbook is rich with study tools, STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT: BUILDING AND SUSTAINING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE gives you the competitive advantage on the test as well!...

Authors: Jim Underwood.
Hardcover, 204 pages
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Publication Date: 2002-12-05
Edition: 1

Reviews :

   

Remarkable insight into the leadership culture of one of the world's largest cosmetics companies

It's no secret that Mary Kay Inc. -- home of the famous "Pink Cadillac" -- is one of the best run and most successful companies in the world, prompting Harvard professors and U.S. Government agencies to study what made the company a global phenomenon. But what many people may not realize is that Mary Kay is much more than a Pink Cadillac. While this widely recognized icon is a symbol of top performance, it stands for something greater - a way of doing business with a personal concern for people that has made Mary Kay a different kind of company. This book explains the methods and mindset that can bring the same kind of success to your organization.

More than a Pink Cadillac provides insights into a unique and extraordinarily successful business - one that grew out of, and is still founded upon, a simple set of powerful principles. It represents the first time the company has given an outside author -- Jim Underwood -- unlimited access to its employees and management. The principles he reveals in this book have already influenced the lives of hundreds of thousands of men and women around the world - and they can do the same for your organization.

...

Authors: George Friedman. Meredith Friedman. Colin Chapman. John Baker.
Hardcover, 276 pages
Publisher: Crown
Publication Date: 1997-10-28
Edition: 1st

Reviews :

    Knowledge is power, and today's age of information calls for new ways of attaining and controlling knowledge. Your business can get an edge over its competitors by being able to find essential information quickly and efficiently. Whether you are an independent entrepreneur or the CEO of a multinational corporation, intelligence gathering will play an increasingly important role in your business's strategic decision-making process.
        
The Intelligence Edge provides you with tools honed by the world's premier intelligence-gathering professionals. The authors show how to use techniques perfected by such organizations as the CIA on how to find and collect, prioritize, and analyze data. They present a comprehensive system of information management that will teach you how to identify and target different sources of information, from the library to the internet to company gossip. Because some information is expensive or difficult to access, you will learn how to use your time and resources in the most efficient way possible. Then, once you have collected the information you need, you will be shown how to use it--what to store, what to discard, what to turn to your advantage. By following these steps, you can learn to compete and prosper in today's knowledge-based business environment.

Whether you work for yourself or for a major multinational corporation, The Intelligence Edge will help you and your company to survive and prosper in today's knowledge-based business environment. Stay ahead of the information wave with:

Techniques perfected by intelligence organizations
Advice on how to find the information you need quickly and efficiently
Methods on how to sort and analyze the information
Guides to the best databases, libraries, and on-line services...

    The Intelligence Edge: How to Profit in the Information Age is a tightly focused primer that details ways to intelligently and systematically gather the specific type of data that can boost profitability in virtually any company. George Friedman, Meredith Friedman, Colin Chapman, and John S. Baker Jr.--four experts on intelligence-gathering techniques--identify the primary sources for such information and outline an eight-step formula for acquiring, prioritizing, and utilizing it. The Intelligence Edge discusses legal questions that can arise, and possible sources of assistance and tools (including the Net) that will aid in the process. ...

Authors: Mike Vance. Diane Deacon.
Paperback, 216 pages
Publisher: Career Press
Publication Date: 1997-02


Reviews :

    In today's fast-changing global marketplace, organizations must adapt to new, sometimes contradictory, demands from customers, competitors, employees, and shareholders. Think Out of the Box offers a treasure chest of operational creativity--the same creative solutions which major corporations have used for three decades....

Authors: Stanley Foster Reed. Alexandra Reed Lajoux.
Hardcover, 1011 pages
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Publication Date: 1998-12-31
Edition: 3

Reviews :

    The Art of M&A, Third Edition, is the leading answer book in today's fast-changing, enormously complex merger world. Written in a handy, easy-reference Q&A format, this no-nonsense handbook covers everything from the early stages of locating a suitable target--or finding that you are a target--through the postmerger trials of turning multiple companies into one.

Synopses of nearly three dozen landmark cases give real life insights into legal rulings from previous high profile mergers. Over the past decade, The Art of M&A has helped thousands of executives make sound decisions. Now, let it provide all the information you will need to buy or sell companies, whether public or private, domestic or foreign....

Authors: Michael Bergdahl.
Paperback, 272 pages
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: 2007-06-11


Reviews :

    Praise for

The 10 Rules Of Sam Walton

"The 10 Rules of Sam Walton is one of those books that should be read and regularly reread by . . . everyone-business-people, students, teachers, parents, and children. It transcends the limits of a traditional book about lessons in business and makes it a book about life and about successful living!"

-J. K. Knapp III, former Wal-Mart store manager,current manufacturer and supplier to Wal-Mart

As founder of Wal-Mart and its many successful divisions, Sam Walton reinvented the retailing industry through his singularity of focus, high expectations, and never-say-die attitude.

During his successful career, Sam Walton developed a list of what he considered the most important rules for entrepreneurial success. As far as he was concerned, there were ten key result areas that he considered pivotal to his own success.

Now, in The 10 Rules of Sam Walton, author and former Wal-Mart employee Michael Bergdahl reveals these rules-and the stories behind them-to help you achieve success in both your professional and personal lives. Straightforward and to the point, this book offers valuable lessons that Walton himself followed, and taught, throughout his lifetime-from Rule #1: "Be passionately committed to achieving success" to Rule # 10: "Be different and challenge the status quo."

Whether you're an entrepreneur or an hourly paid employee, The 10 Rules of Sam Walton will provide you with a blueprint for success that has proven itself time and again....