Authors: Terry R. Bacon. David G. Pugh.
Paperback, 368 pages
Publisher: AMACOM
Publication Date: 2003-07-09


Reviews :

    In an age where even the best products are quickly imitated, businesses must constantly find new ways to outpace competitors. Successful companies differentiate themselves not just with superior products, but also by how they behave toward their customers at every touchpoint: service, product development, marketing, branding, bids and proposals, presentations, negotiations, and more. Behavioral Differentiation is emerging as the ""final frontier"" in competitive strategy, and Winning Behavior shows how leading companies use it to exceed expectations and outperform competitors. This eye-opening book offers case histories and examples from companies like GE, Volvo, EMC, Ritz-Carlton, Wal-Mart, and Harley-Davidson, plus interviews with executives like George Zimmer (Men's Wearhouse), Colleen Barrett (Southwest Airlines), and Gerry Roche (Heidrick & Struggles). In today's ultracompetitive business landscape, product quality and competitive pricing are prerequisites for staying afloat. Winning Behavior reveals the secrets the best companies use -- and any business can use -- to stay at the pinnacle of success in their industry....

    Marketing experts Terry Bacon and David Pugh offer insightful and practical benchmarks for "outbehaving the competition" in Winning Behaviors. Their book avoids gaseous generalities about customer service and underlines four specific routes to "behavioral differentiation" (BD).

Using examples as diverse as Elvis-dressing Southwest Airlines CEO Herb Kelleher, the Ritz Carlton concierge who replaced a lost teddy bear, and Bogart as Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny, the authors illustrate four types of "BD" including "operational," (using procedures like return policies to demonstrate high standards,) "interpersonal," (focused listening to convey genuine concern) "exceptional," (rule breaking beyond the call of duty) and "symbolic," (sending a consistent message through words and deeds).

The book's strength is in the details. For example, how to do homework about a new client, customize a service, and avoid a charge for every minute mentality. The authors leverage clear lessons from gold standard companies such as Harley Davidson, Nordstrom, and Volvo who use BD to out perform competitors. This smart book invites readers to exceptional performance by offering fresh ideas for being on your best behavior. --Barbara Mackoff...

Authors: Roy J. Lewicki. Alexander Hiam. Karen Wise Olander.
Hardcover, 304 pages
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: 1996-03-29
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    Think Before You Speak

Think Before You Speak takes you through the entire negotiation process in all its variations and contexts, both in business and everyday life. By preparing you to think clearly and strategically, this invaluable guide gives you an edge that will help you to achieve success while maintaining the best possible relations with those opposing you. Here's an outline of how Think Before You Speak leads you through the strategic negotiation process:

CHAPTER & TOPIC
* Overview/Plan
* Assess Your Position
* Assess Other Party
* Analyze Context
* Selecting a Strategy
* Competition
* Collaboration
* Other Strategies
* Building Collaboration
* Resolving Conflict
* Third Party Help
* Communicating
* Legal/Ethical Issues
* Multiple Parties
* Global Negotiation
* Improving Negotiation


STEP IN PROCESS
* ANALYZE STRATEGIC ISSUES
* SELECT A STRATEGY
* INITIATE THE NEGOTIATION PROCESS
* MANAGE THE NEGOTIATION PROCESS
* OBTAIN OUTCOMES AND LEARN FROM THE EXPERIENCE


Practical, authoritative, and comprehensive, Think Before You Speak gives you the tools to handle any negotiation with confidence....

Authors: David Harding. Sam Rovit.
Hardcover, 224 pages
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Publication Date: 2004-09


Reviews :

    70 per cent of M&A's fail, yet deals are essential for growing world-class companies. How have the most successful deal makers consistently defied this paradox and beaten the odds? The answer is by using a disciplined approach to deal making, focusing on just four key decisions. Most other books on M&A are more comprehensive, covering all aspects of the deal from planning to integration. This book offers a distinct contribution to M&A literature in that it purposefully focuses on the due diligence that must be done before a decision to make a deal ever happens. It identifies the key factors that are most critical to whether or not a merger succeeds. Get this right, and your chances of success are much greater....

Authors: Philip A. Roussel. Kamal N. Saad. Tamara J. Erickson.
Hardcover, 224 pages
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Publication Date: 1991-04


Reviews :

    Research and development is the place where new technologies grow and where old ones are made better. Many companies realize that their ability to survive and prosper in the years to come is directly related to the proper management of their R&D functions. The method put forth in this book shows an approach which will make R&D a useful tool in the goal to stay competitive. Must reading for managers, strategic planners, and researchers....

Authors: Dave Ulrich. Dale G. Lake.
Hardcover, 352 pages
Publisher: Wiley
Publication Date: 1990-08


Reviews :

    For any organization to compete successfully in today's market, it must focus on building not only from the outside but from the inside as well. Shows the correlation between successful people management and the bottom line. Explains how involving employees in the planning and implementation process and allowing them to see the fruits of their labor (the sense of connection between daily work and long-term customer success) benefits the organization. The aim here is to show how focusing on organizational capability will not only meet short-term financial requirements, but also build a solid foundation for the future....

Authors: Michael W. Covel.
Paperback, 288 pages
Publisher: Collins Business
Publication Date: 2009-03-01


Reviews :

    Richard Dennis, 'the Prince of the Pits', a man who'd already made a fortune on the Street, was convinced that great trading wasn't a gift from God, but something that could be taught to anyone. So one day he made a bet with his partner, and ran a classified ad in the "Wall Street Journal" looking for trainees. And he didn't just hire finance professionals: his trainees - who became known as the 'Turtles' - included an actor, a security guard, two professional blackjack players, a pianist, a fantasy game designer, and others. After two weeks of training, he set them loose, with a $1 million bankroll each to invest as they chose, and the right to keep a share of their trading gains for themselves, as long they adhered to the Turtle system.By the time the program ended, Dennis and his partner had made over $120 million - from trades made by complete novices. Many of these Turtles then went on to trade for themselves, and some are among the top investors operating today. As fascinating as Dannis and the Turtles' story is, Covel doesn't stop there. He lays out, in detail, the exact system the Turtles used to reap their millions. And because the Turtle system is a form of so-called technical investing, meaning the Turtles weren't concerned about the fundamentals of the investments they made, it is an investing strategy where a Wall Street operator, plugged into the second-by-second madness of finance, has no advantage over an ordinary investor.And Covel takes us step-by-step through all the details needed to apply this at home. In "Turtletrader", Michael W. Covel, author of "Trend Following" and managing editor of TurtleTrader.com, tells the riveting story of the Turtles, their selection, their training, how they made (and lost) astounding fortunes, and certainly not least, the tools readers will need to start trading like Turtles themselves....

Authors: Frederick A. Miller. Judith H. Katz.
Paperback, 240 pages
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Publication Date: 2002-06-15
Edition: 1st

Reviews :

    The Inclusion Breakthrough explains how to make diversity a central and profitable part of an organization's strategy for long-term success rather than merely a peripheral program. The authors present proven strategies for stimulating the creativity and productivity of any business's greatest resource -- its people. Benefits to companies that have implemented these inclusion strategies are also described....

Authors: Barry Oshry.
Paperback, 208 pages
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Publication Date: 1996-01-01
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    Seeing Systems is the most accessible, penetrating book available on the dynamics of systems. In it, Barry Oshry explains why so many efforts at creating more satisfying and productive systems end in disappointment, and proposes an entirely new framework for dealing with human behavior. Oshry shows us how teams of top executives regularly fall into turf battles with one another; why organizational improvement efforts inevitably create tensions between the "good" cooperative workers and the "bad" resistant ones; how marriages seemingly "made in heaven" disintegrate. Oshry demonstrates how these breakdowns in organizations result from our blindness to the human systems of which we are a part. Finally, he shows how powerful, productive, and satisfying partnerships are created when we are able to recognize and stop these destructive "dances", and create new ones in which we understand and are respectful of one another and can work in productive partnership. Seeing Systems takes us to a whole new level of understanding ourselves as human beings....

Authors: Reynold Levy.
Hardcover, 235 pages
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Publication Date: 1999-05


Reviews :

    "Give And Take" -- the first insider's guide to corporate philanthropy -- will help all foundation staffs in their efforts to give wisely and well. A candid look at the factors that make for a successful giving program, "Give And Take" also offers invaluable advice to fund-raisers, who will welcome a frank account of the perspectives of institutional donors. Reynold Levy, formerly an executive director of New York's renowned 92nd Street Y and president of the AT&T Foundation, draws on his own experience in this engaging handbook of the benefits, responsibilities, and challenges facing today's philanthropists. Levy establishes the guidelines and benchmark principles for building world-class foundations, citing such companies as AT&T, Levi Strauss, and Dayton-Hudson for their innovative philanthropic programs. He then views corporate giving from the beneficiary's perspective, divulging insider strategies for soliciting funds from today's corporate foundations. "Give And Take" is a handbook for everyone who cares about philanthropy, from managers in company foundations to nonprofit employees, development directors, trustees, and volunteers....

Authors: George Grant.
Paperback, 431 pages
Publisher: Cumberland House Publishing
Publication Date: 1999-10-27
Edition: 4 Revised

Reviews :

    This thoroughly researched, comprehensively documented work is the single best-selling volume of all time on Planned Parenthood. Discussed are the legal precedents, court decisions, educational initiatives, political machinations, cultural ramifications, sociological consequences, and theological implications....