Enterprise Books

I hate business planning - but I had to do one. Thankfully, I found "Business Plan in a Day." It made the process almost fun -and I learned more about what I was trying to do with my business than I ever expected. The graphics helped and the sample components helped me clearly understand what I needed to write. For me as an unsophisticated business planner, this book was tremendously helpful.

Rhonda Abrams' book is an excellent tool for any entrepreneur. It is very well organized and simplifies the process. She has great insight and thoughtful suggestions. She includes many insider tips and where to find research data. This book is highly recommended.

We used this book in our seminar for our management staff in ceating a Busines Plan for thier area of responsibility. Chief advantage was it makes you think in depth and presnt in a simple manner. Everyone njoyed doing it and we now review annually.

Buy this book and follow it front to back. Go to the author's website and see other materials that she has on business planning. The best source there is,

What a source of knowledge?

A great book to learn, teach or help start a new business. It covers basic principles helpful not only if you are starting a business but if you are a stakeholder in an existing, new or forthcoming business.

If you already own or have partnership in a business this books helps you to see if there are any holes or if you missed something or find out why something is not working hte way you thought it would.

I learnt in this book about "How To" start a business that I didn't in the business school.

A GREAT GIFT.

After having jumped ship from a Fortune 25 firm many years ago, I became an entrepreneur with my own consulting business. In addition, several years ago I began teaching entrepreneurship at California State University, San Marcos. I am writing to rave about this "Business Start-Up Guide". It is an excellent resource for any entrepreneur, or anyone considering becoming their own boss. This book is an easy read with priceless, up-to-date information that can save us all a lot of time and mistakes. "Business Start-Up Guide" will be required reading in all my entrepreneurship courses in the future!

If I could trade in every start-up book for entrepenuers I own and keep this one I would do so in a heartbeat! The author is a mentor all entrepenuers can look to for practical advice and specific information. This book works with you every step of the way providing ideas for marketing strategies, finance management, and legal start-up issues. This book also helped me to view the written business plan as a creative planning tool and not just a required document for finacial institutions. There is so much information packed into this book that entrepeneurs in all stages of business development will turn to it again and again. I only wish the margins were wider to accomodate all my notes!

This is an excellent, information-intensive book written and approached not only by an exceptional college business professor (who definitely is an authority on this subject) but a business/tax attorney with many years of experience. A "must read" for anyone considering starting and owning their own business. This is also a great book if you already have your business up and running and need some current ideas and information. Tom shows you not only how to find the information you require but also how to apply it. A road map for eliminating many problems and questions entrepreneurs are faced with. He's going to raise the business successes ratio with this new book.

Volume 1 of "The Collected Works of Arthur Seldon" series, The Virtues Of Capitalism offers the in-depth wisdom of classical liberal economist Arthur Seldon, who penned his theories from the 1930's to the late 1950's. The Virtues Of Capitalism is divided into two parts; the first is "Corrigible Capitalism; Incorrigible Socialism", in which Seldon explains why he feels capitalism is more open to correction and improvement while socialism resists adjustments to help it fit economic reality, and "Capitalism", a longer work that takes an in-depth accounting of capitalism's positive qualities. An excellent basic resource and foundation of insight into basic liberal economic and capitalist philosophy, The Virtues Of Capitalism is especially recommended for academic library "Economic Studies" collections and is essential reading for non-specialist general readers with an interest in economic theory.

What Ayn Rand does for philosophical reasoning, Arthur Seldon does for economical reasoning. Provides the reader with a firm foundation for arguing the free market proposition. Extremely reader friendly.

British libertarian economist Arthur Seldon exposes the failings of socialism in general and of Britain's welfare state in particular. The author's antidote for the welfare state is to reduce the scope of government to only those functions that the free market can't duplicate. He considers and rebuts all criticisms -- economic, political, moral -- of the free market. This book has its shortcomings: It's directed towards a British audience, so it requires some familiarity with British history. Written in 1989, the book is a bit dated; e.g., the Soviet Union (which the author repeatedly considers) is extinct. Also, the author often repeats his basic argument; namely, the market is directed by a price system, which is controlled by individual consumers (hence market economies are prosperous and democratic), whereas the welfare state is directed by politicians, producers and interest groups (hence welfare states are poor and authoritarian). Finally, the author's syntax is often awkward. Nevertheless, friends of the free market will find in this book both an armory of rebuttals to capitalism's critics and abundant useful references.

Arthur Seldon is little known in his home country, the United Kingdon or abroad except among classical liberals, libertarians and those who inhabit the strange world of think tanks. Yet this little known figure is one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and will one day be acknowledged as such.

Liberty Fund is publishing a seven volume Collected Works of which is the first and which presents two works: Corrigible Capitalism, Incorrigible Socialism and Seldon's magnum opus, Capitalism. The first of the two was originally published by the London based free-market think tank, the Institute of Economic Affairs of which Seldon was the first Editorial Director.

Corrigible Capitalism, Incorrigible Socialism is a reprint of a 1980 paper entitled 'A Credo for private Enterprise' which the author presented to the New Zealand Employer's Federation. This is a vigorous defence of the liberal market order in the face of a continued onslaught by the proponents of the socialist or mixed economy. Whilst Seldon's case is inspired by the Classical liberal case of the 19th Century, this paper can be seen as a further development from the Planning Debate from the 1920s and 30s. Seldon incorporates in his structure the post-war so-called Keynesian developments introduced the various socialist governments under the guise of Conservative or Labour and also takes a broader world perspective. Interestingly, Seldon makes the following comment about China:

"But increasing coercion will be required to suppress the trend to initiative stimulated by knowledge of the West, and it is hardly likely to survive the century. Forty years later in China, where the individualist trading tradition is stronger and markets are a Chinese cultural inheritance, the regime is less self-concious (or guilt-ridden) about the use of 'capitalist' devices, and the return to official recognition of markets is easier. For this reason alone China is likely to emerge economically stronger than Russia in the coming decades"

Yet who could tell in those early days of the Thatcher government who would heed Seldon and the liberals clarion call to the return to markets. While individual politicians may lay claim to the collapse of Communism, none of them have anywhere near the power of individuals to truck, barter and exchange. It is that power which brought about the demise. No more, no less.

In Capitalism Seldon celebrates the economic organisation. Writing from the perspective of one who began life in poverty and enjoyed a modicum of success through his own efforts in the marketplace despite many great adversities Seldon highlights the improvements of mankind which came about not through some central plan or social organisation but through individuals recognising an opportunity to produce goods and services which met a need expressed by the demand in the market. The unintended consequences of human action indeed. Seldon holds that as the textbook understanding of the economy suggests there may be market failure, then correspondingly it should be recognised that there is an equivalence government failure. Whether that failure is inherent such as destroying or altering the price signals which reflect consumer demand or which comes about from the involvement of politicians in the process who corrupt the market for their own ends (the economics of politics or public choice approach) Seldon recognises that there is no perfect system. Using an analytical approach much grounded in the Austrian School of Economics, Seldon sets out a case where private is at least as good as if not mostly better than public. He develops this approach by pointing out the natural tendency of markets to flexibility and therefore creating new structures such as property rights to overcome such failures whils the political processes set in stone many of the rules which become obsolete very quickly. To Seldon's credit it is his credibility which comes about through being no stranger to poverty which gives his case the authority it carries in contrast to the well meaning middle and upper classes who adopt top down approaches to resolving these issues rather than leaving it to the creativity and ingenuity of the people (the market) themselves.

All in all this is an excellent addition to the Liberty Fund library. To top it all off there is an excellent scholarly and succint preface by Colin Robinson who succeeded Seldon as Editorial Director of the IEA and who did sterling work in that regard.

This book is a must read for socialists and liberals (and conservatives) everywhere. There never has been such a heartfelt exposition of the case for Capitalism which has done so much to help so many throughout the world.

I agree with the other two reviewers in every thing they said: this is an easy to use dictionary, and very entertaining, but the thing that sold me was that a) in addition to being organized in alphabetical pinyin order (though it still has a radical index of course) all the words have the pinyin pronunciation (though not the example sentences of course) and b--very important to me- there is also a table in the back to find the TRADITIONAL forms of characters that are still used in the ROC (Taiwan), Hong Kong and the US!!

Also included are charts comparing the various phonetic systems for transliterating Chinese (including the international phonetic alphabet). It has a Chronology of Chinese History, the periodic chart in Chinese, metric/imperial conversions, a pretty comprehensive list of Countries, Capitols and Currencies....even a list of the "12 Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches" and the "24 Solar Terms" (whatever they are!)

Finally, what really truly tickles me are the example sentences, most of which are full of Maoist propaganda ("We're in the new society, grandma; your OLD WAY OF DOING THINGS is no good anymore." or... "Revisionism is an International bourgeois ideological TREND ) Then there are the example sentences that are just so very Chinese ( "The water buffalo SQUELCHED up and down the paddy fields, pulling the plow")

The dictionary is great if you speak Chinese but are a little rusty on writing the characters. The format is simple. The characters are organized by the Pinyin system. If you want to look up "friend" then you look for "Peng" and then there are four subgroups of "Peng" according to tone. After you are to the right tone you look up the second character "You". There it is. Pengyou

This dictionary ("A Chinese-English Dictionary"; [...]) was first published in 1978 in Beijing, and reprinted several times later on, both in PRC and elsewhere. The copy I own (ISBN 7100001307; but the cover looks exactly like the one shown at Amazon's listing for 7100005302) was printed in 1988, but the text is apparently identical to the original edition.

Despite its age, this is still likely one of the best big Chinese-English dictionaries in existence.

The size of the dictionary (976 p main body + 31 p preliminary matter), alows it to be quite complete. It includes some 6000-7000 characters, apparently covering practically every character that one is likely to encounter in modern printed matter from PRC. However it is not a "character dictionary" "zidian"), but a word dictionary ("cidian"): character articles are arranged in the Pinyin alphabetic order, and within each character article there are numerous articles for 2-, 3-, 4-character words and expressions that start with that character, all alphabetically ordered. For the users who don't speak the language, a radical-based character index is provided as well. There is no stroke-count based index, though.

The coolest feature of the book are numerous examples it gives. Two particularly interesting categories of examples may make one read the disctionary just for its entertainment value. First, pithy folksy sayings [...]: "Don't pull on your shoe in a melon patch; don't adjust your cap under a plum tree" -- don't do anything to arouse suspicions). Second, political phraseology from the eras of the Cultural Revolution and the Four Modernizations. [...] zou3gou3: running dog; lackey; flunkey; stooge; servile follower).

Dictionary articles are well provided with explanations and, when necessary, usage markers (labeling some words or meanings as measure words, archaic words, colloquialisms; regional expressions, scientific terms, etc.). However, as the dictionary as mainly intended for Chinese users, most of this explanatory matter is in Chinese as well.

English translations are good, and -- unlike certain other dictionaries -- rarely appear unidiomatic or stilted (as much as it is possible to achieve that when translating the subject matter...). Considering the conditions of the time, both the Chinese and Anglo members of the production team did an admirable job.

Written in simplified characters, the dictionary is not as convenient for reading texts written in traditional characters. There is an appendix with traditional characters alright; but, unfortunately, the way it is arranged, it is more suitable for looking up the traditional form based on the simplified character, rather than vice versa (which you'd probably want to do to read a book from Taiwan or Hong Kong).

As pretty much all standard Chinese dictionaries, it is focused on Putonghua (Standard Mandarin), so, not surprisingly, it
will not be of much help for reading something written e.g. in Cantonese.

Typographically, my edition (1988 printing -- which I bought a few years ago as the only Chinese dictionary that happened to be sold in my then-hometown in Canada) is in a rather poor shape, with printing not always easy to read, and binding not surviving heavy use too well. Hopefully, later reprints are better printed and more sturdily bound.

Overall, even though I don't know the language, and am not likely to ever learn much, the purchase was worth it for me. There are many smaller dictionaries on the market, specifically designed for a student or traveller, and they will serve their practical purposes better. But as a cultural artefact and a standard reference, this one was certainly worth it for me.

If you are only going to get one chinese dictionary, this should be it. The format is extremely convenient and the content superb given its size and price. Also, since it was written under the auspices of the Communist Chinese government, most of the example sentences are about american imperialists and so forth, which is very funny to read. It is hard for us, living in a democratic society, to really appreciate what it would be like under a totalitarian regime, and this gives us a taste of the blatant propaganda. So, not only is this dictionary useful, it is also entertaining!

This is a compelling novel on every level. As an exciting drama of
danger and love it is excellent. There is creative genius in the depiction of the metallurgical discovery of the process for making iron so vital to the Jewish people.

As a lawyer I was thrilled by Ms. Farber's description of the applcation of the Law. The corroding mores of neighboring peoples, the evil motivations of skilled manipulators, the blind application of judgment, and the tempering of mercy are vividly portrayed. A great read and a greater re-read.

My teenage daughter loved this book. She read it in one day. A book that can get a teenager talking is quite something! The realistic way in which life in those days was portrayed, amazing! The appeal to both adult and teenager, this book does it all. When is the next one coming out?

Farber's "City of Refuge" was a delightful escape into another time
and place for me! Her thoroughly researched discussions of metal
working, weaving, involuntary substance abuse, legal trials, pharmacology,
and medical treatment of the times were fascinating. The well drawn
characters and plot, plus exciting action scenes are still with me.
Highly recommended!
1

City of Refuge is an amazing novel. The plot is action-packed with many unexpected twists and turns. What really makes the story stand out is the fact that it is set in ancient Biblical times. Farber certainly did her research to learn how people lived in those days. Can you believe that before they had "Mr. Clean" people used urine as a cleanser - who would have thought? I have studied some sections of the Bible, and they never came alive for me as they did in this story. The characters seemed so real. While reading, I became so involved with the characters, I felt real anger and pain when they were hurt, and genuine relief when they were spared. Through the characters and the plot, I was transported back through the centuries in a way I never imagined could be possible.

I am an international consultant and usining this book as a training tool with my clients. The stories and circus metaphors are very creative and interesting. This makes the book not only a tool I can use for work but also an enjoyable read.

I put this book to immediate use with an intercultural consult I did, with a company whose [mostly American] employees work with a very international clientele. The structure of adding contextual factors to the analysis of styles and values added a lot of depth to the discussion and people could really get it.

There are many books written about communications styles, but none quite like this one. Written by intercultural experts who are also educators, this book goes far beyond the basics of differences in how people communicate. It provides an organizational yet personal roadmap to get a real handle on diversity and how to create greater value from the collaboration of a diverse group of people.

The book uses some unique observation tools to help the reader use the concepts being learned, and it is sprinkled full of stories that illustrate their points exceptionally well.

Perhaps most unique though are the 26 exercises designed for use by individuals or groups to help them do what the subtitle of the book promises - Leverage the power of diverse communication styles.

The authors, in the introduction say more about the very appropriate subtitle, "the subtitle ... reflects our conviction that individuals and groups can benefit greatly when communication style differences are understood, respected, and utilized appropriately."

If you are a leader of diverse groups or a trainer of facilitator, this book belongs in your library. If you are individual ever striving to communicate more effectively with everyone you come in contact with, this book will help you on this journey as well.

I think this book makes an important contribution to the field of intercultural communication. It fleshes out the concept of communication style and emphasizes its importance in face-to-face intercultural interactions. The book's concepts are illustrated with interesting and detailed case studies from the authors' extensive experience with multicultural organizations.

The concepts might be a bit complicated, but not so much so that serious readers can't absorb and use them.

The authors use the engaging metaphor of a circus to tie their ideas together and help the reader follow the flow. This keeps the book from reading like a textbook; rather, it is engaging and thought-provoking throughout.

Finally, I couldn't tell from the writing that this was a book written by three different individuals. It has a uniform style and tone that's not common in books written by more than one person.

Paul London provides a very interesting overview of the growth of the large industrial economy after the Depression and WWII and its death and transition into the more global and competitive economy we have today. He notes that the goal of the Depression focused the American economy on providing full employment. This led the government to support the rise of the huge steel, communications, automotive, mining, and other large corporations and those that supported them.

These corporations used their might (along with union might and supportive governmental regulation) to fight off and restrict competition. Mr. London sees this weak competitive environment as one of the causes of the inflation during the seventies. He also faults Richard Nixon for his wage and price controls and political influence on the Federal Reserve. He gives great credit to Presidents Ford and Carter for having the political courage to fight inflation and to take painful steps to right the economic cart.

He notes that it was Carter, not Reagan, who put Volcker in charge of the Federal Reserve and deserves the credit for Volcker's success. Mr. London also expresses some skepticism in the monetary and tax cut approach to encouraging growth. He goes so far as to say that Greenspan's reputation is inflated because he had little to do with the success of the economy in the eighties and especially in the nineties. For Mr. London, it was the competition with the Japanese that forced the automotive companies to increase efficiency and hold prices down. It was small steel companies such as Nucor that saved the American Steel industry. He also notes that breaking up the AT&T cartel that fought every innovation that has led to vastly increased service offerings at a much lower cost. He also tells the story of how competition has affected the airlines, our banking regime, and retailing (he notes that Wal-Mart keeping prices low has helped fight inflation).

I think he makes some very good points. However, I cannot go all the way with him. Taxation does play a huge role in our business environment and we have to be careful what distortions we build into our market system. And his dismissal of monetary policy is far to facile for me. Printing money too much money has always been a tool of governments trying to get away with something. It always brings inflation through a devalued currency (not just devalued exchange rates, which can be just fine).

Mr. London also talks about how competition can help our current problems in education and health care. His prescriptions are not very detailed, but I am encouraged in the different role he sees for government in fixing these problems. Rather than more government programs and greater government control, he encourages intelligent encouragement of private enterprise in both environments through regulatory incentives that will lower costs (for example, by mandating electronic medical records) and make a more level playing field for innovation.

This is a good book and well worth reading. And I like the breath of fresh air approach rather than a restating of the normal doctrines of our times from either the left or the right. Well worth reading and discussing.

200 great pages that provide focus to the common sense wisdom your grandfather taught you - competition creates more for society and that benefits all of us. A central theme from London's book is the benefit of foreign investment. As I vaguely recall the 85% US content on my Honda Accord, I could not agree more.

In this excellent book, Paul London echoes the thesis of William W. Lewis (The Power of Productivity, University of Chicago Press, 2004) that it is increased product market competition that is responsible for the prosperity of the past two decades. Factors ranging from globalization to deregulation to financial innovation all led to this increase in competition. Globalization increased productivity by forcing the streamlining of domestic industries. Deregulation meant that protected, inefficient companies had to change their ways to survive against new market entrants. And new financial market segments ranging from the NASDAQ market to high-yield bonds made capital available to new companies that had not previously been able to exist.

London argues that the increase in prosperity was caused far more by increased competition in private industry than by federal monetary or fiscal policies. It was not the Federal Reserve's monetary policy of the 1980s-1990s that killed inflation, but rather increased competition, which meant that companies were no longer free to indiscriminately raise prises. Likewise, it was increased competition rather than lower tax rates that forced existing companies to increase their investment in productivity-boosting capital. Higher living standards were the happy result for consumers, employees, and investors alike.

Most of London's evidence is anecdotal rather than empirical, but on the plus side this makes the book highly readable. An enthusiastic five stars.

Thank you, thank you, Dr. London, for your well- and clearly-written book, explaining your economics theory in an informative, entertaining and highly readable fashion! It was fascinating to learn how the Wal-Marts and Toyotas of the world reinvented their respective industries, and how free trade and deregulation help to provide better consumer products. I'm a fan!!
Sincerely,
Sally Haver

I can across this book while searching on Amazon for books on alternative health. I didn't know much about ionized water but this book taught me a ton and was really easy reading. I always knew that raw food were good for you, but I didn't really how important they were until reading this book. I would definetly recommend this to anyone interested in improving their health and general well-being.

I was just beginning to learn about different types of water and I came across ionized water and picked up this book. I really love the author's explanation. He breaks it down and makes everything he discusses very interesting. I have started drinking the water and it is great stuff. I would definetely recommend this book to anyone trying to improve their health or learn about health from a different perspective.

This book changed my life for the better. I understand health so much better than I did. I was doing everything wrong. But with the simple changes the author suggests, I have completely different changed my health. I haven't been to the doctor once since reading and I use to go constantly.

Jeff

This book is full of wonderful information on raw foods, water, general nutrition and much more. The author breaks everything down into simple terms so it is easy to understand. A great book to start off with to improve your health and nutrition.

Dyer and Hilburt-Davis offer outstanding strategies and recommendations from their vast experience and intimate knowledge working with family businesses. This book is an excellent resource for all professionals who advise family businesses.

Consulting to Family Businesses is a MUST-READ for anyone who works with family-owned businesses. The book's format makes it easy to read and to find needed information. Its content, which is nut-and-bolts practical, will benefit both experienced hands as well as "newbies."

Jane Hilburt-Davis and Gibb Dyer have made a significant contribution to the emerging field of family business consultation. They deliver good practical advice along with thoughtful insight about the pushes and pulls that families feel as their companies grow and thrive. In the short time I've owned this book I've had to move it closer and closer to the "most used" section on my book shelf. Clearly these authors do hands-on consultation everyday, know what they're doing, but have also thought about how to share their ideas with family business owners and other consultants. 'Very readable. It's just a great resource.

This book is a true gift for those who are entering the field of advising to family businesses or those who have been at it for years. It is comprehensive and thoughtful, a true benchmark for the subject of the consulting process with family owned busineses.

This book provides an up-to date review of the structures and characteristics of the various financial and corporate governance systems that exist in eleven industrialized countries around the globe. It also informs the reader as to why and how some companies take advantage of these differences, while others fail, in the finance and management of their long-term investment decisions such as Research and Development.

IT IS A PERFECT GUIDE TO FIND OUT INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL PROBLEMS

This is an excellent review of international corporate governance practice and short-termism Essential reading for Internatioanl Business

Previous work on Corporate Governance has often produced a rough view of Corporate Governance practices and their influnce on investment decisions. This book examines different national models of Corproate Governance,how they operate, and how they affect investment decisions in Research and Development. The implications of differing Coporate Governance practices for other intangible investment decisions, company policies, and for Financial Reporting is also examined.