General-partnership

This book prepares buyers of custom software for the pitfalls inherent in developing a system. It explains why there must be give and take between buyer and developer, and why "tough" contracts offer little protection. I suspect this will come as news to many first-time buyers.

I have never seen such pithy insights into why major development projects fail - and succeed. Rarely does anyone speak to management with such candor about their mistakes. And provide such clear and well founded examples of both success and failure. Anyone in a position to make decisions about new systems development should read this book.

As a consultant involved in strategy change and training, I have seen the fruitless internal conflict over who is to blame when new systems are late or clumsy to implement. Any company involved in or considering new systems development will find Ripin and Sayles an invaluable resource for negotiating with potential vendors and facilitating IS development projects. They stress what is so often forgotten: the critical role of line manager and user participation ... including more realistic trade-offs between costs (and failure risks) and ambitious client wish lists. Their vivid case studies illustrate how client managers obtain new skills by project participation that enable them to make more effective use of these costly new technologies and even to fine tune applications. Outsourcer professionals and client staff and line managers will find Ripin and Sayles an engaging, well documented, and widely useful book on developing and implementing new information systems. A must read!

If you're thinking about entering into a partnership, you're probably too close to your new venture to be able to see the pitfalls clearly - much like the early stages of a romance. The "partnership is like a marriage" theme may seem a trifle hackneyed, but when something is basically true it tends to get repeated. Azriela Jaffe's straightforward, easy-to-read book includes checklists you can use to see if you're really ready for partnership. You need objective advice to face the reality that you are entering a relationship that, no matter how exciting in the beginning, holds real potential for turning ugly later. This book will help you navigate territory that may be more hazardous than you think. We [...] recommend it to entrepreneurs who are considering a partnership, as well as to those wearing their current partners around their necks.

The book is very useful for small partnerships. For bigger partnerships it offers only a good step-by-step framework. All the very helpful lists how to select a good partner, how to discover your own and your partners motivation and how to define your values are not really useful for companies. However most of the secrets Azriela offers the reader will lead you to tranferable ideas and maybe solutions.

There's a cute expression that people use today, particularly when others share details of their personal lives: "That's more information than I wanted to know." These words express my feeling as I read this book. It's jam-packed! There's so much stuff in these pages, I found myself wanting some illustrations or graphics to break up the text.

Jaffe likens forming a business partnership to getting married. There are a lot of similarities, since the partners have to live with each other for-hopefully-a long time. Leaping into marriage without being very sure is a recipe for disaster . . . or divorce. The same situation faces anyone entering into business with another-for any reason. And there are more reasons laid out in this book than I'd ever thought of. In fact, there was a lot of material in this book that was new to me . . . which is good!

Before I tell you more about the book, I'll list the eight secrets. 1. Look before you leap. 2. Know yourself. 3. Know your partner. 4. Clarify your mission and vision. 5. Formalize your agreements. 6. Two heads are better than one. 7. Safeguard against conflicts. 8. Breaking up is hard to do.

The book is an interwoven combination of information, illustrative vignettes, and check-yourself quizzes. There is so much, I found myself wanting a summary. Aha! Chapter 10: The Secrets to a Successful Partnership in a Nutshell. Eight pages of recommended resources precede the index.

If you're considering going into business with someone else-anyone else, read this book first. Get a pad out before you read: you'll be taking a lot of notes. Jaffe's book may be more information than you wanted to know, but it will be just what you need to know.

This upbeat yet nuanced overview, appearing on the eve of an interesting Mexican Presidential election, summarizes recent developments in U.S.-Mexican relations and outlines the most challenging aspects. Smith's intended audience is the diverse mix of business people, students, government officials and thoughtful travelers who are curious about our increasingly important, but often troubled, relationship with Mexico. Just over 200 pages in length the book fits easily in a briefcase or a backpack. Smith grew up in Las Cruces, New Mexico, was a Foreign Service Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico in the 1970's, and is now a senior research associate at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research at Stanford.

A quick forty pages of historical background introduces the meat of the book, the last three decades years of our common history with Mexico leading up to in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). As Smith makes clear NAFTA seems to have been a success from the trade perspective. U.S.- Mexican trade has increased in both directions from $100 billion in 1994, when NAFTA went into effect, to $175 billion in 1998. In the U.S. the economy has been strong and the huge shift of jobs to south of the border, which had been forecast by Ross Perot and others never happened.

Meanwhile, during these same years the Mexican economy sagged and rebounded with only modest overall gains. The political scene has been unsettled and social order has deteriorated. The very day that NAFTA went into effect, armed Zapatista rebels seized six towns in Chiapas, Mexico's southernmost state. A few months later Luis Donaldo Colosio, the government party (PRI) candidate, who was advocating political reform, was assassinated. The replacement candidate Ernesto Zedillo was elected easily in a fair election, but shortly thereafter, the peso collapsed. Outgoing President Carlos Salinas, who had been campaigning with U.S. support to lead the World Trade Organization, fled Mexico surrounded by the stench of corruption. Meanwhile, Mexico has been plagued by an escalating crime wave. Drug trafficking, despite some strenuous efforts on both sides of the border, continues largely unabated. The rebels have been driven from the towns but still hide out in the mountains of Chiapas. The minimum wage in Mexico is $4 a day and a third of workers earn less. Emigration, either legal or illegal, to the US is an answer for some workers, the majority of whom find work in construction, household services or the restaurant industry. Although the newcomers often cause tension in communities which must house and provide public services for what seems like a flood of foreigners, on balance the immigration flow is a net plus to the U.S. economy.

Smith, looking to NAFTA, greater freedom for private business and nascent changes in what has heretofore been a one-party political system, calls the change in Mexico profound. The reviewer, thinking of the struggling Mexican worker making less than five dollars a day and coping with a deteriorating physical environment, an escalating crime wave and an often corrupt court system, sees Mexico as still stuck in the Third World. The reviewer agrees with Smith that the U.S.-Mexican relationship will be a major challenge to the two new Presidents, whomever they may be, who will take office in January. Lets hope they rise to the challenge. Inevitable Partnership is an excellent starting point for anyone who wants to watch or join in the drama.

This an excellent book and the timing is perfect to read it NOW, given the advent of a new Administration in Mexico and the up-coming US electoral campaign.

Dr. Smith briefly and concisely reviews the history of US-Mexican relations, providing a well-documented and objective background for understanding how we have dealt with US-Mexican relations historically and have arrived at today's relationship. He convincingly makes the argument that our bilateral relationship is probably the most important one the US has, given the myriad of economic, political, geographical, social, and cultural factors which tie us together.

In addition, Smith catalogues and describes the most important bilateral issues which we face together. He discusses the economic/trade/financial topics of which the NAFTA is only one; the environmental question, which is so important given the 2000 mile cross-polluitng border; the drug-trafficking and other criminal issues which we damage our societies; the immigration and labor issues which bring potential advantages and disadvantages to both countries; the Mexican political and human rights situation which affects US policy-making; and a host of other bilateral problems. These problems have been with us for decades and will not be solved quickly, if ever, but they must be faced.

The above background provides the most important reason for reading and digesting Smith's book. It provides us with the factual and backgound data which will be required as we attempt to understand and analyze the election victory of Vicente Fox and his future policies. Basically, the book can be used as a primer for watching Mexico over the next year, as well as understanding the US response to Fox policies and policy initiatives. As Smith so effectively points out, bilateral policy can not be implemented successfully without the input and action of both countries. Fox's policy initiatives will of course be based on the history and background of the most important bilateral isses. Another Smith insight is that there are few domestic policies in Mexico which are not somehow tied to US policies. The status of the US eocnomy is of course one of the most obvious one.

This essential need for bilateral policy formulation and implementation more and more includes the role of US non-Federal Agencies (US States and Municipalities)such as the state of California. (In fact one of Fox's campaign promises is to de-centralized government in Mecico.) Smith includes a full chapter on California, which will be all-important to a successful US-Mexican relationship, given the state's huge economy and large Mexican-Ameican population. The background of immigration proposition 187 is only one of the issues covered by Dr. Smith.

Also, California will be a key factor in the up-coming US Presidential election with millions of its voters concerned about policy on US-Mexican issues, especially business and trade, and immigration. Again, the book seves as a primer for the US electoral campaign as it might be concerned with US-Mexican relations.

In summary, I have rarely seen such a concise book provide so much valuable material in such a useful form. As opposed to many books about Mexico, this one also provide some tentative policy prescriptions for the near and mid-term.

The fascinating concept of brainships is wedded with recognition of society's responsibility to maximize the potential of it's members. Nancia's growth from naive newness to flexible adulthood is accompanied by normal emotional trauma. Self awareness, recognition of self worth and valuation of others are wrapped in an entertaining reading experience. Cynical recognition of who you know rather than what you know doesn't detract from the message or the idealistic theme that good works and good will can triumph.

McCaffery does it again! I love how she winds intrigue, betrayal, and suspense into one super novel!!!

I read the book and found it very helpful with my plan to form a real estate parnership. I found the examples at the end of each subjet very helpful. However, it seems the authors went to a great length to demonstrate to readers that they are NOT gender biased, to the point where one would find himself sometimes cringing. Their objective could have been attained better by replacing all the He, she, him, her, with "he/she" or "him/her", and let each readers to choose the jender for themselves.

I found this title to be all-encompassing if you're considering entering into a partnership - whether it's an existing partnership or whether you're starting up a new partnership. In fact, I purchased another title on this same topic and I ended up returning it because I didn't see where it covered anything that wasn't already covered in The Partnership Book. I feel much more comfortable entering into a partnership after reading this book as I feel that I now have the necessary information to make proper decisions. I strongly urge anyone considering entering into a partnership to read this book.

I used this book whilst studying my Diploma in Sales and Marketing and found it invaluable. It goes through the fundamental steps of selling and gives you great examples of companies different approaches to the selling environment. A must for all sales people who want to learn the basics of selling or those who want to brush up on their skills.

A FRIEND OF MINE WHO IS A PROFESSOR IN ZIMBABWE (UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE) WOULD LIKR TO KNOW IF YOU HAVE A TEACHERS RESOURCE BOOK, OR ANY SUPPLEMENTS TO THIS BOOK (SELLING - BUILDING PATNERSHIP)

Nick Fashon, the young, handsome and charmingly vain co-owner of a clothing store called Love & Fashion, with his partner, Vince Love, finds himself sole heir to the estate of his barely-known grandfather, a desert rat whose invention, the doohickey of the title, may possibly be a money-maker. This drives a plot with wacky, funny, wise-cracking characters like an ambitious Latina TV cooking show hostess, an archaeologist girl-friend, a hick lawyer who is a wannabe dude, all in a mildly twisted mystery plot.

There is an awful lot of talk about mouth-watering food in the book and you'll find yourself inexplicably hungry throughout, hankering for menudo or huevos rancheros washed down with margaritas grandes. And you'll enjoy the well-described Tucson scene.

Not in the same league as mysterydom's big-hitters, but worth an evening's read nonetheless.

Scott Morrison

Pete Hautman is able to create distinctive, often loony, characters who drive an engaging plot that wraps up all of the loose ends by its conclusion. Nicholas Fashon, around which the plot revolves, has inherited the rights to his grandfather's all-purpose kitchen gadget the Handy Mate (one of many doohickey inventions the old man fiddled around with). Getting the Handy Mate manufactured and marketed is Fashon's goal to make it big, but there are many roadblocks in his way, including a violent loanshark, a sexy female chef, and the police who suspect Fashon of torching his apparel store for insurance money. The book's humor is derived from twists in the plot and nonsensical situations between Fashon and a number of secondary characters, in a similar vein to earlier Hautman books. It is highly enjoyable, and good for a laugh or two every few pages.

Pete Hautman has a real knack for creating off-the-wall characters and great plots. Nick Fashon must deal sexy gals, a shady lawyer (of course!), a barrio thug, and friends who desert him in his time of need. The twists and turns of this novel will keep you reading (and chuckling) with every page. It has a similar comedic punch as Hautman's other fun read, Mrs. Million. Highly recommended!

While few would deny that culture matters, Harrison would like you to believe that it is all that matters. The book does not present any data to back his twisted arguments apart from self serving anecdotes on every conference he attended and every conversation with minor celebrities. Once you get past the name dropping, however, you find a racist isolationist arguing against NAFTA (he believes that the stereotype that "Mexican are corrupt, have no social consciousness and completely disregard human rights" "is "largely accurate" -pg. 215) and against immigration ( "large numbers of unskilled, uneducated immigrants...confound the high priority objective of steadily increasing high incomes for Americans" ..."our policy must be responsive to the needs of our society, not the failures of other societies" pg. 251). Harrison gets in real conceptual trouble when he repeatedly criticizes economists that emphasize "market signals" to create prosperity. To explain the progress in Chile he has to do a backflip ( the elite there is from Basque descent, he argues). You are left to wonder how he explains the sharply different progress of the same culture in Taiwan and Continental China, in the former East or West Germany , in North and South Korea or in Cuba and Miami, to mention just a few cases. His main argument is that if you are Catholic and brown, you better change your religion, your values and if possible, the color of your skin - but don't ever dare to live in the United States and challenge his culture! Don't waste your time with his book.

A really first-rate book that states the obvious--which, in these PC days we're not supposed to say--and states it lucidly.

Harrison has written one of the most important and provocative books on U.S.-Latin American relations published in the last quarter century. Along with his earlier work, "Underdevelopment is a State of Mind: The Latin American Case", it is required reading for those who wish to understand why more than 50 years of international aid to the region has failed to produce sustainable economic progress, social justice and stable democracies.

Harrison has shifted the focus of Latin America's development crisis to cultural deficiencies and family values. His books are reminiscent of Daniel Patrick Moynihan's analyses of the crisis of the black family, Francis Fukuyama's "Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity", and John McWhorten's recent book, "Losing the Race". Much like Senator Moynihan's writings were dismissed as "racist", time has proven him correct. Harrison's courageous leadership in identifying similar cultural and value weaknesses in Latin American societies has generated the same unproductive name calling from leftists whose prescriptions have repeatedly failed to achieve sustainable development in Latin America. International aid agencies and universities do a real disservice to millions of Latin Americans mired in misery by ignoring Harrison's critical point about the cultural roots of their persistent poverty.

Since so many books on Latin America are poorly written and present distorted views of the region, "The Pan American Dream" is a pleasure to read that makes it ideal for introductory courses and study groups. Chapter Four on the destructive role of American intellectuals and the positive contributions of the United Fruit Company is guaranteed to stimulate intense discussion and debate. Given the rigid leftist orthodoxy that dominates so much teaching about Latin America, Harrison's arguments are a breath of fresh air and reflect a historic paradigm shift in analyzing U.S.-Latin American relations.

It should be noted that a growing number of leading Latin American and U.S. writers agree with Harrison's conclusions. Indeed, Harrison draws extensively on the Venezuelan Carlos Rangel and his 1976 book, "The Latin Americans: Their Love-Hate Relationship with the United States". Those who charge Harrison with "racism" should see similar analyses by Mario Vargas Llosa, one of Latin America's most prominent writers and the book "Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot" that has been a regional best-seller since its publication in 1996. These and other writers, such as the Argentine Mariano Grandona, and those other academics who contributed to Harrison's most recent book "CULTURE MATTERS: How Values Shape Human Progress" clearly represent a dramatic paradigm shift in thinking about the root causes of underdevelopment. Harrison should be congratulated for his intellectual courage. He merits far greater attention by those concerned with helping the Latin American poor and creating a more positive and constructive Western Hemisphere community of nations.

This book is very poor. This is a fact. But what is obscene is the [deceit] that the author with his friends are perpetuating with these "reviews".
One of them even wrote that he made mandatory the reading of this book in his company! Well, that could be a new method to get rid of employees at no cost. Finally, yes this board should prevent these [false] reviews but the main point is that such a poor book shouldn't even be published.

A "How-to" book, written in order, with liberal does of history thrown it. What a treasure!
As a "honcho" (in my own mind) I enjoyed measuring the author's premises against my own real world experiences. I wish I'd read Sarah's book first.
This book was written to help its readers get results, which for many of us means money and or time. If this approach doesn't work for you, then even the consolation prize is a good deal, i.e., minimal wasted time and money.
It is not a quick read. You have to slow down and study. Enjoy.

This book is an invaluable resource for people, like me, that want to drive companies towards new successes and markets, it provides an enormous number of useful suggestions, methods and real cases. These are always very pertinent, well presented and precise. Please, read this book before writing those preconceived and biased reviews. By the way, in case you didn't know, I am a total idiot.

I have to admit I am thoroughly dissappointed by this book and cannot understand the positive reviews it received from several of the other readers, except that they may be academics. If you are somebody who is only interested in the theory and philosophical background of corporate partnerships, this might be the book you are looking for, but if you are, like myself, a practical doer, who is looking for hands-on insight and knowledge on this topic, you will be deeply dissappointed. Also several of the examples of "showcase" alliances, such as Iridium, are not only outdated, but in fact, bankrupt. Very annoying to read about these "great" alliances, that several months after publishing went belly up. To sum it up, for the practical business professionals among you, I suggest you keep on researching on other books in this genre. Unfortunately, since I didn't read yet any other books on this topic, I cannot offer an alternative book advice.

This book is disappointing in too many ways. As is often the case with works by Hamel, the ideas are interesting but there is little practical description of how one might implement them. In the time since most of the research was compiled (evidently in the late 1980s and early 1990s), several of the profiled alliances have failed. This is the danger of any business book (viz: In Search of Excellence), but it seems particularly problematic here. Perhaps it's from skepticism borne by all of the Wall Street meltdowns over the past year, but as the book prattles on about this "new" way of doing business, one cant help wonder whether there is any wisdom here, given that Doz and Hamel couldnt seem to separate the successes from the failures. The inclusion of failures (like Iridium) seem all the worse because there are so few alliances covered. By the third chapter, with the umpteenth mention of the GE-SNECMA alliance, I wondered: why not base this book on a little more than five or six case studies? And that's the biggest problem with this book. There is so little material here that even though the text is only about 280 pages, by the third chapter it is getting grossly repetitive; if you make it to chapter seven (which is one of the few good ones), you win a prize.

"Strategic alliances are a logical and timely response to intense and rapid changes in economic activity, technology, and globalization, all of which have cast many corporations into two competitive races: one for the world and the other for the future. Globalization opened the race for the world as firms entered once-closed markets and pursued untapped opportunities. The race for the future compels firms to discover new market opportunities, new solutions for customers, new answers to poorly met needs...This book aims to help managers and their companies to be more successful in creating and guiding their strategic alliances. To that end it offers both conceptual and practical tools for analyzing the design and performance of alliances and presents a wide range of examples of both successful and unsuccessful collaborations" (from the Introduction).

In this context, Yves L.Doz and Gary Hamel assume that "two corporations have agreed to work together.They have assessed the value creation potential of their alliance and their own strategic compatibility. And they have decided on a design that promises to enhance collaboration and minimize tension. Everything looks good. Yet the fledgling partners find themselves unable to move from planning to implementation. Why?" Hence, in Chapter 6, after exploring in detail the gaps that separate these corporations from the start, they summarize these gaps as following:

1. Frame Gap: Perspective and definition for understanding the relationship and heuristic gap rules for behaving within it, driving day-to-day interaction.

2. Expectations Gap: Benchmark against which the actual performance (or the strength of early signals alerting to performance difficulties) is to be assessed.

3. Organizational Context Gap: Structure and process for decision making, work, oreganization and performance, and organizational learning may be more or less compatible between partners.

4. Confidence Gap: Self-confidence allows strong personal commitments and personal risk taking in cooperation; lack of confidence makes wholehearted cooperation difficult.

5. Skill Understanding Gap: Need to combine and blend differentiated skills between partners, in particular where process integration is required.

6. Task Definition Gap: Need to define a concrete set of tasks in order to start operational and tangible cooperation.

7. Information Gap: Need to share information.

8. Time Gap: Need to keep balance of costs and benefits in perspective over time, for each partner and between partners.

Hence, they explore how these gaps can be closed. And they say as a common theme runs through their recommendations that "companies should invest in their understanding of the situation and gather intelligence about their partners. They should view the inception of the partner relationship as an opportunity to learn and to improve. This may be more important than blindly rushing into implementation of joint task."

Highly recommended.