Investment-company

Then things fall apart quickly. The reason is because the authors over-reach by offering their suggestions for implementing the HR practices they identify as creating market value. That scope is simply much too large for a book of this size, resulting in shallow solutions. As an example, the authors show that "linking rewards to performance" is associated with a nine percent higher market value. They then share all of nine pages on how to implement pay-for-performance systems. That's hardly adequate, given there are a multitude of full-length books on that subject alone.

Some vexing findings are given short shrift, like the counterintuitive results that training and 360 degree feedback actually reduce market value. The authors waffle on the findings by suggesting the negative impact can be explained simply because these programs typically are ineffective. That kind of logic doesn't work since executing the other HR practices poorly would also have a negative impact on value creation.

In sum, this book does an excellent job demonstrating the relationship between human capital practices and market value. However, if you need help implementing those practices, you should look elsewhere.

"The Human Capital Edge" shows the measurable value of implementing solid HR practices! Great stuff!!

The book also depicts how Wall Street analysts, otherwise savvy reporters, individual investors, and even Sunbeam's own Board of Directors were duped into believing Al's fairy tales far longer than I would have imagined possible. They seemed to want to continue to believe, even in the face of growing evidence of his duplicity. The author captures all these events and offers comments and perspective from many of the individuals involved.

Just like one of Aesop's fables, this story highlights the ethical dillemas faced in the business world; the bad choices of an arrogant, unfeeling egomaniac, and the moral of the story: you'll eventually pay the price for profit at any price.

Al Dunlap was so lionized by Wall Street that the market capitalization of Sunbeam went up by billions of dollars simply because of the announcement that he was taking charge. The subsequent fiasco is well documented. Byrne takes us behind the scenes and shows us what exactly happened, and when and why. Based on exhaustive interviews and examination of public and private records, the tale is both gripping and revealing.

Accounting norms were stretched to the point of outright fraud. Those who tried to sound alarms were silenced by various means ranging from firing to being bought off with options. Characters are finely drawn to the extent that you feel you know each one personally. Telling incidents reveal the essence of each player. During a major crisis, for example, Dunlap dispatches his major henchman to adjudicate a minor dispute with his club. The movers and shakers of business - Michael Price, Ron Perelman and others of that ilk - are shown to have poor judgment coupled with incredible arrogance, the same traits amply displayed by Dunlap. All have overwhelming greed. There are no heroes in this book.

The author documents that Dunlap's "successes" had much less substance than media accounts would lead you to believe. It was luck that prevented Scott Paper, for example, from being the first debacle. This is no hatchet job despite Dunlap's visceral hate for the author. The author does not reveal many damaging tidbits in this book which he has recounted elsewhere - such as the fact that Dunlap refused to contibute to the medical expenses of a niece suffering from cancer.

Far from being a "leader" or even "manager", Dunlap was a tyrant who preyed on the weak, fawned on the strong and endlessly feathered his nest. Media and Wall Street colluded in his successful-for-too-long image building. Byrne has the courage to point this out.

It is a sad commentary on our business culture that Dunlap flourished for so long despite so many people knowing what was really going on.

Read this book to understand what is going on behind the scenes in too many companies. Dunlap did not grow in a vacuum. END

"Chainsaw" chronicles the rise and fall of "Chainsaw Al" Dunlap so compellingly that even those who wouldn't think to read a business book will be hooked. However, the book is in many ways fascinating the way that a car wreck is fascinating. The reader will marvel at the amount and intensity of abuse Dunlap hurls at even his closest friends and allies, the coldness with which he treats his family (he abandoned his son at age 2 and couldn't be bothered to attend the funerals of either of his parents), and the near-perverted bounds of his ego. In fact, as Sunbeam lurches toward collapse, his only apparent interest was in signing copies of his autobiography.

Defenders of Dunlap will say that he did the dirty work of downsizing and layoffs to save dying companies, sacrificing the needs of the few for the good of the many. And true, the modern business world is filled with harsh realities and tough decision-making. But Dunlap's approach to downsizing in "Chainsaw" teeters between indifference to those downsized and pure sadism. At points in the book, he actually seems to enjoy cutting jobs and closing factories (though he usually had others do the dirty deeds). As the author says, there is a business world between being tough and being cruel -- and Byrne leaves little doubt about where he places Dunlap. Worse, Dunlap's moves at Sunbeam didn't seem to have been done with any level of intelligence, other than to get Dunlap a quick win so he could cash out fast. The result was the near-total destruction of Sunbeam rather than long-term gains from short-term pain.

In "Chainsaw," Byrne stresses that either through fear, greed or naivetee, others enabled Dunlap. The way that each of these characters is drawn creates a fascinating if morbid portrait of a dysfunctional, cannibalistic organization revolving totally around Chainsaw Al.

Byrne is a terrific writer, and "Chainsaw" is a great read. My only quibble is that, since Byrne and Dunlap apparently have had great animosity toward each other, Byrne often sacrifices any attempt at objectivity. But perhaps objectivity isn't possible when chronicling such an extreme personality.

It's good to see "Chainsaw" returning to print in paperback. Now, in the era of Enron and WorldCom, Sept. 11 and the War on Terror reminding us what real toughness is all about, and with the Wall Street euphoria of the '90s in the rear-view mirror, its perspective is needed now more than ever...

One of Schwab's greatest strengths is adaptation, but that means that any book written about him and his company will quickly be out of date. In this case, it was written before the US Trust acquisition and before he gave up the co-CEO role. It was also written at the beginning of the long, painful downturn following the crash of the NASDAQ that has hurt Schwab as much as anyone.

I can't wait to read the sequel.

I found her program very practical. She discussed various strategies for capital raising ... and offered astute approaches to how to present your deal to investment sources, including private angels, corporate investors and venture capital firms. My advice: get this audio album that is invaluable to anyone who is truly serious about successfully building a major business venture.

It's also just as effective.

They do, however, get a bit distracted on a couple of topics, and bogged down in some formulas that I didn't think added much to the disccusion. In those moments, you know you're reading the work of university professors rather than practitioners.

They could have gone further with their ALM thinking. They could have discussed how mergers between insurance and banking would in the future highlight the differences between the current approaches to ALM, and how financial conglomerates will eventually just relegate insurance to one of many liability businesses, apply option-adjusted transfer prices to insurance products, and take the interest rate risk into consolidated positions. It will not be any more complicated than that. They allude to banking ALM, but don't really drive home any of what I thought were the logical conclusions. They were focused on insurance as stand-alone companies and did not address insurance in the context of a financial conglomerate.

Nonetheless, as stated, this is probably the best book on the market as an introduction to insurance ALM and helps dispell many myths and provides some useful history.

1 The Basics of Property-Casualty Insurance
2 Securitizing Insurance Risks
3 Life Insurance in the United States: History of a crisis
4 ALM in Insurance: An Empirical Wander Around Europe
5 Life Insurance Pricing and the Measurement of the Duration and Liabilities
6 A Functional Approach to the Insurance Industry
7 Conclusion and Future Challenges
Appendix: The ALM Survival Toolkit

Mr Briys & Mr de Varenne have confirmend that the French are world-class in derivatives. Bravo!