economics-software

I found Jiambalvo's book clearly communicated all of the relevant accounting topics one would expect to learn in an MBA level managerial accounting course. The accounting examples in the book are interesting, nicely explained, and the chapter progression does a good job of incrementally building on previous lessons.

The CD that comes with the book is surprisingly well-done. It is well-produced and provides very good supplementary support to each chapter in the book.

It would have been nice though if the CD would have included electronic versions of the cases. There were many times I spent an extra ten minutes or so simply retyping in spreadsheets from the book that could have been done for the reader.

Just yesterday I had a situation in which I needed several choices of empowerment exercises for our customer service team. I searched for "empowerment" from the keyword index and, in seconds, I found over 20 really excellent choices that I can use with that team's manager. I cut and pasted one of them into Word, added a few custom touches that are particular to our company, and gave it to the team leader this morning. They are starting their new empowerment training next week. No books, no high-priced consultants, and no further involvement from the HR department.

I know this CD-ROM is expensive, but it saved me hours of work and I can see how it will save me even more in the future. I'm sorry the guy who made the comment below didn't realize exactly who this product is for. It's for ME, and I am truly glad to have found it.

MCSD, MCDBA

This book is a must for anyone who is taking an intermediate accounting class that uses the Kieso/Weygandt accounting text.

I found this book very helpful because it provides questions and solutions that are almost exactly like the questions that come from the test bank and are used on our exams. Students in our class who use this book generally do much better than those who do not. This book will help you understand what it is the author wants you to get out of the chapter. Frankly, the this book should raise your grade if you take an hour or two before each test and answer the multiple choice questions that it provides.
I wouldn't buy this book unless I were taking a class. But I probably wouldn't buy any textbooks unless I were taking a class.

This is a `must-read' book for several different categories of people- businessmen, scholars, students and even philosophers- simply because it has a relevant message for just about everyone. However, it is scarcely what one would call a `conventional commentary', which may help explain why its central conclusion is so much at odds with conventional wisdom- that Microsoft (the software behemoth whose meteoric success in the brave new world of software technology is comparable only to the equally meteoric rise in the numbers of its detractors, who have accused the company of every conceivable unfair trade practice) did not acquire its dominant position through any illegal subterfuge or monopolistic bulldozing; rather, its success can be attributed to certain well-defined fundamentals, which, if understood and implemented properly (as Microsoft has obviously done), could well serve as the business model for other software companies, and perhaps for other companies that are likely to bloom in the uncertain economic future being shaped by rapidly emerging technologies.

As a social commentary, the biggest contribution of this book is that it offers a window to our lop-sided value system when we deal with fuzzy notions like `intelligence' and `smart'. As Mr. Stross, the author, points out, society's unfavorable perception of Microsoft is inextricably linked with the rampant anti-intellectualism pervasive in American society. This is not so far-fetched! After all, we accept without question that Michael Jordan should make hundreds of millions of dollars because he has the extraordinary athleticism to jump and shoot a basket ball better than anyone else, yet the American public has never quite come to grips with the notion that a group of `eggheads' and `nerds' (a description oft used for Microsoft employees) can rake in billions of dollars simply because they can think better than others. Perhaps the most telling conclusion of this book is also one we would do well to remember -that ``Microsoft's principal assets, in fact, are the collective craniums of (Bill) Gates and his employees".

However intelligence and smarts are by themselves no guarantee of success. And this is where the book becomes an invaluable resource as a business guide on ``How to manage smart people" and "How to look ahead and plan for tomorrow". The detailed account of how Microsoft dealt with the CD-ROM technology- investing millions of dollars into research and development for the production of its multimedia encyclopedia, MS Encarta and pushing for standards at a time when the fledgling technology was so new that there was no certainty it would even survive, - is a valuable case-study for the business student and historian on the challenges and risks (and subsequently the huge payoffs, if successful) involved in bringing new technology into the consumer marketplace.

In addition to these valuable insights into how and why Microsoft is successful, the book is a fascinating historical document, with riveting case studies. The battle for financial software market that Microsoft fought (and mostly lost) to a smaller, but nimble and quick-thinking Intuit, reads like a story. There are equally interesting accounts of how Microsoft tries to deal with the PC-TV merger and how it prepares itself for the uncertain future awaiting all in ``The Era of the Internet". We may, of course, choose to agree or disagree with Mr. Stross on whether to `convict' or `acquit' Microsoft of the charges often leveled against it- but we cannot help but accept his advice on what we should learn from Microsoft:

".....(we must) overcome our instinctive antipathy toward smarts.....We can see in their (Microsoft's) experience the attention they devote to thinking.....They act with provisional answers, knowing that experience will feed back to provide new input into an unending process of reevaluation and revision."

A simple lesson that could serve not only as a recipe for running a successful business but could well form the cornerstone of a personal philosophy in our daily life

The path to achieving capability levels 2 through 5 are well defined in other books. Each process area and its requirements are well documented in Mark Paulk's authoritative book. From the technical perspective it may be cut and dried, and in a perfect world not populated by those illogical creatures called people Mr. Paulk's book is all you need.

Unfortunately people are not logical and a clearly laid out roadmap is not enough. You quickly discover that the path to even CMM level 2 is fraught with perils that are strangely missing from the technical books on CMM. Overcoming these perils are what Ms. Caputo's book is all about. She describes techniques for overcoming the resistance to implementation. Instead of rehashing what you need to implement in order to get to a specific level, she tells you how to accomplish the implementation part - the part that is not cut and dried. She does this by relating her own experience, and I can assure you that if you're tasked with implementing CMM (or any other program or initiative for that matter) you can learn a lot about human and organizational nature from this book. You will also learn a lot about what works when effecting change and how to counter the inevitable resistance you'll run into.

If you're looking for CMM technical and process-related information get The Capability Maturity Model: Guidelines for Improving the Software Process by Mark Paulk. If you are actually responsible for implementing it get this book.

It does outline some great basics of the oral presentation... that you should not use your power point slides as your note cards, and it is painfully true that so many people just are AWFUL at oral presentations.

But, as some reviewers have pointed out, what about those of us who aren't Selling Something? (I know, I know, in a way, even those of us using PP to teach are selling something). What if we're using the presentations as a replacement for the chalkboard, a digital format for our students to learn from? We need a lot more than 6 words, and really I refuse to live in a world where everything can be sold in six words or less (like a bad version of name that tune).

This is a decent reminder of good design principles. But don't expect it to revolutionize the oral presentation world-- because probably, those who need it most aren't even looking for help.

After all, some of the most powerful books I know are books usually considered "kids books." Want proof? Who can argue with the power of Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree -- all black and white and an average of three or four words per page of it? I've never seen anything more simple -- yet its emotion chokes me up every time I read it.

In the same way, I could read a zillion books on PowerPoint presentations and not get out of them what I got from this slim, 10-page, booklet by Seth Godin.

I'm not sure I understand what some of the other reviewers are getting at. Sure, this eBooklet only costs $1.99. But does that mean it contains nothing of value? Does quality have to equal quantity? Are there no good ideas rendered in simple words, short sentences, or few pages? (Gee, don't bother reading Hemingway, then.)

For once, we get far MORE value than we're paying for. The pricetage of $1.99 is a small price to pay, indeed, for something that could truly revolutionize your next PowerPoint presentation. What's that worth? you ask. I don't know. A new client? Keeping your job? Winning over your bosses to a new way of thinking? Impressing your co-workers? Learning to communicate with passion?

If those reasons aren't worth $1.99 to you, then you and I have a different set of values.

By the way, the title of my review is taken from one of the subheads in Seth's eBooklet. The information contained in that one statement, alone, has changed my entire outlook on the art of communicating. I don't know about you, but I'd gladly pay $1.99 for a slice of insight that heady.

Thank you, Seth.