economics-textbook

As a culinary student in a reputable institute, I was presented this book to use as a textbook for my business management course. The structure was sufficient, focusing almost exclusively on the hospitality industry, but the content was not. The majority of the book deals with self-evident truths and situations that can best be solved by common sense, but instead Miller voices his opinion that when experience fails you, revert back to the management theories, most of which he denigrates, others that he blatantly misinterprets.

Miller also pens that "management at any level in an art", a statement that many would disagree with and should give some insights as to what the 10th grade, babble-filled prose is all about. For a management book, especially one for $..., I was expecting a more technical approach to managing - theories and illustrations also combined with charts and math, two aspects that are completely vacant in the textbook.

There is a general sense of the grim reality of the hospitality industry that I was relieved to see (two stars). There's mention of the low pay, hard work, and long hours that will inevitably come with the job, and the book maintains that thought throughout. Overall however, it's too much money, and too much time, for reading what I already know.

This textbook package contained "Supervision in the Hospitality Industry" 3rd Edition hard cover (ISBN# 0-471-19420-0) and National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation-NRAEF ProMGMT Student Workbook (ISBN# 0471-41305-4). Chapter 9 on performance evaluation was the greatest insight. A great learning tool to help focus my job development within the huge vacation/hospitality employer I work for here in Orlando, Florida.

You can be the most organized person in the world and you will still run into difficulties when trying to communicate in an effective manner, recruit, train, evaluate performance, discipline, and delegate all at the same time. For anyone, it's a lot to have on your plate. This book makes it seem simple. It offers way to alleviate some of the frustration that comes with the job.

The presentation of the content assumes that the reader has some knowledge of this content area and at times leaves him/her confused as to what was discussed, making it difficult to understand. Examples that are used are often incomplete and do not provide a complete picture of how statements are generated. As someone who has no knowledge or experience in this area, I found it to be frustrating to read and comprehend the information. Not a good choice if you are a novice. Too bad I could not give it zero stars.

this is a great book for beginers in such a feild. very informative. just what i was looking for.

The Preface of this book reveals that the author's daughter "completed three fascinating and challenging years as an analyst for Enron Corporation." Indeed.

Mankiw's book has a good organization -- for what it has. He spends a lot of time laying out some key fundamental topics, such as unemployment, GDP, CPI, DJIA, and so forth.

However, his book is entirely mum on the fact that there are different schools of thought, e.g., Keynesians, Classicals, Monetarists, Austrians, etc. A reader comes away thinking that all economists agree with Mankiw, and that simply is not true. Many other principles-level economics books have specific chapters devoted to these schools of thought.

In my Macro classes, I put Mankiw on "reserve" in the library and suggest that students read the 5 chapters dealing with "The Data of Macroeconomics" and "The Real Economy in the Long Run." However, I use other text books for the rest of the course, since they explain why economists disagree, give better information about actual public policy issues, and help a student understand, e.g., what the federal reserve is doing, or why some politicians like deficit spending and others dislike it, or whether the trade deficit is important or not.

For a reader who merely wants to understand the core issues mentioned above, Mankiw is a good book which I highly recommend. For a reader who wants to understand the nature of the public policy debates over these core issues, Mankiw is a horrible book which I suggest that you avoid like the plague.

A nice intro, but as noted by another reviewer, very short shrift given to other schools of economic thought. A recommended reading list gives plenty of well-respected conservative writers, with Milton Friedman topping the list, but only Paul Krugman appears representing other thoughts, and he's singled out as a "liberal economist". I think there are somewhat more honest introductions to the subject.

Basically, I feel cheated. I advise others desiring detailed information on construction industry marketing not to waste your money. Unless you are a complete novice you will not gain any useful insite from the book.

How many times while reading a "textbook" have you laughed out loud? Construction Marketing is readable, informative and funny. It is full of valuable marketing basics that apply to any marketing endeavor. Well worth reviewing over again just to keep your marketing and sales goals on track. Owners and managers will especially benefit from Elizabeth's advice on hiring a good marketer. Marketing professionals whether new or seasoned will be validated and educated. She covers design/build, advertising, ground breaking and more. The book could have been titled Construction Marketing A to Z. Even if you know it all, this book is a great refresher and a great read.

If you're new to Consumer Behaviour, DON'T read this. Read a general (a typical textbook will do) text book to gain familiarity with CB concepts. Otherwise, you may feel a wave of nausea coming over you.

It's a book which is not easy to read at all because the structure of the books is rather weak. However, the contents are meaty in that East does not take any theory as THE theory (and neither should we as CB practitioner-academics or academic-practitioners) - therefore he explores and explores (unfortunately a better structure is needed to convey his ideas). He does prove that theories should not be taken for granted and we should constantly test them. Very difficult to read, but has some good points within it if you can read through it.

Concepts are sound and clearly illustrated

In attempting to place the textbook reviewed into the literature, it is difficult to separate my comments on the book from the courses I have offered. A compounding factor to this difficulty is the text's specificity toward investment analysis. I have not taught a course specialized toward investment analysis. Instead, I typically include investment analysis within a comprehensive survey of agricultural finance. As such, the Robison and Barry text could not be used as the sole textbook. However, the textbook does compare favorably with Bussey's "The Economic Analysis of Industrial Projects" which I have used as a supplemental text in a master's level finance course. The advantage of Robison and Barry over Bussey is their focus on agriculture and agricultural issues. In addition, Robison and Barry provide similar treatments for comparisons of projects with unequal lives and reinvestment assumptions in internal rate of return formulations, although Bussey's coverage is somewhat more in depth in each case. Mathematically, the textbook should be fairly accessible to students with modest backgrounds in calculus. Specifically, instead of structured proofs, Robison and Barry lead through proofs on geometric series in a rather low-key example format. In addition, the text focuses more on application than on proof. Thus, any mathematical proofs, while useful for understanding the specific point of inference, should not compromise the usefulness of the reference. Taking these factors into account, I can see the reference in an advanced undergraduate/master's level course in agricultural finance in addition to another reference. Specifically, I would consider using parts 1-3 to provide an overview of investment analysis. Given this background, individual chapters from parts 4 and 5 could be used as time allows. In particular, I would recommend Chapters 13, 14, 18, and 19 at the advanced undergraduate level, bringing in Chapters 21 and 22 at the master's level. While I found the text to be an excellent overview, I do have two reservations. The first involves the discussion of the choice of discount rate for the present value analysis. By focusing on the defender/challenger relationship, Robison and Barry tend to support an investment-specific discount rate. In other words, the appropriate discount rate is internal rate of return for the defender which must be sacrificed to make funds available for the acquisition of the challenger. If the challenger involves acquiring a loan, the discount rate is then the price of the loan together with any transaction cost involved in getting the loan. While this approach is consistent with the firm level focus of the text, it does lead to the unfortunate result that two firms may have different values for the same investment depending on the financial resources available to each firm. In some sense, evaluating an investment in this manner enmeshes gains to financing with the value of the investment. Of course, one could argue that it is the enmeshing which is important for analyzing options such as lease/purchase decisions. The second shortcoming of the textbook is the paucity of discussion regarding the term structure of interest rates.

The authors successfully break away from five decades of overemphasis on one measure of discounted cash flow (Net Present Value or NPV) at the expense of the other (Internal Rate of Return or IRR). They show there is room for both. They successfully demonstrate how present value models, using both discounted cash flow measures can solve a wider range of problems than previously attempted. Doing so was an act of academic courage that netted them at least one unfavorable book review: '"(The authors) contend and demonstrate, unlike other texts on capital budgeting, when several independent projects are being simultaneously considered that the internal-rate-of-return (IRR) and net present value (NPV) criteria "...will always provide consistent rankings unless the homogenous measures principle is violated" (pp. 66-70, 120-23). However, one must question if forging this IRR - NPV ranking equivalency merits the reader's study."' Consistent ranking absolutely merits study--and understanding by readers--and by reviewers--and by other authors. The essential equivalence of the two measures is, in large part, what makes present value modeling so attractive. You can do a lot with both that was impractical with either alone. Rather than use the book for a course, build a course around it as the authors suggest.

NOTE: This is not the actual textbook. It is the workbook that accompanies the textbook. If I had known that before, I wouldn't have bought it. This book is pretty useless on its own.

Scanlan's book really helps students with little or no journalism experience build a foundation for news writing. It is the kind of text that students can keep and refer to throughout their collegiate and professional careers. It has sound exercises for students and good tips for teachers and writing coaches. It is an excellent book for introductory news writing classes.

This book is only usefull for someone who never used internet and doesn't have a clue what it's about. If you have any experience whatsoever don't include this book in your shopping cart.

A good source of practical information on doing business on the net and managing the enterprise. Usually people focus entirely on marketing and forget the key aspects of Project management. This book highlights - through its various case studies - the importance of Project Management and how this can be done. An informative section - workbook approach helps the reader guide through the various practicalities involved in setting up an e-shop. The thing missing in this book is the finance aspect involved in an e-business. Overall a must read for people trying to venture on the portal scene.

This book was very well organized and written from the perspective of professionals out in the field dealing with project management and marketing problems every day. A great read for those who are starting out in the web industry and for those who wish to examine their business strategies and practices.

The isbn number I ordered was 0072866845 the isbn # I recieved is 007121582-4 or 007121427-5 both numbers are on the book.

As a first time instructor using this book, I was floored by the amount of useless data in the book that students must dig through to get to the important points of each chapter. Since the power point slides provided with the book only did an outline of the chapters, they were not of much help in giving a lecture. It was also absolutely amazing that a book that bills itself as being published in 2004 (but I received in 2003) is behind the times in a significant number of topics (e.g. it still refers to the G7 - not even mentioning the G8 even though I think it was about 1997 that the G8 became official). The section on religion was a perfect example of how to offend someone in another culture. The author needs to attend a diversity training course! A majority of the questions in the sample tests did not deal with topics that were significant in the chapters, but rather minor insignificant points. It may be the best book out there for an international business class but it shouldn't be priced the way it is for what is clearly an outdated edition.

I just finished reading the new 9th edition of this book and it is excellent, containing many improvements on what was already an outstanding book for introducing international business issues to students and businesspeople.

The strengths of this book include its extensive coverage of the various environments of international business, such as the cultural, political, legal, financial, competitive, and physical environments. Each of these chapters has practical examples to supplement the discussion of key issues and concepts, as well as highlighting points of relevance for businesspeople. The discussion of these various dimensions of international business environment is superior to alternative books, such as Hill or Daniels, that I considered using in my teaching (I teach international business for undergraduate students and also offer executive development courses for universities and businesses).

Another strength of this book is its coverage of issues associated with the operations of an international business. The strategy chapter provides a concise and useful overview of concepts in a way that is superior to most strategy books. Other chapters provide detailed and practical discussion of issues such as how to participate in importing and exporting (presented in a manner that sets this book apart from other books that generally provide only a few general pages on the merits and challenges of exporting but provide minimal guidance regarding how to actually do it!). The discussion on international operations is unique compared to other introductory international business books, and provides an insightful review of operations practices in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

There is also a simulation that is provided with this book, allowing users to practice the management of an international business within the global cell phone industry. As part of the 8th edition of Ball et al, I used this simulation with my undergraduate and graduate classes and their response was outstanding. They felt that the experience was one of the best in the entire program, and that they not only learned very much about international business (market analysis, selecting products, pricing, promotion, managing exchange rates, etc.), but that they learned more practical information about functions such as finance, marketing, operations management, and strategy than they had in their earlier coursework.

Teaching or learning the material for an introduction to international business can be a complex and daunting challenge. The Ball et al book helped me and my students to minimize thse challenges, making international business a relevant and enjoyable topic for study, and practice.

The Parkin book is dumb down but so much so that you dont understand Microeconomics the way you'll need to if you plan on taking advanced theory, money and banking, etc.

I prefer McConnell Brue who has been the staple and bible of Microeconomics for years!

Smart universities choose McConnell Brue and dumb ones like Micro econ at Rice seem to choose Parkin.

Parkin's text was designed for the beginning economics student. Those who state that the text is not rigorous enough should understand the text was not written for the advanced student. Those who complain that the text is replete with explanations of basic topics do not understand that beginning students need reaffirmation of presented concepts. Parkin's text strives to appeal to the broad base of students without the dilution that seems to occur when a text is written with "non-majors" in mind. I read several introductory texts before adopting the Parkin text for my advanced placement class. I chose the Parkin text because it provided the optimum mix of rigor and explanation, without sacrificing analysis (within a mathematical context) for a purely verbal approach.

I have used Parkin as an auxilliary source for my micro 102 classes for years. His examples are products that can be related to by 19-year-olds, AND he does not use wheat or other perfectly competitive products to exemplify a downward sloping demand curve! Many other do, which causes great confusion among the students. What is wrong with careful, thoughtful, comprehensive explanations of concepts that are difficult for first time micro students? He covers several complicated topics that are left out of the more highly rated texts by Mankiw and others. I am wondering if we are even rating the same book...I give it the maximum rating!