economics-times

What we have here in this especially interesting as well as informative book is Haig's version of "the truth about the 100 biggest branding mistakes of all time." With this subtitle, Haig immediately sets himself up for lively disagreement concerning (a) the reasons for why certain brands fail and (b) his selection of the failures themselves. I value this book so highly because Haig (by assertion or implication) challenges his reader to examine her or his own current problems with branding. Frankly, his explanation of brand failure makes sense to me and all of the 100 failed brands he discusses serve seem worthy of examination. He identifies what he calls "the seven deadly sins of branding": amnesia, ego, megalomania, deception, fatigue, paranoia, and irrelevance. One or more is evident in each of the 100 brand failures on which he focuses.

Haig carefully organizes his material within ten chapters. It is easy enough for those who read this brief commentary to check out the Contents so I see no need to provide it. (Thanks Amazon!) He provides a "Lessons from...." section at the conclusion of most extended analyses. All of the usual suspects are discussed: New Coke, the Ford Edsel, Sony Betamax, McDonald's Arch DeLuxe, Campbell Soup (souper combo), Harley Davidson (perfume), Ben Gay (aspirin), Colgate (kitchen entrees). Pond's (toothpaste) in consumer products; as for dot.coms, Pets.com, VoicePod, and Excite@home. He even examines a number of PR fiascoes.

I take at least three lessons from Haig's book. First, even the largest organizations with the greatest resources (including some of the brightest people) can make bad brand decisions and sometimes repeat them with another failed attempt. Although they may be able to absorb or overcome such brand failure, almost all small organizations cannot. Second, that most brand failures result from launching a new product which encounters insufficient demand or marketing a current product for which demand is declining. Hence the importance of market research and especially of asking the customer. Ford did almost no research before introducing the Edsel nor did Coca-Cola before launching New Coke. Both line extensions were disasters. The overwhelming feedback from children surveyed indicated that they did not want Barbie's Ken to wear an earring but Mattel inserted one anyway. The third lesson is that the key to a brand's success (be it a product or service) is it authenticity. (You may prefer the word credibility.) Notice how intensively-hyped films may do well at the box office the first weekend but if they are duds, their sales tumble the following weekend and they are inevitably off the Top Ten list within a month or so, if not sooner. People are willing to try something new if they trust the provider. Lose that trust and there may never be an opportunity to re-earn it.

This is a lively, well-written, thought-provoking book. As I suggested earlier, its greatest value to each reader will be determined by what she or he has learned from Haig, and then, how much of that can be applied expeditiously and (more to the point) effectively.

I have read a lot of books about buying, selling and valuing businesses; this one is the best. It's straightforward, identifies potential pitfalls and their solutions, and provides many useful forms. I'd recommend this book to anyone considering buying a business for the first time; I learned a lot that I did not know (for example, that most businesses are sold with owner financing).

Rochelle Balch was a single mom in an unfamiliar city and out of work when she made drastic changes in her life style so that she and her daughter could survive. She started her own computer consulting company from home. After just five short years she was grossing over three million dollars annually. Through extensive self-promotion and community involvement her company earned brand name recognition. CEO & MOM is an inspiring entrepreneurial story packed with personal and business tips and highly recommended reading for anyone finding themselves "downsized" and or otherwise in need of considering a home-based alternative to a traditional workplace position.

It is interesting in today's world to see books that remond us all the present and future value of intellectual capital. It is unfortunate the book does not focus on the de-valuation of intellectual capital when downsizing occurs in an organisation. The cost of replacing the intellectual capital does never figure in anual reports, it is 'hidden' by other standard costs, such as employee related costs, equipments, etc. We need to establish a quantification method, so that intellectual capital replacement is thoroughly investigated.

This is a splendid book. Not only does it give an easy-to-read history of Mercury Asset Management of the UK up to its acquisition by Merrill Lynch, it also gives additional insights into the life of Siegmund Warburg (detailed in Ron Chernow's "The Warburgs") and represents a vivid insider's account of any business, told by Peter Stormonth Darling, chairman of Mercury from 1979 to 1992.

If you have read other investment management company histories such as Diana Henriques's "Fidelity's World" or Robert Slater's "The Vanguard Experiment", this book should be on your reading list as yet another view. Mercury, though not well known in the US, had something like US$180 billion under management at the time of its acquisition by Merrill Lynch, certainly not a small amount in the asset management league tables worldwide. Though Mr. Stormonth Darling is admittedly not an investment practitioner himself, he does appear to have a keen insight into people and the view from the top of the organization.

The book lays bare the importance of personnel (and their happiness) to the success of companies such as Mercury and Warburgs, and discusses at some length possible reasons why Warburgs was sold at very little premium to Swiss Bank in 1995, while Mercury was sold to Merrill Lynch at twice its prevailing market value in 1997.

It's also interesting to reflect that Mercury was at the top of its game in 1997, as a leading fund manager in Britain, yet it still sold out to a large foreign firm, as many leading British financial firms have done in recent years. I hope that the individual British personnel of these foreign masters, whether Continental European, American, or Asian, strive to maintain their intellectual independence as time goes on. The investing public continues to need alternative viewpoints on investments, such as that expressed by Andrew Smithers (also once part of Mercury) and Stephen Wright in their 2000 book "Valuing Wall Street".

Please do give "City Cinderella" a read, and enjoy Mr. Stormonth Darling's delicious follow-up details such as (p. 89) "...at last report [said person] was living in Panama with his fourth wife and their poodle, Chanel."

To Declan Treacy - very intesting subject for Europe - Please contact me at pbecker@ami-network.com urgently.

This book is outstanding. It explains every facet of investing: stocks, bonds, mutal funds, savings account, CDs, etc. It explains the differance between all investment agencies and also outlines each investment index. Lists numerous great websites . . .

This Book is a very simplified explanation of the problem. It had me moving with good materials and refrences to create awareness at our company. The examples are clear and to the point. When our company initiated the project, the reading of this book was the first assignment for each team member. Eventually, it moved every one and it was a success.

Thoroughly recomended.

A must have for strategic financial applications.

I have been looking for a book that will convince my organization to include more people in making important decisions and put an end to unproductive power struggles. This is it! My thanks to the authors. I am looking forward to applying their facilitation process in my work. I intend to give this book to every member of my team.