economics-times

What I like about this book is that it helps you to understand the critical difference between 'idea' and 'opportunity', and also how to evaluate each and pursue them. It has a focus on execution as opposed to just having ideas.

For an entrepreneur wannabe, a clear understanding of the distinctions between an 'idea' and an 'opportunity' can make or break the business or project success. As the saying goes, Clarity is Power!

In a nutshell, it helps you to answer many crucial questions at the onset, prior to embarking on your venture, for example:

- what is a good opportunity?
- why do a selected few opportunities inherently have much greater upside potential than all the rest?
- why and how do winning entrepreneurs often find the best opportunities?
- how can you find such opportunities? or create one?
- would you recognise an opportunity when you see it?
- how can you determine whether the opportunity will last?
- is it the right opportunity for you?
- can you determine to what extent it will add or create value, and thereby actually fill a customer need?

All the chapters in the book are well organised and systematically structured for easy follow-up reading.

The core chapters, which I find very useful, are as follows:

Chapter 1: what is an idea?
Chapter 2: enhancing creativity (tickles your brain!);
Chapter 3: sources of new business ideas:
Chapter 4: recognising opportunities (wow!);
Chapter 5: sources for opportunity screening (wow!);
Chapter 7: opportunity screening guide ( a real gem!);
Chapter 8: using other peoples resources or OPR (very interesting insight!);

The opportunity screening guide illustrated in the book is a real gem. It can really help you to determine whether you want to continue your initial pursuit and develop a complete business plan.

The remaining chapters, chapter 13, 14, 15 16 and 17 show how the three essentials of venture creation: opportunities, people and resources come together to face the many difficulties, which arise for entrepreneurs. With these enlightening chapters covering entrepreneurs in action, this book is deeply rooted in real-world applications plus 20 years of classroom refinement by the author as an entrepreneurship educator/academic.

Best of all and on the whole, the book is very easy to read and follow. Timmons writes very concisely and succinctly.

I strongly recommend this book to all entrepreneur wannabes to read - and reflect - before you embark on your pursuit.

It remains for each reader to determine which of the sections and which of the individual essays (to which David Leonhardt has written crisp and insightful introductions) are of greatest interest and value. I hasten to add that, as a reader's needs and interests change, there will be what Adrian Slywotsky calls a "value migration." Hence the importance of determining which essays are grouped within each section. (I wish the editors had listed them in the "Contents" section.) At the moment, the sections which interest me most are "Moving with the Times: Old Economy Meets New" (#3), "The Talent Squeeze: Recruiting and Retaining Employees" (#6), and "9-1-1: When Things Go Wrong" (#9). I also enjoyed "Visiting Olympus" (#10) which features brief but rigorous discussions of "corporate legends" such as Warren E. Buffett, David Merrick, Tom Landry, Bill Gates, and Peter F. Drucker, followed by a lengthier discussion of Sanford I. Weil. Julie Flaherty provides an appropriate Afterword in which she briefly compares and contrasts certain business principles (and cultural values) in the 19th and 20th centuries. Great stuff.

In the Foreword, Leavitt says this about the material in this volume: "No ribbons and bows here, no airbrushed warts and scars, just sharp, clear pictures of the new whirling managerial world, a world that will surely be whirling even faster by the time new M.B.A.s are ready to jump aboard a year or two from now." As we proceed into a new century, change may well be the only constant and yet....and yet, as various authors represented in this volume suggest, certain "hot ideas and best practices" have been essential to commerce throughout human history. Plus ça change....

Of all the business books I have read within the past year, this is one of the very few which is as entertaining as it is informative. If a higher rating were possible, I would give it.

In this article the author tries to answer one of the main questions in management: "How do I get an employee to do what I want?" There is the taditional method to get someone to do something is to administer a kick in the pants, or "KITA" as Herzberg terms it. He then discusses the different myths about motivation and explains how each of them only results in short-term movement. Based on results from various studies he concludes "that the factors involved in producing job satisfaction (and motivation) are separate and distinct from the factors that lead to job dissatisfaction." Or, in other words, "the opposite of job satisfaction is not job dissatisfaction, but, rather, no job satisfaction; and similarly, the opposite of job dissatisfaction is not job satisfaction, but no job satisfaction." This concept has an important impact on management: The growth or motivator factors are intrinsic to the job, while dissatisfaction-avoidance or hygiene factors are extrinsic to the job. Both factors are described in detail, with various tables and graphs explaining each. Herzberg provides us with ten steps for job enrichment, or principles to institute the motivator idea with their employees. But it is important to note that job enrichment is not a one-time proposition, it is a continuous management function.

Yes, this is a fantastic article on motivating employees. Herzberg explains in simple words that the things that make people satisfied and motivated on the job are different in kind from the things that make them dissatisfied. It debunks the traditional myths about motivation and explains that people are motivated by interesting work, challenge, and increasing responsibility. Highly recommended to all managers supervising people. The article is written somewhat old-fashioned business US-English.

Best of all, not only are most of the suggestions at or under $100, even though the book is a bit old ('86), they are things that anyone can do--not major undertakings which require a contractor.There are black and white photos of before and after rooms, which really show how just a little money, spent wisely, can make a huge difference in how your home will look to a potential buyer. Using this book as a guide, any home can show (and sell!) like a model home.

I loaned my copy out once and never got it back. Luckily I was able to purchase a used paperback copy (for $2 more than the original price!!), but there is a reason why it is priced $$$ on ZShops. This book really needs to be in print again--the other books on the market are a waste of money compared to this one.