electronics-industry

I especially like the format the authors have selected to present such a wide range of technical material. Each chapter begins by clearly stating the chapter's learning objectives, and then proceeds to present the relevant concepts in a clear and lucid fashion that are easy for the student to understand. In addition, the text is profusely illustrated with several hundred high quality black and white drawings that enhance the comprehension of the material presented in the accompanying text.

Finally, each chapter ends with a list of key terms presented in the chapter, exercises for the student, as well as references and URL's for further research.

This is a beautiful book, and is ideal for students at the technician level, or for management personnel who want to learn more about the technology of semiconductor manufacturing. Until something better comes along to replace it, this book will remain the standard in its class.

Things I noted in particular:

1) Early in the book, the authors set up the concept of the Head, Heart and Hands. The Head talks about getting the concept. The Heart talks about motivation, the desire to apply what was learned. The Hands is about putting the concepts into action and producing results.

2)There is a lot of discussion about the role of the Senior Managers in this process, I suggest you test yourself against the model that develops and see if you meet the authors' expectations.

3)If you don't read any other part of the book, I ask you to read pages 216 and study the table on page 234.

4) On page 216 you will see "When people set out to measure the effects of change on business results such as productivity, sales, profit, and employee turnover, they are measuring the outcomes of a process. Measuring results does not provide much information on how the change is proceeding or what issues might be impeding or furthering the change process." We all certainly focus on a couple of the measures cited - to what extent do we sacrifice the longer view in doing so?

The authors got me with the following: "Knowing the score at the end of a game gives you limited information about how the individuals played, where they need to improve, or what's getting in the way of their achieving a better score."

Sound familiar?

This is fundamentally a book about how to improve your financial results by changing your formulas for success. The authors prescribe a "head, heart and hands" change methodology which not only makes sense intuitively, but seems to work when applied with care by a team of consultants and insiders working closely side by side.

This is no oversimplified cookbook. The ins and outs of change are detailed in a very practical straightforward manner, leaving few stones unturned. Metaphors and analogies are used liberally to help readers get a 3D color picture and to enable them to generalize the issues faced at Best Buy to their own organizations.

Tips on how to fail at each stage of the process are very instructive in what not to do....as are the many colorful quotes from menmbers of the internal change implementation team.

This book feels real...lots of conflicts, values needing to be clarified, lessons learned about change. No sugar coating, but a happy ending nonetheless.

True change seems like it never comes without a struggle. Big Change at Best Buy chronicles both the struggles and the victories won, leaving little for the reader to imagine or reconstruct. It's all there, all the tools and the instructions for how to use 'em to fundamentally transform people, systems and culture for superior financial results.

First off, don't read this book hoping to get investment advice. That isn't Gilder's expertise. The guy is an economist folks. His rise to fame may have been during the telecom boom but he became well known during the Reagan era when he wrote a book on The Spirit of Enterprise and Wealth and Poverty, which discussed entrpreneurial ventures and how they were the key to creating wealth in this country. Reagan dragged this guy around the country folks because of his insights into the entrepreneurial spirit! Gilder sits on panels at conferences with such luminaries as Peter Drucker, Lester Thurow, Andy Grove and other intellectuals.

When you read this you will find out the following

1)There is a lot of technical jargon in it. Most should be able to learn what he is saying but it isn't like reading a trashy, romance novel. You have to think.
2)He is trying to convey the fundamental change that semiconductors will have on the economy and why. Having worked in telecom and being a closet economist with an MBA I can say this guy knows his stuff folks.
3)Semiconductors are the core technology in any electronic equipment and it is actually the most proprietary element in a design so it is worth learning more about them since they create a lot of wealth for investors.

The one thing that Gilder emphasizes in this book is the power of individual initiative. We are in the knowledge economy folks and microprocessors and PCs are enabling us to be more productive, begin new careers and experience a quality of life that very few predicted 40 years ago. The microchip and its implications are amazing. The power of the individual in the knowledge economy are causing governments to feel more helpless as they attempt to develop industrial policies and taxation.

Other books to read for futurists and aspiring managers/leaders are Peter Drucker's The Essential Drucker, Built on Trust (social organization) and The Worldly Philsophers by Robert Heilbroner (greatest economist highlights).

Now, eight years past its initial release, many of his predictions have come true. Some may find fault with his politics, but this book and its conclusions are a convincing argument of his reasoning. If you ever read a book about the history of high-tech, this should be the one.

Easy to read and a must for food manufacturers, retailers, and students of the industry. This is one of those rare business books that really creates a new paradigm for a mature industry.

This book will open your eyes to what is wrong, why it is wrong, and offers ideas on what it will take to fix the grocery business.

Glen's style of using cartoons to illustrate key points works well. It is clear that his years of involvement in the food industry has given him a perspective that is accurate and has crediblility.

Every executive in the food industry must read this book to understand what is happening around them, and, eventually to them, if they do not lead their organizations through the necessary changes that the new net economy enables.

To quote Tofler..."the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who can not read or write, but will be those who can not learn, unlearn and relearn..."

This book will force you to unlearn and then relearn...GET IT TODAY!

Vlado does an excellent job explaining some very technical aspects of complex items in a way that is easy to follow.

The field is complex and misunderstood enough as it is. And Cohan has done the impossible---stepping into the shoes of the investor, the E-Commerce businessman, and the non-E-Commerce businessman to make sense of this recondite world from the perspective of each, and producing a valuable resource for each.

A must read for those that think that "dot.com" is the key to the kingdom.

I recommend this book to the beginner in technology and marketing, but not to anyone with any real experience in either.

Certainly anti-unionism triggered some of the plant closings that began in the 1970s in the Rust Belt, but RCA actually tolerated the compliant unionism that they recognized in Bloomington and then in Juarez. It was the very nature of the production process instituted by RCA that triggered the worker discontent that they so ardently sought to avoid. The speedup and deskilling under scientific management, the petty authoritarianism, the ignoring of work rules and job classifications, and gender inequities - all sparked resentment and resistance; but did result in some alleviation of the complaints. But a key point is that the ability of a corporation to invest or disinvest literally globally simply transcends the ability of a locally rooted workforce to counter corporate practices, a point amply demonstrated by RCA.

The author is wont to discuss the broader issue of worker solidarity especially across borders, as in the Mexican border. But it is acknowledged that interpersonal relationships on which worker solidarity is built, not to mention local customs or even language, do not translate well internationally. While the author is most assuredly on track to criticize simplistic protectionism to counter run-away factories, there is no commentary on the feasibility of political solutions that are grounded in working class solidarity. The political knowledge and activity of the various workforces encountered is not discussed. The fragmented pockets of resistance that may be found in local communities regarding corporate policies is simply no match for the ideological consistency and political influence of the capitalist class. Without a broad-based worker politics strong legislation to require corporations to absorb the costs to communities of shutdowns and downsizings and to require enforced labor and environmental standards to be reflected in the cost of imported products will not be attained.

The book is most significant in demonstrating that the cross-border moves to Mexico by RCA were little different from their earlier trans-regional moves. In addition, it was pointed out that NAFTA was only a continuation of Mexico's Border Industrialization Plan of the 1960s where a border zone was constructed that permitted the free import of goods for use in products for immediate export - a plan that RCA exploited. The limitation of place-based worker power is well noted. Yet it is the political sophistication of the workforces explored that would have been of most interest to this reader. It will take political power to counter capital mobility.

Related books are Margaret Graham's "RCA and the VideoDisc," Robert Sobel's "RCA," and Alfred Chandler's "The Electronic Century." Although each of these has a diffent purpose and scope, they are all good books about RCA. Jefferson Cowie's "Capital Moves" perfectly complements them and fills a gap in understanding why some American industries "vanished" in a generation. It is a sad story that didn't have to be.