market-economics

I have a small business that sells high quality consumer products. For awhile I thought that no one liked my products,then I learned that people just didn't know about my products. Power Promoting: How to Market Your Business to the Top taught me how to get my message out to consumers. Ever since I applied Sussman's techniques, I have dramatically inceased my sales and revenues.

I have a small business that was stagnating since 9/11. A friend suggested that I read Power Promoting. I implemented a number of the techniques in Mr. Sussman's book and within weeks things picked up - big time! This has been the most helpful marketing/PR business book that I have ever read. And I've read many of them. I enthusiastically recommend it.

This book has actually helped me to make my business more successful. I couldn't have done it without the help of Jeffrey Sussman and his book, Power Promoting! Everyone with a business should read it!

As the subtitle correctly indicates, Chakravorti explains how to bring innovations to market in a connected world. His contributions in this book to our understanding of both the difficulties and opportunities to do so are substantial. Acknowledging his academic roots, he acknowledges that he "developed an appreciation for a first- principles approach to strategy and decisions...how first principles translate into the framing of trade-offs and lead to timely action." Over time, he learned that true insight "comes from connecting the dots across multiple landscapes [and that] such dots lurk in the unlikeliest corners." He allows his reader to recognize those "corners" and to accompany him as he carefully but rigorously explores the connected world.

I especially appreciate his dry but delightful wit, perhaps most evident in the final chapter whose head note is a quotation from Thelonious Monk: "You know what's the loudest noise in the world, man? The loudest noise in the world is silence." Without apparent effort, he invites his reader to consider the significance of the Galton-Gould evolutionary pool table, a metaphor which suggests that a market is the polyhedron-shaped ball." perhaps recalling John Nash's insight, he suggests that when innovation arrives on the scene (i.e. in a market), it creates disequilibrium. "It is in this situation of rest [i.e. when the "ball" has stopped] which may be viewed as gridlock by some and as a stable market by others -- that innovations in a connect must pry apart."

Given the process of inquiry and exploration which has been completed in the prior chapters, I was intrigued by how Chakravorti achieves at least a temporary synthesis of so many different (sometimes contradictory) factors which interact throughout the innovation cycle: "the eureka moment; the development of technology to give life to an idea; and the creation of an organization to produce and commercialize the innovation." As we all know, few innovative ideas ever reach their intended market and fewer yet survive thereafter. There is indeed a natural selection process during any campaign to bring an innovation into the connected world. Chakravorti suggests four aspects of that campaign:

1. "Qualifying the endgame and, in the process, choosing between several strategic options at the outset;

2. "Orchestrating the changes necessary across the network of players through a mechanism that propagates the innovator's selective interventions into the wider network;

3. "Actively managing with the critical agents that will pass on the innovation's influence; and

4. "Making appropriate choices on how to commit to strategies that lead to certain endgames in the face of uncertainty -- depending on the situation, one must choose between making a bet, reserving options, and seeking insurance."

Paraphrasing an ancient aphorism, Chakravorti suggests that market imperfection is the mother of innovation because it creates the need to innovate both in terms of a given product or service and in terms of the campaign by which to guide it to market. and then through natural selection to at least temporary security....that is, until another innovation (which accommodates the aforementioned four aspects) eliminates the need for it.

I agree completely with Chakravorti that the "slow pace of change is good news for the strategic innovator. In fact, it is essential news." Obviously, when any organization plans to take a new product or service to market, it faces formidable competition and all manner of challenges, only some of which are posed by competitors. (How many innovative products or services have never survived internal barriers which may include what Jim O'Toole has characterized as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom") In this brilliant book, Chakravorti suggests a number of specific strategies and tactics to help achieve market penetration and eventual success in a connected world. There is also an important lesson to be learned from one of Aesop's fable, "The Tortoise and the Hare": At least in some situations, only a "slow pace" can achieve "fast change."

I have never in my life read such an insightful book. It clearly lays out the structure of economics and helps diversify the playing field in terms of market infrastructure. Witty and well thought out, a deserved 5 star book.

This is one of the best written books I have read in a long time. The author must have pored over the crafting of every word. It is a serious book and yet it is quite a funny book. Overall it is clear he knows what he is talking about in terms of how real companies act and the game theory behind their actions. And it is about something that most people I know think a lot about. The book is on bringing innovations and new ideas to market. I read it as having much wider social and political consequences because it really does offer a way for us to understand how things work -- or don't -- in our super-connected world. With terrorism and SARS and globalization risks and the proliferation of the internet we are really connected in so many ways. I came away from the Slow Pace of Fast Change with, as the author puts it, a new "mindset" to understand and even strategize in this interconnected reality, where the network is both your best friend and your worst enemy. I know of Moore's law as the rule of the 90s--like everyone else I and everyone else I know lived and breathed it. Slow Pace...will I think give us a rule that may last even longer: Demi Moore's law. Cute, but really quite brilliant if you think about it.
Every chapter in the book helps develop a rich set of ideas interwoven with really well-told tales of strategic games among the best known companies in the world -- and even some that have since flamed out, for reasons the book helped make me understand. The tales of real world games among AT&T, the Chinese, WorldCom, Comcast, Microsoft read like a novel. Even though that particular chapter had the least new material in terms of concepts, the stories and strategic analyses alone made its presence more than worthwhile.
A deceptively easy read but it's deep stuff. I would read it again.

I found this to be a very informative book that's easy to follow and understand. I leverage the info in the book with the techniques/commentary on the website to find daily trading setups. I would suggest that you study the techniques in this book while you trying out the tradehard.com website. They have a free trial memebrship so it won't cost you anything unless you choose to join. These guys are very straightforward and experienced, a nice combo.

As founder of "Traderscoach.com" I thought this book provided the reader with a realistic view of trading as a profession that takes time to master.

You will learn alot about trading and the approach to trading that is necessary to be a consistant winner.

Fell FREE to visit our Web-site "Traderscoach.com" which deals with Trading Psycology as well as other material realted to trading.

Together with "Tradehard.com" & "Traderscoach.com" you stand an excellent chance of improving your trading skills.

I found this to be a very informative book that's easy to follow and understand. I leverage the info in the book with the techniques/commentary on the website to find daily trading setups. I would suggest that you study the techniques in this book while you trying out the tradehard.com website. They have a free trial memebrship so it won't cost you anything unless you choose to join. These guys are very straightforward and experienced, a nice combo.

Jack Tesmer has delivered the clear and concise guide to building successful businesses.

I have always believed that products must be built to meet needs of a specific group of customers. Companies must organize to deliver products efficiently through the specific channels preferred by their target customers.

In 'The Perfect Business Match', Jack Tesmer defines the unique characteristics of four distinct market environments, the Frontier, the Jungle, the Battleground and the Kingdom. He identifies the organizational structures required to succeed in each market environment. This is just the beginning.

Jack provides tools to assess where a firm's products compete and how the firm is organized. He then provides the roadmap necessary to change the firm in to create "The Perfect Business Match" between Market and Organization. He even includes the dynamic assessment tools necessary to keep firms and markets aligned in these ever-changing markets. The result can only be optimal success. Thanks, Jack!

"Your Perfect Business Match" is an ideal supplement to the usual way we teach strategic management, using the traditional SWOT analysis together with the old 4 P's of the Marketing Mix, as well as generic and operational strategies, etc.

I was glad also to see that, coming from 3M, you stressed that no normative opinion should be ascribed to any one particular management style. I taught the following four alliterative leadership styles that would seem to fit well into your book's paradigm:Commanding style . . . of Rulers of the Kingdom, Controlling style . . . of Warriors on the Battlefield, Communicating style . . . of Hunters in the Jungle, and Cheerleading style . . . of Pioneers on the Frontier.

I found absolutely no apparent inconsistencies in your argumentation. Your book could, and I believe should, be very widely used as a supplement to case studies used in all Strategic Management courses, taught as both capstones at the undergraduate level of accredited Colleges of Business and at their MBA-level offerings. It should be widely used by undergraduates and
graduates who enter the labor market. And finally, as an academician (now for over a decade), and as a former senior manager for most of my working years, I'm VERY impressed with everything written and EXTREMELY optimistic about its
utility throughout universities' business schools."

David L. Christopherson, PhD
G.R. Herberger Distinguished Professor of Business
St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, Minnesota.

"Tesmer's book provides business managers with an effective and practical approach to aligning organizational structure for different types of market environments. This book is a 'must read' before management even considers any organizational change."

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100 Top Internet Job Sites offers more than a simple listing of Internet job site resources, it shows the reader how to turn the Internet into a personalized career counselor, developing key job search skills along the way. Kristina Ackley shows how to prepare for success, demonstrate online netiquette, search and find "dream job" information, write effective resumes and cover letters, research potential employers, interview successfully, and negotiate salary and benefits. 100 Top Internet Job Sites is an invaluable, essential guide for those new to the advantages the Internet has to offer the dedicated job seeker and career developer.

Kristina Ackley's 100 Top Internet Job Sites tells how to prepare for employment via the Internet; from locating information about a dream job to locating resume-posting web sites and researching employers. A valuable book on career explorations via the Net.

WOW! This book organizes your job search the same way a headhunter or career counselor would--for a small fraction of the cost! I was able to find the answer to every job search question I had, and then some, (from how to write a resume and cover letter to the best place to post your resume to learning what salaries and benefits you should ask for) by using the sites listed. I also liked learning how to find "insider's information" about the company you're applying to. Would highly recommend this book to anyone.

Power and Market is Murray Rothbard's seminal critique of government intervention in the economy. Originally meant to be part of his magisterial Man, Economy, and State, it was published separately some years later. (For a discussion of this, see Justin Raimondo's An Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard at 189-194.)

Unlike most Austrian school economists, Rothbard was an anarchist. In fact, he was the twentieth century's seminal figure in anarcho-capitalist thought. This means that Rothbard thought that not only roads and the like, but also national defense and courts could be provided without a state. (See his Society Without a State in the Libertarian Reader, ed. Machan, for a succinct presentation of his views.)

Rothbard starts out this work with a discussion of various types of government intervention in the economy. He divides them into three types: autistic (violent crime), triangular (tariffs, wage and price controls, licensing, etc.)and binary intervention (taxation and government spending). Following this is a discussion of antimarket ethics. There isn't an aspect of government intervention in the economy that escapes Rothbard's scalpel. As a whole, this is certainly an outstanding book. Take Rothbard's discussion of taxation. Many "right wing" economists support the sales tax on the ground that it doesn't discourage savings and investment. But it reduces people's income and thereby reduces savings and investment. It is a tax on income. [pp. 92-93.]

My main problem with this work is the sometimes simplistic discussion of complex problems and the leaps in logic. (I've discussed this is my review of The Ethics of Liberty.) Take for example the issue of immigration laws. "The advocate of immigration laws . . . really fears, therefore, is not so much immigration as any population growth. To be consistent, therefore, he would have to advocate compulsory birth control, to slow down the rate of population growth desired by individual parents." [p. 55.] Even in light of the entire 2 page discussion of immigration laws, I don't see how this follows. In this (and some other areas) the discussion is narrowly economic. Aren't there good reasons to restrict the type of immigrants? For example, if you have a society that is devoted to individual freedom and responsibility, isn't it wise to prevent immigration from those countries that don't support freedom?

If you want to know the essence of Rothbard, purchase this work; Man, Economy, and State; The Ethics of Liberty; and the Logic of Action.

if you feel a serious need to understand what is being done to you, and your business, by those in charge of the government, look no further! when you are done reading power and market, not only will you be able to criticize, you will understand the situation. by the way, this book reads fresh and new. it could have been written yesterday; and it is that relevance that makes it so special!

I would merely like to reiterate what Ludwig von Mises said of Carl Menger's Principles of Economics that "this book made an economist of me."

I have so far read half of this 600+ page book. (perhaps I'll give an update on the second half later, but couldn't wait to give my opinion now.) Larry Harris gives painstakingly clear and precise definitions of the language of trading. They ring very true. The first 100 pages is almost all definitions. He continues with an explain-by-defining approach throughout the book. He also includes interesting examples. Next he classifies traders by type based on their motivations.

While his classifications are helpful in many ways to understand trading, I believe that he put in a serious bias against the more open markets produced by decimalization. I am particularly concerned about his criticism of those front runners who, based only on their observation of trading patterns, trade ahead of value investors (using his terms); he says those front runners reduce the incentives to the value investors to correct prices.

Later in the book much of Harris' discussion of dealers assumes that bid and ask prices show fairly precise fundamental values. Yet he ignores that there so few value investors that, as Harris points out, Fischer Black said market prices are informative when they are between 1/2 and 2 times the true value (not everyone agrees). Actually those front runners amplify the information, allowing the value investors to have a greater corrective impact on prices over a wider range of securities, given their limited capital.

Overall Trading & Exchanges is a good and dense read, suited to an eager beginner or someone who wants a very clear review of the theory and practice of trading. I look forward to the rest of the book.

I have been trading for 8 years. 6 years prop trading, I now run a hedge fund. We make about 10,000 trades/day. I wish I had read this book years ago. I've had to pay Mr. Market a large sum to learn many of these lessons. Larry Harris has written what I consider to be the best book in the field of trading. He covers nearly all topics, from structural & regulatory issues, to descriptions of the players; costs to performance evaluation. Presentation is excellent - the numerous sidebars, tables & graphs serve to illustrate the text. My only complaint is that the book does not take the quantitative side far enough. I recommend a technical appendix plus specific references (perhaps annotating the excellent bibliography) for the mathematically inclined reader.

If you are interested in trading, or curious about the markets, buy and read this book!

If you don't understand how the markets work, want to learn more, and are willing to invest an immodest amount of time and money, this is a book you must read.

Larry Harris is a brilliant contributor to the understanding of markets, and is currently Chief Economist of the Securities and Exchange Commission. This book however, is written as a textbook for the introductory markets class he taught at USC for many years.

Larry's book pulls back the curtains on the mystery and mumbo-jumbo of what happens when investors buy and sell securities. The book is lightly written, with many anecdotes and amusing sidebars, yet presents the latest and best knowledge on how (and why) markets work.

Talk about a book that everyone should read, but no one will, this is it. A terrific, plain language explanation of the origins of money and how understanding money leads to political sophistication and concommitant societal benefits.

This book makes many cogent arguments that deal with war and external defense, interior political and civil stabilty, the societal need for a stable currency, the need for a rule of law to protect private property rights, and the implications of the velocity and movements of global currency trading. It does a great job of explaning financial derivitives, options, inflation, debasement of the currency via political corruption, and financial globalization of trade and currencies.

It contains a marvelous retelling of history thru the eyes of a currency sophisticate, one who incorporates a history of revolutions, and the subsequent rebuildings of the societies that gain prominence in their aftermath.

The backdrop for this fascinating tale is the rise of the micro-chip, the story of the digital revolution. This running-wild tale illustrates how technology has outstripped the ability of dictators to throttle it, and how society has commensurately reaped the benefits. It's a paradigm for the future and deserves to be more widely understood. It has shaken up the strangle hold of one political philosophy ruling the media, and in the future it will reform tort law and academia. It's all here for those willing to study it.

Read it!

Fantastic book, clearly written. A history of the systematic shift in power from governments to asset markets, especially in the Reagonomics era (which includes the 1990's). A 'must', along with "Inventing Money" and "Wall Street Capitalism", for those who want to understand the financial system and it's consequences.

I finally understand what Options and derivatives are. This is a wonderful, fun book which guides the reader through the history of monetary exchanges. Did I say fun? You have to read his description of Berkeley in the late 60s. Although I lived through it, I never understood the inflation or high interest rates of the 70s and how it related to taking the dollar off the gold standard. Oh yes I can see clearly now!

IT REALLY EXPLAINS IN AN EASY WAY ALL THE BASIC AND FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS ABOUT THE STOCK MARKET AND THE MOST POPULAR INVESTMENTS. IF YOU ARE A BEGINNER, IT SHOULD BE YOUR BOOK.

Sallie Mae, Freddie Mac, Investment grade, junk bonds, Moody's, averages, indexes, up-tick, supply and demand, coupons, convertibles, mutual funds, inflation, corporate structure, IPO's, OTC, volatility, types of trades, derivatives, financial statements, etc.

This book has everything. It is perfect for somebody who has started to dabble in stocks and is looking to become a little more sophisticated.

I will read this book multiple times and keep it as a desk reference. Everything is so organized right where you need it! It even gives you a few sentences of background to give you a feel for why things are the way they are. It explains where things got their names from. It is a GOOD BOOK.

I would not recommend this book for a total novice. It might be a little too much. But for somebody who has seen all these terms banging around for a while, this clears stuff up so much.

The organization is amazing. It just all fits together like never before.

Rod Davis shows how microeconomic, market and industry concepts interrelate and, eventually, how they affect the net wealth of each individual investor. This book nicely combines the big-picture approach with simple explanation of quantitative indicators/calculations. The stock market will not seem that much of puzzle to you after you've read this book.

This is one of the easiest to read and understadn investment books I've ever found. Teaching children the value of long-term investment and money is a wonderful gift to give anyone. Adults will find the clear explanations, sound advice, and tips on getting started no matter how much you have to be valuable as well.

This and Jason Kelly's "Neatest Little Guide..." series are my favorite introductory investment books.

This is the type of book I wish I had when I first became interested in investing. It is so elementary that I can actually understand what the stock market is all about, and how I personally can benefit from getting myself educated about investing. What's more my teenage daughter is learning about investing and investment clubs and students from her class are getting together weekly to talk about the stock market, using this book as a guide. This is a wonderful book to introduce kids and teenagers to investing.

I found this book to be extremely helpful in decoding a very intimidating topic. The forum in which the book was layed out made for an easy and exciting read. I finally feel comfortable and adept to invest, in addition to having various resources for doing research. I highly recommend this book and have bought several copies for friends and family with and without children.