market-economics

In 1990 this book was revolutionary. Today, it is mostly interesting as the first book on the subject. Nobody in todays (business) world can have missed out on the concept that time is (or can be) a competitive advantage.

If you have missed this basic fact, do read this book, it explains in rather boring terms why it is so.

Personally I think they put to much emphasis on time as a competitive advantage, and tend to disregard other factors, equally important. A more relevant reading would in my opinion be D'Aveni's Hypercompetition, that takes the concept to its logical conclusion, which Hoult and Stalk misses.

Unfortunately, neither of the authors are very entertaining writers, especially as this book is usually mandatory/recommended reading in most MBA classes on strategy.

In conclusion, good, once revolutionary, but today mostly over-rated.

Today's readers will think that this book is simply stating the obvious. That shows how much influence the book has had. Prior to the book's publication, most people felt that "getting things right" was more important than speed. This book points out that speed can actually be helpful in getting things right by encouraging you to improve your management processes so you do things right the first time.

Many companies have had trouble implementing this concept in the way it is articulated. They simplify their process, but may not improve it. This may mean that new products arrive in the market that are not really ready for the customers. That can be all right if you can quickly fine-tune the products in beta tests and the customers have that expectation because you are giving them so much benefit anyway. If you do this with me-too products that don't work, the results can be disastrous in terms of damage to your company's reputation and customer relationships.

The authors do not spend enough time on helping people understand how to improve their processes, and how to create more speed without killing stress on the people involved. For many companies, this book can be dangerous. I think this book could use a new edition that would address these two areas in more detail.

On the other hand, if you have any doubts about the potential benefits from speedier action, you should read this book. It will change your mind using excellent examples.

Have a speedy read!

Simply put, an oustanding book that has all the nuts and bolts needed to allow a company to transition to a time based focus from a cost based one. Easy to read, the logic is perfect. A must buy to have on your shelf (better yet ... on your desk). I read it first when I received my MBA ... read it again this last week .... and gave copies to top management I know around the country.

this book starts out giving the basics of the futures markets. the meat of the book is about bullish consensus which i found very interesting. the author states this isn't a trading system but a supplement to trading systems.i would reccomend this book.

What you will come to know in several years can be assimilated in little time with this book written by the master. Because most people are going towards electronic trading, they are devoid of the emotions that people have witnessed in the trading pits. Often times, things that are percieved in a convoluted way are at the human level pychologically simple, and that is what this book is taking you towards. Everything good and nothing bad.

Ironically the low sales of the book (I inferred from the Amazon sales rank) tells the high value of it, if ones believes the contrary opinion theory, that conventional wisdom, usually the popular one, always put the majority/public to the wrong side.

The author had honestly and successfully delivered what one could grasp from the title: profiting by contrarion opinion (to be precise, bullish/bearish consensus) in futures markets. He explained why the futures market is a money game, why the minority always win, why conventional market wisdom (yeah, your analysts included) always fail...He did that so well. That's all I wanna say.

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A good attempt at explaining the costs of living in capitalism. A bit dated considering the World Trade Organization, computerization and downsizing, but he makes points most people need to hear and consider. Well worth reading and thinking about. Order a copy and begin to think!

Ever worry that your doctor has the HMO profit margins in mind more than your care? Ever get disgusted by big time college sports? Ever worry about the erosion of values and cohesion in your community? Then this book is for you.

This is a marvelous book that explores how people should think about their places in our society. Schwartz, a Professor at Swarthmore College, has a well-deserved reputation for debunking commonly held myths promulgated by economists and others who seek to explain all human behavior by supply and demand curves, and irresistible biological imperatives.

Yes, we do have a choice about how we want our communities to function, and Schwartz tells us how we can ``reintroduce the language of responsibility and morality into our public life.''

Schwartz also has a rare gift for making complex topics seem easy to understand. This is a surprisingly readable book, full of anecdotes and examples that will help you relate the ideas to your own life. Its conclusion, about a dilemma Schwartz faced in his own community, is notable for its drama as well as for the fact that Schwartz declines to offer easy answers.

Read this book, and you will think differently (and more perceptively) about the world around you. It is *that* good.

Read this book if you have ever been concerned about how some of our societies great institutions are being weakened by the market pressures of today. Ever worry that your doctor has the HMO profit margins in mind more than your care? Ever get disgusted by big time college sports? Ever worry about the erosion of values and cohesion in your community? Then this book is for you.

While many stock market books have lots to say about parallels in financial history, this one is very different. The Great Bull Market is not really about the stock market at all. It's about the factors that led to the market mania of the late 1920s. Changes in social patterns, dramatic changes in the economy and living standards and a liberalisation of financial laws all led to the belief that life had really changed for everyone for the better.

Of course, there are wider things to consider than the rather simplistic and sometimes left-wing views put forward here. Even so, The Great Bull Market does take you away from the now perfunctory trawl through margin statistics and takes you into the heads of those who were actually parting with cash. For that it's a great read.

The market could only go up. Margin requirements were minimal. Investment in equities, seemingly ANY equities was a risk-less, rock solid path to fortune. Why buy one of the new electronic phonographs, or a refrigerator, on "time" (credit) when for the same amount of money, one could buy equities on margin, gain immense leverage, and be "guaranteed" to make the money back many times over, and be able to buy many more luxuries.

According to Mr. Sobel, this was, in a nutshell, the mentality of the average investor. Investment houses and financial institutions fueled the fire by making margin cheap and easy. Ultimately, stock prices were held up by nothing. Tremors of instability began to ripple through the market as the impending crash approached, often dismissed as buying opportunities. Ultimately, reality set in, and the unthinkable happened.

Are things different today? Yes and No. More safeguards would seem to be in place, however valuations of today make those of the 20's look miniscule. While a direct comparison is difficult to make between the period covered in the book, and the market of 2000, there are lessons to be learned. "The Great Bull Market" provides a fascinating account of the crash and the events that led up to it. A must read for anyone feeling a little jittery about the climate on Wall Street today!

When I was first assigned this book as an undergraduate in 1990, I was entranced by how any market could get so out of control as it did in the 1920's. Now, after re-reading it in February 2000 as a professional in the industry, I am frightened by the similarities that exist in this "new paradigm". This is a fast paced, well organized, and concise overview of how the fed, margin accounts, and a number of other powerful forces contributed, either passively or actively, to the crash of '29. I have shared this book with many of my colleagues in the investment industry, and we are all equally haunted by how history is indeed repeating itself.

It's about time someone wrote a DEFINITIVE book on sellng Porperty and Casualty Insurance in a tough marketplace.

But hard or soft market aside, Hard Market Selling is a "MUST" book to read, hold, refer to and distribute to anyone in the sales business.

We've referred it to our 2500+ insurance agency force...and will keep on doing so, no matter the difficulty of the marketplace.

It is purely and simply the best book I've ever read on selling in our industry...or any other for that matter.

Hard Market Selling is a must read for anybody in the Insurance Industry. By far the best book that I have ever read regarding the ins and outs of selling and servicing a book of business. Scott knows his stuff! The book is very specific and offers usable tools, techniques, and strategies for production, differentiation, retention, and providing value.

I've read so many sales and service books before - none have been as good and as useful. Hard Market Selling is making me a better producer and a better person. Thanks Scott!

Edward McQuarrie is clearly skilled in the practical use of customer visits (on-site interviews) as a qualitative data collection tool, particularly for B2B products. His frequent citations of real-world studies that support investment in primary customer research are both useful and validating for industry practitioners engaged in new product definition. I gave this book 4 stars rather than 5 because it falls short in several areas that are important to prospective readers who may be working professionals looking for "a better way" to characterize customer needs.

Customer requirements are only one (although arguably the most important) data point that influences new product definition. McQuarrie doesn't really position the customer visit method very well in the context of the other variables that drive overall product definition. Secondly, while the book does an excellent job describing how to go about planning and conducting customer visits, it fails to provide more than a cursory treatment of how to use the information collected to develop appropriate, useful, prioritized new product requirements in a resource-constrained environment.

Other than these few items (which may be outside the focus of the text anyway), I would highly recommend this book. It provides valuable insight to understanding VOC (voice of the customer) and should be included in any serious product development professional's personal library.

I found this book to be quite easy to read and also make many useful, hands on types of suggestions of how to set up, conduct and debrief customer interviews. More than that, it also gives you a recipe for starting from scratch if you need it - that is, identifying what your purpose is, who you're going to interview, who should be doing the interviewing from your side (e.g. the Company's 'team'), how to conduct the interview and what to do once you've completed it. For those of you who are already familiar (or even comfortable) with Customer Visits, this book will still give you interesting and useful pointers - such as how to go about getting agreement from the customer to tape an interview and why this could prove invaluable to you in the future. In short, it's not a 'tour de force' for Customer Visit/Marketing junkies, but will surely give even those folks some good information that you can use. For the rest of us, it's quite a useful 'how to' book to start out with.

McQuarrie obviously speaks from experience. His book is very practical, easy to navigate. Though, the most important attribute is that it is realistic. The author realizes the realities of the corporate environment and allows the reader to progress towards perfection rather that achieve perfection first time out.

Ideal book for development teams. Many "how to" ideas and a logical progression.

This book is a very entertaining read and an accurate depiction of the highs and lows of the start-up game. Sally leaves the door open to dot.com success even after the market turn as long as people execute flawlessly. Many of the gotchas are highlighted in this book. The chapter on branding "Brand This!" is fantastic!

I just finished devouring this book but it was so good that I'll be digesting it for a long time. I was glad to have been introduced to a book that summarizes it all in less than 300 pages. The book is a gold mine that can be excavated for years! Very timely since Sally wrote it after the April 2000 fallout. The book gives green entrepreneurs like myself a lot of hope and lots and lots of sound advice. Sally's writing style is entertaining and all at the same time to the point. She tells it like it is. In many cases, the people she interviewed are quoted, so you get it directly from the horse's mouth. Thank you Sally.

Sally's book Dot-com Success! Surviving the Fallout & Consolidation really tells it like it is. So many companies crashed and burned here - especially here in Silicon Valley - and I feel they might have had a better chance of surviving had they read this book and gleaned the expertise that Sally drew out of the leaders in the field. I would recommend this book for anyone thinking about starting up any kind of technology-based company.

This book has talked about the career deveolpment of Mr. Kenn.
He is a professional in marketing and has done many noticeable work, e.g.the repositioning of MEXX and Thomas the tank engine and Friend(TTE&F).

In this book, Viselman has used (TTE&F) several times to illustrated the marketing skill which he has been used,liking finding a niche market for yourself, if you are a new entrant to the market.

Besides, he has talked about how did his mother and father affected the way he think. Many stories writen by his friend can be found this book. And you can also learn communication skill from him.

However, some time frame haven't mentioned clearly. So, it is quite difficult to follow the development of each issue. If more clear sub-heading are provided, it will be much better for the reader.

This book was highlighted in a trade publication that I get at my office. After the series ended, I had to pick up the book and I am so glad that I did. It is excellent. It can be applied to so many different areas. Whether you are a stay at home parent to a small business owner to a corporate giant, this book applies to us all with great clarity. The writing style is easy to follow, the suggestions are helpful without being overpowering, and you will just be "on fire" to take on the world!

This book was an exciting challenge for me, being completely new to the market of children's entertainment,.... However, I found in this book some homegrown business sense that is rare to find in all those "get-rich-quick" or gimmicky"business model of the week" books, which tend to be popular in retail bookstores. Kenn Viselman has a solid, experience-based understanding of the fundamentals of business, whether discussing international expansion or local marketing.

Eight Giant Steps to Global Domination is an enjoyable read, but also reinforces its core concepts with workshops at the end of each chapter. Kenn mainly talks about his experiences, then makes general business applications for them, then allows the reader to come up with his/her own personalized applications. For this reason, the book is more than just a story about one man and his entertainment company; it is about anyone who believes in a product or service, and is concerned with how to make their dreams into a reality. I strongly recommend this book to any student of business - it is insightful and relevant for the MBA student, interesting and entertaining to the undergrad student, and is a reminder of best practices and unorthodox solutions to the experienced businessperson.

The Equity Culture: The Story of the Global Stock Market
By B. Mark Smith
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux; 1st edition, Hardcover (August 2003)

B. Mark Smith gives the reader a history and economics refresher in the Equity Culture: the Story of the Global Stock Market. The book, 352 pages, is not hard to read and provides an interesting historical overview of the equity markets. Smith, a former stock trader with FS/Boston and Goldman Sach, is also the author of Toward Rational Exuberance: the Evolution of the Modern Stock Market.

In the Equity Culture, Smith traces equity market activity from the Mississippi Company in the 18th Century to the more academic and sophisticated computer models of today. Through it all, Smith shows the reader that while times may change, human behavior around a rising equity market does not. The real thesis of Smith's book is that equity market bubbles and busts contain three consistent historical trends(1) a new product or development; (2) increased purchasing activity by professional investors in the company or companies selling or providing the new product or development followed by investment by an expanding pool of inexperienced investors; and, (3) easy credit. Each significant downturn in an equity market, from the Romans to the recent technology bust, are preceded by these market elements, according to Smith.

The Equity Culture provides an interesting and wide angle view of the seemingly senseless ups and downs of the equity markets. The book is no novel, but Smith makes what most would consider a pretty dry subject an interesting read. For market veterans, the book provides good perspective; for market rookies a good lessen: look out!!

I monitor stock prices daily as part of my job, and to fuel my personal investment decisions -- needless to say, I am far from being alone. Yet only decades ago, stocks were clearly not that important for the majority. What has happened? What is happening? This book traces the history of stock from as far as the Roman Empire to modern days through the Middle-Ages.
This book explains that although stocks have been around for a long time, only quite recently have they been so widely used, and only recently have stock prices had such an influence on every major country's economy around the world. A great, well-documented perspective on today's stock-centric economy, and a highly suggested read for anyone dealing with stocks in any way.

B. Mark Smith has provided in The Equity Culture a readable account of the evolution of the global equity market. Emphasis on the word global. This is not the history of the U.S. stock market, or what he later refers to as the Anglo-American market, but an account of equity markets in Japan, Germany, Malaysia, and elsewhere, though invariably much of the focus is on Japan, the U.S., the U.K. and Germany. He is very good at weaving into his story the role of market theory from Markowitz on portfolio theory to more recent debates on the efficient market theory (the latter frankly I don't understand). Readers will also find here a more sophisticated treatments of so-called market "bubbles." In my view, he correctly limits the standard explanation of such events to stock markets that are sufficiently developed, or left un-regulated; hence, the so-called Japanese "bubble" is not a case of investors acting on emotion rather than reason because government policy had institutionalized high values.

This is an excellent overview, and he is to be commended for managing to avoid the temptation to stray too far from the main story line. After all any number of tributary topics he covers might well themselves provide the basis of another volume -- including, the role of central banks in crisis periods, the growing influx of pension dollars into equity markets, the co-variance of global markets and, of course, the recurring problem, most recently manifested by Enron and the Italian holding company, Parmalatt(?), of efforts to conceal losses through accounting machinations (see Japan's version in the discussion of Sanyo Special Steel (184-185). I think there is a small error regarding the U.S. crash and that is that "Black Tuesday" was October, not November 29th (see page 126), 1929. Not a big mistake when one bears in mind Galbraith's comment that the singular feature of the crash of 1929 was that the "worst continued to worsen." Overall, an excellent, very readable introduction to the global evolution of equity markets. Stay tuned, though, this history continues to evolve.....

Professor Van Horne Books are certainly fundamental to approach right the theory of finance. I think we have all to thank him for his studies.

A compact book focusing on fixed-income market, derivatives, and risk management. Highly Recommended for advanced undergraduates

In this text, Van Horne combines elements of both finance and economics; this results in an outstanding compendium of financial theory as it relates to financial markets. However, the breadth of the material and the detail to which the reader is exposed necessitates succinct dissemination in such a compact text (300 pages). I've found more information in this paperback than most hardcover texts (800 pages or more) that I've read, and at half the price.

My fellow students and I plowed our way through it in one 400-level course in the finance program at EWU. This is advanced material and not for the faint of heart. As I remember it, there was a sizable number of students with weak hearts about half-way through the quarter.