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Jane Simms >Hang on to heritage when you revive a famous brand
Debate >Is market research a waste of money?
Cary Cooper >Bosses must be more resilient
Iqbal Wahhab >Why I changed my attitude towards customer service
Book Reviews
Consumer.ology
After a career in market research, Graves delivers a stinging rebuke to his profession. But to his credit, he does more than just show marketers the error of their ways. He shows them a path to better insight
Dragons' Den Grow Your Business
For years individual Dragons have been cashing in on their celebrity entrepreneur status by publishing a stream of business books. Now the TV brand itself is having a go
Accounting for Sustainability: Practical insights
While debates over climate change rage, there is a growing movement to back the theory that companies placing sustainable practice at the heart of their business will be best placed for long-term success.
Mister Swatch: Nicolas Hayek and the secret of his success
This book puts into context Hayek's extraordinary feats
Working 5 to 9
Here Emma Jones, founder of online community Enterprise Nation, provides advice for anyone who likes the idea of starting a home business but who doesn't know where to begin
The winner-take-all society
Originally published in 1995, this is the book that inspired Chris Anderson to formulate his Long Tail thesis as a challenge to the ideas it presented
The Naked millionaire
Guess what? You, too, can be a millionaire if you want it enough and you're prepared to take action to make it happen. All you need is the get-up-and-go to... get up and go
The new business road test
Before anyone gets too far into a new venture it makes sense to test the idea and examine it for flaws. But which model should you use?
Build a brand in 30 days
An invaluable read for anyone starting a business. It's impossible for Middleton to provide all the answers, but he lays out the right questions for anyone launching a brand
Naked marketing
While not perfect, the four Ps, if applied properly, remain the best way to frame a marketing mix. To claim, as Nelson does, that the system has destroyed business is ludicrous
Free
When it comes to undoing the traditional marketing model, the shift to a digital economy—where the cost of goods is reduced to virtually zero—is having more impact than anything else
Brand America
The idea behind this book is that by getting inside Brand America, readers will find general branding lessons for their own products and services
50 ways to make Google love your website
If this book won't change your life, it might transform your business. It is a lesson in the power of keeping things simple
The Future of Money
As the sweeping title suggests, this is an ambitious project. It's a series of essays from leading economists, bankers, business leaders and politicians on the current state of the world economy, the events that led to the financial crash and recession, and the way these events will shape the future
Driving Down Cost
Author Andrew Wileman draws on a wealth of experience as a cost-cutting consultant and chief financial officer to make it seem like the most interesting part of a manager's remit.
The Little Big Things
Beyond its wackiness, the message in this book is that the little things companies do to help their customers and fellow employees often have more impact on success than the big strategic ideas
The China Strategy
The great China debate continues to rage. Is it the next big bubble or the great miracle of our age? Scary statistics, such as the fact that China is building 34 airports the size of Heathrow, suggest the latter. Author Edward Tse is a cheerleader for this camp
Family Wars
Family businesses are seen by many as the backbone of the economy. The drawback to this idea is that, like all families, these businesses are more prone to conflict than other firms. That at least is the view of the authors of this potted history of the main conflicts in family businesses
The Age of Instability
Several books have examined the recent economic crash and a few have put the meltdown into the context of previous bubbles. Here, David Smith recounts events in the recent past that created the circumstances for the extended boom and the bust
Obliquity: Why our goals are best achieved indirectly
This book by John Kay is a useful addition to the thriving school of behavioural economics
Chief culture officer
Why gurus succeed, says Grant McCracken, is because they are so well plugged into the culture in which their company operates.
Guide to business planning
Anyone looking to launch a new venture, however experienced they are, will need a business plan. And if you are in any doubt as to what such a plan might include, this comprehensive and rigorous book leaves you in no doubt.
co-opportunity
The premise of this relentlessly optimistic book is both simple and daunting. If we all stopped pursuing our own private agendas and started working more for the common good we would stand a better chance of achieving our individual goals.
re-inventing management
Birkinshaw is a business school professor who is dedicated to the study of management. As the author himself declares, "management as we know it today is struggling to do the job it intended to do".
The Death of modern Management
The upheaval of this recession has prompted many publishers to look for books that help explain what Owen here calls "the new world disorder".
Stuff
Have you ever wondered what the material things we gather around us say about our humanity? No, I hadn't either, until I read this engaging introduction to a subject that is formally called material culture, but which Miller calls "stuff".
Business essential
This volume should really be subtitled the Ultimate Bluffer's Guide to Management and is essential reading for anyone thinking of adding a fake MBA to their CV.
Cool it
This paperback edition of the controversial 2007 title arrives in time for the climate change talks in Lomborg's home capital of Copenhagen. It's a refreshing antidote to the growing shelves of books that assume the science and outcome of climate change is a done deal.
Managing
Henry Mintzberg has dedicated his career to building a better understanding of management. Here he lays out, in six clear and precise chapters, what he sees as the issues facing managers today.
Change by Design
Tim Brown, chief executive of design agency IDEO, looks at applying the basic approach of good designers—to combine an understanding of human needs with knowledge of what is technologically possible to create better products—to a wider set of management issues.
herd
Companies are not always that good at assessing what customers want.This is partly, as Mark Earls explains here, because companies make the mistake of asking consumers themselves.
Mike Bloomberg: money, power, politics
Joyce Purnick's interesting account of Bloomberg's career asks how a "colourless manager" who "could not deliver a speech that anyone wanted to hear" became one of New York's most successful mayors.
The management myth
This should be required reading for anyone about to hire a management consultant
how to build a great business in tough times
"Why would people be interested in reading about King of Shaves?" asks King in the prologue. Had this simple rhetorical question been more widely asked, a large proportion of current business books might not have made it to the book shops.
Anything but ordinary
This translation of a successful German book is packed full of useful thoughts and ideas that will force readers to think twice about their organisation. That, of course, is the point of lateral thinking.
Know me, like me, follow me
The need for organisations and individuals to get to grips with the advent of social networks is, we are continually told, the most important issue of the day. For anyone who subscribes to this idea, this is a useful place to start.
Globalisation laid bare
A collection of essays is only ever as good as its contributors. Here, every contribution is timely, insightful and interesting
The 50th law
US hip-hop superstar Curtis Jackson, better known as 50 Cent, has a knack for keeping things under his own control rather than handing power to record companies. So what can he teach directors in the UK?
How the mighty fall
As the author of such research-heavy masterpieces such as Good to Great and Built to Last, here interrupts another project to let loose a few thoughts on the global recession.
crossroads
Do we take the difficult path of greater global collaboration and co-operation or the more immediately obvious path, carrying on with unfettered global competition, which will lead to humanity's destruction?
Think again
Amid a deluge of interesting but not all that useful books on behavioural economics and decision-making comes one offering something tangible to readers
The Green Guide for business
For any director who thinks the digital revolution is something for others to worry about, here is an alarming wake-up call
The Impulse Factor: Why Some of Us Play it Safe and Others Risk it All
Nick Tasler identifies basic human traits that influence decision-making and despite not directly referencing recent events, he offers an insight into the City meltdown
Understanding Digital Marketing
For any director who thinks the digital revolution is something for others to worry about, here is an alarming wake-up call
Free Market Madness
Peter Ubel makes a case for behavioural economics and, in particular, for its place at the heart of public policy
Brand Enigma
As bookshelves groan with tomes on branding, it's fair to ask whether we need another. But Duncan Bruce and David Harvey suggest upfront that this is "not a textbook on brand strategy or brand management"
What happened?
BBC economics editor Hugh Pym and Financial Times journalist Nick Kochan, provide an easy-to-digest summary of what went wrong and how the lending bubble in financial markets got out of control
Philanthrocapitalism
This is an excellent insight into why the new age of philanthropy has dawned and what it means for those giving, receiving, and for governments and society as a whole
Strategy Safari
Author Henry Mintzberg is one of the best guides for an analysis of strategy and this book is the perfect starting point for someone interested in understanding more about it
Creative Capitalism: Essays by Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Others
As Michael Kinsley himself acknowledges in his introduction, this is in some ways the perfect time to be asking questions about the role of capitalism and free markets in society
the snowball
Alice Schroeder, former journalist and clearly one of Warren Buffett's trusted inner circle, offers extraordinary insights into Buffett's complex personal and business life
branson stripped bare
Does Britain's best-known businessman, Richard Branson, tell his readers anything new? Jo Owen finds out
the secrets of ceos
Steve Tappin and Andrew Cave take a "more is more" approach to their interviews with over 150 CEOs. This is a well-argued, practical guide to life in the top job
future files
A detailed investigation into what author Richard Watson believes are the five key trends that will shape our future
Sales by volume
Books by business brains range from the inspirational to the downright confessional—and they're growing ever more popular. So what makes a wealthy entrepreneur put pen to paper?
Groundswell
Authors Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff present a compelling argument for getting to grips with Web 2.0 in a highly practical, if somewhat prescriptive book
The Power of unreasonable people
Social entrepreneurs are "unreasonable people"—they break the rules. In this excerpt from their new book, John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan investigate the relevance of the new thinking for the mainstream
The Wealth of Nations
What's the best business book ever written? Alan Malachowski considers an old classic
All I want for Christmas...
Six of the best business reads for directors
Books that do the business
What makes a great business book? Two of the judges of a prestigious book award share their insights and recommend the best reads of the last 60 years
A tribute to the late Carol Kennedy
We round up some of Carol's funniest and far-sighted book reviews
Off-Ramps and On Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success
Economist and author Sylvia Ann Hewlett urges organisations to re-think their structure to support "non-linear" careers or risk losing valuable talent
How life imitates chess
A riveting book that will engage non-chess players too. Kaparov compares the complex, internal porcesses of chess with those of higher management
Hot spots
Linda Gratton explains her concept of "hot spots"—when creativity and purpose flare among groups of people at work—and how to foster them
Herd: how to change mass behaviour by harnessing our true nature
This rather formless book sets out to unravel the mystery of mass decision-making
Green To Gold
Daniel C Esty and Andrew S Winston look at the growth of environmental industries and review the opportunities for small firms
Killer Web Content
The title pretty much speaks for itself. Gerry McGovern explains how to get the most out of your website
The New Philanthropists
This engaging book by Charles and Elizabeth Handy is about public-spirited entrepreneurs putting something back into society
