Buy Business

Review by John Szydlowski:

Dr. Charles Hill has the rare combination of excellent subject matter expertise and writing skill. I purchased this textbook for an MBA course on Global Business and have been extremely impressed with Dr. Hill’s work. It is organized, easy to read, the introduction and sidebars augment the text exceptionally, and the case studies are thorough and applicable. Unlike another reviewer, I found the depth of coverage to be appropriate for an MBA program and especially enjoyed the treatment of monetary systems and the weaving of economic theory throughout most chapters. This book is a keeper.

Review by :

I found this book to be a well organized and stimulating. I have taken a course in Int Business as part of my undergraduate business degree. I discovered this book offered as part of an Int Business degree program at another institution and decided to purchase it. I found it to be so much better than the first go around that It was like I never learned Int business to begin with. Well written; I am very skeptical of typos and could only find one which was very minor. This book is a real eye opener and you will never want to stop reading it. It is one of my favorite text books! Thanks Charles Hill.

Review by Jeffrey Phillips:

It’s unfair that some individuals can write so well about topics that can be a bit esoteric. Roger Martin, who is dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, has produced yet another good book about thinking differently. His first book, The Opposable Mind, captured how good business leaders can see past the traditional “either-or” alternatives to create “both-and” options.

In The Design of Business, Martin offers a view that suggests that design should be the centerpiece or the starting point for much of the work we do in business, and why design is so important. He’s not the first to suggest the importance of design, and a number of firms, such as IDEO, have been in the vanguard of the design-led forces. What Martin does well is to describe why design led thinking is important, and give examples of how to do it well.

Martin argues that all knowledge moves through three stages – a mystery, a heuristic and an algorithm. Mysteries are about discovery of new opportunities or research into solving intractable problems. Heuristics are rules of thumb that narrow the size and scope of mysteries and make them more manageable. Algorithms reduce the heuristics into repeatable processes.

This leads to two schools of thought in most businesses: exploration and exploitation, according to Martin. Most businesses are structured to exploit the algorithms, refining the way they do business and becoming highly effective and efficient, while neglecting the exploration of mysteries. Martin calls this the reliability-validity tradeoff. The vast majority of businesses want “reliability” – clearly defined processes that are easily repeatable and produce the same results. What he argues they need is more “validity” – creating the right and best outcomes through more exploration and less reliance on reliability. Three powerful forces emphasize reliability over validity: the demand for proof of the correctness of a new idea, an aversion to bias and time/resource constraints. These factors reinforce the bias toward reliability and repeatability over exploration and validity.

Once Martin has described his ideas, he then proceeds to use a few good examples to demonstrate the transition from a reliability driven organization to a validity and design driven organization. One chapter is devoted to the transition Lafley and Kotchka made at P&G, well documented in other places. Another chapter is devoted to Herman-Miller and the development of the Aeron chair. One of my favorite quotes from that chapter came from the Chairman of Herman Miller. He quizzed the design team about who they interviewed and received feedback from about the Aeron chair. When told they had not asked the sales force for feedback, the chairman said “That is right. You never ask the sales force what they think of a design. Their job is to sell it.” Note that the designers spent hundreds of hours with actual customers, watching them work at their desks and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of existing seating options.

The book offers up a few more examples, ones that unfortunately have been used by others to demonstrate innovation and design, including Apple, RIM, Target and Cirque de Soleil. The weakness of many books about innovation and design is that they either have too few examples and must return to the same well, or that design thinking simply isn’t widespread, so the same examples are used over and over. What’s not clear is whether or not these firms are bellwethers or just happy accidents.

On the whole, this is a well-conceived and well-written book. In what could be a very esoteric topic, Martin keeps the concepts moving and introduces a lot of examples. He puts his finger on many of the challenges that those of us in the innovation and design space constantly face: too much short term thinking, too much demand for proof of an idea based on historical norms, too little time and too few resources for innovation and design.

This is a great book, and an easy read. It belongs on the desk of any executive or manager who is tasked with introducing more design thinking into an organization.

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Review by M. McDonald:

The Design of Business by Roger Martin is a thought-provoking book that seeks to probe the reasons behind the current state of business and the new ways of thinking needed to change that state for the better. The book in my opinion is miss-titled as it is more about thinking than design. This does not make it a bad book, but one that will disappoint readers looking for design techniques based on the title.

Martin’s thesis centers around a few key concepts including:

The knowledge funnel where ideas and innovations move from exploring mysteries of business and customers, to defining heuristics and finally developing algorithms. While the funnel looks like a traditional innovation process, Martin applies it to aspects of organizational design, behavior and innovation to good effect.

Martin points to the difference between managing businesses for reliability and seeking validity. Reliability concentrates on managing predictable performance, financials, reducing process variance and establishing control. Validity concentrates on learning what is right based more on heuristics and qualitative than quantitative methods. Martin’s conjecture is that we need both, but probably need more validity to generate the creativity and innovation needed to survive in a dynamic market.

Design thinking, here Martin borrows Tim Brown of IDEO’s definition and makes the connection between design thinking and abductive reasoning which centers around observing data that does not fit with existing models or patterns. Abductive reasoning is in sharp contrast to deductive and inductive thinking that dominant business management.

The case studies on P&G, RIM, Cirque du Soldier are predictable and read more like narrative stories of executive actions rather than an analysis of what these companies did to redesign and innovate in their company. Frankly I have read other authors case studies of these companies and found them more valuable.

The combination of all of this gives me the impression that the book is a set of ideas in search of an application. Now that may sound harsh, but I kept looking for support on how I can apply these ideas by learning from others.

Martin does include a discussion about a personal knowledge system that consists of the way you view the world, the tools you use to organize your thinking and understanding and finally the experience that you need to build your sensitivity skills. The Personal Knowledge system is an example of what I am talking about, good ideas, presented in a clear fashion but without a particular set of next steps or examples of how mere mortals have transformed themselves.

Using Martin’s terminology I get his ideas and see them as valid, but I was looking for a little reliability based tools and approaches to turn valid ideas into action and results.

The book presents its ideas in a fairly academic context, discussed more as ideas than recipes or a framework for designing a business. That is a disappointment as the book was recommended to me as a design book.

I recommend the book for people who want to explore the way of thinking and deep systems behind design thinking. I cannot recommend the book for people who are looking to learn about how to apply design thinking. If you are looking for a good design thinking book go to the source Tim Brown’s new book Change by Design which has a greater focus on understanding design thinking at an actionable level.

Review by Peter Hupalo:

“Small Business For Dummies” is a good book to introduce people to the world of small business. The book is filled with solid business advice and information which runs the gamut from managing employees to controlling inventory to building customer relationships. The book starts with a short chapter asking, “Is Small Business For You?” The authors discuss reasons to start a small business and reasons to remain an employee working for someone else. There is a short aptitude test to see if you have the characteristics to be successful as an entrepreneur.Tyson and Schell define a small-business owner as a person who owns a business with 100 or fewer employees. To reduce the risk of starting a business, the authors suggest you consider starting a part-time business. I especially like how “Small Business For Dummies” addresses the issue of risk in starting a small business. When an entrepreneur starts a larger company, the founder might collect 0,000 a year in salary, have a great severance package, and even if the company fails, there probably won’t be any personal stigma for the founder. On the other hand, small business failure is much more painful, carrying not only the stigma of personal failure, but also dire personal financial consequences.The second Chapter, “Laying Your Personal Financial Foundation,” gives new entrepreneurs a quick course in personal finance, Tyson’s specialty. Some entrepreneurs fail to get their personal finances into shape before launching their business. Tyson and Schell point out, the more financially sound you are, and the more fully aware you are of your spending and financial needs, the more likely you are to succeed in business. A common cause of business failure is running out of money while trying to establish your new company. Tyson and Schell suggest building up your cash reserves (or a “war chest”) of about three to six months of living expenses before starting your company. The authors also discuss the importance of disability, health, and term life insurance in protecting yourself and your family.Chapter 3, “Finding Your Niche,” dispels the common myth that your “niche” is the key to success. Tyson and Schell write: “[T]he niche or idea won’t ultimately make or break your business; the day-to-day running of the business itself is what ultimately determines success- or failure. Stated another way, you show us a crackerjack business person, and we’ll show you someone who can get rich in the cookie business whether or not he or she has the foggiest idea how to bake the darn things.”"Small Business For Dummies” gives us the valuable tip that trying to be a low-cost player is likely to lead to failure. Small businesses can’t compete on price. They must compete on quality and service. Tyson and Schell also unveil your most valuable business asset- you. After telling us a short story about Sam Walton (the founder of Wal-Mart) borrowing ,800 to buy an ice cream machine, Tyson and Schell write: “And so it will be with the rest of us who follow in Sam Walton’s footsteps- we alone will either make our company, or we will break it. Sure, the niche will be important but we will select it. And certainly our employees will be important, but we will choose the people we hire (and the people we fire). And, of course, our products (or services) will be important, but we will have the final word in defining them. Everything that happens within our business will have our own personal stamp on it. Nothing will be outside of our grasp.”One option to creating a company from scratch is buying an existing small business. Small Business For Dummies devotes two excellent chapters to buying a business. The book has an excellent discussion of due diligence and evaluating a business to buy. Some of the suggestions include:~ Examine the business’s tax returns. While many small business owners trying to sell a business will try to overstate earnings and the potential of the business to a potential buyer, the owner will likely try to minimize the profits reported to the IRS to save money in income taxes.~ Talk to key customers, employees, and other companies in the industry. Try to get a feel for the level of ethics and reputation of the company you consider buying. People of low ethics are more likely to try to sell you a bad business for an inflated price and not care about your future success or happiness with the business.~ Consider hiring a business appraiser, so that you have information about the prices for which comparable businesses are selling.~ Get proof showing that all business taxes are fully paid to date. And, make sure that the seller is liable for any existing, undisclosed liabilities. Many people can’t afford to purchase an existing business. How do the cash starved build a company? Bootstrap. The Book points out that one Inc. Magazine survey showed that about 79% of the fast-growing Inc. 500 companies relied upon the founder’s personal savings and 16% relied upon financing from family members for funding. In contrast, only 7% received bank loans, 5% received angel investments, and 3% received venture capital.Tyson and Schell write: “The fact that bootstrapping is so pervasive and works so well makes sense if you think about it. First, what better way to instill discipline and to make things work efficiently that to have a limited supply of funds? Second, because you care deeply about risking your own money or that of family or friends, you have a powerful incentive to work hard and smart at making your business succeed. … Bootstrapping is the unchallenged king of start-up financing.”Small Business For Dummies is worth reading. It is also available at many public libraries.Peter Hupalo, Author of “Thinking Like An Entrepreneur”

Review by :

First of all, Eric Tyson writes some other great books under the Dummies series, such as “Home Buying for Dummies”. This book, on the other hand, is good as a primer. There are a lot of chapters that aren’t critical to starting a business. Then the chapters that finally do touch at the core of starting a business, only cover the subject with a light, superficial touch. The best part about this book is that they refer you to read other books related to the subject, such as Nolo Press’ “The Small Business Start-up Kit.” If you can borrow “Small Business for Dummies” from a local library or friend, I recommend doing so. You can then save your money on other books that cover the various business start-up subjects in more depth. For example, there are a whole series of Nolo Press books about forming a LLC, corporation or limited partnership. They also have books dedicated to trademark registration, writing business plans, buying commercial insurance, negotiating contracts, financial management, hiring more staff, etc. And by the way, I don’t have anything to do with either company. Just a guy trying to get a head in business.

Review by :

What a great, great 80′s movie this is! This & Valley Girl were both incredible at capturing a mood, a moment in time of that era. Or perhaps it was just the fact that I was that age back then (graduating high school and first starting college).As far as soundtracks go, this one is great! Sure there’s a few notable exclusions (Bruce Springsteen’s – “Hungry Heart”, The Talking Heads – “Swamp”, and The Police’s – “Every Breath You Take”. Plus, Prince’s – “DMSR” is a short version) but this disc is a great mix of rock songs and Tangerine Dream’s awesome instrumental work.Sure, many people may get this soundtrack just for Segar’s “Old Time Rock and Roll”, but that would be missing the point of the SOUND of the film. Phil Collins’s “In the Air Tonight” and Jeff Beck’s “Pump” are GREAT pieces of their work. Plus this version of Muddy Waters’s – “Mannish Boy” is one of the best verions I’ve heard!But the real treats of this soundtrack are the five incredible Tangerine Dream tracks (#2,3,4,5, & 11). These pieces are my absolute favorites by them (and they’ve done a TON of albums and movie soundtracks!). These 5 tracks create a mood and feel to the movie that really does enhance and make the film truly special! Just put on these five instrumental tracks and you’ll instantly be taken back to those scenes of Joel Goodson making his future by saying “what the —-!This is an import title and should be purchased while it is still available. I never have understood why it has never been available domestically.Also if you really like the Tangerine Dream stuff on this soundtrack, check out the movie “Thief” with James Cann and then you’ll be craving their full soundtrack to that movie! GREAT STUFF!!!

Review by James T. Strealy:

If it wasn’t for Tangerine Dream, Katy Holmes would be looking for a husband and a baby. One of the most incredible soundtrack

bands ever. Tom would be selling underwear at this time, instead of dancing in them.