Listening or Financial Shenanigans

Listening: The Forgotten Skill

Author: Madelyn Burley Allen

A proven program for turning effective listening into a powerful business tool Managers and other employees spend more than 40 percent of their time listening to other people but often do it so poorly that the result is misunderstood instructions, misdirected projects, and erroneous actions—millions of dollars’ worth of mistakes just because most people don’t know how to listen. In this new edition of her classic guide to the art of effective listening, Madelyn Burley-Allen shows you how to acquire active, productive listening skills and put them to work for you—professionally, socially, and personally. With her time-tested techniques, you’ll learn how to:

• Eliminate distractions and improve your concentration on what is being said
• Locate key words, phrases, and ideas while listening
• Cut through your own listening biases
• Interpret body language clues
• Ask constructive, nonthreatening questions that elicit real information
• Get others to listen to you
• Master a whole range of listening skills that you can use on the job and in your personal life

Listening: The Forgotten Skill uses an interactive learning approach with work-sheets, charts, graphs, and self-tests that help you pace and monitor your own progress.

Table of Contents:

	Preface
	Acknowledgments
1	What Is Listening and What Can It Do for You?	1
2	How You Got to Be the Listener You Are	22
3	Barriers between Listener and Speaker	46
4	Listening to Yourself	82
5	Making Listening Work for You	106
6	Getting Others to Listen to You	139
7	Putting It All Together	168
	Notes	187
	Suggested Reading	189
	Index	191

Interesting textbook: Toxic Congregation or Group Psychotherapy with Addicted Populations

Financial Shenanigans: How to Detect Accounting Gimmicks and Fraud in Financial Reports

Author: Howard M Schilit

Techniques to uncover and avoid accounting frauds and scamsInflated profits . . . Suspicious write-offs . . . Shifted expenses . . . These and other dubious financial maneuvers have taken on a contemporary twist as companies pull out the stops in seeking to satisfy Wall Street. Financial Shenanigans pulls back the curtain on the current climate of accounting fraud. It presents tools that anyone who is potentially affected by misleading business valuations­­from investors and lenders to managers and auditors­­can use to research and read financial reports, and to identify early warning signs of a company's problems. A bestseller in its first edition, Financial Shenanigans has been thoroughly updated for today's marketplace. New chapters, data, and research reveal contemporary "shenanigans" that have been known to fool even veteran researchers.

Howard M. Schilit, Ph.D., CPA, is president of the Center for Financial Research and Analysis (CFRA), a leading independent financial research organization, and is one of today's leading authorities on detecting accounting gimmicks. Dr. Schilit, a former professor at American University, has been quoted or featured in numerous business publications including The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Fortune, and The New York Times, and has appeared on CNBC, CNN, and other networks. He is also the coauthor of Blue Chips and Hot Tips.

Contemporary Strategy Analysis or Rich Woman

Contemporary Strategy Analysis

Author: Robert M Grant

The pre-eminent strategy text in the field on both sides of the Atlantic has been significantly updated and revised in its latest edition. Introducing students, especially MBA candidates, to the core concepts and principles of strategy, the text combines a rigorous approach to business strategy analysis with lively examples of current practice.

• Now includes thorough coverage of internet-based strategies, fresh examples of resource-based competitive advantage, additional case illustrations in every chapter, and new self-study questions
  
• Features a new two-colour design throughout with high-spec artwork
  
• Introduces students to the core concepts and principles of strategy, and offers them the tools they need to formulate and implement these
  
• Combines Grant’s renowned rigorous approach to business strategy analysis with lively examples of current practice
  
• Supported by a range of online resources, including a guide for instructors and downloadable PowerPoint slides for students, available at blackwellpublishing.com/grant

Read also Peas or Cooking the Vietnamese Way

Rich Woman: A Book on Investing for Women - Because I Hate Being Told What to Do!

Author: Kim Kiyosaki

Why do so many women accept the myth that men are better at investing? RICH WOMAN - which was self-published by The Rich Dad Company — addresses this self-sabotaging habit head on and teaches women the essentials about finance. Key sections include:

• The First Four Keys to Being a Successful Investor - Arm yourself with some financial education, start small, put a little money down, and stay close to home.

• How to Get Smarter Quickly - Financial jargon can be intimidating. Kim Kiyosaki teaches the three easy rules to raising your financial IQ — increase your vocabulary every day, ask the basic questions about money, and don't worry about asking the wrong questions.

• Why Women Make Great Investors - A recent Merrill Lynch report revealed that only 35 percent of women hold onto a losing investment for too long while 47 percent of men are guilty of the same mistake. Learn the strengths that women often have as investors.

This book is for you if you:

• never want to lose sleep over money again

• want to take control of your financial future

• and are tired of looking for a "rich Prince Charming" and demand financial independence!

What People Are Saying

"This book is a must read for all women. Today, more than ever, women need to be financially savvy." —Donald Trump

Management of Organizational Behavior or Strategic Management

Management of Organizational Behavior: Leading Human Resources

Author: Paul Hersey

Used by more than a million people throughout the world, this highly readable book provides a comprehensive examination of the applied behavioral sciences, and focuses on fundamental ideas which have stood the test of years of application in academic, business, not-for-profit and administrative environments. Complete coverage of motivation and behavior, situational leadership, building effective relationships, planning and implementing change, leadership strategies, the organizational cone and integrating situational leadership with the Classics. For individuals interested in expanding their knowledge of, and proficiency in leadership strategies.

Interesting book: The Wilderness Chef or Joy of Eating

Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization, Concepts and Cases

Author: Michael A Hitt

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT: COMPETITIVENESS AND GLOBALIZATION, CONCEPTS AND CASES Eighth Edition, is a comprehensive Strategic Management text that combines impeccable scholarship; cutting-edge research; a sophisticated and practical global focus; and the most thorough, up-to-date, and relevant business examples and cases available. Now, this seminal business text is enhanced by the addition of powerful new media and technology resources, including an updated video program, CengageNOW online teaching tools, and the Business and Company Resource Center (BCRC)—a complete electronic business library. The highly respected authors, all active teachers and experts in the strategic management field, use a unique model that blends classic industrial organization with a resource-based view of the firm to explain how real-world businesses use strategic management to build a sustained competitive advantage. The text includes current and relevant examples to provide context for key concepts, outstanding figures and models to illustrate key points, and a case study section containing engaging and exemplary cases that cover a broad range of critical issues confronting mangers today.

Table of Contents:

Pt. 1	Strategic Management Inputs
Ch. 1	Strategic Management and Strategic Competitiveness	2
Ch. 2	The External Environment: Opportunities, Threats, Industry Competition, and Competitor Analysis	46
Ch. 3	The Internal Environment: Resources, Capabilities, and Core Competencies	92
Pt. 2	Strategic Actions: Strategy Formulation
Ch. 4	Business-Level Strategy	140
Ch. 5	Competitive Dynamics	184
Ch. 6	Corporate-Level Strategy	228
Ch. 7	Acquisition and Restructuring Strategies	272
Ch. 8	International Strategy	312
Ch. 9	Cooperative Strategy	358
Pt. 3	Strategic Actions: Strategy Implementation
Ch. 10	Corporate Governance	400
Ch. 11	Organizational Structure and Controls	440
Ch. 12	Strategic Leadership	484
Ch. 13	Corporate Enterpreneurship and Innovation	520
Pt. 4	Cases

Rich Dads Success Stories or The Informant

Rich Dad's Success Stories: Real Life Success Stories from Real Life People Who Followed the Rich Dad Lessons

Author: Robert T Kiyosaki

and/or stickers showing their discounted price. More about bargain books

Table of Contents:

	Preface	vii
	Introduction	xi
Part I	It's How You Play the Game
Chapter 1	Money Matters from Ed and Terry Colman	5
Chapter 2	We Mind Our Own Businesses from Tracy Rodriguez	19
Chapter 3	Never Too Late from Cecilia Morrison	27
Part II	Where You've Been, Where You Can Go
Chapter 4	Building Confidence One Property at a Time from David Lukas	35
Chapter 5	A Different Education from Valerie L. Collymore, M.D.	43
Chapter 6	Step Up to the Plate from Reed J. Schweizer	59
Chapter 7	The Root of All That Is Good from Dan McKenzie	69
Part III	A Different Focus
Chapter 8	Better Than Winning the Lottery from Thomas G. Kotula	87
Chapter 9	A Mutual Decision from Wade and Carol Yamamoto	97
Chapter 10	The Power of Three from Merced Hall	105
Chapter 11	Change of Mind from Ken Hobson	123
Part IV	Never Too Young to Achieve Financial Success
Chapter 12	Never Too Early from Allison Kubala	137
Chapter 13	Playing a Winning Game from Jake Colman	139
Chapter 14	We Want to H.E.L.P. from David Hosei and Michael Slate	145
Part V	A New Way to Do Business
Chapter 15	Accounting for Ourselves from Tom Wheelwright	163
Chapter 16	A New Strategy from Brian Eagleheart	169
Chapter 17	Fast Learner from Michelle LaBrosse, PMP	175
Chapter 18	No Limits from Terri Bowersock	181
Part VI	Life-Changing Events
Chapter 19	Greener Pastures from Stacey Baker	191
Chapter 20	A Winning Strategy from Yong-Sik Shin	201
Chapter 21	On the Edge of Retirement from Ronald Hoard	207
Chapter 22	Second Chance from Michael Maritzen	215

Books about: Packaging Girlhood or Ever Wonder Why

The Informant: A True Story

Author: Kurt Eichenwald

In The Informant, award-winning investigative reporter and New York Times bestselling author Kurt Eichenwald tells the outrageously true story of greed, corruption, and conspiracy that left the FBI and Justice Department counting on the cooperation of one man. Now headed for the silver screen, the film adaptation of The Informant is being directed by Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh, with Matt Damon set to portray Marc Whitacre, the executive who wore a wire for the FBI as they tried to bring down corporate giant Archer Daniels Midland—but whose dark secrets and hidden agenda threatened to unravel one of the largest price-fixing cases in history.

BusinessWeek - Mike France

Using loads of new evidence and indepth interviews with players on every side of the drama, Eichenwald constructs one of the most compelling business narratives since Barbarians at the Gate.

Booknews

A reporter reveals the script-like convoluted tale, complete with a cast of main characters, of an Archer Daniels Midland executive who acted as an FBI informant to uncover a price- fixing conspiracy at this powerful US corporation in the mid-1990s. Lacks an index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

New York Times Book Review - Bryan Burrough

Eichenwald has written what may be the best business narrative since the early 1980's . . . The writing is lean, spare and without pretense.

New York Times - Allan Sloan

...within a few pages the reader is hooked. I knew how the story ended, but I still couldn't put the book down...The Informant is a good and valuable book. Its reporting is extraordinary and sucks you in. It shows how in big business life can imitate art. And Mr. Eichenwald didn't even have to make any of it up.

What People Are Saying

Liz Smith
I'm going to recommend a dilly of a book. Kurt Eichenwald's The Informant ... This is the true tale of how one man, Mark Whitacre, became a secret goverment witness in the Archer Daniel Midland conspiracy. (ADM was scheming to steal millions from its customers.) The book reads like John Grisham on acid, and once begun, you can't put it down. On par with A Civil Action, it would also make a fascinating movie. Super agent Freya Manston has a hit with author Eichenwald. Critic Bryan Burrough said, "One of the best non-fiction books of the decade."

Petrostate or Servant Leadership 25th Anniversary

Petrostate: Putin, Power, and the New Russia

Author: Marshall I Goldman

In the aftermath of the financial collapse of August 1998, it looked as if Russia's day as a superpower had come and gone. That it should recover and reassert itself after less than a decade is nothing short of an economic and political miracle.
Based on extensive research, including several interviews with Vladimir Putin, this revealing book chronicles Russia's dramatic reemergence on the world stage, illuminating the key reason for its rebirth: the use of its ever-expanding energy wealth to reassert its traditional great power ambitions. In his deft, informative narrative, Marshall Goldman traces how this has come to be, and how Russia is using its oil-based power as a lever in world politics. The book provides an informative overview of oil in Russia, traces Vladimir Putin's determined effort to reign in the upstart oil oligarchs who had risen to power in the post-Soviet era, and describes Putin's efforts to renationalize and refashion Russia's industries into state companies and his vaunted "national champions" corporations like Gazprom, largely owned by the state, who do the bidding of the state. Goldman shows how Russia paid off its international debt and has gone on to accumulate the world's third largest holdings of foreign currency reserves--all by becoming the world's largest producer of petroleum and the world's second largest exporter. Today, Vladimir Putin and his cohort have stabilized the Russian economy and recentralized power in Moscow, and fossil fuels (oil and natural gas) have made it all possible.
The story of oil and gas in Russia is a tale of discovery, intrigue, corruption, wealth, misguidance, greed, patronage, nepotism, and power.Marshall Goldman tells this story with panache, as only one of the world's leading authorities on Russia could.

Table of Contents:

List of Figures and Tables

Introduction Russia - Once Again an Energy Superpower 1

Ch. 1 Russia as an Early Energy Superpower 17

Ch. 2 World War II to 1987: Russia Looks Inward and Outward 33

Ch. 3 Pirates Unleashed: Privatization in the Post-Soviet Era 55

Ch. 4 Post-1998 Recovery: The Petroleum Export Bonanza 73

Ch. 5 Putin Takes Over: The Return of the Czar 93

Ch. 6 Natural Gas: Russia's New Secret Weapon 136

Ch. 7 Russia: The Unrestrained Super Energy Power 170

Notes 211

Glossary of People and Companies 225

Index 231

Book review: Hugo Black or The Chemistry and Technology of Petroleum

Servant Leadership 25th Anniversary

Author: Robert K Greenleaf

Robert K. Greenleaf, who died in 1990, has been a powerful voice in the dialogue to reshape management and leadership policy. He developed his theory of servent leadership while an executive at AT&T, and subsequently lectured at MIT, Harvard Business School, Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia. The Center for Applied Ethics, which he founded, eventually became the Robert K. Greenleaf Center, located in Indianapolis.

What People Are Saying

John Carver
I am convinced, as a governance theorist and practitioner, that responsible board behavior is impossible in the absence of the servant leadership Robert Greenleaf helped us all to understand. This Silver Anniversary edition of Servant Leadership is both symbol and substance on the shelf of anyone blessed with the opportunity to lead. (author of Boards That Make a Difference)

Sr. Joel Read
Robert Greenleaf conceived the idea of servant leadership during a time of chaos in the United States--the late 60's. But by exploring his idea in the multiple essays gathered in this book, he left a legacy by which people in very different times can continue to be inspired and motivated. The power of his idea and his evolving understanding and expression of it is forever available to us through this book. (President, Alverno College)

William Pollard
During the last quarter of a century, Robert Greenleaf and his writings have been used to instruct, encourage and motivate leaders to serve as they lead. We have all benefited from his work and have been reminded that no leader is greater than the people he or she leads, and even the humblest of tasks, just as Jesus taught his disciples over 2000 years ago, is worthy for a leader to do. (Chairman, Servicemaster, author ofThe Soul of the Firm)

Dee Hock
Servant Leadership is a timeless, classic book not only because there was no conflict between the man, Robert Greenleaf, his beliefs, his deeds and what he wrote about them, but because we know he was right, even when we fail to do it. (Founder and CEO Emeritus, VISA International )

Click Here to Order or Moneyball

Click Here to Order

Author: Joel Comm

While the general public is familiar with the larger Internet companies such as Yahoo!, Google, eBay and Amazon, very few are aware that small business is thriving online like never before, especially in the realm of information products. Click Here creates an entertaining and instructive narrative that provides an in-depth look at the unintentionally underground movement known as Infoproduct marketing, and the people who have profited and succeeded in the industry.

Table of Contents:

Dedication     vii
Foreword   Mark Joyner     ix
Preface: The Unintentional Underground     xiii
Working without a 'Net: When the Superhighway Was a Cowpath     1
Dreamers and Geeks     4
ARPAnet     7
Net Wars     8
From Net to Web     9
The Last Component     10
The Stage is Set     13
A Way With Words: The Write Stuff     17
Here Be Monsters     20
Brave New World     24
Trading Places     28
Classified Information     30
The Prospecters     33
On the Shoulders of Giants     36
Between the Lines: Commercial Zone     45
Do As I Say, Not As I Did     51
A Banner Year     54
The "baby announcement" of the World Wide Web     56
Gimme Fever     63
Business Class     65
Enclose {dollar} 1.25 plus 50[cent] for shipping and handling     70
The Unknown Copywriter     76
Do you copy?     80
Naming Names: Lists, Leads and the Curse of Spam     89
Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Lovely Spam! Wonderful Spam!     98
Winging It     102
Big Brother Meets Madison Avenue     115
Share the Wealth: You Click My Site, I'll Click Yours     119
Traffic Jam     123
How Many Clicks from Here to Success?     128
All in the Family     132
Thank You, Mary Alice     134
AdWord-tising     139
AdSense and Sensibility     146
Stage Coach: "Showing Off," from Seminars to Workshops     151
First, Foremost and Famousest     159
When the Student is Ready...     165
Enter Your Code and Press # to Connect     170
Sittin' Pretty     178
Pioneer 2.0     186
Focus Group     191
Show & Tell     196
Rhyme & Reason: Focus Your Sites     207
Abracadabra: Making Millions Appear     212
Think Big     217
Renaissance Man     221
Nitches and Neeshes     227
The More Things Change...: Milestones and Roadsigns     241
Work at Home in Your Underwear     243
Change or Die     248
Beginnings, Middles, and Endings     260
Social Truth: Don't Take My Word for It     265
Crystal Ball      275
Directory of Internet Marketers     281
Index     287

Book review: Frommers Italy 2009 or Searching for Whitopia

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

Author: Michael Lewis

The Oakland Athletics have a secret: a winning baseball team is made, not bought.In major league baseball the biggest wallet is supposed to win: rich teams spend four times as much on talent as poor teams. But over the past four years, the Oakland Athletics, a major league team with a minor league payroll, have had one of the best records. Last year their superstar, Jason Giambi, went to the superrich Yankees. It hasn't made any difference to Oakland: their fabulous season included an American League record for consecutive victories. Billy Beane, general manager of the Athletics, is putting into practice on the field revolutionary principles garnered from geek statisticians and college professors. Michael Lewis's brilliant, irreverent reporting takes us from the dugouts and locker rooms-where coaches and players struggle to unlearn most of what they know about pitching and hitting-to the boardrooms, where we meet owners who begin to look like fools at the poker table, spending enormous sums without a clue what they are doing. Combine money, science, entertainment, and egos, and you have a story that Michael Lewis is magnificently suited to tell. About the Author

Author of the bestsellers Liar's Poker, The New New Thing, and Next, Michael Lewis is also a columnist for Bloomberg News. He lives in Berkeley, California.

Time

[An] ebullient, invigorating account of how an unconvential general manger named Billy Beane rebuilt the A's, a team with the second lowest payroll in baseball, into a team that won 103 games last year -- as many as the filthy-rich Yankees.

The New York Times

Whether Billy Beane is a prophet or a flash in the pan remains to be seen. In either case, by playing Boswell to Beane's Samuel Johnson, Lewis has given us one of the most enjoyable baseball books in years. — Lawrence S. Ritter

The New Yorker

The Oakland Athletics have reached the post-season playoffs three years in a row, even though they spend just one dollar for every three that the New York Yankees spend. Their secret, as Lewis's lively account demonstrates, is not on the field but in the front office, in the shape of the general manager, Billy Beane. Unable to afford the star hires of his big-spending rivals, Beane disdains the received wisdom about what makes a player valuable, and has a passion for neglected statistics that reveal how runs are really scored. Beane's ideas are beginning to attract disciples, most notably at the Boston Red Sox, who nearly lured him away from Oakland over the winter. At the last moment, Beane's loyalty got the better of him; besides, moving to a team with a much larger payroll would have diminished the challenge.

Publishers Weekly

Lewis (Liar's Poker; The New New Thing) examines how in 2002 the Oakland Athletics achieved a spectacular winning record while having the smallest player payroll of any major league baseball team. Given the heavily publicized salaries of players for teams like the Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees, baseball insiders and fans assume that the biggest talents deserve and get the biggest salaries. However, argues Lewis, little-known numbers and statistics matter more. Lewis discusses Bill James and his annual stats newsletter, Baseball Abstract, along with other mathematical analysis of the game. Surprisingly, though, most managers have not paid attention to this research, except for Billy Beane, general manager of the A's and a former player; according to Lewis, "[B]y the beginning of the 2002 season, the Oakland A's, by winning so much with so little, had become something of an embarrassment to Bud Selig and, by extension, Major League Baseball." The team's success is actually a shrewd combination of luck, careful player choices and Beane's first-rate negotiating skills. Beane knows which players are likely to be traded by other teams, and he manages to involve himself even when the trade is unconnected to the A's. " `Trawling' is what he called this activity," writes Lewis. "His constant chatter was a way of keeping tabs on the body of information critical to his trading success." Lewis chronicles Beane's life, focusing on his uncanny ability to find and sign the right players. His descriptive writing allows Beane and the others in the lively cast of baseball characters to come alive. (June) Forecast: Lewis's reputation, along with extensive national promotion, first serial in the New York Times Magazine and a 13-city tour should help the book hit bestseller lists throughout the baseball season. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Steve Forbes - Forbes Magazine

One of the best baseball--and management--books out. It chronicles and examines the extraordinary success of the Oakland Athletics' general manager, Billy Beane, who is a colorful mix of genius, discipline and emotion. If you ever come across anyone connected with professional baseball and want to witness an interesting sight, just mention Beane and this book--there will be gurgling, sputtering, angry mutterings. (13 Oct 2003)

Library Journal

How the Oakland Athletics stay on top in baseball without a lot of dough: Norton's biggest book this season. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A solid piece of iconoclasm: the intriguing tale of Major League baseball's oddfellows—the low-budget but winning Oakland Athletics. Here's the gist, that baseball, from field strategy to player selection, is "better conducted by scientific investigation—hypotheses tested by analysis of historical baseball data—than be reference to the collective wisdom of old baseball men." Not some dry, numbing manipulation of figures, but an inventive examination of statistics, numbers that reveal what the eye refuses to see, thanks to ingrained prejudices. As in most of Lewis's work (The New New Thing, 1999, etc.), a keen intellect is at work, a spry writing style, a facility to communicate the meaning of numbers, an infectious excitement, and a healthy disdain for the aura and power of big bucks. Such is the situation here: The Oakland A's have a budget that would hardly cover the Yankee's chewing tobacco. Their General Manager, Billy Beane, and his band of Harvard-educated assistants, are the heirs of Bill James (of whom there is an excellent portrait here). They creatively use stats to discover unsung talent—gems not so much in the rough as invisible to the overburden of received wisdom—a guy who will get on base despite being shaped like a pear or control the strike zone even if his fastball can't get out of third gear, measuring the measurables to garner fine talent at basement prices. At least for a few seasons, until the talent's worth is common knowledge and off they go to clubs who can pay them millions. And the A's win, and win and win, not yet to a Series victory, but edging closer. The story clicks along with steady momentum, and possesses excellent revelatorypowers. There's a method to the madness of the Beane staff, and Lewis incisively explains its inspired, heretical common sense. Has Lewis spilled Beane's beans? Maybe so, but considering the mulish dispositions of baseball's scouts and front offices, they'll miss the boat again. First serial to the New York Times Magazine; author tour

The Art of Strategy or The Book of Five Rings

The Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist's Guide to Success in Business and Life

Author: Avinash K Dixit

The authors who brought you the bestseller in game theory, Thinking Strategically, now provide the long-awaited sequel.

Game theory means rigorous strategic thinking. It's the art of anticipating your opponent's next moves, knowing full well that your rival is trying to do the same thing to you. Though parts of game theory involve simple common sense, much is counterintuitive, and it can only be mastered by developing a new way of seeing the world. Using a diverse array of rich case studies—from pop culture, TV, movies, sports, politics, and history—the authors show how nearly every business and personal interaction has a game-theory component to it. Are the winners of reality-TV contests instinctive game theorists? Do big-time investors see things that most people miss? What do great poker players know that you don't? Mastering game theory will make you more successful in business and life, and this lively book is the key to that mastery.

Table of Contents:

Introduction How Should People Behave in Society?

Part I

1 Ten Tales of Strategy 3

2 Games Solvable by Backward Reasoning 32

3 Prisoners' Dilemmas and How to Resolve Them 64

4 A Beautiful Equilibrium 102

Epilogue to Part I 137

Part II

5 Choice and Chance 141

6 Strategic Moves 173

7 Making Strategies Credible 201

Epilogue to Part II: A Nobel History 229

Part III

8 Interpreting and Manipulating Information 235

9 Cooperation and Coordination 270

10 Auctions, Bidding, and Contests 301

11 Bargaining 335

12 Voting 359

13 Incentives 386

14 Case Studies 409

Further Reading 443

Workouts 447

Notes 457

Index 473

Look this: Bipolar Disorder or Stem Cell Divide

The Book of Five Rings

Author: Miyamoto Musashi

Setting down his thoughts on swordplay, on winning, and on spirituality, legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi intended this modest work as a guide for his immediate disciples and future generations of samurai. He had little idea he was penning a masterpiece that would be eagerly devoured by people in all walks of life centuries after his death.

Along with The Art of War by Sun Tzu, The Book of Five Rings has long been regarded as an invaluable treatise on the strategy of winning. Musashi's timeless advice on defeating an adversary, throwing an opponent off-guard, creating confusion, and other techniques for overpowering an assailant was addressed to the readers of earlier times on the battlefield, and now serves the modern reader in the battle of life.

In this new rendering by the translator of Hagakure and The Unfettered Mind, William Scott Wilson adheres rigorously to the seventeenth-century Japanese text and clarifies points of ambiguity in earlier translations. In addition, he offers an extensive introduction and a translation of Musashi's rarely published The Way of Walking Alone. This gift-book edition also features original art by Musashi himself as well as new calligraphy by Japanese artist Shiro Tsujimura.


About the Author

Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645) was a renowned swordsman and painter. A masterless samurai, he developed the two-sword style of fighting and emerged victorious in more than 60 sword fights in his travels throughout Japan. The author of The Book of Five Rings, he is also the subject of the novel Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa.

William Scott Wilson, the translator, was born in 1944 in Nashville, Tennessee, and grew up in Florida. He received B.A. degrees from Dartmouth College and the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies, and an M.A. in Japanese literary studies from the University of Washington. His long-selling translations of Hagakure, The Unfettered Mind, The Roots of Wisdom:
Saikontan, and Taiko have become standards. Hagakure was featured prominently in the film Ghost Dog.

Time

On Wall Street, when Musashi talks, people listen.

Library Journal

Written by legendary Japanese swordsman Musashi, this 17th-century exposition of sword-fighting strategy and Zen philosophy has been embraced by many contemporary readers, especially business school students, as a manual on how to succeed in life. There are many English translations, but every one, including this one, suffers from inadequate cultural, literary, and philosophical commentary. Musashi's work should be studied, not simply read, and Cleary's translation lacks commentary; it also makes the prose seems flat and the philosophy simplistic. Yet what makes this new translation worthwhile is the second text, buried deep in the back like an appendix: Yagyu Munenori's The Book of Family Traditions on the Art of War . This text, also an exposition on sword fighting and Zen philosophy, is difficult to find in an English translation, and its availability is welcome. Recommended for academic libraries generally.-- Glenn Masuchika, Chaminade Univ. Lib., Honolulu

BookList

Here are two Japanese martial arts classics from the seventeenth century, of more than ordinary interest because of their distinguished translation and because of their identification with Zen. Musashi says things like "It is crucial to think of everything as an opportunity to kill," and there's no question his primer on training the would-be warrior's mind and body is, in that respect, as effective as ever. What might interest readers not inclined to bloodlust is Musashi's pared-down philosophy, as exemplified in his nine rules for learning any art. These include "Think of what is right and true," "Understand the harm and benefit in everything," "Become aware of what is not obvious," and the delightful "Do not do anything useless." Following Musashi's last meditation, "The Scroll of Emptiness" (about how, when one masters an art, one separates from it into a state of perfect, contented clarity), is Yagyu's short essay on the art of war. Yagyu, apparently quite a bloody warrior in his youth, in late life worked hard to link martial arts concepts to Zen, and his short essay has a distilled, aphoristic quality. Both writers are marvels of clarity and, oddly, peacefulness.

The World Is Curved or Outrage

The World Is Curved: Hidden Dangers to the Global Economy

Author: David M Smick

David Smick keeps a low profile, but experts consider him one of the most insightful financial market strategists in the world. For more than two decades, he has conferred with central bankers and advised top Wall Street executives and investors.
The World Is Curved picks up where Thomas Friedman's The World Is Flat left off, taking listeners on an insider's tour through the private offices of central bankers, finance ministers, even prime ministers. Smick reveals how today's risky environment came to be—and why the mortgage mess is a symptom of potentially far more devastating trouble. He wrestles with the two questions on everyone's mind: How bad could things really get in today's volatile economy? And what can we do about it?

The World Is Curved is the rare work that speaks simultaneously to the Wall Street, Washington, and London elite, yet its apt storytelling shows Main Street readers how to survive in these turbulent times.

"The World Is Curved is...essential...for those who wish to understand the workings, politics, and distresses of the global financial system...insightful and entertaining..." — Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board; author of The Age of Turbulence

"David Smick's probing insights in The World Is Curved stem from an extraordinary vantage point few observers can match."—George Soros, Soros Fund Management

Publishers Weekly

Confronting the ever-increasing challenges of globalism and the economic problems plaguing the U.S. from a downward spiraling value of the dollar to the subprime mortgage crisis, Smick argues again and again that the solution to the problem is deregulation and encouraging entrepreneurship. While he examines the U.S. in relation to other emerging and potentially powerful markets (China and India, in particular), Smick argues weakly against Thomas Friedman's more utopian or opportunistic points of view. Jim Bond delivers the book in an accessible and gentle tone. Smick's prose can be a bit inundating, but Bond balances speed with emphasis to keep listeners' attention. A Portfolio hardcover (reviewed online). (Sept.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Library Journal

The 2007-08 subprime financial crisis is the jumping-off point for Smick's (Johnson Smick International) examination of current threats to global prosperity. He explains that although the subprime losses are small in the context of world financial markets, a lack of transparency has diminished investor confidence, dried up financial liquidity, and threatened the very foundations of our world financial system. He says that the growth of global financial markets has made it more difficult for central banks like the U.S. Federal Reserve to intercede effectively in times of crisis. Smick compares the subprime crisis to past events like the UK's forced devaluation of the pound in 1992 and Japan's economic stagnation in the 1990s. He warns of pending dangers like an overheating of the Chinese development juggernaut and the present calls for protectionism by U.S. politicians. He favors a global financial system built on transparency and trust. Smick's role for some 30 years as an economic adviser to central bankers and legislators of all stripes gives him a solid perspective on the global financial system. This summing-up of the subprime debacle and other global financial threats, aimed at general readers, is first rate; highly recommended for all public and academic libraries.-Lawrence Maxted, Gannon Univ. Lib., Erie, PA

Kirkus Reviews

It's a fraught time, writes hedge-fund guru Smick in this timely book. If the "Chinese juggernaut" doesn't sink us, then class warfare and our spendthrift ways will. Borrowing his title, obviously, from Thomas Friedman's optimistic The World Is Flat (2005), Smick dourly notes that in finance, the horizon is near while the dangers lurk out of sight-"nothing happens in a straight line. Instead, there is a continual series of unforeseen discontinuities-twists and turns of uncertainty that often require millions of market participants to stand conventional wisdom on its head." Seeing over the horizon is the job of sound analysts and good political leaders, who seem to be in short supply. Weathering the fiscal storms is ever harder for numerous reasons, one of them the declining vigor of central banks, another, in the United States, an accumulation of personal debt that threatens to put the economy into a Japan-like state of decades-long stagnation. Globalism, some would object, is a vehicle for weakening national economies, but Smick counters that "liberated global financial markets and free trade" are largely responsible for the creation of vast wealth in the last quarter-century (during which the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose from 800 to more than 12,000) and should not be unduly regulated, since economies seem to be slipping beyond the control of national governments. Instability will thus be the norm in the future, especially inasmuch as private concerns dwarf whole economies: The exposure of the Swiss bank UBS to the subprime mortgage meltdown was four times as large as the entire Swiss economy, Smick observes. Couple profligate habits with an ever-growing Chinese economybeholden to no one, and suddenly the future looks like a roller-coaster ride for even the most aggressive investor. A supremely useful book for portfolio planning, though not the thing to give someone who's inclined to worry about the state of the world. Agent: Fredrica Friedman/Fredrica S. Friedman and Company

What People Are Saying

Bill Bradley
"The World Is Curved makes transparent all the challenges facing today's new global economy. Read along while Smick exposes the hidden global economic dangers and what steps must be taken to correct an imperfect system."--(Bill Bradley, former U.S. Senator)

Alan Greenspan
"The World Is Curved is an essential read for those who wish to understand the workings, politics and distresses of the global financial system. David Smick has done an outstanding job in drawing on his interactions with many of the key players in international finance, to produce an insightful and entertaining book."

George P. Shultz
"The World Is Curved affords an engrossing look at the edifice upon which global finance has been built. It's a vision we ignore at our peril; for instance, we know from experience the dangers of protectionism. This is a vital primer about the zone where finance and statesmanship intersect."--(George P. Shultz, former U.S. Secretary of State)

Barton M. Biggs
"Smick is a world-class thinker. Any serious investor must read what he has to say."--(Barton M. Biggs, Traxis Partners and author of Hedgehogging)

Lawrence Eagleburger
"The World Is Curved is a brilliant, if disturbing, exposé of today's global financial minefields, and an equally compelling description of possible remedies. The next president would do well to read The World Is Curved before taking office next year."--(Lawrence Eagleburger, former U.S. Secretary of State)

Lawrence H. Summers
"David Smick understands, as few do, that international finance depends on politics and passions as much as on policies. Agree or disagree, his sense of where we have been and where we are going deserves close attention. He writes in a way that makes giving close attention a pleasure."--(Lawrence H. Summers, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury)

Table of Contents:

1 The End of the World 9

2 A Dangerous Ocean of Money 36

3 Entrepreneurs in a World of Private Equity and Hedge Fund Troublemakers 68

4 Tony Soprano Rides the Chinese Dragon 93

5 Japanese Housewives Take the Commanding Heights 132

6 Nothing Stays the Same: The 1992 Sterling Crisis 159

7 The Incredible Shrinking Central Banks 188

8 Class Warfare and the Politics of Globalization 214

9 Surviving and Prospering in This Age of Volatility 242

Acknowledgments 277

A Word on Sources 281

Bibliography 285

Index 289

Look this: Dining at the Linemans Shack or Opportunities in Culinary Careers

Outrage: How Illegal Immigration, the United Nations, Congressional Ripoffs, Student Loan Overcharges, Tobacco Companies, Trade Protection, and Drug Companies Are Ripping Us Off . . . And What to Do About It

Author: Dick Morris

and/or stickers showing their discounted price. More about bargain books

Basic Marketing Management or Nonprofit Essentials

Basic Marketing Management

Author: Douglas J Dalrympl

Everything You Need to Create Effective Marketing Strategies! With its engaging writing style and clear presentation, this how-to book provides you with the core marketing management concepts that everyone must know to compete in today's business environment. Updated to reflect the current marketplace, the book spotlights hot topics such as electronic commerce, brand equity, database marketing, relationship marketing, business to business marketing, and interfunctional coordination. And with the help of real-world examples, you'll learn how to apply the material to plan, coordinate, and execute a successful marketing strategy. Key Features of the Second Edition
* Updated Marketing in Action and Marketing Strategies boxes provide real-world examples that demonstrate how the material is applied in business.
* "New Applying. To" and "Integrating. With" sections highlight topical marketing and business areas.
* Internet coverage is integrated throughout the book.
* Globalization is thoroughly discussed and the concepts are reinforced through examples and questions.
* Ethics questions.
* SPSS(r) Student Version for Windows 9.0 is available to accompany the text.

Table of Contents:

	Preface
	About the Authors
1	The Role of Marketing in Organizations and Society	1
2	Marketing Strategy	23
3	Customer Analysis	41
4	Market Segmentation and Product Differentiation	65
5	Competitive Analysis and Product Positioning	84
6	Product Development and Testing	103
7	Brand Management	129
8	Services Marketing	151
9	Pricing	170
10	Selecting Distribution Channels	193
11	Personal Selling and Sales Force Management	211
12	Direct Marketing	234
13	Designing Adverting Programs	248
14	Sales Promotion and Public Relations	272
15	International Marketing	294
16	Marketing Planning	313
	Index	335

Interesting textbook: The Thunderbird Guide to International Business Resources on the World Wide Web or Financial Management for Nonprofit Organizations

Nonprofit Essentials: Recruiting and Training Fundraising Volunteers

Author: Linda Lysakowski ACFR

Praise for Recruiting and Training Fundraising Volunteers

"Linda Lysakowski brings into focus the realities of enlisting volunteers to ensure success in a campaign. She clearly outlines logical steps that lead to inspiring passion in the volunteer, who is so essential to reaching a goal. I wish such a comprehensive treatise had been available to me forty years ago!"

—Milton Murray, Director Emeritus Philanthropic Service for Institutions Adventist World Headquarters (Silver Spring, Maryland)

"It was a pleasure to read Ms. Lysakowski's book, which outlines the roles of volunteers in the art of fundraising. Linda has woven the guidance of the great masters of philanthropy and volunteer management partnered with her extensive life experience. This is a must-have resource for development officers and nonprofit leadership essential for both volunteers and management. I especially liked the 'In the Real World' examples of concepts in action that could be implemented locally."

—Ann H. Moffitt, CFRE, Vice President of Community Development Keystone Human Services, and CEO, Keystone Partnership (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)

"Research and practice tell us that organizations that engage volunteers in fundraising have more sustained success, even in tough times. This book is a substantive contribution to the literature of volunteer fundraisers, and it reminds us of the honorable role of volunteers in fundraising, even in this time of the growing professionalization of staff fundraising."

—Timothy L. Seiler, PhD, CFRE, Director Public Service and The Fund Raising School, Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University (Indianapolis,Indiana)

Business Communication Activebook or Business Ethics

Business Communication Activebook: Version 2.0

Author: John V Thill

This interactive book will give you the tools you'll need to succeed in today's workplace by developing your essential communication skills. Three easy-to-follow steps (planning, writing, and completing business messages) offer a practical strategy for writing and delivering business messages. Abundant sample documents show how to apply the principles being discussed. This is the only book that offers business communication experience in every chapter through real-world "on-the-job" simulations, featuring actual companies and real-world business documents. These simulations provide a unique opportunity for you to practice and sharpen your business communication problem-solving skills. Topics include: understanding business communication; the three-step writing process; letters, memos, e-mail, and other brief communications; reports and oral presentations; and resumes and interviewing for employment. An essential and useful tool for anyone interested in developing better business communication skills; human resource personnel, managers, and office workers will find interactive book especially helpful.

Book review: Guerilla Data Analysis Using Microsoft Excel or The Art of Computer Programming

Business Ethics: Managing Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability in the Age of Globalization

Author: Andrew Cran

The subject of business ethics addresses what can be considered morally right and wrong in the way businesses make decisions and conduct their activities. Written from a European perspective, Business Ethics is a lively and engaging textbook covering the foundations of business ethics and applying these theories, concepts and tools to each of the corporation's major stakeholders. This second edition has been thoroughly revised and updated and includes new content on personal values and Asian perspectives. It features lots of new cases and vignettes as well as updates of favorites from the first edition.

Table of Contents:

List of figures     xiv
List of boxes     xvi
Preface to the second edition     xviii
Acknowledgements     xxiv
Understanding business ethics
Introducing business ethics     3
What is business ethics?     4
Business ethics and the law     5
Defining morality, ethics, and ethical theory     8
Why is business ethics important?     9
Globalization: a key context for business ethics?     14
What is globalization?     15
The relevance of globalization for business ethics     18
Sustainability: a key goal for business ethics?     20
The triple bottom line     23
Environmental perspectives     25
Economic perspectives     26
Social perspectives     27
Implications of sustainability for business ethics     28
Europe: a key perspective for business ethics?     28
What is Europe?     29
European versus alternative approaches to business ethics     30
Sources of difference between Europe and other regions     32
Globalization and assimilation between Europe and other regions     33
Summary     34
Study Questions     35
Research Exercise     35
Key Readings     36
McEurope: McDonald's Responds to Ethical Criticism in Europe     36
Framing business ethics: Corporate Responsibility, Stakeholders, and Citizenship     41
Towards a framework for business ethics     42
What is a corporation?     42
Key features of a corporation     42
Can a corporation have social responsibilities?     43
Can a corporation be morally responsible for its actions?     44
Corporate social responsibility     45
Why do corporations have social responsibilities?     47
What is the nature of corporate social responsibilities?     49
CSR in an international context     51
CSR and strategy - corporate social responsiveness     53
Outcomes of CSR: corporate social performance     56
Stakeholder theory of the firm     57
Why stakeholders matter     61
A new role for management     62
Stakeholder thinking in a European context     62
Different forms of stakeholder theory     63
Corporate accountability - the firm as a political actor     64
Governmental failure: 'risk society' and the institutional failure of politics     65
Why do governments fail?     65
Corporate power on the rise     66
The problem of democratic accountability     67
Corporate citizenship     70
Defining corporate citizenship: three perspectives     71
Limited view of CC     71
Equivalent view of CC     73
An extended view of CC     74
Assessing corporate citizenship as a framework for business ethics     78
Summary     79
Study Questions     80
Research Exercise     80
Key Readings     80
The 'English Patient' and the Chinese Takeaway: Examining Social Responsibilities in the MG Rover Collapse     81
Evaluating business ethics: Normative Ethical Theories     85
Introduction     86
The role of ethical theory     86
Normative ethical theories     88
Traditional ethical theories     90
Consequentialist theories     91
Non-consequentialist theories     97
Limits of traditional theories     107
Contemporary ethical theories     110
Virtue ethics     110
Feminist ethics     111
Discourse ethics     113
Postmodern perspectives on business ethics     115
Summary: towards a pragmatic use of ethical theory     119
Study Questions     122
Research Exercise     122
Key Readings     123
British Petroleum and the BTC Pipeline: Turkish Delight or Russian Roulette?     123
Making decisions in business ethics: Descriptive Ethical Theories     127
Introduction     128
What is an ethical decision?     129
Models of ethical decision-making     130
Stages in ethical decision-making     130
Relationship with normative theory     131
Influences on ethical decision-making     132
Limitations of ethical decision-making models     133
European perspective on ethical decision-making     135
Individual influences on ethical decision-making     136
Age and gender     136
National and cultural characteristics     138
Education and employment     139
Psychological factors     140
Personal values     144
Personal integrity     145
Moral imagination     148
Situational influences on decision-making     149
Issue-related factors     149
Context-related factors      155
Summary     162
Study Questions     163
Research Exercise     163
Key Readings     163
School for Scandal? Business Schools Turn Their Attention to Ethics Education     164
Managing business ethics: Tools and Techniques of Business ethics Management     169
Introduction     170
What is business ethics management?     170
Components of business ethics management     171
Mission or values statements     171
Evolution of business ethics management     174
Setting standards of ethical behaviour: designing and implementing codes of ethics     175
Prevalence of codes of ethics     176
Content of codes of ethics     177
Effectiveness of codes of ethics     180
Global codes of ethics     181
Managing stakeholder relations     185
Assessing stakeholder importance: an instrumental perspective     186
Types of stakeholder relationship     187
Problems with stakeholder collaboration     191
Assessing ethical performance     194
Defining social accounting     195
Why do organizations engage in social accounting?     197
What makes for 'good' social accounting?     198
Organizing for business ethics management     202
Formal ethics programmes     202
Informal ethics management: ethical culture and climate     204
Business ethics and leadership     205
Summary     207
Study Questions     208
Research Exercise     208
Key Readings     209
Shell Shocked: Is Shell a Case of 'Ethical Epiphany' or 'Lessons Not Learned'?     209
Contextualizing business ethics: The corporate citizen and its stakeholders
Shareholders and business ethics     217
Introduction: reassessing the importance of shareholders as stakeholders     218
Shareholders as stakeholders: understanding corporate governance     218
Corporate governance: a principal-agent relation     220
Shareholders' relations with other stakeholders: different European frameworks of corporate governance     222
Ethical issues in corporate governance     225
Executive accountability and control     228
Executive remuneration     229
Ethical aspects of mergers and acquisitions     230
The role of financial markets and insider trading     232
The role of accountants     237
Reforming governance      239
Shareholders and globalization     240
The Tobin Tax     243
Combating global terrorism and money laundering     244
Shareholders as citizens of the corporation     246
Shareholder democracy     246
Shareholder activism     247
Ethical investment     250
Shareholding for sustainability     254
The Dow Jones Sustainability Group Index     254
Rethinking sustainable corporate ownership: corporation or co-operation?     256
Summary     258
Study Questions     259
Research Exercise     259
Key Readings     259
Corporate Governance of Professional Football Clubs: For Profit or for Glory?     260
Employees and business ethics     263
Introduction     264
Employees as stakeholders     265
Ethical issues in the firm-employee relation     267
Management of human 'resources' - an ethical problem between rights and duties     267
Discrimination     271
Sexual and racial harassment     275
Employee privacy     279
Due process and lay-offs     285
Employee participation and association     287
Working conditions      289
Fair wages     291
Freedom of conscience and freedom of speech in the workplace     293
The right to work     294
Employing people worldwide: the ethical challenges of globalization     296
National culture and moral values     297
Absolutism versus relativism     297
Some yardsticks for ethical decision-making     298
The 'race to the bottom'     298
The corporate citizen and employee relations in a varied European context     299
Towards sustainable employment     301
Re-humanized workplaces     302
Wider employment     302
Work-life balance     303
Summary     304
Study Questions     305
Research Exercise     305
Key Readings     306
Making a Living or Working Yourself to Death? Exploring the Brave New World of Work     306
Consumers and business ethics     311
Introduction     312
Consumers as stakeholders     313
The limits of caveat emptor     314
Ethical issues, marketing, and the consumer     316
Ethical issues in marketing management     316
Ethical issues in marketing strategy      331
Globalization and consumers: the ethical challenges of the global marketplace     335
Reproduction of consumerism     336
Dislocation of production and consumption     337
Cultural homogenization     338
New forms of resistance     338
Consumers and corporate citizenship: consumer sovereignty and the politics of purchasing     339
Consumer sovereignty     339
Ethical consumption     341
Sustainable consumption     346
What is sustainable consumption?     347
The challenge of sustainable consumption     347
Steps towards sustainable consumption     348
Summary     351
Study Questions     352
Research Exercise     353
Key Readings     353
Boycotting the 'Baby Killers'? Nestle and the Ongoing Infant Formula Controversy     353
Suppliers, competitors, and business ethics     357
Introduction     358
Suppliers and competitors as stakeholders     359
Suppliers as stakeholders     359
Competitors as stakeholders     359
Ethical Issues and suppliers     361
Misuse of power     362
The question of loyalty      364
Preferential treatment     365
Conflicts of interest     366
Gifts, bribes, and hospitality     367
Ethics in negotiation     371
Ethical issues and competitors     372
Problems of overly aggressive competition     373
'Dirty tricks'     377
Problems of insufficient competition     378
Globalization, suppliers, and competitors: the ethical challenges of global business networks     379
Different ways of doing business     380
Impacts on indigenous businesses     383
Differing labour and environmental standards     384
Extended chain of responsibility     385
The corporate citizen in the business community: ethical sourcing and fair trade     387
Ethical sourcing     388
Ethical sourcing as business-business regulation     388
Strategies of business-business regulation     389
Fair trade     390
Sustainability and business relationships: towards industrial ecosystems?     393
From supply chains to supply loops     394
Industrial ecosystems     394
Summary     396
Study Questions     397
Research Exercise     397
Key Readings      398
Fair Enough? Big Business Embraces Fair Trade     398
Civil society and business ethics     403
Introduction: what is civil society?     404
Civil society organizations as stakeholders     407
Ethical issues and CSOs     413
Recognizing CSO stakes     413
CSO tactics     415
Boycotts     421
CSO accountability     426
Globalization and civil society organizations     428
Engagement with overseas CSOs     429
Global issues and causes     429
Globalization of CSOs     433
Corporate citizenship and civil society: charity, collaboration, or regulation?     434
Charity and community giving     435
Business-CSO collaboration     436
Civil regulation     441
Civil society, business, and sustainability     444
Balancing competing interests     445
Towards participation and empowerment     446
Summary     447
Study Questions     448
Research Exercise     448
Key Readings     448
From Conflict to Collaboration? Greenpeace's Greenfreeze Campaign     449
Government, regulation, and business ethics     455
Introduction     456
Government as a stakeholder     456
Defining government, laws, and regulation     456
Basic roles of government as a stakeholder     458
Government as an elected representative of citizens' interests     459
Government as an actor (or group of actors) with interests of its own     460
Ethical issues in the relation between business and government     463
Identifying the basic problems and issues: legitimacy, accountability, and modes of influence     463
Lobbying     466
Party financing     470
Overlap of posts between business and government: individual conflicts of interest     471
State capture by business     473
Ethical issues in the context of privatization and deregulation     475
Globalization and business-government relations     477
From the traditional to the global context     477
Shifting roles for business and government in a global context     481
Business as an actor within the traditional context (Westphalian setting)     482
Business as an actor in the global context (post-Westphalian setting)     483
Business-government relations in the European Union     486
Corporate citizenship and regulation: business as key player in the regulatory game     488
Governments as regulators (segment 1)     490
Self-regulation by business (segment 2)     492
Regulation involving business, governmental actors, and CSOs (segments 3, 4, and 5)     493
Governments, business, and sustainability     499
Global climate change legislation and business responses: support versus obstruction     500
Public support versus private pressure: a middle ground?     501
Achieving sustainability: a necessary role for government?     503
Summary     503
Study Questions     504
Research Exercise     504
Key Readings     505
Dispensing 'the Less Orthodox Inducements' - Bae Systems and the Global Defence Industry     505
Conclusions and future perspectives     509
Introduction     510
The nature and scope of business ethics?     510
Globalization as a new context for business ethics     511
Sustainability as a new goal for business ethics     512
Business ethics in a European context     512
Corporate citizenship as a new concept in business ethics     514
The contribution of normative ethical theories to business ethics     515
Influences on ethical decision-making     516
The role of management tools in business ethics     516
The role of different stakeholder constituencies in business ethics     517
Tradeoffs and conflicts between different stakeholder groups     518
Summary     521
Study Questions     521
Research Exercise     522
Key Readings     522
References     523
Subject index     548
Authors index     555
Countries and regions index     561
Companies, organizations, and brands index     563

The Coming Democracy or Bayesian Inference in Dynamic Econometric Models

The Coming Democracy: New Rules for Running a New World

Author: Ann Florini

National governments are proving ill-equipped to manage an increasingly complicated suite of global problems, from infectious diseases to climate change to conflicts over international trade. In The Coming Democracy, leading political analyst Ann Florini sets forth a compelling new paradigm for transnational governance, one based on the concept of "transparency"— the idea that the free flow of information (on topics ranging from corporate and government behavior to nuclear proliferation to biodiversity protection) provides powerful ways to hold decision makers accountable and to give ordinary people meaningful voice in shaping the policies that affect them. Dramatic breakthroughs in information technology of the past decade have made such transparency possible on a global scale.

Florini offers a clear and comprehensive assessment of the possibilities for using transparency to develop effective approaches to transnational governance. She shows how this new form of governance promises real hope for managing global problems, and provides a compelling scenario that demonstrates how existing conventions and institutions can lead the way in the evolution of a better system of global governance.

Foreign Affairs

In this provocative exploration of global governance, Florini argues that the mounting environmental, socioeconomic, and security challenges of the twenty-first century cannot be managed by the old institutions of the post-1945 era. Effective collective action today requires new forums and cooperative mechanisms that bring transnational and local groups directly into international decision-making. World government is not the answer, but neither is decentralized national or market-based governance. Instead, Florini recommends a new system that incorporates public and private, national and transnational actors into agglomerated representative bodies. The challenge is to engineer such a system without sacrificing democratic accountability. Florini's book begins by exploring the theory and practice of nonstate democratic-based governance, where voice and transparency are built into multilateral decision-making. Other chapters examine the role of national governments, private enterprises, and civil society in the creation of new global rules. Florini ends by applying these ideas to current debates about globalization and sustainable development. The result is a lively and sophisticated glimpse at the coming battle over global governance.

What People Are Saying

Robert O. Keohane
Optimism and a sense of public spirit infuse the pages of THE COMING DEMOCRACY, which makes a case for greater transparency to improve the quality of global governance. THE COMING DEMOCRACY will stimulate debate about its argument, and presents and inspiring message for those who seek to promote progressive change.
—Professor of International Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University

Joseph Stiglitz
". . . a beautifully written, highly accessible, authoritative explanation of how the world is changing and what we can do about those changes."
—author of GLOBALIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS

Foreign Affairs
"A lively and sophisticated glimpse at the coming battle over global governance."

Thomas Homer-Dixon
A terrifically important book.
—Director of the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto and author of THE INGENUITY GAP

Books about: La Réalisation de Société Économique

Bayesian Inference in Dynamic Econometric Models

Author: Luc Bauwens

This book offers an up-to-date coverage of the basic principles and tools of Bayesian inference in econometrics, with an emphasis on dynamic models. It shows how to treat Bayesian inference in non linear models, by integrating the useful developments of numerical integration techniques based on simulations , and the long available analytical results of Bayesian inference for linear regression models.

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1: Decision Theory and Bayesian Inference

Chapter 2: Bayesian Statistics and Linear Regression

Chapter 3: Methods of Numerical Integration

Chapter 4: Prior Densities for the Regression Model

Chapter 5: Dynamic Regression Models

Chapter 6: Bayesian Unit Roots

Chapter 7: Heteroskedasticity and ARCH

Chapter 8: Nonlinear Tome Series Models

Chapter 9: Systems of Equations

Appendix A: Probability Distributions

Appendix B: Generating Random Numbers

Chapter 1: Decision Theory and Bayesian Inference

Chapter 2: Bayesian Statistics and Linear Regression

Chapter 3: Methods of Numerical Integration

Chapter 4: Prior Densities for the Regression Model

Chapter 5: Dynamic Regression Models

Chapter 6: Bayesian Unit Roots

Chapter 7: Heteroskedasticity and ARCH

Chapter 8: Nonlinear Tome Series Models

Chapter 9: Systems of Equations

Appendix A: Probability Distributions

Appendix B: Generating Random Numbers

China 2020 or Risk Management and Insurance

China 2020: Development Challenges in the New Century

Author: The World Bank Staff

The first volume in the China 2020 seven-volume set, China 2020: Development Challenges in the New Century, provides an overview of the country's strengths and weaknesses as well as its obstacles and options. The report argues that China can meet these challenges and sustain rapid growth, mainly because of its strengths including its relative stability, a remarkably high savings rate, a strong record of pragmatic reforms, a disciplined and literate labor force, a supportive Chinese diaspora, and growing administrative capacity. These strengths have driven the country's growth for the past two decades and can continue to do so over the next two. To nurture these strengths and use them effectively, however, reforms must develop in three related areas: the spread of market forces must be encouraged; the government must begin serving markets by building the legal, social, physical, and institutional infrastructure, and integration with the world economy must be deepened.

Books about: Americas Queen or The Great Shame

Risk Management and Insurance

Author: James S Trieschmann

Risk Management and Insurance is intended to assist you in identifying and analyzing all types of risk and managing them through insurance and alternative tools.

Table of Contents:

1	Introduction to risk	2
2	Risk identification and evaluation	15
3	Property and liability loss exposures	32
4	Life, health, and loss of income exposures	54
5	Risk management techniques : noninsurance methods	75
6	Insurance as a risk management technique : principles	89
7	Insurance as a risk management technique : policy provisions	112
8	Selecting and implementing risk management techniques	133
9	Risk management and commercial property - part I	154
10	Risk management and commercial property - part II	173
11	Risk management and commercial liability risk	197
12	Workers' compensation and alternative risk financing	216
13	Risk management for auto owners - part I	240
14	Risk management for auto owners - part II	264
15	Risk management for homeowners	278
16	Loss of life	320
17	Loss of health	345
18	Retirement planning and annuities	369
19	Employee benefits : life and health benefits	382
20	Employee benefits : retirement plans	404
21	Financial and estate planning	427
22	Risk management and the insurance industry	452
23	Functions and organization of insurers	472
24	Government regulation of risk management and insurance	494
App. A	Present value and annuity tables
App. B	Personal automobile policy
App. C	Homeowners 3 - special form
App. D	Sample whole life insurance policy with riders
App. E	Disability income insurance policy

The Radio Broadcasting Industry or Fifty Years of the Deutsche Mark

The Radio Broadcasting Industry: (Part of the Allyn & Bacon Series in Mass Communication)

Author: Alan B Albarran

Perhaps no form of mass media has undergone as much change and evolution as radio, which continues to reinvent itself today. This book introduces radio - from early history to current programming, ownership and regulatory developments - and previews future technological considerations. By placing a strong emphasis on the business of radio, readers develop a complete understanding of the industry and of how radio stations attract and retain an audience that could be spending its time with other media forms. For anyone interested in Radio, the Broadcasting Industry, Media Economics, and Media Management.

Table of Contents:

1.
Broadcast Radio: An Orientation.
A Familiar Sound
Radio: It's Everywhere.
Radio's Evolution.
Radio — A Local Medium.
A Look at Listeners.
International Listeners.
A Thumbnail View of Radio Regulation.
Efficient Radio Spectrum Usage.
Radio Programming.
The Radio Business.
The Plan of the Book.

2.
The History and Development of Radio Broadcasting.
Electromagnetic Spectrum.
Marconi: Inventor, Innovator, and Entrepreneur.
Three Inventors and Innovators: Fessenden, de Forest, and Armstrong.
Growth of Public Interest in Wireless.
The First Wireless Regulations.
The Beginning of Programming for the Mass Audience.
The Secretary of Commerce Attempts to Regulate Radio.
Commercial Sponsorship Begins.
Radio's New Regulators.
The Development of Radio Networks.
The Golden Age of Radio Programming.
AM Radio: Standard Broadcast Service.
Local Radio Service Develops.
Music and More.
Station Differentiation: Top 40.
The Decline of AM and the Rise of FM Radio.
Radio in 2000 and Beyond.

3.
Radio Regulation.
Radio Regulation.
Origins of Radio Regulation: The Pioneer Era.
Communications Act and Radio's Golden Age.
Deregulatory Period: Round One.
Deregulatory Period: Round Two.
Current Regulations.
Program Content.
Advertising.
Political Advertising. Tobacco and Alcohol Advertising. False or Deceptive Advertising.
Daily Operations.
Required Communication and Engineering Concerns. HiringPractices.
Licensing and License Renewal.
Future of Radio Regulations.

4.
The Radio Industry: Management and Economics of Radio.
Radio Management — A Brief Overview.
Management Responsibilities.
Levels of Management. Radio Management Skills. Radio Managerial Roles.
Issues in Radio Management.
Maximizing Cash Flow. Personnel Issues. The Challenge of Competition. The Demise of AM. Embracing the Internet.
Radio Economics.
Radio Markets: The Local Market. Radio Markets: The National Market.
Supply and Demand Relationships in Radio.
Market Structure for Radio.
Radio Performance and Profitability.
Conclusion.

5.
Radio Programming.
Brand Name Awareness and Usage.
Radio Becomes Brand Aware.
Programming for a Specific Audience.
Supplying More Than Music Utility.
External and Internal Brand Building.
Maintaining On-Air Consistency.
Music Formats.
Radio Format Segmentation.
Radio Formats: From AC (Adult Contemporary) to UC (Urban Contemporary).
Ever Changing Formats.

6.
The Radio Brand and Advertising.
Industry Profile: The Radio Advertising Bureau.
Radio Consolidation and Effect on Sales.
Radio Advertising Clients.
Radio: Reach and Frequency.
Research and Ratings.
Optimum Effective Scheduling.
Rate Cards.
Agency Selling.
Value-Added Selling.
The Business of Selling.

7.
Radio Research.
Introduction.
Sales Research.
Arbitron. Sample Procedures. Methodology. Arbitron Report. Interpreting the Arbitron Book. Criticisms of Ratings Research. Other Sales Research.
Programming Research.
Callout Research. Auditorium Testing. Focus Groups. Personal Interviews. Intercept Research.
Some Considerations for Future Research.
Internet Research.

8.
Noncommercial Radio Broadcasting.
Defining Noncommercial Radio.
The Early History of Noncommercial Radio.
Noncommercial Radio Finds a Home on the FM Band.
Radio Finds a Place in the Public Broadcasting Act.
The Politics of Noncommercial Radio.
Paying the Bills: Noncommercial Radio Economics.
A Refreshing Alternative: Programming on Noncommercial Radio.
Examining the Audience for Noncommercial Radio.
The Declining Role of Education in Public Radio.
Conclusion.

9. The Contemporary Radio Industry: Mover and Shakers.
The Moguls.
Thomas Hicks. Lowery Mays. Mel Karmazin.
The Stars.
Howard Stern. Laura Schlesinger. Rush Limbaugh. Larry King. Casey Kasem.
The Innovators.
Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner.
Summary.

10.
Radio and the Twenty-First Century.
The Business of Radio.
Consolidation. Syndication Marketplace. Radio Marketing.
Technologies Impacting Radio.
The Internet. Satellite-Delivered Radio Services.
Globalization.
Localism.
Summary.

Glossary.

Index.

Interesting textbook: Carbohydrates in Food or Guillain Barre Syndrome

Fifty Years of the Deutsche Mark: Central Bank and the Currency in Germany since 1948

Author: Deutsche Bundesbank Staff

This book provides detailed independent analyses of the successes and limitations of one of the most successful economic relationships in recent history: the Deutsche Mark and the Deutsche Bundesbank. Issues covered include the central bank constitution, the central bank's relationship with fiscal policy-makers and with other banks, and the international significance of the Deutsche Mark. With European economic and monetary union approaching, the lessons to be learnt from the German experience are now more important than ever.

Unholy Trinity or The Origins of Cultural Differences and Their Impact on Management

Unholy Trinity: Labor, Capital and Land in the New Economy, Vol. 6

Author: Duncan K Foley

This work explores the relations between contemporary complex systems theory and Classical political economy, and applies the methods it develops to the problems of induced technical change and income distribution in capitalist economies.

Book review: Il coordinatore professionista di affari di allievo: Educatore, capo e responsabile

The Origins of Cultural Differences and Their Impact on Management

Author: Jack Scarborough

In cross cultural business settings, the author suggests that it is not enough to know that behavior differs across cultures, but also how differences in values drive these behaviors. To truly understand the differences among cultures, one must understand their origins, how they emerged on the world stage and the various economic, political, physical, social, and religious forces that shaped them. This is a unique book in that it traces the antecedents of people's behavior and shows readers why cultures differ and includes suggestions for adjusting to these differences. Engrossing and revealing, Scarborough's book will be essential for corporate management and others involved in international commerce, but also for their counterparts in the public sector, who also understand why it is necessary to get along with people from other cultures in the pursuit of mutually beneficial goals.

Booknews

Explains the antecedents of people's behavior in different cultures and suggests ways to adjust for these differences, and looks at the deeper reasons why behavior, values, and beliefs differ across specific cultures. Material is organized in chapters on countries and regions, with detailed overviews of cultural settings, major historical forces, religion, and core values and behavior, plus chapter summaries. For corporate management and others involved in international commerce. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Table of Contents:

	Preface
	Acknowledgments
1	The Cultural Connection	1
2	Japan	21
3	China	47
4	Korea and Southeast Asia	73
	Korea	75
	Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore	78
	Thailand	81
	Indonesia	84
	The Philippines	86
	Vietnam	90
5	The Arab World and Islam	97
6	The Indian Subcontinent	123
7	Mexico	145
8	Russia	165
9	Western Europe	187
	France	206
	Germany, Austria, and Switzerland	211
	England	216
	Italy	220
	The Netherlands and Belgium	223
	Scandinavia	226
	Iberia and Greece	228
10	Sub-Saharan Africa	237
11	Implications for Cross-cultural Management	255
	Index	271