The Business Book

354 Pages·2014·39.76 MB·English

by  DK Publishing

THE
BUSINESS
BOOK

THE
BUSINESS
BOOK
London, new York, MeLbourne,
Munich, and deLhi
DK jAcKet designer First American edition, 2014
Laura Brim
senior editor published in the United states by
sam Atkinson jAcKet editor dK publishing
Manisha Majithia 375 Hudson street
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Us editors
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contributors
ian marcouse, consultant editor denry machin
Ian Marcousé lectures in business and economics education at Denry Machin is an associate tutor at Keele University, UK,
the Institute of Education in London. He has written a host of and is working at doctoral research on the application of business
business text books for A-level and BTEC students, including thinking within education. He also works for Harrow International
the popular A–Z Business Studies handbooks, and is the founder Management Services as projects manager, assisting in the
and director of A–Z Business Training Ltd. development of Harrow School’s presence in Asia. He is the author
of several business books, journals, and magazine articles.
PhiliPPa anderson
nigel watson
Philippa Anderson is a communications consultant and business
writer who has authored articles, magazine features, and books on Nigel Watson has taught business and economics for A-Level and
numerous aspects of business, from market research to leadership. International Baccalaureate students for 25 years. He has authored
She also provides communications consultancy for multinational and co-authored books and magazine articles in both subjects.
firms, including 3M, Anglo American, and Coca-Cola.
alexandra black
Alexandra Black studied business communications before
embarking on a writing career that led her to Japan and stints
with financial newspaper group Nikkei Inc. and investment bank
J. P. Morgan. She later worked for a direct marketing publisher in
Sydney, Australia, before moving to Cambridge, UK. She writes
on a range of subjects, from business to history and fashion.
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CONTENTS
10 INTRODUCTION 58 Without continuous
growth and progress,
success has no meaning
START SMALL, The Greiner curve
THINK BIG
62 If you believe in
something, work nights
STARTING AND GROWING
32 Be first or be better and weekends—it won’t
THE BUSINESS
Gaining an edge feel like work
The weightless start-up
40 Put all your eggs in one
20 If you can dream it, basket, and then watch
you can do it that basket
LIGHTING THE FIRE
Beating the odds at Managing risk
start-up
LEADERSHIP AND HUMAN
42 Luck is a dividend of
RESOURCES
22 There’s a gap in the sweat. The more you
market, but is there sweat, the luckier you get
a market in the gap? Luck (and how to get lucky)
Finding a profitable niche 68 Managers do things right,
43 Broaden your vision, and leaders do the right thing
24 You can learn all you maintain stability while Leading well
need to know about the advancing forward
competition’s operation Take the second step 70 None of us is as smart
by looking in his as all of us
garbage cans 44 Nothing great is The value of teams
Study the competition created suddenly
How fast to grow 72 Innovation must be
28 The secret of business is invasive and perpetual:
to know something that 46 The role of the CEO is to everyone, everywhere,
nobody else knows enable people to excel all of the time
Stand out in the market From entrepreneur to leader Creativity and invention
48 Chains of habit are too 74 Dissent adds spice,
light to be felt until spirit, and an
they are too heavy to invigorating quality
be broken Beware the yes-men
Keep evolving business
practice 76 No great manager or
leader ever fell from
52 A corporation is a living heaven
organism; it has to Gods of management
continue to shed its skin
Reinventing and adapting
78 A leader is one who 112 Management is a practice
knows the way, goes the where art, science, and
way, and shows the way craft meet
Effective leadership Mintzberg’s management
roles
80 Teamwork is the fuel
that allows common 114 A camel is a horse
people to attain designed by committee
uncommon results Avoid groupthink
Organizing teams and talent 132 Make the best quality
115 The art of thinking of goods at the lowest
86 Leaders allow great independently, together cost, paying the highest
people to do the work The value of diversity wages possible
they were born to do Your workers are your
Make the most of your talent customers
88 The way forward may MAKING MONEY 138 Utilize OPM—Other
not be to go forward People’s Money
Thinking outside the box WORK Who bears the risk?
MANAGING FINANCES
90 The more a person 146 Swim upstream. Go the
can do, the more you other way. Ignore the
can motivate them conventional wisdom
Is money the motivator? 120 Do not let yourself be Ignoring the herd
involved in a fraudulent
92 Be an enzyme—a catalyst business Play by the rules 150 Debt is the worst poverty
for change Leverage and excess risk
Changing the game 124 Executive officers must
be free from avarice 152 Cash is king
100 The worst disease that Profit before perks Profit versus cash flow
afflicts executives is
egotism Hubris and nemesis 126 If wealth is placed where 154 Only when the tide goes
it bears interest, it comes out do you discover who’s
104 Culture is the way in back to you redoubled been swimming naked
which a group of people Investment and dividends Off-balance-sheet risk
solves problems
Organizational culture 128 Borrow short, lend long 155 Return on equity is a
Making money from money financial goal that can
110 Emotional intelligence become an own goal
is the intersection of 130 The interests of the Maximize return on equity
heart and head shareholders are our own
Develop emotional Accountability and 156 As the role of private
intelligence governance equity has grown, so have
the risks it poses
The private equity model
158 Assign costs according to
the resources consumed
Activity-based costing
186 Synergy and other lies 218 If you don’t know
Why takeovers disappoint where you are, a map
won’t help
188 The Chinese word “crisis” The capability maturity
is composed of two model
characters: “danger”
and “opportunity” 220 Chaos brings uneasiness,
Crisis management but it also allows for
creativity and growth
190 You can’t grow long-term Coping with chaos
if you can’t eat short-term
Balancing long- versus 222 Always do what is right.
short-termism It will gratify half of
mankind and astonish
192 Market Attractiveness, the other
WORKING WITH Business Attractiveness Morality in business
The MABA matrix
A VISION
223 There is no such thing as
194 Only the paranoid survive a minor lapse in integrity
STRATEGY AND
Avoiding complacency Collusion
OPERATIONS
202 To excel, tap into people’s 224 Make it easier to do
capacity to learn the right thing and
164 Turn every disaster into The learning organization much harder to do the
an opportunity wrong thing
Learning from failure 208 The future of business is Creating an ethical culture
selling less of more
166 If I had asked people what The long tail
they wanted, they would
have said faster horses 210 To be an optimist ... SUCCESSFUL
Leading the market have a contingency
SELLING
plan for when all hell
170 The main thing to breaks loose
MARKETING MANAGEMENT
remember is, the main Contingency planning
thing is the main thing
Protect the core business 211 Plans are useless, but
planning is indispensable 232 Marketing is far too
172 You don’t need a huge Scenario planning important to leave to the
company, just a computer marketing department
and a part-time person 212 The strongest The marketing model
Small is beautiful competitive forces
determine the profitability 234 Know the customer so
178 Don’t get caught in of an industry well that the product fits
the middle Porter’s five forces them and sells itself
Porter’s generic strategies Understanding the market
216 If you don’t have a
184 The essence of strategy competitive advantage, 242 Attention, Interest,
is choosing what not to do don’t compete Desire, Action
Good and bad strategy The value chain The AIDA model