Book Description
Thompson, Strickland and Gambles’, CRAFTING AND EXECUTING STRATEGY: The Quest for Competitive Advantage, 14e clearly conveys the central thrust of basic courses in business and competitive Strategy. This text presents the most recent research in strategy in a way that students can understand and apply to business cases and problems. This edition includes a streamlined presentation of the chapters and an all new chapter on Strategy, Ethics and Social Responsibility. Known for its cases and teaching notes, CRAFTING AND EXECUTING STRATEGY, 14e includes 37 new or updated cases that will spark student interest and generate lively classroom discussions.
Customer Reviews:
Informative business guide to strategy.......2006-08-23
I bought this book for a college class and kept it. While it is not the most exciting book, the case studies are an excellent guide to a wide range of business plans and strategies. The cases are divided into four categories: single business companies, diversified companies, implementing and executing strategy and ethics & social responsibility. The cases are very complete and interesting. The downside is the shelf life of the book - I would expect a new edition before long.
Student Review.......2005-12-10
I am a student majoring in Business Administration who recently used this text in an upper-level management course. The book's writing is utterly superfluous. Boredom was frequently my sentiment as I weeded through unnecessarily labyrinthine sentences. The ideas in the book were occasionally interesting, but were usually ideas I had already developed on my own via simple intuition. Perhaps the most valuable part of the text is the section of case studies. This closing segment of the book contains many great ideas for student projects. Overall, this text disappoints me as a student
Product Still to be Used.......2005-08-23
I will begin using this product next week, and will be in a better position to review it after my six week module.
Book Description
Thompson, Strickland and Gambles', CRAFTING AND EXECUTING STRATEGY, 15e presents the latest research findings from the literature and cutting-edge strategic practices of companies have been incorporated to keep step with both theory and practice. Scores of new examples have been added to complement the new and updated Illustration Capsules. More chapter-end exercises have been included. The result is a text treatment with more punch, greater clarity, and improved classroom effectiveness. But none of the changes have altered the fundamental character that has driven the text’s success over the years. The chapter content continues to be solidly mainstream and balanced, mirroring both the best academic thinking and the pragmatism of real-world strategic management. Known for its cases and teaching notes, CRAFTING AND EXECUTING STRATEGY includes a case line--up that will spark student interest and generate lively classroom discussions. A truly appealing lineup of 33 diverse, timely, and thoughtfully-crafted cases complements the text presentation. Many cases involve high-profile companies, and all are framed around issues and circumstances tightly linked to the content of the 13 chapters, thus pushing students to apply the concepts and analytical tools they have read about. And there's a comprehensive package of support materials that are a breeze to use, highly effective, and flexible enough to fit most any course design.
Customer Reviews:
Great Service.......2007-10-02
I received my book in a timely fashion and everything was just as stated. Seller is 100% reliable.
CRAFTING AND EXECUTING STRATEGY.......2007-09-22
IT TOOK A WHILE FOR THE TEXTBOOK TO REACH ME. I WAS DISAPPOINTED WITH HOW SLOW THE DELIVERY PROCESS WAS AND ALMOST DIDN'T HAVE THE TEXT IN TIME FOR CLASS. SERVICE AND DELIVERY COULD BE MUCH MORE PROMPT.
Perfect!.......2007-09-20
This book is just what I need for my class - Strategic Management - the one class I absolutely have to take in order to graduate since I'm a Business major.
Excellent Product+Service from Amazon.com.......2007-03-13
This was the best product i've ever purchased from Amazon.com. Until most recently, I've only bought textbooks from Amazon, and that too at a very short notice (the kind of lazy person that I am!).. and Amazon has really kept me happy!
This is a great book for those taking a course on Strategic Management, and for those who are not, but are so much more interested in learning so much about how all those CEOs do their work. This book has got it all, complete with real-world case studies of your most admired corporations, how they've been faring good or bad, and develops a real deep insight into the precedant variables that have caused it's current performance. This book is superb for those who wish to analyze the nuances of what it takes to run a business (any business). Highly Recommended!
About Amazon, I can't thank them enough. I needed the book within three days --I had a class assignment due in that time, and lazy that I am, I had to wait until the last minute to order it. But, thanks to Amazon's 2-day "guaranteed" shipping that I received it on the 2nd day. Guaranteed!
Also highly recommended to all those who want it "fast"...!
Book Description
Thompson, Strickland and Gamble's, CRAFTING AND EXECUTING STRATEGY, 15e presents the latest research findings from the literature and cutting-edge strategic practices of companies have been incorporated to keep step with both theory and practice. Scores of new examples have been added to complement the new and updated Illustration Capsules. More chapter-end exercises have been included. The result is a text treatment with more punch, greater clarity, and improved classroom effectiveness. But none of the changes have altered the fundamental character that has driven the text's success over the years. The chapter content continues to be solidly mainstream and balanced, mirroring both the best academic thinking and the pragmatism of real-world strategic management. This paperback version of the text does not contain any cases, but it does include 21 readings from noted business writers that support the concepts in the main text portion. Instructors who would like to create their own case packets to go with this book should go to www.mhhe.com/primis to make their selections.
Customer Reviews:
Does not have BSG online code.......2007-05-06
Same contents as the hard cover edition but this version does not come with BSG online access code. If you will need to play the Business Strategy Game online, you will need to pay $35 extra for online access code.
Language is a bit simplistic, not the type you would expect in a business textbook.
Easy read.......2007-04-01
This book is fairly easy to read. Lots of good/useful case studies.
Exellent condition.......2007-03-23
Book was in great condition. Received exactly as described. Top class seller.
The authors should find a different editor........2007-02-05
This book contains a lot of valuable information on market strategy. The content of the book is very useful, but also very wordy and repetitive. That makes gleaning the book's "meat" a very frustrating task.
Fortunately, core concepts are listed in page margins to summarize main ideas. There are also diagrams illustrating these core concepts. These will help you to skip past the fluffy content.
I think this book shows real promise but is in serious need of copy editing.
Content of text is too repetitive.......2007-01-06
Book was required for an 8 week course. The way the text is written there is too much repetition and information for the course - some chapters are over 50 pages long (10-15 of those pages are used as examples and repetitive information). May be better suited to the standard semester class.
Amazon.com
Author Wendy Rosen, the publisher of American Style magazine, sees Crafting As a Business as a "network of mentors." Packed with sidebars that feature invaluable tips from a variety of successful crafters, this guide offers dozens of terrific worksheets and checklists and a plethora of sound advice. The 70-plus pages of crafts resources at the end of the book list names and addresses of educational opportunities, suppliers, shows and fairs, and much more. Better designed than many of the text-heavy books on this subject, Crafting As a Business is perhaps the most thorough and easily digested guide on this wide-ranging topic.
Book Description
Turn your hobby into a profitable business. This oversize, all-color reference by the creator of the National Buyers Markets of American Crafts and publisher of American Style is filled with firsthand success stories, and dozens of practical worksheets. See how to develop and design your product, outline business plans, deal with copyright, find your likely customer, price correctly, interpret trends, and create publicity.
Customer Reviews:
great marketing info!.......2004-04-06
A must-have for people thinking of making crafting their business! The marketing and sales info is up-to-date, specific and will help you avoid all sorts of problems. I just missed specific info on licensing, insurance etc. Other than that, a must- have!
Good book.......2003-06-05
Although I've yet to find one book that provides "the" tell-all on the business of crafts, this is a classy book, informative, well done, excellent photos, good feel and thus easy to read -- with business forms examples and real-life crafter commentaries. If I recommended a better book to learn about the business of crafts, this would be one title. I believe the key to preparing for your first experience as a professional crafter is to read as many titles on the subject as you can, hoping each will provide one piece of the puzzle -- never getting the whole story -- until eventually -- collectively -- they all come together and make sense (wow, there's a lot of fluff out there). Supplemental reading of general business, finance and other titles will give you the whole picture on the "business" of crafts that you need. Also, check out the National Crafts Association website, craft marketing trade magazines and other trade organization sites.
An ABSOLUTE must have for the professional crafter!!.......2002-03-13
I was browsing through books on jewelry making, seeing the same things over and over, but I needed something to help me with the business end of my jewelry. Lo and behold, I found Ms. Rosen's book. When I saw who it was written by, I was overjoyed - she is extremely well-respected in the craft "industry". Help on marketing, how to get started, pricing, galleries, wholesale information, plus mentors throughout the book... It's my craft Bible!! I cannot praise this book enough.
great marketing info!.......2001-06-07
A must-have for people thinking of making crafting their business! The marketing and sales info is up-to-date, specific and will help you avoid all sorts of problems. I just missed specific info on licensing, insurance etc. Other than that, a must- have!
Great Addition to Any Craft Industry Resource Library.......2000-12-20
If you are thinking or have started a business in the craft industry, this is a must have resource! Accented with advice from successful craft professionals, it features very comprehensive information on networking, your business image, working with galleries (just to name a few).
Ms. Rosen does cover one topic in depth that most barely hit on: Family Business. This chapter goes into great detail on your family and how your business impacts that area of your life (and vice versa).
However, this book doesn't stand alone as THE resource to get started (and one book should never be, in my opinion) but is is a great addition and must have as you build your knowledge on the craft industry.
Customer Reviews:
Paperback version doesn't have the cases.......2006-02-23
The only reason I bought the book was for a class and I bought it online because it was way cheaper. THe trick of it was the paperback version doesn't have the cases inside, which go figure, are the most important part of my class. Now I have to photocopy them ore order them offline through my professor.
Well crafted fluff.......2006-02-12
With this books you can:
1. Improve your vocabulary with lots of big, meaningless words.
2. Insult your intelligence if this is not your first take at strategy.
3. Remedy your nasty case of insomnia with overcooked strategy implementations.
The other book (the hardcover version) has some interesting case studies. Otherwies, text is the same, only heavier...
Awesome Textbook!!.......2005-10-23
It was clean, looked close to new, had some highlights but nothing that I couldn't handle. I was really lucky..thanks.
Good Seller.......2005-09-30
The book arrived in brand new condition within reasonable time. Really good seller.
Great Book.......2005-09-10
This was my MBA text book and I found the content very nicely organized with plenty of topical references to recent business happenings which made the application meaningful and raised lots of related issues in the class room.
I would give it 4 stars!
Book Description
Everything a company says sends a message to its employees. Organizations that communicate well with their employees boast higher profitability, better customer acquisition and retention, and enhanced reputation. Without a strategically managed employee communications strategy, results suffer.
Corporate Conversations is a comprehensive guide to crafting and delivering vital internal messages. The book covers a broad range of issues, including:
* the four types of corporate and business communications (human resources, business-related, legal, and informal) * how to communicate bad news * managing employee-to-employee communication * how to measure the impact of internal communications
With valuable strategies for aligning all business correspondence with the company message, Corporate Conversations shows professionals at all
Customer Reviews:
Valuable Handbook for Reaching Employees.......2003-10-12
Today's employees want to be informed, included, and even consulted regarding corporate decisions, directions, activities, and issues. If they are not connected with their employer, people will leave the organization to seek employment opportunities where they can be more engaged. Anything and everything a company can do to relate more closely with the people who matter will make a difference.
An experienced corporate communicator, Holtz emphasizes that internal communication in a company is much more than just publishing a newsletter or magazine for employees. The behaviors communicators influence are "the ones that would support the company bottom-line business efforts." There's more to this process than reporting birthdays, babies, brides, and bowling scores. Employees must be reached with compelling, understandable, and credible messages that are easy to access, grasp, and absorb.
This easy-to-read handbook explores a number of facets of employee communications. Readers will learn about the types of communications, planning, and traditional communication tools. More modern approaches of online communication are discussed, along with insights into the sustainability of the communication process. Holtz devotes chapters to special situations such as communicating bad news, and change. Chapters on organizing and budgeting, as well as measuring the value of communication, provide some professional tools that will be useful to the reader.
The value of the book is enhanced by appendices on messaging policies and resources, as well as a good index. The text, written in a relatively conversational style, is seasoned with case studies from two fictitious companies-one that does communication right, and one that misses the mark. The book is current and is designed with enough white space to make it comfortable to read and benefit from.
While I might have organized the chapters a bit differently, that's an easy task for a wise reader to accomplish. The content is here-valuable for the newcomer to the field, the seasoned professional who could benefit from a refresher, and the manager or executive who just needs to learn and appreciate a little more about how to communicate more effectively with a workforce that's hungry for information and interaction.
Book Description
In the midst of a changing economy, most executives continue to use a strategy toolkit designed for yesterday's more stable marketplace. As a result, strategies emerge that neither manage the risks nor take advantage of the opportunities that arise in highly uncertain times.
Now, McKinsey & Company consultant Hugh Courtney argues that managers must move beyond the outdated "all-or-nothing" view of strategy in which future events are either certain or uncertain. Instead, he suggests a simple-yet powerful-alternative: Understand the level of uncertainty you are facing in a given situation, and you will make better, more informed strategic choices.
Based on an international review of the key strategy problems faced by over one hundred leading companies, Courtney reveals how executives can develop 20/20 foresight--a view of the future that separates what can be known from what can't. While executives with 20/20 foresight can rarely develop perfect forecasts of the future, says Courtney, they can isolate the "residual uncertainty" they face and use this insight to create competitive advantage in today's turbulent markets.
Unveiling a revolutionary framework for diagnosing to which of the four levels of residual uncertainty a specific strategy choice corresponds,
20/20 Foresight shows how readers can leverage this knowledge to answer three key strategic questions: 1) Shape or adapt to uncertainty? 2) Make strategic commitments now or later? and 3) Follow a focused or diversified strategy?
20/20 Foresight also:
· shows strategists how to tailor every aspect of the decision-making process-from formulation to implementation-to the level of uncertainty faced,
· describes the strategic-planning processes readers can use to monitor, update, and revise strategies as necessary in volatile markets, and
· includes a toolkit for identifying, developing, and testing new strategy options-complete with guidelines for applying the right tool to the right situation at the right time.
A comprehensive approach to strategy development under all possible levels of uncertainty and across all kinds of industries, this is the essential guide for making tough strategic choices in a changing world.
Hugh Courtney is an Associate Principal with the Global Strategy Practice at McKinsey & Company in Washington D.C.
Customer Reviews:
Nothing impressive.......2003-10-28
The book provides no exciting findings for strategic decision makers. The only idea this book has is to distinguish uncertainties into four levels and it uses this four-level frame in its following discussions. And even the four-level classification is cliche. You can skip contents after chapter 3 without regretting anything.
Nothing impressive.......2003-10-28
This book provides bascially no new ideas for strategic decision makers. The only idea it has is to distinguish uncertainties into four levels and this book uses the four-level frame in all its following discussions. If you want to read it, maybe you can stop before chapter three and you won't miss any precious insight by skipping the rest of it.
Measuring Degrees of Probability Amidst Uncertainty.......2003-07-22
Courtney and his McKinsey associates decided to launch within their firm the Strategy Theory Initiative (STI), a multi-year research effort whose objective was to identify, develop, and disseminate what they learned about a "better approach" to the immensely challenging complicated design/implementation process. (While reading the Preface to this book, I was reminded of one version of a Hebrew aphorism, "Man plans and then God howls with laughter.") The material is carefully organized within seven chapters. In the first, Courtney shares what he and his research associates learned about crafting strategy in an uncertain world; in the next chapter, we are introduced to what are called "The Four Levels of Residual Uncertainty." (All by itself, this chapter is well worth far more than the cost of the book.) Then on to address five separate but related questions:
* Should we shape or adapt?
* Should we begin the process now or later?
* Should we focus or diversify?
* Which new tools and frameworks are needed?
* Which new strategic-planning and decision-making processes are needed?
Of course, Courtney fully realizes that the revelations of the STI research can only guide and inform appropriate answers to questions such as these. He agrees with Mike Hammer that searching for a "silver bullet" is a fool's errand, noting that "there [is] no easy one-size-fits-all solution that could be translated from theory into practice. Business strategists needed new theory [and, in italics] new practices if they wanted to make better strategy choices."
At the height of the Cold War, I recall someone noting that Russian historians could predict the past with absolute certainty. This book's title does not suggest that if you read this book, you can see the future. ("Man plans and then God laughs.") Rather, instead of burying uncertainties in meaningless base case forecasts or avoiding rigorous analysis of uncertainties altogether, Courtney suggests that we "embrace uncertainty, explore it,, slice it, dice it, get to know it." If we do this well? "[You] will reach a wonderful goal: 20/20 foresight." The best available information serves as the basis of the most reliable forecasts which, in turn, improve the chances of devising the soundest strategies.
After summarizing the appropriate toolkit for each level of residual uncertainty (see figures 6-1 through 6-4), and having also suggested various tools and frameworks needed to develop 20/20 foresight, Courtney offers five additional tools in the Appendix: The Uncertainty Toolkit. He briefly but brilliantly explains how to use scenario planning, game theory, decision analysis, system dynamics models, and management "flight simulators." Although this book will obviously be of substantial value to senior-level executives in larger organizations, I think it will be invaluable to others such as CEOs and other decision-makers in small companies. The challenge for all of them is to "tailor strategy to the level of uncertainty," whatever the nature and extent of their competitive marketplace may be. Here in a single volume is about all they need to begin the process. Another thought: This book would be an excellent choice as the basis of a one-day or (preferably) two-day offsite executive "retreat" for strategic planning. Reading it in advance would be required. The first two chapters would be excellent for assisting situation analysis, then on to the next five chapters which could serve as the core of the agenda. (I also recommend that Hammer's The Agenda be consulted, at least by the person who leads the group discussion. And, by the way, that person should NOT be the CEO.) The session would conclude with a review of the consensus achieved, followed by a discussion of how to communicate and collaborate effectively while using various tools, including the five recommended in the Appendix.
Courtney would be the first to point out that, over time, other sources of information and guidance may become necessary. For that reason, he includes clusters of annotated "Recommended Readings" to assist his reader's selection process. Thoughtfully, he adds to their number with other suggestions within his extensive notes.
For at least some individual executives and some organizations, this may well prove to be for them the most valuable business book published during the first decade of the 21st century.
To those who share my high regard for it, I specifically want to recommend (again) Hammer's book as well as Jim O'Toole's Leading Change, Jason Jennings' Less Is More: How Great Companies Use Productivity As a Competitive Advantage, Peter Schwartz' The Art of the Long View: Paths to Strategic Insight for Yourself and Your Company, and finally, Carla O'Dell's If Only We Knew What We Know: The Transfer of Internal Knowledge and Best Practice.
Impressive, systematic approach to handling uncertainty.......2003-01-02
This book may be one of the most interesting pieces of work to come out of McKinsey. Hugh Courtney recognizes that traditional strategy approaches do not work well in conditions of significant uncertainty. Traditional tools such as Porter's Five Forces, market research, SWOT analysis, and NPV valuation models work only in "level 1 uncertainty". Courtney rightly critiques those who see uncertainty in binary terms, instead outlining four levels of uncertainty each of which require different strategic approaches. Level 2 uncertainty (several distinct possible futures), in addition to the traditional tools, can be tackled with scenario planning, game theory, and decision-tree real-options valuation (ROV) techniques. Companies dealing with level 3 uncertainty face a range of futures and need to use additional tools such as system dynamics models in addition to those of level 2. Companies facing confusing level 4 uncertainty, where there is true ambiguity, can use analogies and reference cases and "management flight simulators" to help make sense of deep uncertainty. In a sharp break with the usual approach, the growing number of companies facing level 4 uncertainty need to think backwards from hypothetical futures to what you would have to believe about the future to support a particular strategy. In addition to the levels of uncertainty framework, Courtney outlines the alternatives of "shape or adapt" to uncertainty, make strategic commitments now or later, and follow a focused or a diversified strategy. The details of this book may be familiar in many ways, but the overall framework potentially could be highly enlightening for planners who want to use the right tools for the job.
Analytically rigorous uncertainty.......2002-09-26
"If you want to make better strategy choices under uncertainty, then you have to understand the uncertainty you are facing. .... you must embrace uncertainty, ... get to know it." This is the basic thesis of the book, which suggests that:
* there are four basic levels of 'residual uncertainty', which the author defines as 'the uncertainty left after the best available analysis to separate the unknown from the unknowable', each of which requires a different strategic response
* strategy under uncertainty requires arriving at the best possible answers to five basic questions:
- shape or adapt (eg seek to shape a market or adapt to an existing market)
- Now or later
- focus or diversify - for example a strategic portfolio
- should we use new tools and Frameworks - the author explores scenarios, game theory and systems dynamics among others
- new strategic planning and decision making processes - should we challenge a traditional planning cycle or set of decision processes?
* Management should operate with a four step process:
- Define the strategic issue and the level of residual uncertainty
- Frame possible solutions
- Analyze possible solutions and make strategy choices
- Monitor and update strategy choices over time
* The appropriate approach is issue related, not organization related. Organizations in stable environments may encounter major strategic issues involving high residual uncertainty, while those in very dynamic environments may have issues involving low uncertainty. The strategic process must be appropriate to the situation.
The book is concerned with how to answer the five basic questions above in the context of each level of uncertainty, and which tools are most appropriate for guiding the decision process. The tools discussed in the Appendix "The Uncertainty Toolkit" are:
scenario planning
game theory
decision analysis
systems dynamics models
management flight simulators.
In essence, what the author has done is to frame a set of known tools and principles within McKinsey's preferred structure of analytical rigour. If you still believe that 'classical' strategic planning round the business case is the only way to approach strategy, the book may help widen your options. If you are already familiar with the various tools offered, the main benefit of the book will be to provide a useful reminder that levels of uncertainty differ, and a framework for thinking about your own situation and response to it. Perhaps the most important message in the book is not to assume uncertainty until you have carried out the analysis needed to separate the knowable from the truly uncertain.
Book Description
Strategies for clear communication in today's muddled corporate environment
Corporate communication involves much more than just motivating employees and dispensing good PR. It represents a tool to be leveragedand a process to be mastered. The Power of Corporate Communication shows managers and executives how to communicate effectively with fellow employees from the mailroom to the boardroom, and even between organizations and across industries. Fully accessible and refreshingly nonacademic, it creates an easy-to-follow map of the world of corporate communication, with workplace-tested approaches for addressing common challenges. Written by two leaders in today's corporate communication fieldPaul Argenti is the author of 1994's groundbreaking Corporate CommunicationThe Power of Corporate Communication is replete with careful analyses and real-world examples and case studies from leading organizations including Sony, Coca-Cola, and GE.
Customer Reviews:
excellent.......2004-01-21
This book can be termed as the bible for people who study the corporate communication and importance of public relations in the corporate world. The book also provides insights regarding reputation management by companies with live examples. a great one
Entertaining & Useful but, in some parts, slow........2003-08-28
This book is an excellent tool for any person interested in corporate communications. It lines out the basics and even gives entertaining examples of everything the authors (Argenti and Forman) explain.
This book is also very useful for any person whose job has something to do with corporate communications because of the many examples given; For example, in chapter 3, it explains the communication strategy used by Jack Welch during the years he spent as CEO of GE.
Chapter 2 was a little boring because it gives a general overview of the history of PR emphasizing on the professional lives of Ivy Ledbetter Lee and Edward L. Bernays whom some say were the fathers of PR.
On the other hand, chapter 10 (Managing Communications in a Crisis) is most entertaining because it mentions what a communication crisis is, how to create and implement a strategy; Along with this general explanation it also mentions certain examples like the Johnson & Johnson Tylenol Recall, Merril Lynch, etc.
Either for those in the business or in the business, this book is a reliable tool to learning the basics of corporate communication.
Entertaining & Useful but, in some parts, slow........2003-08-28
This book is an excellent tool for any person interested in corporate communications. It lines out the basics and even gives entertaining examples of everything the authors (Argenti and Forman) explain.
This book is also very useful for any person whose job has something to do with corporate communications because of the many examples given; For example, in chapter 3, it explains the communication strategy used by Jack Welch during the years he spent as CEO of GE.
Chapter 2 was a little boring because it gives a general overview of the history of PR emphasizing on the professional lives of Ivy Ledbetter Lee and Edward L. Bernays whom some say were the fathers of PR.
On the other hand, chapter 10 (Managing Communications in a Crisis) is most entertaining because it mentions what a communication crisis is, how to create and implement a strategy; Along with this general explanation it also mentions certain examples like the Johnson & Johnson Tylenol Recall, Merril Lynch, etc.
Either for those in the business or in the business, this book is a reliable tool to learning the basics of corporate communication.
Entertaining & Useful but, in some parts, slow........2003-08-28
This book is an excellent tool for any person interested in corporate communications. It lines out the basics and even gives entertaining examples of everything the authors (Argenti and Forman) explain.
This book is also very useful for any person whose job has something to do with corporate communications because of the many examples given; For example, in chapter 3, it explains the communication strategy used by Jack Welch during the years he spent as CEO of GE.
Chapter 2 was a little boring because it gives a general overview of the history of PR emphasizing on the professional lives of Ivy Ledbetter Lee and Edward L. Bernays whom some say were the fathers of PR.
On the other hand, chapter 10 (Managing Communications in a Crisis) is most entertaining because it mentions what a communication crisis is, how to create and implement a strategy; Along with this general explanation it also mentions certain examples like the Johnson & Johnson Tylenol Recall, Merril Lynch, etc.
Either for those in the business or in the business, this book is a reliable tool to learning the basics of corporate communication.
Informative Fast Read For Busy Professionals.......2003-01-07
Let's face it, the people who most need the information in this book are probably too busy putting out communications fires to sit down with most of the tomes that are available on the subject. Argenti and Forman have written an informative, accessible and most importantly, action oriented text that covers the entire communications function. In particular, the Crisis Communication section is strong and details what steps to take when an organization needs to communicate quickly. If you are a busy professional struggling with communications -- this is the book for you.
Amazon.com
Writing for nonprofits is a juggling act. One's job might entail writing grant proposals, newsletters, thank-you notes, case statements, and Web-site material--each for a different boss. The most successful development writers take the time to both experience their causes firsthand (sleep in the shelter, go to rehearsals, visit the wilderness) and cultivate personal relationships with their donors ("people give to people"). You'll give yourself an amazing head start when applying for a grant, say Joseph Barbato and Danielle Furlich, just by following an organization's guidelines and getting your math right--it's surprising how many fundraisers do neither. Make your point once, clearly, and don't forget the human element. "You aren't just asking for money," say the authors of Writing for a Good Cause, "you are asking to help people." Barbato and Furlich, both veteran fundraisers, interviewed both grants administrators and development writers for this guide. The result is an inside view of the arcane workings of the world of fundraising that would make any novice feel more proficient immediately. Their "gotta-get-it-out-right-now, how-late-is-FedEx-open? Down-and-dirty proposal kit" is a terrific tool when there isn't time to write the "knockout, beguiling, exciting, can't-put-it-down, and surely can't-turn-it-down fundraising proposal." And keep in mind: when a donor gives your proposal the nod, say thank you. Twice. In fact, say Barbato and Furlich, "It is almost impossible to thank a donor too much." --Jane Steinberg
Book Description
Filled with tips and survival skills from writers and fund-raising officers at nonprofits of all sizes, Writing for a Good Cause is the first book to explain how to use words well to win your cause the money it needs. Whether you work for a storefront social action agency or a leading university, the authors' knowledgeable, practical advice will help you:
- Write the perfect proposal -- from the initial research and interviews to the final product
- Draft, revise, and polish a "beguiling, exciting, can't-put-it-down and surely can't-turn-it-down" request for funds
- Create case statements and other big money materials -- also write, design, and print newsletters, and use the World Wide Web effectively
- Survive last-minute proposals and other crises -- with the Down-and-Dirty Proposal Kit!
Writing for a Good Cause provides everything fund raisers, volunteers, staff writers, freelancers, and program directors need to know to win funds from individual, foundation, and corporate donors.
Download Description
From storefront social action agencies to leading museums and universities, organizations across the country are seeking funds for good causes. But even the best cause doesn't stand a chance when proposals and other materials are badly written or deadly dull. Writing for a Good Cause is the first book to explain how to use words well to win the support of funders.
The authors, who have applied their writing talents to a variety of good causes, address the full range of challenges writers in development offices face. Their knowledgeable, practical advice covers:
-- Writing the perfect proposal -- from the initial research and interviews to the final product
-- Drafting, revising, and polishing a "beguiling, exciting, can't-put-it-down and surely can't-turn-it-down" request for funds
-- Creating case statements and other big money materials -- including how to write, design, and print newsletters and use the World Wide Web effectively
Filled with tips from writers at nonprofits and suggestions from top foundation funders, Writing for a Good Cause provides everything volunteers, staff writers, freelancers, and others need to know to fashion persuasive presentations for individual, foundation, and corporate donors.
Customer Reviews:
Writer Writing For Writers.......2007-07-13
Immensely "Readable" guidelines for writing all types of fundraising materials. Barbato has written a timeless, easy to follow handbook that holds a special place on my reference bookshelf.
Writing for a good cause!.......2006-04-25
Excellent book with very practical tips on writing to get funded. There are many grantwriting books and resources available, but this is one of the better that I've found for writing persuasively for major gifts. Great practical advice on formulating winning proposals, concept papers and other grant writing tools. Definitely recommend to grantseekers of all levels.
Not just a guide to writing proposals - a guide to life.......2002-08-12
Not surprisingly, this book provides advice that -- if applied literally -- will assist you in writing excellent proposals to fund your non-profit organization's ventures.
Surprisingly, the advice contained herein -- if made more generic in your mind -- is excellent advice for entire areas of your life. Sounds hokey, true. But honestly, boiled down the advice can be listed as:
1. Identify what the problem is. Do your research until you really understand the causes of the problems and their many effects.
2. Identify how you will know when you have made the problem better. How will you know when the problem has been alleviated? What intermediate steps need to be taken? How will you measure your progress along the way?
3.Identify what tools are available, and which are still needed, to move towards a resolution, or diminution, of the problem. Be specific here. Vague generalities are useless, but the brass tacks of a solution are absolutely priceless. Who has access to these tools? Who can make difficult things easy?
4. If you are asking for someone to help you with this problem, present the whole equation to them in a light that makes the most sense to *them*. This doesn't mean to lie, or exaggerate. It only means to focus your proposal in a way that makes them see it most personally.
5. Proofread what you have written, to be sure it says what you want it to say. Then proofread it again. And again. Get it right, because it is a hard and fast representative of you. This should be true in everything concrete you put out in the world with your name on it.
Now, all of this can be applied to writing a grant proposal. And much of it can be applied to the other things in life. Filling a job position, finding a home, working out a deteriorating relationship, educating yourself or your children ... you name it.
It's so rare that a book directed at an audience of specialists resonates with so much broadly applicable truth ... and it was such a delight to find it. I plowed through this book last night, reading every word, applying its advice mentally to all sorts of issues in my own life. I am pleased to report that it opened my eyes to solutions that had eluded me until now.
Wonderfully written, amusingly told, full of great advice to writers of all persuasive materials, this book is a gem.
I put sticky notes on half the pages.......2002-08-09
I took this book, along with many others on fundraising, out of my local library. Though I'm new to raising funds, I've made much of my living writing articles and books; I wasn't sure it would have much to teach me.
This book was so startlingly useful that I had to buy it. It will likely become your most dog-eared fundraising guide.
Puts the Fun in Fundraising.......2002-07-11
When I am on deadline and desperately in need of help, "Writing for a Good Cause" is where I turn first for guidance, solace, or inspiration (seeing as how our office manager objects to open containers of alcohol at one's desk). Not only is this book full of incredibly practical writing tips in handy list form, it is also very funny and a page turner.
The heart of the book is a clear guide to how to write a great proposal, but other valuable topics are covered, including newsletters, case statements, interviews, and the like.
In one section, the authors mix genuine examples of great fundraising writing with an imaginary proposal to fund the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. They not only convince you to help build the Brooklyn Bridge, you're ready to buy it.
The bridge is not for sale, but this book is. It is well worth its price of two fast food lunches. Buy it, read it, and be happy.
Book Description
"The ethnography of Japan is currently being reshaped by a new generation of Japanologists, and the present work certainly deserves a place in this body of literature. . . . The combination of utility with beauty makes Kondo's book required reading, for those with an interest not only in Japan but also in reflexive anthropology, women's studies, field methods, the anthropology of work, social psychology, Asian Americans, and even modern literature."—Paul H. Noguchi, American Anthropologist
"Kondo's work is significant because she goes beyond disharmony, insisting on complexity. Kondo shows that inequalities are not simply oppressive-they are meaningful ways to establish identities."—Nancy Rosenberger, Journal of Asian Studies
Customer Reviews:
A poorly written piece, lax in style and weak in intellectual rigor.......2006-05-01
Dorinne Kondo applies loose academic standards to her writing. She is unabashed about it: hers is "a strategy that expands notions of what can count as theory", and her "emphasis on complexity, power, contradiction, discursive production, and ambiguity is invoked in part to demonstrate complexity and irony in the lives of the people I knew, in order to complicate and dismantle the ready stereotypes that erase complexity in favor of simple, unitary images."
I will not tire the reader with more quotations; suffice to mention the apprentice anthropologist's record of people's "bewilderment at having to deal with this odd person who looked Japanese and therefore human, but who must be retarded, deranged, or--equally undesirable in Japanese eyes--Chinese or Korean." This may be her conception of irony and subtlety; to me, this sentence only reinforces stereotypes about the Japanese, who certainly do not all hold these views, as well as it is offensive to persons living with mental disabilities or to Korean and Chinese residents in Japan.
As she herself confesses, D. Kondo was one of those graduate students who constantly change their dissertation topic according to the last passing fad or research opportunity that happen to cross their way. She first attempted to study the relationship between kinship and economics in family-owned enterprises, in order to counter the view of the diligent and anonymous Organization Man associated with Japan, Inc. The focus of her research then shifted to the broader social and cultural context, and she attempted to write an ethnographic monograph of Arakawa, the popular ward of downtown Tokyo where she had settled to live and work. Working part time in various settings also tempted her to study labor relationships on the shop floor.
She then had her epiphany during a corporate ethics retreat organized by the confectionery factory in which she was working part time: plunging into icy baths, walking barefoot on jagged rocks and screaming expressions of filial piety in front of Mt. Fuji somehow made her realize that selves are artifacts "crafted within shifting fields of power and meaning." Exit her old research project, enter her new topic: "the Japanese concept of self." As her research advisor may have suggested to focus and problematize a bit more, she came out with a first-person narrative that adds layer upon layer of description with some theoretical developments.
While her references to Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida give a postmodernist cachet to her ethnographic account, a firm theoretical backing didn't inform the design of her fieldwork or generate research hypotheses that she would have put to the test in a rigorous way. Her poststructuralist/feminist agenda seems to be placated as an afterthought, the result of a vernis de culture that she acquired while rubbing shoulders with Judith Butler, Joan Scott and other luminaries during the postdoc fellowship she spent at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton, almost ten years after her fieldwork.
Her use of colloquial Japanese expressions, words uttered by "real people" as she says, will only add obscurity to the text for those who do not know the language, while it will prove only redundant and somewhat conceited to the readers who are conversant in Japanese. On the other hand, the paucity of Japanese sources in her bibliography shows that she wasn't able to progress much beyond that colloquial level. This bars her from confronting her hypotheses to results attained by Japanese social scientists, with the exception of well-known sources available in English, such as Chie Nakane and Takeo Doi, that the author reproduces uncritically. Although I cannot pinpoint any act of plagiarism, her indiscriminate use of these and other well-known sources left me with a sense of deja lu all over again.
Crafting Selves is advertised on its back cover as a "textually experimental book." To me, it is only a poorly written piece, lax in style and weak in intellectual rigor.
Kondo is fascinating.......2002-10-26
If you see the world in black & white, then this book probably is not for you. If, however, you are interested in challenging any preconceived notions you may have about Japan, for example, this book is an important contribution. Not a waste of paper!
A big yawn.......2002-02-25
If you are into ethnographies where lots of words have ominous quotation marks around them, then this book is for you. If you find post-modernism a whole lot of nonsense perpetuated by people who see Al Gore as a deep thinker, then you may just pick up a used copy of Let's Go Japan or Lonely Planet-- more readable and useful that this "ethnography". All those poor dead trees which died for this book...Shame!
A Successful Postmodern Ethnography.......2001-04-30
Kondo's work is a much needed example of "how" to do postmodern ethnography. There have been many theorizations about alternative ethnographies, but few good deliveries. Kondo's narrative ethnography about power and its cultural effectivity at the level of everyday life delivers. In fact, her informative and creative work was never far from my on writing table during my ethnographic research which resulted in the recent release of my ethnographic monograph, Native Americans in the Carolina Borderlands: A Critical Ethnography. Kondo's work is essential reading for anyone attempting to do ethnography about the complexities of cultural and personal identity formation and their hegemonic articulation in everyday practices. In short, Kondo takes the complicated and, oft-times, abstract theoretical renderings of poststructuralism/postmodernism and points to a way in which they can be enlivened through thick descriptions of everyday lives and situations. One of the finer and insightful aspects of her work is found in her tact of avoiding simplistic theoretical categorizing through the ethnographic utilization of irony and the notion of unintended consequences. A must have for those interested in feminist studies, Japanese culture and society, Cultural Studies, Postmodernism/Poststructuralism, and critical and alternative forms of ethnography.
Excellent ethnography of work.......2000-07-06
This is a complex and intelligent cultural ethnography of the many-layered, multi-tensioned ideas of self and identity among female Japanese factory workers. It is a "thick description," heavy on pondering the minutiae, and with little in the way of broad cross-cultural comparisons; this is neither good nor bad, just Kondo's style. The detailed nuances she brings out are wonderful; it is rare to see such careful attention to detail in a study of the workplace. However, readers rooted in traditional "rational management" traditions may want to look elsewhere, as this volume takes its inspiration from anthropology and lit-crit, not business and economics.
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