Crown Business, 1991, [Business] Grade 3
In the early 1970’s Royal Dutch Shell formed a unit called Group Planning. Lead by Pierre Wack this group made scenario planning a part of the strategic process in the company. When OPEC caught the rest of the world by surprise by declaring an oil embargo in 1973, Shell was mentally... Further reading... Link to Amazon...
Crown Business, 2014, [Business] Grade 5
From Zero to One is the brilliant title of Peter Thiel’s new book on innovation and startups. He argues that we have only focused on “globalization” (taking things that work somewhere and making them work everywhere) or 1 → n for the last 40 years or so. I have to agree, and we all... Further reading... Link to Amazon...
Pocket Books, 1st edition 1999 – paperback edition 2007, [Business] Grade 3
This is a book from the recent past about the future of marketing. With remarkable foresight the entrepreneur, Internet guru and author Seth Godin in 1997, when he wrote this book, foresaw the change in marketing practices that some in the profession still struggle to understand. In some... Further reading... Link to Amazon...
Butterworth Heinemann, 2002, [Business] Grade 2
This is an over ten-year-old book on a subject – relationship marketing - that has grown in importance with the spreading of the Internet, e-commerce and of what’s become know as “big data”. Evert Gummesson is Professor Emeritus of Service Marketing and Management at the... Further Reading... Link to Amazon...
Portfolio Penguin, 2012 [Equity Investing] Grade 3
Last month, one of the most influential business journalists of our time decided it was time to hang up the pen. Carol J. Loomis, the longest-tenured journalist ever at Fortune Magazine (60 years!) was recently described as the business writer combination of Cal Ripken Jr (durability... Further reading... Link to Amazon...
Jossey-Bass, 2014, [Business] Grade 3
The first word that strikes me when I think of The Soft Edge is Infotainment. Rich Karlgaard, entrepreneur, columnist and publisher of Forbes magazine is a genuinely skilled writer and this book is a pleasure to read. The set up is a string of coherent short stories on different topics... Further reading... Link to Amazon...
John Wiley & Sons, 2013, [Business] Grade 4
In the second half of the 1980’s shareholders were waking up to the enormous waste inflicted by managements who instead of acting as trustees for the owners milked the companies for perks, money and social benefits. This pawed the way for the corporate raiders of the day, but also... Further Reading... Link to Amazon...
Penguin Group, 2009, [Surrounding Knowledge] Grade 4
The video “How great leaders inspire actions” has been viewed over 3 million times at YouTube and it’s the 3rd most viewed TED-talk ever. Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle of “Why, How and What” is a hit. This book builds and expands on the presentation trying to codify the reason why... Further Reading... Link to Amazon...
John Wiley & Sons, 2007, [Business] Grade 4
If you are interested in applied management theory, this is probably the book for you. At first, however, I was not impressed. I thought I had read more updated and sophisticated theory, but after a while the book became more and more fascinating. Suddenly I realized that Koch... Further Reading... Link to Amazon...
John Wiley & Sons, 2012, [Equity Investing] Grade 4
The mind constantly plays tricks with investors. In a stressful - potentially loss-making - situation the negative pressure risks short-circuiting our analytical ability and when looking at new investments greed makes the investor susceptible to buying into management’s song and... Further reading... Link to Amazon...
Palgrave Macmillan 2014, [Equity Investing], Grade 5
“Hang out with people better than you, and you cannot help but improve”. This book by one of the most prolific second-generation Buffetteers is about building the appropriate investment foundation, about setting up the right environment, about the triumphs of an inner scorecard... Further reading... Link to Amazon...
Princeton University Press, 2011, [Economics] Grade 5
Beyond Mechanical Markets is among the best and most rewarding books I have read for a long time. Two renowned professors at NYU and UNH, present an economic theory—Contingent Market Hypothesis—that explains how the financial markets really work. I believe most... Further Reading... Link to Amazon...
John Wiley & Sons, 2014, [Equity Investing] Grade 4
In a capitalistic economy with free market entry new competition will ensure that any existing company’s surplus financial returns will evaporate over time. That is, unless there is something that interferes and protects the incumbents from new competition. Few have spent more time... Further Reading... Link to Amazon...
Prentice Hall, 2009, [Surrounding Knowledge] Grade 3
According to Daniel Pink’s latest bestseller To Sell is Human we are all in sales now. Shaun Varga would probably agree and this book will help you excel in one specific sales process, the pitch. Varga - after a long career in advertising, PR and marketing - manages a consultancy... Further reading... Link to Amazon...
Canongate, 2009, [Surrounding Knowledge] Grade 4
To get the job done an employer needs to motivate his staff. According to Daniel Pink the traditional theories on how that’s done are outdated and needs an upgrade. Business managers are using old tools. Pink is an accomplished business journalist who, by popularizing... Further reading... Link to Amazon...
John Wiley & Sons, 2005, [Business] Grade 4
The old ceremonial type of passive board that rubber-stamped CEO’s decisions are gone in most parts of the world. Boards nowadays have a real say in how a company will conduct its business. At the same time institutional investors, NGOs and other parties have increased their... Further reading... Link to Amazon...
Crown Publishers, 2014, [Economics] Grade 4
Geithner’s Stress Test must be a perfect summer reading for financial markets addicts. It is engaging, informative and gives an alarming awakening for anyone who has forgotten the Global Financial Crisis’s initial drama. I even got the same thrill from it as from “Too Big Too Fail”... Further reading... Link to Amazon...
BN Publishing, 2009, [Equity Investing] Grade 4
As a book these 100 pages is a triviality. It contains four speeches for MBA students made by Warren Buffett between 1998 and 2005. On the other hand the content of the talks are far from trivial, even if the mundane language of Buffet could mask the importance of what is being said. Further reading... Link to Amazon...
Wiley & Sons, 2007, [Equity Investing] Grade 5
Reading this book in 2007, it had an immense impact on my thinking. The gravitating pull from valuations in a range-bound market – one of the book’s core ideas – nicely interlinked with the identification of great franchises. Active Value Investing also hit home in a few other ways... Further reading... Link to Amazon...
Wiley & Sons, 2010, [Business] Grade 3
Here’s the scenario: Exactly one decade into a successful, industry-transforming journey as a housebuilder of the future – in the booming housing market of the U.S. in the 1960s – the company suddenly decides to acquire a sleepy, family-owned life insurer, using up a considerable... Further reading... Link to Amazon...
