For the business executive in desperate need of organizational guidance, this quick primer could be helpful.
A brief instructional manual designed to teach business leaders how to more efficiently identify and solve problems.
Petermann’s first book is an exercise in concision: In about 50 pages, he lays out an intricate, rational process for finding and trimming business waste. The central concept is that of the “kaizen”—a “small group of employees voluntarily working together to solve problems or make improvement in their work area.” In other words, it’s a team specifically selected to address a problem and search for solutions, drawing upon the “collective knowledge of the people closest to the problem and those most impacted by the results.” Based on a combination of Toyota’s LEAN managing process and the Six Sigma improvement process, the main thrust of the book is devoted to parsing the entire metho of problem-solving using such a kaizen. Starting from the selection of the team, Petermann covers the discovery of waste, the collection and analysis of data, the testing of solutions and the implementation of the one finally agreed upon. The approach focuses on the role of the leader; three separate chapters address the characteristics and responsibilities required of the leader, including some additional tips delivered in bullet-point style. The advice is always lucidly dispatched, often in the form of enumerated lists and short, accessible paragraphs. About a quarter of the work comprises visual aids packaged in a “Toolkit” section meant to illustratively clarify concepts such as brainstorming, replete with ready-made checklists and mnemonic formulas for various business processes. This section, however, is the least useful of the work, as it needlessly muddies simple notions that don’t call for simplification. The central defect of the book is that it goes to great pains to systematize what should largely count as common sense. For example, the business executive who needs to be reminded to bring paper and pencils to a meeting might need more than this book can provide.
For the business executive in desperate need of organizational guidance, this quick primer could be helpful.Pub Date: April 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-1493582723
Page Count: 60
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 3, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.
A well-constructed critique of an economic system that, by the author’s account, is a driver of the world’s destruction.
Harvard Business School professor Henderson vigorously questions the bromide that “management’s only duty is to maximize shareholder value,” a notion advanced by Milton Friedman and accepted uncritically in business schools ever since. By that logic, writes the author, there is no reason why corporations should not fish out the oceans, raise drug prices, militate against public education (since it costs tax money), and otherwise behave ruinously and anti-socially. Many do, even though an alternative theory of business organization argues that corporations and society should enjoy a symbiotic relationship of mutual benefit, which includes corporate investment in what economists call public goods. Given that the history of humankind is “the story of our increasing ability to cooperate at larger and larger scales,” one would hope that in the face of environmental degradation and other threats, we might adopt the symbiotic model rather than the winner-take-all one. Problems abound, of course, including that of the “free rider,” the corporation that takes the benefits from collaborative agreements but does none of the work. Henderson examines case studies such as a large food company that emphasized environmentally responsible production and in turn built “purpose-led, sustainable living brands” and otherwise led the way in increasing shareholder value by reducing risk while building demand. The author argues that the “short-termism” that dominates corporate thinking needs to be adjusted to a longer view even though the larger problem might be better characterized as “failure of information.” Henderson closes with a set of prescriptions for bringing a more equitable economics to the personal level, one that, among other things, asks us to step outside routine—eat less meat, drive less—and become active in forcing corporations (and politicians) to be better citizens.
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.Pub Date: May 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5417-3015-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
A welcome contribution from a newcomer who provides both a different view and balance in addressing one of the country's...
A fresh, provocative analysis of the debate on education and employment.
Up-and-coming economist Moretti (Economics/Univ. of California, Berkeley) takes issue with the “[w]idespread misconception…that the problem of inequality in the United States is all about the gap between the top one percent and the remaining 99 percent.” The most important aspect of inequality today, he writes, is the widening gap between the 45 million workers with college degrees and the 80 million without—a difference he claims affects every area of peoples' lives. The college-educated part of the population underpins the growth of America's economy of innovation in life sciences, information technology, media and other areas of globally leading research work. Moretti studies the relationship among geographic concentration, innovation and workplace education levels to identify the direct and indirect benefits. He shows that this clustering favors the promotion of self-feeding processes of growth, directly affecting wage levels, both in the innovative industries as well as the sectors that service them. Indirect benefits also accrue from knowledge and other spillovers, which accompany clustering in innovation hubs. Moretti presents research-based evidence supporting his view that the public and private economic benefits of education and research are such that increased federal subsidies would more than pay for themselves. The author fears the development of geographic segregation and Balkanization along education lines if these issues of long-term economic benefits are left inadequately addressed.
A welcome contribution from a newcomer who provides both a different view and balance in addressing one of the country's more profound problems.Pub Date: May 5, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-547-75011-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
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