Buffalo Valley (Dakota Series #4): Debbie Macomber

• Filed under: Business

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
The fictional town of Buffalo Valley, which was the setting for Macomber’s Dakota trilogy (Always Dakota, etc.), faces a new hurdle at Christmastime in this fourth volume. Recently discharged after seven years in the army, Vaughn Kyle arrives in the North Dakota community with a double motive. The first is to meet Hassie Knight, the aging town pharmacist whose deceased son was Kyle’s namesake. The second is to secretly scope out the town for Value-X, a Wal-Mart-like chain for whom Vaughn is about to start work and for which his hard-driving girlfriend, Natalie Nichols, works as a vice-president. The meeting with Hassie affects Vaughn more than he expected, and so, in a different way, does an encounter with her assistant, Carrie Hendrickson. Wary after a painful divorce, Carrie is drawn to Kyle and offers to show him the town. Rationalizing that he’s supposed to find out as much about Buffalo Valley as possible, he agrees. Soon Kyle meets a raft of townspeople and learns about the close relationships that make the community special. He also finds himself falling for Carrie. When the news breaks that Value-X plans to build a store in town, people are outraged at the threat to their small businesses and organize to fight it. Caught in the middle, Vaughn must choose between the brittle Natalie, with whom he had discussed marriage, and the compassionate Carrie. Although there’s never any doubt that both the town and true love will triumph, Vaughn’s dilemma generates genuine tension. Macomber keeps her characters straight enough to avoid confusion and displays her usual gift for tugging on the heartstrings. Although there isn’t enough depth or suspense here to generate runaway sales, this sentimental stocking-stuffer should please fans of the series as well as new readers.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review
“As sweet and heartwarming as apple pie.”
– Booklist (Booklist )

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Financial Institutions, Markets, and Money: David S. Kidwell, David W. Blackwell, David A. Whidbee, Richard L. Peterson

• Filed under: Recommended

Editorial Reviews

Ever wonder how interest rates are determined?
Would you like to know how to read actual financial data?
Want to know what makes the financial sector really tick?
You’ll find answers to these questions and more in Kidwell, Blackwell, Whidbee, and Peterson’s Ninth Edition of Financial Institutions, Markets, and Money. Featuring a strong emphasis on fundamental concepts and how things really work in a market context, these four expert authors present a balanced, up-to-date overview of the U.S. financial system and its primary institutions and markets, coupled with an introduction to international markets.
Examine the financial system from a real-world perspective.
Now revised and updated, this Ninth Edition reflects recent events and trends in the financial system. The new edition includes even more real-world, hands-on examples, as well as new “In Practice” boxes, which describe important issues and trends in business practice. You’ll also learn how to read and interpret actual financial data.
Take a balanced look at institutions and markets.
The authors present balanced coverage of the U.S. financial system with strong emphasis on both institutions and markets. Throughout, they take a free-market approach to the analysis of economic, market, and regulatory issues.
Understand how the material relates to your life and career.
Financial Institutions, Markets, and Money, Ninth Edition is written specifically for students. The authors have a knack for explaining difficult concepts in an intuitive manner, without watering the material down. In addition, there are a number of examples related to the types of finance transactions that young professionals face, such as buying and financing a home or determining the rate of return on an investment.

From the Back Cover
Ever wonder how interest rates are determined?

Would you like to know how to read actual financial data?

Want to know what makes the financial sector really tick?

 You’ll find answers to these questions and more in Kidwell, Blackwell, Whidbee, and Peterson’s Ninth Edition of Financial Institutions, Markets, and Money. Featuring a strong emphasis on fundamental concepts and how things really work in a market context, these four expert authors present a balanced, up-to-date overview of the U.S. financial system and its primary institutions and markets, coupled with an introduction to international markets.

Examine the financial system from a real-world perspective.

Now revised and updated, this Ninth Edition reflects recent events and trends in the financial system. The new edition includes even more real-world, hands-on examples, as well as new “In Practice” boxes, which describe important issues and trends in business practice. You’ll also learn how to read and interpret actual financial data.

Take a balanced look at institutions and markets.

The authors present balanced coverage of the U.S. financial system with strong emphasis on both institutions and markets. Throughout, they take a free-market approach to the analysis of economic, market, and regulatory issues.

Understand how the material relates to your life and career.

Financial Institutions, Markets, and Money, Ninth Edition is written specifically for students. The authors have a knack for explaining difficult concepts in an intuitive manner, without watering the material down. In addition, there are a number of examples related to the types of finance transactions that young professionals face, such as buying and financing a home or determining the rate of return on an investment.

Order Financial Institutions, Markets, and Money: David S. Kidwell, David W. Blackwell, David A. Whidbee, Richard L. Peterson form Amazon.

Coach Yourself: Make Real Change in Your Life: Tony Grant, Jane Greene

• Filed under: Recommended

Editorial Reviews

Review
“Read the book, got the camera, waiting for the t-shirt. Yes, at long last I’m ready to launch into the Coach Yourself Programme. So now I can put it all off no longer and my plan of action has to start. I have photocopied pgs 200-201 eight times so can no longer run away from myself…I have to fill the little form in each day!”
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

It’s your life. What are you going to do with it?

Coach Yourself presents an array of concepts, ideas, and techniques to help you take a greater degree of control over your working life. Stimulating you to assess how you think, feel, and behave, it helps you direct yourself toward new levels of achievement and personal fulfillment.

Momentum books are for people who want to make things happen in their career and their life, who want to work at something they enjoy and that’s worthy of their talent and their time. Momentum people have values and principles. They question who they are and what they do. Wherever they work, they want to feel that what they do has meaning.

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Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization, Concepts and Cases: Michael A. Hitt, R. Duane Ireland, Robert E. Hoskisson

• Filed under: Recommended

Editorial Reviews

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.

About the Author
Michael A. Hitt is Distinguished Professor and holds the Joe B. Foster Chair in Business Leadership at Texas A&M University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado. He has authored or co-authored over 160 journal articles and co-authored or co-edited 26 separate books. Those books include: Downscoping: How to Tame the Diversified Firm (1994); Mergers and Acquisitions: A Guide to Creating Value for Stakeholders (2001); Handbook of Strategic Management (2001); Strategic Entrepreneurship: Creating A New Integrated Mindset (2002); Managing Knowledge for Sustained Competitive Advantage (2003); The Blackwell Entrepreneurship Encyclopedia (2005); Great Minds in Management: The Process of Theory Development (2005); The Global Mindset (2007); Competing for Advantage (2008); and Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization (2009). He has served on the editorial review boards of multiple journals and served as Consulting Editor (1988–1990) and Editor (1991–1993) of the Academy of Management Journal. He is the current Co-editor of the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. He serves as President of the Strategic Management Society and is a past president of the Academy of Management. He received the 1996 Award for Outstanding Academic Contributions to Competitiveness and the 1999 Award for Outstanding Intellectual Contributions to Competitiveness Research from the American Society for Competitiveness. He is Fellow in the Academy of Management and the Strategic Management Society and Research Fellow in the National Entrepreneurship Consortium. He received an honorary doctorate from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid for his contributions to the field. He received the Irwin Outstanding Educator Award and the Distinguished Service Award from the Academy of Management.

R. Duane Ireland holds the Foreman R. and Ruby S. Bennett Chair in Business in the Mays Business School, Texas A&M University. He teaches courses at undergraduate, masters, doctoral, and executive levels. He has won multiple teaching awards during his career. His research, which focuses on diversification, innovation, corporate entrepreneurship, and strategic entrepreneurship, has been published in numerous journals. Dr. Ireland has served on the editorial review board for journals such as Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, and Academy of Management Executive. He received awards for the best article published in Academy of Management Executive (1999) and Academy of Management Journal (2000). In 2001, he co-authored an article in Academy of Management Executive that was recognized with the Best Journal Article in Corporate Entrepreneurship Award from the U.S. Association for Small Business & Entrepreneurship (USASBE). Dr. Ireland is a research fellow in the National Entrepreneurship Consortium. He received the 1999 Award for Outstanding Intellectual Contributions to Competitiveness Research from the American Society for Competitiveness and the USASBE Scholar in Corporate Entrepreneurship Award (2004). Currently, he is an associate editor for Academy of Management Journal. Previously, he served as a representative-at-large on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Management.

Robert E. Hoskisson is a Professor of Strategic Management and holds the W. P. Carey Chair in the Department of Management at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. He formerly was on the faculty at the University of Oklahoma as well as Texas A&M University. He also has a special appointment at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine. His interest in Strategic Management topics has allowed him to teach overview as well as topical courses in strategic management at undergraduate, masters, and doctoral levels. He has taught international strategy and strategic alliances. His teaching and research expertise in these areas has been recognized with awards such as the 1998 award for Outstanding Academic Contributions to Competitiveness, American Society for Competitiveness, and the William G. Dyer Distinguished Alumni Award from the Marriott School of Management, Brigham Young University. Dr. Hoskisson’s articles have been published in journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, Journal of Management, and Journal of Management Studies. He is a fellow of the Academy of Management and a charter member of the Academy of Management Journals Hall of Fame. Dr. Hoskisson has completed three years of service as a representative at large on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Management and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Strategic Management Society.

Order Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization, Concepts and Cases: Michael A. Hitt, R. Duane Ireland, Robert E. Hoskisson form Amazon.

Serving Two Masters?: Reflections on God and Profit: C. William Pollard

• Filed under: Recommended

Review
“What a wonderful book. Read it!” — Ken Blanchard, Co-author The One Minute Manager

and The Secret Ken Blanchard, Co-author The One Minute Manager and The Secret

William Pollard draws upon his spiritual and practical insights––and those of other business and thought leaders––to show readers that principles of faith and smart business practices are not mutually exclusive, but can unite to strengthen corporate culture and lead to extraordinary financial success.

Imagine you are a manager at a large company. You stay current with the latest thinking in business management and leadership. You are up on the trends in sales and operations. But for the wealth of resources available, you haven’t found much support in answering some of the most important questions about your business life: How can I manage the tension of living an authentic faith while delivering ever–increasing business results? Is there meaning in my work beyond making a living? How can I understand the world of money and profit in the context of my faith or a purpose and meaning for life? Who’s been there before me?

Unlike the religious or faith–oriented books on the subject, Serving Two Masters provides practical insights from people who don’t just read Fortune or The Wall Street Journal, but who are quoted in them. Drawn from over forty years of executive experience, Pollard’s reflections will speak to everyone who has wrestled with the integration of faith and work as well as provice practical management and leadership insights taken straight from the real–world issues ServiceMaster faced when the firm was recognized by Fortune magazine as the nation’s top service company.

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Clicks and Mortar: David S. Pottruck, Terry Pearce

• Filed under: Recommended

David S. Pottruck, president and co-CEO of Charles Schwab, and Terry Pearce, founder of Leadership Communication, are among those who believe the Net will forever change the way business is conducted–if it hasn’t done so already. In Clicks and Mortar, they draw on personal experience to suggest corporate officials prepare for this new reality by refocusing their practices, principles, and passions on the real needs of a 21st-century company. The book’s first section, “Culture at the Core,” identifies corporate culture as today’s primary driver of growth and explores ways to create, improve, and sustain it (”through language, image, and ritual”) for the wired era. The book’s second section, “Leadership Practices,” examines the way our technology-dominated environment impacts organizational behavior and the qualities leaders must possess (personal integrity and open communication) to inspire the “breakthrough thinking” needed to thrive. The third section, “Management Practices,” investigates basic tools like measurement, marketing, and customer relations and describes how they can be updated for this brave new cyberworld. An additional chapter brings together eight business and academic players, including Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer and Novell’s Eric Schmidt, to speculate on the future of commerce. If you’re not afraid to use “organizational transformation” and “personal change” in the same sentence, you’ll find value here. –Howard Rothman

From Publishers Weekly
The more things change, the more you must concentrate on the basics of running your business, according to Pottruck, president and co-CEO of the Charles Schwab investment firm, and consultant Pierce, author of Leading Out Loud. In their view, the basics include creating a corporate vision that drives the firm and the company culture forward, having a leader who models that vision and keeps the company on course and implementing management practices designed to realize the vision. It is hard to disagree with these tenets, and there is nothing wrong with reviewing the basics, but the authors don’t probe very deeply into the ways that the Internet–the “clicks” in their title–affects their basic principles. They might have achieved it by exploring the insights in the final chapter–which features a “dialogue on the future” with such figures as Steve Ballmer, president of Microsoft; Lew Platt of Hewlett-Packard (who also wrote the foreword); and venture capitalist Ann Winblad in a roundtable discussion–or through a more detailed look at Charles Schwab’s integration of the Internet into its existing “retail outlets.” Instead, we get a rehash of what most leaders already know, aridly wrought in workmanlike prose. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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The Integrity Advantage: How Taking the High Road Creates a Competitive Advantage in Business: Adrian Gostick, Dana Telford, Mitt Romney

• Filed under: Recommended

With The Integrity Advantage, Adrian Gostick and Dana Telford establish a burning platform-that personal integrity is a proven competitive advantage in business. Prominent business leaders from some of North America’s most respected companies-including Don Graham of the Washington Post, former Johnson & Johnson CEO James Burke, and Hank Paulson, Jr. of Goldman Sachs-discuss the role integrity has played in their successes, and offer examples of the importance of integrity in business today. Not merely a collection of essays, the authors also share an effective system of decision-making designed to help anyone implement integrity into every action. The importance of trust and credibility within business relationships is examined and discussed, as Telford and Gostick illustrate how to juggle wealth, power, and responsibility-and be a person of character.

Given the recent uncertainty fostered by questionable corporate tactics, however, now is the time to examine what role integrity actually plays in business today, and whether employees are naturally compelled to practice these values-particularly when the leaders they follow lack integrity in their own professional behavior.

Dana Telford holds an MBA from Harvard University and has advised business leaders in the consumer banking, healthcare, publishing, retail, manufacturing, and real estate industries. He has developed and implemented strategies for client companies based all over the world. He lives in Morgan, Utah.

Adrian Gostick is director of marketing and corporate communications with the O.C. Tanner Recognition Company. His previous books include Managing with Carrots and The 24-Carrot Manager, co-authored with Chester Elton. He lives in Salt Lake City.

From the Inside Flap
Through candid interviews with some of North America’s most succesful CEOs and business leaders, authors Adrian Gostick and Dana Telford show that personal integrity is truly a competitive advantage. Without skirting issues, they challenge long-held assumptions of business–illustrating that many of us are on the proverbial edge of the cliff without even knowing it.

Through though-provoking, entertaining analysis, Gostick and Telford demonstrate how a business-person can choose integrity without sacrificing power, prestige or money. They ask leaders such as Hank Paulson, Jr., CEO of Goldman Sachs; Don Graham, chairman of the Washington Post; Shelly Lazarus, CEO of Ogilvy & Mather International; Jim Burke, chairman of Partnership for a Drug-Free America and former CEO of Johnson & Johnson; Millard Fuller, president and founder of Habitat for Humanity; and Wayne Sales, CEO of Canadian Tire how they look for, measure and identify integrity in others.

While describing ten characteristics that are consistently displayed by people with integrity, Gostick and Telford get right to the heart of putting it into action–helping the reader develop a system of decision-making so he or she can enhance his or her reputation of integrity.

In practical application, they demonstrate how to apply a standard of integrity in daily performance:

-Finding the right way in gray areas

-Creating an environment of integrity within your work team or company

-Building trust among those for whom you are responsible

Whether you are already a person of integrity or whether you want to enhance your ethical reputation, you will never forget the principles you learn in The Integrity Advantage.

See all Editorial Reviews

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Serving Two Masters?: Reflections on God and Profit: C. William Pollard

• Filed under: Recommended

Review
“What a wonderful book. Read it!” — Ken Blanchard, Co-author The One Minute Manager

and The Secret Ken Blanchard, Co-author The One Minute Manager and The Secret

William Pollard draws upon his spiritual and practical insights––and those of other business and thought leaders––to show readers that principles of faith and smart business practices are not mutually exclusive, but can unite to strengthen corporate culture and lead to extraordinary financial success.

Imagine you are a manager at a large company. You stay current with the latest thinking in business management and leadership. You are up on the trends in sales and operations. But for the wealth of resources available, you haven’t found much support in answering some of the most important questions about your business life: How can I manage the tension of living an authentic faith while delivering ever–increasing business results? Is there meaning in my work beyond making a living? How can I understand the world of money and profit in the context of my faith or a purpose and meaning for life? Who’s been there before me?

Unlike the religious or faith–oriented books on the subject, Serving Two Masters provides practical insights from people who don’t just read Fortune or The Wall Street Journal, but who are quoted in them. Drawn from over forty years of executive experience, Pollard’s reflections will speak to everyone who has wrestled with the integration of faith and work as well as provice practical management and leadership insights taken straight from the real–world issues ServiceMaster faced when the firm was recognized by Fortune magazine as the nation’s top service company.

See all Editorial Reviews

order Serving Two Masters?: Reflections on God and Profit: C. William Pollard form Amazon.

Why Economies Grow: The Forces That Shape Prosperity and How We Can Get Them Working Again: Jeff Madrick

• Filed under: Recommended

From Publishers Weekly
New York Times “Economic Scene” columnist Madrick sets out to debunk the “new economy” rhetoric that ignited the late-1990s stock market, and although his argument may seem belated, it’s far from mundane. According to the author, technological innovations aren’t just less important to economic expansion than we’ve been led to believe-they’re not even necessary. Henry Ford’s advances were much more managerial than technological, Madrick writes; therefore, improvements in marketing and distribution can prompt growth without serious technological developments. In the supply versus demand equation, Madrick tips the balance toward demand: in the last 1,000 years of economic history, desire for product has always been the motivation for expansion. Even the 19th-century invention of the commercial thresher, which vastly improved farms’ productivity, was invented to feed a growing population. Much of the book chronicles the decline of American productivity from 1970 to 1995, with Madrick asserting that stagnation inspired people to invent the fiction of a “new economy,” which, by the late ’90s, was almost exclusively identified with high-tech enterprises. Unfortunately, Madrick, a former Business Week financial editor, here plays the role of essayist, rather than journalist, foregoing specific data for broad assertions. He calls for more progressive taxes to redistribute wealth and greater public spending on education and healthcare, but his last chapter is fatalistically titled “Why We Won’t Do It,” and is a critique of the laissez-faire orthodoxy that has dominated politics and economic theory since the ’80s.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Economists believe that, to make an economy grow, many factors must be in place, such as sufficient capital or abundant natural resources, while most Americans believe that technological innovation is the sine qua non of prosperity. Madrick, a New York Times business columnist and cable TV pundit, devotes over three-quarters of this work to refuting the technological innovation thesis. Rather, he believes that the existence of viable markets is the most important element among a complicated mix of causes. Only in the penultimate chapter does he offer his prescription on how to make the economy grow, which is mostly a list of traditional liberal policies where “government” gives money and/or more services to people. Their spending, in turn, drives the economy. He notes, however, that he doesn’t think his recommendations will be implemented; our national character prevents us from relying too heavily on government. Despite many interesting insights and a strong center section on the Industrial Revolution, a weak beginning and unconvincing end sabotage what could have been a very good book. An optional purchase. Patrick J. Brunet, Western Wisconsin Tech. Coll., LaCrosse
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

order Why Economies Grow: The Forces That Shape Prosperity and How We Can Get Them Working Again: Jeff Madrick form Amazon.

Why Economies Grow: The Forces That Shape Prosperity and How We Can Get Them Working Again: Jeff Madrick

• Filed under: Recommended

From Publishers Weekly
New York Times “Economic Scene” columnist Madrick sets out to debunk the “new economy” rhetoric that ignited the late-1990s stock market, and although his argument may seem belated, it’s far from mundane. According to the author, technological innovations aren’t just less important to economic expansion than we’ve been led to believe-they’re not even necessary. Henry Ford’s advances were much more managerial than technological, Madrick writes; therefore, improvements in marketing and distribution can prompt growth without serious technological developments. In the supply versus demand equation, Madrick tips the balance toward demand: in the last 1,000 years of economic history, desire for product has always been the motivation for expansion. Even the 19th-century invention of the commercial thresher, which vastly improved farms’ productivity, was invented to feed a growing population. Much of the book chronicles the decline of American productivity from 1970 to 1995, with Madrick asserting that stagnation inspired people to invent the fiction of a “new economy,” which, by the late ’90s, was almost exclusively identified with high-tech enterprises. Unfortunately, Madrick, a former Business Week financial editor, here plays the role of essayist, rather than journalist, foregoing specific data for broad assertions. He calls for more progressive taxes to redistribute wealth and greater public spending on education and healthcare, but his last chapter is fatalistically titled “Why We Won’t Do It,” and is a critique of the laissez-faire orthodoxy that has dominated politics and economic theory since the ’80s.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Economists believe that, to make an economy grow, many factors must be in place, such as sufficient capital or abundant natural resources, while most Americans believe that technological innovation is the sine qua non of prosperity. Madrick, a New York Times business columnist and cable TV pundit, devotes over three-quarters of this work to refuting the technological innovation thesis. Rather, he believes that the existence of viable markets is the most important element among a complicated mix of causes. Only in the penultimate chapter does he offer his prescription on how to make the economy grow, which is mostly a list of traditional liberal policies where “government” gives money and/or more services to people. Their spending, in turn, drives the economy. He notes, however, that he doesn’t think his recommendations will be implemented; our national character prevents us from relying too heavily on government. Despite many interesting insights and a strong center section on the Industrial Revolution, a weak beginning and unconvincing end sabotage what could have been a very good book. An optional purchase. Patrick J. Brunet, Western Wisconsin Tech. Coll., LaCrosse
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

order Why Economies Grow: The Forces That Shape Prosperity and How We Can Get Them Working Again: Jeff Madrick form Amazon.