Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/111663
bookshelf E M E RG I NG MAR KETS R U LE AUTHORS: Mauro Guill��n and Esteban Garc��a-Canal PUBLISHER: McGraw-Hill, US$30 CHINESE APPLIANCE maker Haier took a bold step when it learned that some of its washing machines were breaking down in certain regions of China because customers were using the machinery to clean vegetables as well as to wash clothes. ���Instead of blaming customers for misusing its products, Haier designed a speci���c, dual-use model for that market niche,��� write Guill��n of the Wharton School and Garc��a-Canal of the University of Oviedo. Catering to niche markets is only one way that emerging market multinationals, or EMMs, are reshaping the global economy, they believe. These upstarts are also building strategy around execution���not the other way around���scaling to win, embracing chaos, making smart acquisitions, expanding with abandon, and ignoring sacred cows. Their fast, nimble, and responsive approaches to business are helping them topple overcautious behemoths. In this headlong race for competitive advantage, the authors note, ���street smarts have pulled even with MBA smarts.��� They offer a clear-eyed look at a wide-open market. S I D ETRACKE D AUTHOR: Francesca Gino PUBLISHER: Harvard Business Review Press, US$25 WHEN ARE YOU likely to cheat? When your opinion of yourself has been lowered because you���re wearing knockoff accessories and you feel like a fraud. That glimpse into human behavior is fascinating enough on its own, but Harvard���s Gino uses that and other insights to build her main case: The decisions we make are often affected by subtle in���uences we don���t even notice. She identi���es three forces���internal, external, and social���that can manipulate people into behaving in ways they had not intended, then she recounts the results of dozens of experiments that show how people respond to differing conditions. For instance, when subjects are told they can win prizes from 68 March/April 2013 BizEd two categories, rather than two prizes from a single pile, they put in extra effort to earn the second prize. Thus, the way choices are framed has a huge effect on how well people are motivated���a conclusion that can have profound implications in the workplace and the market place. TH E S PI R IT OF KAI Z E N AUTHOR: Robert Maurer PUBLISHER: McGraw-Hill, US$22 THE AVERAGE employee in Japan proposes 18 cost-cutting or general improvement ideas every year. The average American? One every six years. Maurer of UCLA and the University of Washington believes the difference is that Japanese corporations operate in the spirit of kaizen. The word means ���good change,��� but within the business context it refers to small, unalarming changes that don���t trigger the natural human tendency to resist or sabotage radical reforms. If management invites every employee to think of one change that will save a few dollars a year or speed up production time by 30 seconds, no one feels too overwhelmed at the challenge. Everyone works together, and the incremental improvements can lead to huge bene���ts. Maurer presents eyeopening and often charming stories of the ways kaizen has saved failing businesses, reduced employee friction, and improved product quality, all while costing little money and boosting morale. It���s such an appealing idea, there seems to be no reason not to try it. TH E SOU L OF D E S IG N AUTHORS: Lee Devin and Robert D. Austin PUBLISHER: Stanford Business Books, US$24.95 WHAT MAKES special products��� Apple iPads, Vipp trash bins, Bang & Olufsen TVs���so special? Theater professional Devin and Copenhagen Business School professor Austin are determined to