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bookshelf T TH E B US I N E SS SCHOOL I N TH E TWE NTY-FI R ST CE NTU RY AUTHORS: Howard Thomas, Peter Lorange, and Jagdish Sheth PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press, US$58.50 IS MANAGEMENT EDUCATION at a tipping point—or perhaps a tripping point, on the way to falling—as these authors suggest? They summarize how the industry got to the point where it is now, tracing the evolution of management education in Europe, the U.S., and Asia. And, like other critics, they decry the homogenization of programming, the emphasis on shareholder value, and the commitment to theoretical research, particularly in the U.S. As they encourage business schools to reinvent themselves, they examine diverse models offered by institutions such as UC Berkeley, the University of Toronto, Open University, and others. The authors—Thomas of Singapore Management University, Lorange of the Lorange Institute of Business, and Sheth of Emory—suggest various strategies schools can follow to stay viable, from reworking the curriculum to forming tighter corporate partnerships to designing new financial models. They're not sure deans "have the stomach and expertise to drive through reforms." But they're sure reform is needed. AB SOLUTE VALU E AUTHORS: Itamar Simonson and Emanuel Rosen PUBLISHER: Harper Business, US$27.99 THE INTERNET HAS changed everything, including marketing. In the past, marketers believed that customers made purchases based on factors like loyalty, brand awareness, and a certain amount of irrationality; in addition, marketers could craftily line up cheaper or costlier options to guide c buyers toward specific b mid-range products. m But today, when search B engines and smartphones allow consumers to instantly access reams of data about a product—including its price point, its technical specs, and its latest reviews—marketers have far less power. Simonson of Stanford and Rosen, a former marketing executive, identify three components of the Influence Mix, their framework for determining how customers make buying decisions: a customer's 66 January/February 2014 BizEd prior experience, the marketer's skill, and the data that can be acquired through information services and other people's opinions. Today, customers rely on outside data for more and more purchases—that's a sign, say the authors, that "marketing is changing forever." TI LT AUTHOR: Niraj Dawar PUBLISHER: Harvard Business Review Press, US$28 HISTORICALLY, COMPANIES looking for competitive advantage have focused on upstream improvements: products that are better, faster, or cheaper to produce. But in a world where innovations are rapidly copied by competitors, and where so many products are quickly commoditized, the real advantages lie with downstream improvements, according to Dawar of Western University's Ivey Business School. By this he means "the interactions that take place in the marketplace. Trust, reliability of supply, service, knowledge, experience, and reputation cannot be made in a factory or packaged and sold off the shelf." In Dawar's model, the dominant Industrial Age question of "How much more can we sell?" is replaced by "Why do customers buy from us?" and "What else does the customer need?" Answering these questions has led Janssen Pharmaceutica to create an online game designed to help ADHD patients learn time management and planning skills so they aren't just relying on drugs. It's only one of many intriguing case studies Dawar uses to make his point. NO EXCUS E S AUTHORS: Jennifer Robin and Michael Burchell PUBLISHER: Jossey-Bass, US$26.99 IN A PREVIOUS BOOK, the authors explored the best ways to create a great workplace. In this follow-up, they examine why many business leaders believe their own organizations can't achieve that kind of great-