BizEd

SeptOct2006

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Bookshelf "People take actions they perceive as fun, easy, popular, and reward- ing," writes Katya Andresen—and good marketers will find ways to make their products appeal to consumers on those levels. What's interest- ing is that Andresen isn't talking about getting custom- ers to buy an athletic shoe or a soft drink. In Robin Hood Marketing, she's telling directors of charities and nonprofits to use corporate market- ing strategies to win converts to social causes. Like corporate CEOs, those running charitable organiza- tions need to learn how to get their messages across by focusing on what the customer wants to hear, not what the organization has to tell. The book is full of pointed advice, terrific examples, and heartfelt con- viction. "We will succeed if we can transform ourselves from missionar- ies into marketers with a mission," Andresen says. (Jossey-Bass, $24.95) CEOs have to focus on their customers and their competitors to make sure they're keeping up with the mar- ket—but if they're not careful, they can be ambushed by twists and trends that are reshaping their industries from the fringes. To discern what's going on out- side their direct lines of sight, corporate leaders need Periph- eral Vision, accord- ing to George S. Day and Paul J.H. Schoemaker. To scan for potentially redefining—or damaging—trends, business leaders must know where 62 BizEd SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2006 "WE WILL SUCCEED IF WE CAN TRANSFORM OURSELVES FROM MISSIONARIES INTO MARKETERS WITH A MISSION." —Robin Hood Marketing and how to look, how to interpret what they find, and how to act on new information. "The problem with signals from the periphery is that they are often faint and ambiguous," warn the authors, who are both affiliated with the Wharton School. Yet, they also provide useful tools for separating the static from the warning sirens. They suggest ways to harness the Internet, sift through media reports, examine unfamiliar industries, and interact with custom- ers to get a sense of what's coming next and how it can radically change the face of business. (Harvard Busi- ness School Press, $29.95) More and more people are posting their thoughts on easily accessible online sites known as Web logs—or blogs— and some of those people work at companies big and small. In The Corporate Blogging Book, Debbie Weil explains what a blog is, how it can benefit an organiza- tion, what potential legal risks it presents, and what it might do for an organization once it's launched. She makes a persuasive case for blogging as the new century's best method for staying in touch with customers, both to learn what they want and to shape the news they hear about the organization. Busi- ness schools can take away two mes- sages from her brisk and engaging book. On the one hand, it offers a comprehensive overview of an emerging marketing strategy that today's business students need to understand. On the other, it pro- vides schools with dozens of ideas for how to use this new marketing tool to reach their own stakeholders in a fresh new fashion. (Portfolio, $23.95) While it's become popular to refer to the "accounting failures" of the last few years, accounting troubles only exac- erbated or failed to uncover the real problems that led to the downfall of major companies. "Worldwide, there was something rotten at the core of corporate life," according to Stewart Hamilton and Alicia Micklethwait in Greed and Corporate Failure. They deconstruct a number of high-profile and inter- national meltdowns—Barings Bank, Enron, Marconi, Parmalat, Swissair, and more—to come up with their own list of reasons companies fail. It's short: poor strategic decisions; overexpansion; dominant CEOs; greed and hubris; failure of internal controls; and ineffective or "supine" boards of directors. The authors do more than point fingers. After a close look at the ways each of their case study companies was brought down, they suggest tough solu- tions—and predict where the next round of scandals may occur if the financial world doesn't pay atten- tion. (Palgrave MacMillan, $42.50) Most experts predict that, in the 21st century, China will overtake America as the world's foremost economic power, and in his book In China's Shadow, Reed Hundt explains how.

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