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Factors that Determine Entrepreneurial Behaviour in Micro and Small Enterprises in Kenya
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Learning Entrepreneurship Through Indigenous Knowledge
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In Learning Entrepreneurship Through Indigenous Knowledge the authors extract knowledge from a sampling of proverbs and sayings, and ingeniously apply this to entrepreneurship. They innovatively employ educative storytelling to concretize the application of the knowledge to business. The stories used are easy to follow given they are drawn from ordinary lives. They are stories that most readers are likely to relate to, given that these stories are drawn from familiar environments and in familiar settings. The work demonstrates the richness of indigenous information and its relevance to today’s marketplace.
This work will be useful to those that would like to extend the scope of their entrepreneurial information while drawing inspiration from traditional heritage. There is something in this book for students, teachers, businesspeople and researchers in the subject of entrepreneurship. This work provides a glimpse into the potential of the indigenous knowledge base and should inspire similar future works demonstrating relevance of indigenous heritage to other aspects of contemporary life.
What Others Say
“This is a well thought out idea given the entrepreneurial efforts that are currently underway. It is a good book that targets the forgotten groups of people thus the school children, the youth and the general readership. … It contains very interesting stories that motivate the young and old alike to read and understand the entrepreneurial ideas being passed on.” – Dr. Nelson H. Were Wawire; Senior Lecturer, Department of Applied Economics; Kenyatta University.
“It’s unique in making a link between folktales and entrepreneurship, especially when the authors draw insights or lessons learned from each story.” – Dr Luvisia Bakuli, Lecturer & IT Professional
“The stories told are very humorous and stark to the point leaving no room for ambiguity. The Business concepts are tackled with clarity and brevity in a businesslike manner. – Everret Wakoli, Engineer
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Why We Tell Stories
Storytelling was an intrinsic activity in traditional African communities. Typically told by older people, usually grandmothers and grandfathers, stories were a way of life for the young and old alike, linking the past, present and future of those societies. Set as they were around a fire, the storytelling tradition strengthened communal ties between the old and the young, and as reinforced bonds among the young.
Stories emphasized shared culture, cultural values and history that were the foundation of the society’s ties. They underscored important societies’ traditions, beliefs and other norms.
From the old, the young learnt lessons about their community that to affirmed their collective identity. They learnt and internalized moral values such as honesty, courage, respect, solidarity and caring for others. Invariably, stories discouraged greed and selfishness. Further, the tales captured the essence of the environment in which the people lived while reinforcing their core values. They contributed to character-building through appreciation of the moral of the stories.
In Why We Tell Stories, Dorcas Kiptoo and Arthur Dobrin bring their storytelling experiences and expertise to the fore through a selection of from the African folklore. Even as the two look back to societies of yore to dig up the tales, the inherent lessons remain as relevant in contemporary times as they were ages ago.
About the Authors
Dorcas Kiptoo was born in Mogotio, Kenya. She attended Kenyatta University where she earned her Bachelor of Education degree. She currently lives in New York.
Themes in Language, Education & Development in Kenya
Language plays a major role in the development of societies and nations. Themes in Language, Education & Development in Kenya is a collection of fourteen scholarly articles on aspects of language and its relationship with, society, education and development in Kenya. The authors follow Morgan Dalphinis remarks that:
"... to speak a language means more than an exercise in the use of a given syntax and morphology, it implies the support of a whole culture and civilization. Moreover, it is in language that people learn, relate to each other as social animals in a material world of production, reproduction, distribution and exchange".
It is not only important to understand specific languages but to also appreciate associated structural linguistics as a means of appreciating the underlying, rich cultural aspects of those languages. In this book, authors capture the richness of language and linguistics aspects of some of Kenyan languages, namely Kiswahili, EkeGusii, Dholuo and Ateso as well as appropriated languages used in Kenya such as English and French.
Themes in Language, Education & Development in Kenya discusses aspects of language and its relationship with society, education and development in Kenya. As much as possible, the authors have anchored their arguments on relevant theoretical and conceptual frameworks with chapters written either in English or Kiswahili while the abstracts are written in a different language from that of the body of the chapter.
The book is divided into three major themes: Theoretical Linguistics and Language in Society, Language and Education, and Language and Development.
Educators, students and general readers interested in issues of language, linguistics, pedagogy and development will find great benefit from this book. In particular, students and lecturers of African linguistics, English, Kiswahili, Education and Sociology would be great beneficiaries.
What others say
This edited volume comprises detailed, substantive, methodological and theoretical research by fine investigators and practitioners in linguistics, English, French, Kiswahili, education and development. It is so detailed and a must-read piece of work for scholars interested in the interface between language and other fields. -- Bob Mbori, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kakamega
Writing/compiling an edited book requires masterful selection of articles that ensure the common thread runs through the chapters. This book achieves this by putting language firmly in the agenda of education and development in Kenya. -- Hilary K. Sang, Department of Linguistics and Foreign Languages, Moi University
This is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in languages, education and development beyond Kenyan borders. It sets the pace and a new trend for research in African languages. -- Gilbert Gumoshabe, Makerere University, Uganda
A note about contributors
Writers come with diverse experience and education in the subject of languages, ranging from linguistics, language in society, education and development. Their varied education background and experience reflects their international training and linkages. In turn, this finds expression in the associated essays.
A Mysterious Woman
A Mysterious Woman is a captivating story of Nyang’arisa, the protagonist and a woman who chose a life of crime for survival. Unlike what society is accustomed to, Nyang’arisa joins a group of men, her ‘business partners,’ to make a living through an unlawful acquisition of what belongs to others.
After some time, Nyang’arisa finds love in a young, hardworking, and loving man, Michael, whom she later marries. The thought of Michael knowing of her life in crime makes her scared and restless. She chooses to lead a mysterious life, with her history hidden from her husband and family. Nyang’arisa builds a new family, her tainted past notwithstanding. However, she lives always looking back over her shoulder with the nagging thought that her past might one day catch up with her.
True to her thoughts, her past catches up with her as she ends up spending the rest of her life behind bars.
Jesus’ Africa by Patience Museveni Rwabwogo
Patience Museveni Rwabwogo’s Jesus’ Africa provides a refreshing view concerning contemporary issues confronting the African continent and her people, duly captured thematically as rebuilding Africa’s walls. Tracing the continent’s historical domination through the times of slavery, the era of colonialism and the post-independence period, the continent has been at the ‘short end of the stick’ of the global development agenda.
That past, notwithstanding, the work sends a powerful message of hope that Africa will arise through, in part, understanding the continent’s place on this earth and the role it is poised to play in global development. The past is important, yes. However, the future must be of prime concern.
To rebuild her walls, the continent would rely on her spiritual pulse and deep conviction that would assure the realization of its rightful place.
Illustrating with examples from the Bible, Patience makes the biblical stories relevant to the much-desired African Renaissance with her walls fully restored.
Vyama Institutions of Hope
This book makes the case for informal sector institutions in development theory. Through practical examples and interviews conducted in Kenya, the author captures how ordinary people organize themselves to meet daily economic and development challenges. The author traces how ordinary people (wananchi) use non-mainstream mechanisms in the form vyama (social groups) to enable individual, group and community development. The book offers insights into the evolution of vyama (institutions of hope) and the role these institutions continue to play in realizing economic growth: wealth creation and distribution; investments, social protection; and general community development.
The work shows how, despite historical disruptions, modernization and neo-liberal policies, ordinary people creatively borrow from tradition. In the process, they use collective mechanisms for resource mobilization, investment, risk-sharing and shared gains for the common good. The author offers pointers into the future and how the chama concept can become mainstream in a people’s economic development.
What others say
“The analysis is rigorous. It is highly original, emotive, and an excellent piece of work. It makes a major contribution to our knowledge of the proto-proletariat and the informal sector in the developing world. - How the author beautifully weaves anecdotes from classical African novels into her analysis to reinforce her argument makes this work distinctive and unique.” - Professor MBK Darkoh, University of Botswana
“This book is based on real life cases in an area that most scholars have not ventured into. It is a major addition of new findings in the body of knowledge. The presentation is clear, understandable and would appeal to most readers.” –Paul Kamau, PhD, Senior Research Fellow, University of Nairobi
“The strength of this book is the way it has managed to present the lives of the ordinary people as not hopeless, but rather the base where future development for Africa could be emerging. The book starts from the grassroots and the development actions and innovations taking place there based on the needs as experienced by the ordinary people, rather than the technical fixes of development experts that follow the books rather than the actual needs of the people being developed.” – Professor Beth Maina Ahlberg, PhD, Professor of International Health, Uppsala University
“This book demonstrates how ordinary citizens have discovered the power in tapping into social relations and are proactively solving their own socio-political and economic challenges. It calls for the incorporation of the ordinary citizen in development planning with a view of enabling them to receive value from and add value to the globalization and integration process. For anyone who is interested to see Africa play an important role in the global agenda, this is not a book to be ignored.” -- Josephat Juma, Managing Editor, The African Executive magazine.
The Airlift Orphan
The seed from which this book germinated was the Tom Mboya/Kennedy airlifts which took place in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Dozens of young bright students from Kenya were given a chance to further their education in the United States of America. A Kenyan visionary, politician and trade unionist, Tom Joseph Mboya, had seen that an independent Kenya would need its own well educated citizens to steer the new nation as most of the colonial government workers were leaving.
Kendi, the chief persona in the story, is daughter of a man who left his pregnant lover behind and failed to come back. The travails that Kendi and her mother go through at the hands of a ruthless society is the real gist of this story.
The story is entirely fictional but is primarily based on a historical event which actually took place.
The Airlift Orphan is a moving tale of, betrayal, sorrow, love and ultimate redemption. Despite being based on historical happenings, the story is timeless and will entertain readers for generations to come.
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Zero to One by Peter Thiel
If you want to build a better future, you must believe in secrets. The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One , legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shows how we can find singular ways to create those new things.
Thiel begins with the contrarian premise that we live in an age of technological stagnation, even if we’re too distracted by shiny mobile devices to notice. Information technology has improved rapidly, but there is no reason why progress should be limited to computers or Silicon Valley.
Progress can be achieved in any industry or area of business. It comes from the most important skill that every leader must master: learning to think for yourself. Doing what someone else already knows how to do takes the world from 1 to n, adding more of something familiar. But when you do something new, you go from 0 to 1. The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system.
The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine. Tomorrow’s champions will not win by competing ruthlessly in today’s marketplace. They will escape competition altogether, because their businesses will be unique. Zero to One presents at once an optimistic view of the future of progress in America and a new way of thinking about innovation: it starts by learning to ask the questions that lead you to find value in unexpected places.
22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al Ries and Laura Ries
This marketing classic has been expanded to include new commentary, new illustrations, and a bonus book: The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding.
Smart and accessible, The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding is the definitive text on branding, pairing anecdotes about some of the best brands in the world, like Rolex, Volvo, and Heineken, with the signature savvy of marketing gurus Al and Laura Ries.
Combining The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding and The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding, this book proclaims that the only way to stand out in today's marketplace is to build your product or service into a brand—and provides the step-by-step instructions you need to do so.
The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding also tackles one of the most challenging marketing problems today: branding on the Web. The Rieses divulge the controversial and counterintuitive strategies and secrets that both small and large companies have used to establish internet brands. The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding is the essential primer on building a category-dominating, world-class brand.
Nudge by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
Every day, we make decisions on topics ranging from personal investments to schools for our children to the meals we eat to the causes we champion. Unfortunately, we often choose poorly. The reason, the authors explain, is that, being human, we all are susceptible to various biases that can lead us to blunder. Our mistakes make us poorer and less healthy; we often make bad decisions involving education, personal finance, health care, mortgages and credit cards, the family, and even the planet itself.
Thaler and Sunstein invite us to enter an alternative world, one that takes our humanness as a given. They show that by knowing how people think, we can design choice environments that make it easier for people to choose what is best for themselves, their families, and their society.
Using colorful examples from the most important aspects of life, Thaler and Sunstein demonstrate how thoughtful "choice architecture” can be established to nudge us in beneficial directions without restricting freedom of choice. Nudge offers a unique new take—from neither the left nor the right—on many hot-button issues, for individuals and governments alike. This is one of the most engaging and provocative books to come along in many years.
The Innovators by Walter Isaacson
The computer and the internet are among the most important innovations of our era, but few people know who created them.
They were not conjured up in a garret or garage by solo inventors suitable to be singled out on magazine covers or put into a pantheon with Edison, Bell, and Morse. Instead, most of the innovations of the digital age were done collaboratively.
There were a lot of fascinating people involved, some ingenious and a few even geniuses. This is the story of these pioneers, hackers, inventors, and entrepreneurs—who they were, how their minds worked, and what made them so creative. It’s also a narrative of how they collaborated and why their ability to work as teams made them even more creative.”
The E Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
E-Myth No.1: the entrepreneurial myth: the myth that most people who start small businesses are entrepreneurs 2: the fatal assumption that an individual who understands the technical work of a business can successfully run a business that does that technical work
Voted #1 business book by Inc. 500 CEOs.
An instant classic, this revised and updated edition of the phenomenal bestseller dispels the myths about starting your own business. Small business consultant and author Michael E. Gerber, with sharp insight gained from years of experience, points out how common assumptions, expectations, and even technical expertise can get in the way of running a successful business.
Gerber walks you through the steps in the life of a business—from entrepreneurial infancy through adolescent growing pains to the mature entrepreneurial perspective: the guiding light of all businesses that succeed—and shows how to apply the lessons of franchising to any business, whether or not it is a franchise.
Most importantly, Gerber draws the vital, often overlooked distinction between working on your business and working in your business.
The E-Myth Revisited will help you grow your business in a productive, assured way.
Titan The Life of John D Rockefeller Sr
John D. Rockefeller, Sr.--history's first billionaire and the patriarch of America's most famous dynasty--is an icon whose true nature has eluded three generations of historians.
Now Ron Chernow, the National Book Award-winning biographer of the Morgan and Warburg banking families, gives us a history of the mogul "etched with uncommon objectivity and literary grace . . . as detailed, balanced, and psychologically insightful a portrait of the tycoon as we may ever have" (Kirkus Reviews).
Titan is the first full-length biography based on unrestricted access to Rockefeller's exceptionally rich trove of papers. A landmark publication full of startling revelations, the book will indelibly alter our image of this most enigmatic capitalist.
Born the son of a flamboyant, bigamous snake-oil salesman and a pious, straitlaced mother, Rockefeller rose from rustic origins to become the world's richest man by creating America's most powerful and feared monopoly, Standard Oil. Branded "the Octopus" by legions of muckrakers, the trust refined and marketed nearly 90 percent of the oil produced in America.
Rockefeller was likely the most controversial businessman in our nation's history. Critics charged that his empire was built on unscrupulous tactics: grand-scale collusion with the railroads, predatory pricing, industrial espionage, and wholesale bribery of political officials. The titan spent more than thirty years dodging investigations until Teddy Roosevelt and his trustbusters embarked on a marathon crusade to bring Standard Oil to bay.
While providing abundant new evidence of Rockefeller's misdeeds, Chernow discards the stereotype of the cold-blooded monster to sketch an unforgettably human portrait of a quirky, eccentric original. A devout Baptist and temperance advocate, Rockefeller gave money more generously--his chosen philanthropies included the Rockefeller Foundation, the University of Chicago, and what is today Rockefeller University--than anyone before him.
Titan presents a finely nuanced portrait of a fascinating, complex man, synthesizing his public and private lives and disclosing numerous family scandals, tragedies, and misfortunes that have never before come to light.
John D. Rockefeller's story captures a pivotal moment in American history, documenting the dramatic post-Civil War shift from small business to the rise of giant corporations that irrevocably transformed the nation.
With cameos by Joseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst, Jay Gould, William Vanderbilt, Ida Tarbell, Andrew Carnegie, Carl Jung, J. Pierpont Morgan, William James, Henry Clay Frick, Mark Twain, and Will Rogers, Titan turns Rockefeller's life into a vivid tapestry of American society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
It is Ron Chernow's signal triumph that he narrates this monumental saga with all the sweep, drama, and insight that this giant subject deserves.
How The Mighty Fall by Jim Collins
Brief Summary
Decline can be avoided. Decline can be detected. Decline can be reversed. Amidst the desolate landscape of fallen great companies, Jim Collins began to wonder: How do the mighty fall? Can decline be detected early and avoided? How far can a company fall before the path toward doom becomes inevitable and unshakable? How can companies reverse course? In How the Mighty Fall, Collins confronts these questions, offering leaders the well-founded hope that they can learn how to stave off decline and, if they find themselves falling, reverse their course.
Collins' research project—more than four years in duration—uncovered five step-wise stages of decline:
Stage 1: Hubris Born of Success
Stage 2: Undisciplined Pursuit of More
Stage 3: Denial of Risk and Peril Stage 4: Grasping for Salvation
Stage 5: Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death By understanding these stages of decline, leaders can substantially reduce their chances of falling all the way to the bottom. Great companies can stumble, badly, and recover.
Every institution, no matter how great, is vulnerable to decline.
There is no law of nature that the most powerful will inevitably remain at the top. Anyone can fall and most eventually do. But, as Collins' research emphasizes, some companies do indeed recover—in some cases, coming back even stronger—even after having crashed into the depths of Stage 4. Decline, it turns out, is largely self-inflicted, and the path to recovery lies largely within our own hands. We are not imprisoned by our circumstances, our history, or even our staggering defeats along the way. As long as we never get entirely knocked out of the game, hope always remains. The mighty can fall, but they can often rise again"
Africas Greatest Entrepreneurs by Moky Makura
Africa's Greatest Entrepreneurs comprises of a series of profiles on some of the most successful and dynamic businesspeople currently operating in Africa.
Each chapter is dedicated to a single entrepreneur and will focus on the personality as well as the story of how they achieved their success in their particular environment or field.
The narrative will focus on the personal success stories of these self-starters in the context of the economic and political climate of their respective markets.
Issues discussed include: how they started in business; their defining moments; the challenges they faced and how they overcame them; their frustrations and achievements; what kept them going; what they learned in the process; things they would have done differently; their relationship with the political power structures; their opinions on leadership, on Africa's future; their heroes and villains, and finally, the legacy they leave behind.
The book is inspiring and will provide a better understanding of who the real powerbrokers in Africa are. It will give an unprecedented insight into unique and successful African entrepreneurs as well as first-hand experiences of the realities of how to get things done on the continent.
Africa's Greatest Entrepreneurs will feature an eclectic mix of the most well-known and notable entrepreneurs in Africa. Some of the names included in the book are: Kagiso Mmusi (Botswana), Victor Fotso (Cameroon), Jean Kacou Diagou (Cote d'Ivoire), Gerald Mangoua (Cote d'Ivoire), Kofi Amoabeng(Ghana), Kwabena Adjai (Ghana), Chris Kirubi (Kenya), Daniel David (Mozambique), Wale Tinubu (Nigeria), Aliko Dangote (Nigeria), Aliou Sow (Senegal), Mzi Khumalo (South Africa), Keith Kunene (SA), Ndaba Ntsele (SA), Herman Mashaba (SA), Richard Maponya (SA), Mo Ibrahim (Sudan), Reginald Mengi (Tanzania), Ali Mufuruki (Tanzania) and Wavamunno (Uganda).
The Everything Store by Brad Stone
Amazon.com started off delivering books through the mail. But its visionary founder, Jeff Bezos, wasn't content with being a bookseller. He wanted Amazon to become the everything store, offering limitless selection and seductive convenience at disruptively low prices.
To do so, he developed a corporate culture of relentless ambition and secrecy that's never been cracked. Until now. Brad Stone enjoyed unprecedented access to current and former Amazon employees and Bezos family members, giving readers the first in-depth, fly-on-the-wall account of life at Amazon.
Compared to tech's other elite innovators--Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg--Bezos is a private man. But he stands out for his restless pursuit of new markets, leading Amazon into risky new ventures like the Kindle and cloud computing, and transforming retail in the same way Henry Ford revolutionized manufacturing.
THE EVERYTHING STORE will be the revealing, definitive biography of the company that placed one of the first and largest bets on the Internet and forever changed the way we shop and read.
Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed
Brief Summary
An eye-opening, Gladwellian look at the power of a positive attitude toward failure and its profound impact on our success in any field. In the airline industry, failure is taken seriously. Every aircraft is equipped with an almost indestructible black box. When there is an accident, the box is opened, the data is analyzed, and the reason for the accident excavated. This ensures that procedures are adapted so that the same mistake doesn’t happen again. With this method, the industry has created an astonishing safety record.
For pilots working in a safety-critical industry, getting it wrong can have deadly consequences. But most of us have a relationship with failure that impedes progress, halts innovation, and damages our lives. We don’t acknowledge it or learn from it —though we often think we do. Moving from anthropology to psychology and from history to complexity theory, Matthew Syed explains why even when we think we have 20/20 hindsight, our vision’s still fuzzy. He offers a radical new idea: that the most important determinant of success in any field, whether sports, business, or life, is an acknowledgment of failure and a willingness to engage with it. This is how we learn, progress and excel. This approach explains everything from biological evolution and the efficiency of markets to the success of the Mercedes F1 team and the mindset of David Beckham.
Using a cornucopia of interviews, gripping stories, and sharp-edged science, Syed explores the intimate relationship between failure and success, and shows why we need to transport black box thinking into our own lives. If we wish to unleash our potential, we must diagnose and break free of our failures. Part manifesto for change, part intellectual adventure, this groundbreaking book reveals how to do both.
The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Sean Covey, Chris McChesney and Jim Huling
An insightful new book from the multimillion-copy bestselling author Sean Covey and the Franklin Covey organization based on their work with hundreds of thousands of employees and large companies to unveil the essential disciplines proven to help businesses and individuals realize their most important goals.
Do you remember the last major initiative you watched die in your organization? Did it go down with a loud crash? Or was it slowly and quietly suffocated by other competing priorities? By the time it finally disappeared, it’s likely no one even noticed. What happened? The "whirlwind” of urgent activity required to keep things running day-to-day devoured all the time and energy you needed to invest in executing your strategy for tomorrow! The 4 Disciplines of Execution can change all that forever.
The 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX) is a simple, repeatable, and proven formula for executing on your most important strategic priorities in the midst of the whirlwind. By following The 4 Disciplines:
• Focusing on the Wildly Important
• Acting on Lead Measures
• Keeping a Compelling Scoreboard
• Creating a Cadence of Accountability leaders can produce breakthrough results, even when executing the strategy requires a significant change in behavior from their teams.
4DX is not theory.
It is a proven set of practices that have been tested and refined by hundreds of organizations and thousands of teams over many years. When a company or an individual adheres to these disciplines, they achieve superb results—regardless of the goal. 4DX represents a new way of thinking and working that is essential to thriving in today’s competitive climate. Simply put, this is one book that no business leader can afford to miss.
Built to Last by Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras
Brief Summary
This is not a book about charismatic visionary leaders. It is not about visionary product concepts or visionary products or visionary market insights. Nor is it about just having a corporate vision.
This is a book about something far more important, enduring, and substantial. This is a book about visionary companies." So write Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in this groundbreaking book that shatters myths, provides new insights, and gives practical guidance to those who would like to build landmark companies that stand the test of time.
Drawing upon a six-year research project at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Collins and Porras took eighteen truly exceptional and long-lasting companies -- they have an average age of nearly one hundred years and have outperformed the general stock market by a factor of fifteen since 1926 -- and studied each company in direct comparison to one of its top competitors.
They examined the companies from their very beginnings to the present day -- as start-ups, as midsize companies, and as large corporations. Throughout, the authors asked: "What makes the truly exceptional companies different from other companies?"
What separates General Electric, 3M, Merck, Wal-Mart, Hewlett-Packard, Walt Disney, and Philip Morris from their rivals? How, for example, did Procter & Gamble, which began life substantially behind rival Colgate, eventually prevail as the premier institution in its industry?
How was Motorola able to move from a humble battery repair business into integrated circuits and cellular communications, while Zenith never became dominant in anything other than TVs? How did Boeing unseat McDonnell Douglas as the world's best commercial aircraft company -- what did Boeing have that McDonnell Douglas lacked?
By answering such questions, Collins and Porras go beyond the incessant barrage of management buzzwords and fads of the day to discover timeless qualities that have consistently distinguished out-standing companies.
They also provide inspiration to all executives and entrepreneurs by destroying the false but widely accepted idea that only charismatic visionary leaders can build visionary companies.
Filled with hundreds of specific examples and organized into a coherent framework of practical concepts that can be applied by managers and entrepreneurs at all levels, Built to Last provides a master blueprint for building organizations that will prosper long into the twenty-first century and beyond.
The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford
Brief summary
An economist's version of The Way Things Work, this engaging volume is part field guide to economics and part expose of the economic principles lurking behind daily events, explaining everything from traffic jams to high coffee prices.
The Undercover Economist is for anyone who's wondered why the gap between rich and poor nations is so great, or why they can't seem to find a decent second-hand car, or how to outwit Starbucks.
This book offers the hidden story behind these and other questions, as economist Tim Harford ranges from Africa, Asia, Europe, and of course the United States to reveal how supermarkets, airlines, and coffee chains--to name just a few--are vacuuming money from our wallets.
Harford punctures the myths surrounding some of today's biggest controversies, including the high cost of health-care; he reveals why certain environmental laws can put a smile on a landlord's face; and he explains why some industries can have high profits for innocent reasons, while in other industries something sinister is going on.
Covering an array of economic concepts including scarce resources, market power, efficiency, price gouging, market failure, inside information, and game theory, Harford sheds light on how these forces shape our day-to-day lives, often without our knowing it.
Showing us the world through the eyes of an economist, Tim Harford reveals that everyday events are intricate games of negotiations, contests of strength, and battles of wits. Written with a light touch and sly wit, The Undercover Economist turns "the dismal science" into a true delight.
The Economics of Microfinance by Beatriz Armendariz and Jonathon Morduch
The microfinance revolution has allowed more than 150 million poor people around the world to receive small loans without collateral, build up assets, and buy insurance.
The idea that providing access to reliable and affordable financial services can have powerful economic and social effects has captured the imagination of policymakers, activists, bankers, and researchers around the world; the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize went to microfinance pioneer Muhammed Yunis and Grameen Bank of Bangladesh.
This book offers an accessible and engaging analysis of the global expansion of financial markets in poor communities. It introduces readers to the key ideas driving microfinance, integrating theory with empirical data and addressing a range of issues, including savings and insurance, the role of women, impact measurement, and management incentives.
This second edition has been updated throughout to reflect the latest data. A new chapter on commercialization describes the rapid growth in investment in microfinance institutions and the tensions inherent in the efforts to meet both social and financial objectives.
The chapters on credit contracts, savings and insurance, and gender have been expanded substantially; a new section in the chapter on impact measurement describes the growing importance of randomized controlled trials; and the chapter on managing microfinance offers a new perspective on governance issues in transforming institutions. Appendixes and problem sets cover technical material.
The Strategist: Be the leader your business needs by Cynthia A. Montgomery Hardcover
Based on an acclaimed professor's legendary strategy course at Harvard Business School, The Strategist offers a radically new perspective on a leader's most vital role. "Are you a strategist?" That's the first question Cynthia Montgomery asks the business owners and senior executives from all over the world who participate in her highly regarded executive education course. It's not a question they anticipate or care much about on opening day.
But by the time the program ends, they cannot imagine leading their companies to success without being—and living the role of—a strategist. Over a series of weeks and months, Montgomery puts these accomplished executives through their paces. Using case discussions, after-hours talks, and participants' own strategy dilemmas, she illuminates what strategy is, why it's important, and what it takes to lead the effort.
En route, she equips them to confront the most essential question facing every business leader: Does this company truly matter? In doing so, she shows that strategy is not just a tool for outwitting the competition; it is the most powerful means a leader has for shaping a company itself.
The Strategist exposes all business leaders—whether they run a global enterprise or a small business—to the invaluable insights Montgomery shares with these privileged executives. By distilling the experiences and insights gleaned in the classroom, Montgomery helps leaders develop the skills and sensibilities they need to become strategists themselves. It is a difficult role, but little else one does as a leader is likely to matter more.
Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
Do you want to get ahead in life? Climb the ladder to personal success?The secret, master networker Keith Ferrazzi claims, is in reaching out to other people. As Ferrazzi discovered in early life, what distinguishes highly successful people from everyone else is the way they use the power of relationships—so that everyone wins.
In Never Eat Alone, Ferrazzi lays out the specific steps—and inner mindset—he uses to reach out to connect with the thousands of colleagues, friends, and associates on his contacts list, people he has helped and who have helped him. And in the time since Never Eat Alone was published in 2005, the rise of social media and new, collaborative management styles have only made Ferrazzi’s advice more essential for anyone hoping to get ahead in business.
The son of a small-town steelworker and a cleaning lady, Ferrazzi first used his remarkable ability to connect with others to pave the way to Yale, a Harvard M.B.A., and several top executive posts. Not yet out of his thirties, he developed a network of relationships that stretched from Washington’s corridors of power to Hollywood’s A-list, leading to him being named one of Crain’s 40 Under 40 and selected as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the Davos World Economic Forum.
Ferrazzi’s form of connecting to the world around him is based on generosity, helping friends connect with other friends. Ferrazzi distinguishes genuine relationship-building from the crude, desperate glad-handing usually associated with "networking.” He then distills his system of reaching out to people into practical, proven principles. Among them:
Don’t keep score: It’s never simply about getting what you want. It’s about getting what you want and making sure that the people who are important to you get what they want, too.
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