Mission Critical: The 7 Strategic Traps That Derail Even the Smartest Companies

Book Description

While a flawed strategy is doomed to failure, no matter how effective the implementation, a successful strategy doesn't have to be brilliant. In case after case, it becomes clear that a sound strategy, implemented without error, wins everytime. The lesson for managers is that it's not that hard to avoid the most common strategic planning errors--if you know what to look for. Each chapter of Mission Critical begins with a case history or two of organizational disasters, followed by an analysis and identification of the fundamental strategic error. The authors then bypass the symptoms and get to the root of the problem, formulating a solution that combines the best of the business and educational perspectives in a fresh and thought-provoking fashion. Readers will learn to avoid the classic mistakes, craft a sound strategy and then implement that strategy to solve their strategic problems. Among the 7 strategic traps outlined and discussed by the authors are: diversifying your way out of business; right strategy, wrong problem; honing a non-competitive advantage.

Book Description

This timeless account of the rise of the mass market in America includes a new preface.

This sweeping history provides the reader with a better understanding of America's consumer society, obsession with shopping, and devotion to brands. Focusing on the advertising campaigns of Coca-Cola, Kellogg's, Wrigley's, Gillette, and Kodak, Strasser shows how companies created both national brands and national markets. These new brands eventually displaced generic manufacturers and created a new desire for brand-name goods. The book also details the rise and development of department stores such as Macy's, grocery store chains such as A&P and Piggly Wiggly, and mail-order companies like Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward. 126 b/w photographs and illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

Detailed.......2004-06-18

This is a very detailed economic history of wholesaling and retailing from about 1880 to 1930. The first chapter describes how Proctor and Gamble set out about creating consumer demand for a completely new product, Crisco, in 1912. In this chapter, Strasser eloquently points out "Human needs...are cultural constructs....Some people need yams and breadfruit, others Post Toasties and Kellogg's corn flakes." Now there's a thought worth pondering, as we consider "Do we need a second car in the family? Do we need a new TV? Do we need dental floss?"

After reading some of Strasser's other books, I expected this book to focus more on this topic of need creation in the world of American manufacturing. However, much of the rest of the book is devoted to documenting business practices during the period. Subsequent chapters cover labeling and branding as a means of establishing consumer confidence and brand loyalty, the shift away from middlemen in the chain of distribution from producers to retailers, advertising as a way to introduce new products and habits to consumers, early marketing and promotion practices, the development of the self-service grocery store and the rise of retail chains and government regulations of the period affecting retailing and food. The book is amply illustrated with black and white reproductions of period ads, photographs, and cartoons. Source material is referenced with unnumbered endnotes; there is no separate bibliography or list of suggested readings. The book includes an index.

I found reading this book through to be a tough slog. The style is highly academic, and the details tend to obscure the big picture. I found myself lost in the details, waiting for her to address the main points. I wanted to learn more about how manufacturers had changed American culture. Looking back and reflecting on what Strasser wrote, I can see that she did indeed tackle these topics, but there was so much information about the history of manufacturing and retailing and marketing that I missed what I was looking for in the first place. That said, the book still represents a fine piece of academic research. Her overview of the development of marketing and retailing practices in America from 1900-1930 is particularly well-researched and her illustrations are varied and well-chosen. All in all, the book wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but it was still well worth reading.

Satisfaction Guaranteed.......2000-12-11

Strasser's book is carefully researched and is devoted to an examination of the American mass market which emerges out of the growth of mass production techniques. Her use of advertising documents the shift from product-based to consumer-based ads that was necessary to establish a national market.

Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Making of the American Mass Market.

Average customer rating:

Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Making of the American Mass Market.
Susan Strausser
Manufacturer: see notes for publisher info
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000M3UBWC

Average customer rating:

Satisfaction Guaranteed. The Making of the American Mass Market
Susan Strasser
Manufacturer: Pantheon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NUMSU2

Average customer rating:

Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Making of the American Mass Market.

Manufacturer: 0
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ICULU4

Average customer rating:
Law Writers and the Courts: The Influence of Thomas M. Cooley, Christopher G. Tiedeman, and John F. Dillon Upon American Constitutional Law
Clyde E. Jacobs
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NP95KS

Average customer rating:
Law Writers and the Courts: The Influence of Thomas M. Cooley, Christopher G. Tiedeman, and John F. Dillon upon American Constitutional Law
Clyde Edward Jacobs
Manufacturer: Lawbook Exchange
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Constitutional Law | Law | Subjects | Books
General | Law | Subjects | Books
General | Constitutional Law | Law | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
General | Law | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 158477195X

Book Description

Jacobs, Clyde E. Law Writers and the Courts. The Influence of Thomas M. Cooley, Christopher G. Tiedeman, and John F. Dillon upon American Constitutional Law. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1954. x, 223 pp. Reprinted 2001 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-195-X. Cloth. $85. In the post-Civil War era, Thomas M. Cooley, Christopher G. Tiedeman and John F. Dillon popularized the two legal principles related to a laissez-faire interpretation of the Constitution that were valuable to industrialists of the era: the liberty of contract principle as a limitation on police power of the states, and the public purpose limitation on state and federal tax power. To support his analysis of the writings of these authors, Jacobs examines relevant federal and state cases.

Book Description

Medicinal and Aromatic Plants XII comprises 18 chapters. It deals with the distribution, importance, conventional propagation, micropropagation, tissue culture studies, and the in vitro production of important medicinal and pharmaceutical compounds in the following plants: Artemisia annua, Coriandrum sativum, Crataegus, Dionaea muscipula, Hyoscyamus reticulatus, Hypericum canariense, Leguminosae, Malva, Ocimum, Pergularia tomentosa, Phellodendron amurense, Sempervivum, Solanum aculeatissimum, S. chrysotrichum, S. kasianum, Stephania, Trigonella, and Vaccinium. It is tailored to the needs of advanced students, teachers, and research scientists in the fields of pharmacy, plant tissue culture, phytochemistry, biomedical engineering, and plant biotechnology in general.

Book Description

The Highlands Controversy is a rich and perceptive account of the third and last major dispute in nineteenth-century geology stemming from the work of Sir Roderick Murchison. The earlier Devonian and Cambrian-Silurian controversies centered on whether the strata of Devon and Wales should be classified by lithological or paleontological criteria, but the Highlands dispute arose from the difficulties the Scottish Highlands presented to geologists who were just learning to decipher the very complex processes of mountain building and metamorphism. David Oldroyd follows this controversy into the last years of the nineteenth century, as geology was transformed by increasing professionalization and by the development of new field and laboratory techniques. In telling this story, Oldroyd's aim is to analyze how scientific knowledge is constructed within a competitive scientific community—how theory, empirical findings, and social factors interact in the formation of knowledge.

Oldroyd uses archival material and his own extensive reconstruction of the nineteenth-century fieldwork in a case study showing how detailed maps and sections made it possible to understand the exceptionally complex geological structure of the Highlands

An invaluable addition to the history of geology, The Highlands Controversy also makes important contributions to our understanding of the social and conceptual processes of scientific work, especially in times of heated dispute.

The Highlands Controversy: Constructing Geological Knowledge Through Fieldwork in Nineteenth Century Britain

Average customer rating:

The Highlands Controversy: Constructing Geological Knowledge Through Fieldwork in Nineteenth Century Britain
D.R. Oldroyd
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPWXJM

Average customer rating:

The Highlands Controversy: Constructing Geological Knowledge Through Fieldwork in Nineteenth-Century Britain
D. R. Oldroyd David Oldroyd
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPUZU6

Book Description

Intended to provide scientists and engineers at synchrotron radiation facilities with a sound and convenient basis for designing beamlines for monochromatic soft x-ray radiation, this text will also be helpful to the users of synchrotron radiation who want to help ensure that beamlines being built are optimized for the experiments to be performed on them. The primary purpose of a beamline is to capture as much of the light of the source as possible and then to transfer the desired portion of that light as completely as possible to the experiment. With the development of dedicated, brilliant synchrotron radiation sources, the first half of the task has been greatly simplified. The beamline designer must contend with the second half of the problem -- conserving the brilliance of the source through an optical system which monochromatizes and focuses the radiation.

Book Description

This "nightmarish but authentic" (Time) portrait of a high school English teacher and the defiant, uncontrollable students in his charge rings with ferocious urgency and harrowing realism. A timeless rendering of youth culture set against the backdrop of 1950s New York City, The Blackboard Jungle speaks powerfully to the alarming epidemic of violence and security issues in today's schools.

Customer Reviews:

Memoirs for a Trades School Teacher.......2007-09-25

This was the first major novel of "Evan Hunter", a WW II Navy veteran who attended college and then taught at a vocational high school. This book is dedicated to his wife Anita. It is a work of fiction, any resemblance to actual persons is purely coincidental. But it is obviously based on his personal experience. There is a lot of detail in this 309 page book that suggests reporting rather than fiction. If you saw the film you will find the novel more detailed about his teaching experiences, and without the Hollywood dramatic changes. Are this scenes still true today?

The snowfall on October 19 suggests Albany or Syracuse rather than New York city (Chapter 6). Rick learned the usefulness of dramatics in teaching and holding attention in class. Rick says there are no courses on "Teaching the Trades School Student". The trade school was invented to give "practical education for those who want it, or don't fit into an academic environment. [They don't acknowledge that it is class-based. Before the 1930s most grammar school graduates went directly to work at 14. They learned on the job.] Rick's experiences in the Navy told of a similar situation regarding a squealer.

Chapter 10 describes the various methods used to keep discipline in school. One incident has Dadier accused of bias by a secret informer (one of his students). Part III describes the work done for the Christmas Assembly show. Dadier was put in charge, he found the volunteers needed. Later he made a breakthrough to his class (Chapter 12). It was the story about "The Fifty-First Dragon". Was the story about the maternity hospital an allegory about his teaching career? There is a final dramatic chapter where Dadier earns the respect of his class.

Are trades school students still considered inferior? They are more likely to become independent businessmen than an academic graduate. Note that Dadier family is a "nuclear family" living in a new development with little contact with relatives. Hunter knew how to spice up this novel for the reading audience of the 1950s. [There was an earlier film by Abbott & Costello whose story was similar to "The Fifty-First Dragon".]

A Book with Insight.......2004-12-15

I just bought THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE and I am a few pages from finished. I am currently a Secondary Ed-English Ed undergrad and I find this book to be very good from an education perspective. From a literary perspective it is well written, but a little too much repetition at times. The foreshadowing keeps repeating itself. However, I believe this book is a must read for any and all educators, or anyone interested in the field. I know some people do not think this novel is prevalent to today. It is. Look at Kozol's SAVAGE INIEQUALITIES, there are still problems in inner city schools. This novel helped pave a road toward reform, but we need to use this novel to continue that road. We need to all work together to make the yellow brick road to success! Anyway, now that I am done ranting. :) I especially enjoyed the chapter where Hunter described the various types of teachers (slumberer, fumblerer, rumblerer, etc.). I believe that we can use this novel not only as a form of leaisure reading, but a form of intellectual growth and a beginning for how to reform education today!

a classic that doesnt wear the turns of time.......2002-10-16

i had a tough time with this book and put it down halfway thru -- possibly as a result of having seen and read TO SIR WITH LOVE and i enjoyed that story more than this one. This story just seems too outdated and non-relevant to me today.

Read One, Read the Other, for an Educational Update!.......2002-09-17

Published in 1954, Evan Hunter's novel is set in an urban vocational school of all boys. Today, almost fifty years later, it remains not just an excellent read, but also a worthwhile one-especially when it is read in conjunction with SPINE, a more contemporary novel of teachers struggling with students and the school system of an isolated rural town. In the latter work-a creation of this reviewer-the power and authority of the teacher in the classroom has been virtually eliminated (though seldom admitted), and no administrator would ever utter the words that Hunter's principal stresses to his faculty: "The teacher is boss, remember that!" Nor would those same administrators of today play the hardball of the JUNGLE's head man and insist on payment by parents for the destruction of school property by their sons and daughters. And how many modern-day parents are there who don't view the entire school as something they cannot entirely trust? Who may even regard it less a friend to their progeny and more an enemy? These and other contrasts are often starkly apparent if one reads both novels. Just as are other items that are the same today as they were midway through the previous century. In fact, one of these may even help to determine when teachers began to lose the authority of their position. Again, consider Hunter's school principal. When a student levels a charge at his English teacher, the story's protagonist, principal Small accuses his employee Rick Dadier of being a racial bigot, and he does so without first listening to the other side of the incident. Read one, read the other. Gain a little more insight about the world of education.

A Jungle in the City.......2001-09-06

As a mystery writer with my debut novel in its initial release and a teacher with over twenty years of experience in an impoverished high school, I found Evan Hunter's THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE fascinating. Ed McBain, the celebrated mystery writer, was a teacher back when he wrote this book. Evan Hunter is, as we all know, Ed McBain's actual name. I suspect he based his Richard Dadier character on his own experiences. Dadier is an idealistic young man with his first professional job as an English teacher in a working class high school. Dadier does his best to reach his students, yet the challenges are great. This book is a classic, and it still applies to teaching these days. I truly wish Evan Hunter would return to THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE. America needs its best and its brightest in our classrooms. As I can attest to from my experience, one can teach students and write mysteries without sacrificing either career.

Average customer rating:

The Blackboard Jungle
Evan Hunter
Manufacturer: Cardinal/Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JD3KI2

The Great Expectations School: A Rookie Year in the New Blackboard Jungle

Average customer rating:

Richard Dadier Or Just Another Krazy Kozol In The Making?
More than expected
A sobering look at the current state of public education in America
Required Reading
Fellow Fellow

The Great Expectations School: A Rookie Year in the New Blackboard Jungle
Dan Brown
Manufacturer: Arcade Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Educators | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Memoirs | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Pedagogy | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1559708352

Book Description

At 22, Dan Brown came to the Bronx's P.S. 85 as an eager,fresh-faced teacher. Unbeknownst to him, his assigned class, 4-217, was thedesignated "dumping ground" for all fourth-grade problem cases, and hisstudents would prove to be more challenging than he could ever anticipate.Intent on being a caring, dedicated teacher but confronted with unrulychildren, absent parents, and a failing administration, Dan was pushed tothe limit time and again: he found himself screaming with rage, punchinghis fist through a blackboard out of sheer frustration, often just wantingto give up and walk away. Yet in this seeming chaos, he slowly learnedfrom his own mistakes and discovered an unexpected well of inspiration todiscipline and teach and make a difference.The Great ExpectationsSchool is the touching journey of Class 4-217 and their teacher, Mr.Brown, but more than that, it is the revealing story of a brokeneducational system and all those struggling within and fighting against it.

Customer Reviews:

Richard Dadier Or Just Another Krazy Kozol In The Making?.......2007-09-06

While it is laudable that Dan Brown chose a particularly challenging forum for his debut teaching job, he appears much too susceptible to the influences of his tag team book tour partner, Jonathan Kozol.

The character Richard Dadier, as played by Glenn Ford, in the 1955 film "The Blackboard Jungle," was no proponent of the Kozol educational ideology. While Dadier believed in discipline and order in the classroom, Kozol prefers recalcitrance and anarchy. Kozol is of the impression that education must not be politically neutral. Guess which political ideology he prefers? Considering he wrote "On Being A Teacher," after his return from Cuba, the answer is self evident.

Let's hope that Mr. Brown stays true to his own ideals and does not embrace the radicalism of Kozol, at least not while he has a captive audience in a public school classroom. It is one thing to act the martyr in a low-paying, essentially thankless job as an inner city teacher, expecting the students to follow you to the stake is counter productive. To paraphrase Kozol, there is nothing worse then soporific socialism to "deaden children's souls."

More than expected.......2007-08-23

Dan Brown has written a book that can tear at your heart and yet still show humor. Having been a teacher myself, it is marvelous to read a book that really shows the inner workings of public education in today's society. There is a great sense of warmth, caring, honesty and wit. This should be a must read for every prospective teacher and anyone else involved with education. This book says it all.

A sobering look at the current state of public education in America.......2007-08-13

At times heart-wrenching and then laugh out loud funny, The Great Expectations School is a sobering look at the current state of public education in America. Brown offers a unique and personalized glimpse into the daily struggle of elementary school with undauntedly heroic teachers, tragic students, and conniving administrators. I recommend this book to anyone who values education and wants to change the system. I also recommend it to those who don't; you will care by the end of the book.

Required Reading.......2007-08-08

The Great Expectations School really should be required reading for teachers entering, or considering, Teach for America, New York Teaching Fellows, or any other program that places teachers in challenging classroom environments with some of the country's toughest students. Dan Brown's story-telling makes this a simultaneously heart wrenching and entertaining read.
Mr. Brown cleary has a bright future in both education writing (as evidenced in his work on the Huffington Post) and in any other genre that he may tackle. His voice, compassion, insight, and sense of humor have created a book that is a welcome addition to the canon of important works on the great experiment currently going on in our urban schools.

Fellow Fellow.......2007-08-05

I'm Elizabeth Camaraza, one of the rookies who joined the NYC Teaching Fellows and taught with Dan Brown at PS 85 in the Bronx. His beautifully tragic story expertly captures every nuance of a first year teacher's experience in an inner city school. He tells his story with such a profound sense of love, honesty and humor that you will be emotionally wiped-out after reading it. I recommend this book to anyone who cares about kids. Dan Brown is a genius!

Average customer rating:

The Blackboard Jungle
Evan Hunter
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000TZ58DU

Average customer rating:

The Blackboard Jungle
Evan HUNTER
Manufacturer: Simon and Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GRQYNY

Average customer rating:

The Blackboard Jungle

Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GSKOUW

Average customer rating:

The Blackboard Jungle

Manufacturer: Dell Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GZTMFI

Average customer rating:

The Blackboard Jungle

Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GSL2SU

Average customer rating:

The Blackboard Jungle
C. B., and Elizabeth Gibson Gilford
Manufacturer: The Play House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JF5WDG

Blackboard Jungle 1ST Edition Edition Mcbain

Average customer rating:

Blackboard Jungle 1ST Edition Edition Mcbain
Evan Hunter
Manufacturer: SIMON & SCHUSTER @ TRADE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000QBBTP8

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books