The Tom Peters Phenomenon: Corporate Man to Corporate Skunk

Customer Reviews:

One of the rare books on ýmanagement gurusý.......2001-12-10

It still amazes me that so many people spent thousands of dollars to attend a Tom Peters seminar. This book seeks to explain the Peters phenomenon. It presents a critical analysis of Tom Peters and his work. The author did a very good job at demystifying the world of the so-called "management gurus". Are those gurus corporate saviours or just highly paid showmen? You decide. I reached my conclusion well before turning the last page.

Highly entertaining book on a highly entertaining person.......2001-01-09

I bought this book more or less by an accident. Mostly such impulse purchases have brought about disappointment, but "Corporate Man to Corporate Skunk" was a fortunate exception in this regard - I finally found the book quite entertaining to read. Crainer uses his outstanding talent as a journalist to open the mysterious aura that surrounds the phenomenon of Tom Peters as a person, as a company and as a guru business. This book is not a complete biography, it rather has a look behind the causes why Tom Peters is the Tom Peters. Before going into the contents of the book I had a slight prejudice that the book would just be the same as the entire Tom Peters style - showmanlike glorification of business and "guruism". In fact, the content was much deeper and gave a) pretty good overview about all major publications of Tom Peters; b) outline of ups and downs of Tom Peters' life to day; c) well reasoned criticism about superficiality of most top-of-the-class well-paid management gurus travelling around the world. If there is anybody out there who has not yet read Tom Peters or listened to his lectures, read this book first. If you already are a victim of his outstanding talent, this book is also a lot of fun to read. I strongly recommend.

This book gets beneath the Tom Peters myth.......1999-07-16

In Search of Tom Peters Corporate Man to Corporate Skunk by Stuart Crainer

Few people can lay claim to having created an industry. Tom Peters can.

Tom Peters is widely credited with having created the management guru industry. Before him it is said that "management thinkers wrote articles in academic journals, gave the occasional seminar, and worked as consultants for a few large corporations". The biggest blockbusters sold under five hundred thousand books.

Tom Peters first book, `In Search of Excellence' co-authored, with Bob Waterman sold over 6 million. Its success surprised their colleagues at McKinsey, who had laughed at the idea that Peters and Waterman would keep the royalties, "should the book sell 50 000 copies".

Two decades later, `In Search of Excellence' is still one of the most readable management books. The eight characteristics of excellent companies, a bias for action, close to the customer, autonomy and entrepreneurship, productivity through people, hands-on values driven, stick to the knitting, simple form and lean staff, simultaneous loose-tight properties are all still relevant and still ignored today. It is written clearly, painting vivid pictures with anecdotes and examples from real companies, in contrast to the staid academic texts of the time.

Peters went on to become a megastar in the field of management entertainers, able to charge up to $80 000 for a one day show. The management guru industry is estimated to exceed a billion dollars and management books, including several by Peters himself, now regularly find their way into the best seller list. His later writings and teachings have sometimes inspired and sometimes puzzled a new generation of managers.

Much has been written about Tom Peters' success. More than once he appears to have been lucky with his timing. `In search of excellence' is a case in point. With its feel good factor, it came out when America's unemployment reached an all time high. There is more to his success story than luck. Stuart Crainer's book lets us glimpse Peters' almost unlimited energy and enthusiasm. In the period after the book came out Peters was doing over 150 seminars a year, often speeches in different cities on the same day. Peters and Waterman distributed over 15 000 copies of the draft book, a practice then unheard of, giving the book a cult status, even before it was released.

Stuart Crainer traces the career and thinking of Peters. He looks at his early career, his time with McKinsey, the gestation of his first book, how he broke away to set up on his own leading to his management guru business and his subsequent writing. It is a critical analysis quoting both supporters and critics. The book gets beneath the Tom Peters myth and tackles the issues with which Peters was grappling.

Micklethwait and Wooldridge of The Economist conclude in `The Witch Doctors', that "Tom Peters faces the uncomfortable epitaph: what he did - launching, leading and defining the current management boom is more significant than what he actually said". This book is a fascinating, well written account of what Tom Peters did, but also a well reasoned and critical discussion of what he actually said.

Book Review: Corporate Man to Corporate Skunk - The Tom Peters Phenomenon, by Stuart Crainer. Capstone, 1997. Available locally from Struik book distributors, Sandton.

Dr Michale Gering, Director, Sediba Consulting, Gering@iafrica.com.

Book Description

Managerial and Organizational Cognition is an exploration of the latest developments in the burgeoning field of managerial and organizational cognition. From different disciplinary perspectives and diverse empirical settings, the contributors study patterns of managerial cognition. The resulting data provides rich insights into the processes and outcomes of managerial and organizational cognition. In particular the longitudinal approach reflected in the volume contributes to its impact as a grounded, practice-based analysis of cognition in organizations. Advanced students of management will be attracted to the incorporation in one cohesive volume of new theoryùempirical chapters that not only extend theoryùbut contribute to organizational outcomes and comparative methodology.

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DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK

Truly lives up to its name

How to Publish Weekly Newspapers, Niche-Market Tabloids and Free Circulation Shoppers (Kitchen-Table Publisher Book)
Thomas A. Williams
Manufacturer: Venture Press (GA)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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Home Business Breakthrough!

Here's what you will find in this highly detailed, step-by-step publishing manual:

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Customer Reviews:

DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK.......2007-05-14

Oh, that sounds harsh, & that's not what I mean.

I've just had a chance to review this book, & I already own Williams's "Publishing Your Own Magazine, Guidebook, or Weekly Newspaper," & I feel that the latter is far-&-away the better book, not to mention cheaper. Call it a prejudice, but I really feel you'd be better served by reading the other one, despite its quirks -- Williams can get a little scattered at times, but he speaks from personal experience, & I've found him not only inspiring but informative.

Truly lives up to its name.......2001-02-04

How To Publish Your Own Weekly Newspapers, Niche-Market Tabloids & Free Circulation Shoppers truly lives up to its name as Thomas Williams takes the aspiring publisher through a detailed instructional manual on every aspect of the publishing process from beginning to end. The hallmark of this superbly written and presented "how to" guide is the clarity of Williams' presentation for launching, maintaining, and prospering as a home-based, niche-oriented publisher from the creation of a business plan to the promotion and distribution of the publication. Anyone considering publishing any kind of newspaper, tabloid, or shopper should first begin by giving How To Publish Your Own Weekly Newspapers, Niche-Market Tabloids & Free Circulation Shoppers a very careful reading -- it can save enormous amounts of money, energy, and anxiety, as well as assuring success in a very competitive marketplace!

Book Description

Urban Poverty, Political Participation, and the State offers an unparalleled longitudinal view of how the urban poor saw themselves and their neighborhoods and how they behaved and organized to provide their neighborhoods with basic goods and services. Grounding research on theoretical notions from Albert Hirschman and an analytical framework from Verba and Nie, Dietz produces findings that hold great interest for comparativists and students of political behavior in general.

Urban Poverty, Political Participation, and the State; Lima, 1970-1990.

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Urban Poverty, Political Participation, and the State; Lima, 1970-1990.
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There can be no doubt that the Internet is now reaching mainstream status across western Europe. Based on new data, we believe that by the end of 2000, 22% of homes will have an Internet connection—an amazing leap in penetration by any measure, and a strong move up from a mere 4% in 1997. The key driver for that tremendous growth has been the advent of lower cost flat-rate and "free-metered" access, which allows users to surf the Internet for only the cost of the local call. Across the region, consumers are being lured online by more affordable access packages, cheaper PCs, and expansion of services and content. Yet, even as the market grows, the very catalyst of the growth—cheaper access—is eating into service providers' access revenue severely, and in some cases wiping it out altogether, making Internet access an increasingly dangerous business. This Report gives a snapshot of consumer Internet growth in Europe over the past year; looks at the access models being offered and their impact on service providers' revenue structures; and examines the choices service providers will be forced to make in order to grow, retain, and service this expanding audience.

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Essential Review of this Great Book

The Customer: You Deserve Customer Satisfaction
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Customer Reviews:

Essential Review of this Great Book.......2004-02-03

Even though I am the author of this book, I can honestly say that the quality, content, and guidance contained in this book are extraordinarily helpful to all dissatisfied customers(everyone!).
This book will teach you how to effectively assert yourself against companies that have disserviced you with poor products and services.
I would advise anyone who has had a dissatisfying customer experience to buy this book, because once you read it, you will be empowered to approach and achieve compensation for any disservice that you have ever received.
I can't really "guarantee" success on your end; but I can assure you that your chances at compensation will be greater after reading this book.
Check it out! You will not be disappointed.

You Deserve the Best: A Consumer's Guide to Product Quality and Total Customer Satisfaction

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You Deserve the Best: A Consumer's Guide to Product Quality and Total Customer Satisfaction
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ASIN: 0873891449

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"The New Politics of American Trade: Trade, Labor and the Environment", supplement to "American Trade Politics" by I.M. Destler and Peter J. Balint, shows how trade advocates and labor and environmental skeptics differ significantly in both their substantive views and their political and organizational cultures. The authors demonstrate how this new challenge differs from that of traditional trade protectionism, likening it instead to the debate a century ago over whether and how to regulate American capitalism for social purposes. The analysis leads to a set of recommendations aimed at constructive compromise and a new political foundation for US trade policy leadership.

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Latin America has made a major effort over the past decade to put its financial house in order, modernize its macroeconomic policy, and undertake sweeping structural changes. These gains are now threatened by global financial contagion that spreads despite sound fundamentals, particularly to emerging markets.

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Today's international trade regime explicitly rejects cultural perceptions of what is safe to eat, overturning millennia of tradition. The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) enshrines "science" as the arbiter in resolving disputes involving this vital human need. This mandate, however, is under attack from many quarters. Critics cite environmental and ethical concerns, unpredictably changing technology, taste, food preferences, local culture, adequacy of governmental implementation of WTO standards, and the reliability of scientific opinion. A basic conflict has crystallized: food as culture versus food as commerce. The WTO/SPS approach is increasingly challenged for its balance in favor of economic considerations, and for its visible undermining of unique cultural identities. This important book explores the relationship between the SPS Agreement, food traditions, science, and technology. It deliberately confronts those trade experts who refuse to allow other social sciences to influence their economics-based trade theory. The author ably investigates the local perception of food and food safety from the anthropological and historical points of view, the evolution of food production technologies, and the medicinal, proscriptive (taboo) and security aspects of food that continue to prevail in nearly all cultures today. She succeeds in demonstrating that, no matter how strong the faith in science and economics, it is unwise to flagrantly dismiss the deeply rooted beliefs of billions of people, a huge majority of the world's population. The Beef Hormones case; the remaining sovereignty related to food safety measures; the increasing significance of "appropriate levels of protection" and "the precautionary principle"; the redefinition of "food hazard" to include production processes as well as food itself; genetically modified seeds and food products; the concept of "risk" in the science-based context of the Codex Alimentarius - these are among the issues and topics covered in depth. The author concludes that, although quick "legal" resolutions of trade disputes about what people should or should not eat might provide a "win" for open trade, support for the entire structure and rationale of the WTO is undermined unless (at the least) some flexibility of interpretation is introduced into the WTO Dispute Resolution System in order to recognize the weight and validity of public opinion. Food safety is arguably the most important issue affecting international commerce today, urgently demanding enlightened discussion and action based on global consensus. This well-researched and thoughtful contribution offers significant clarification and perspective to policymakers, lawyers, academics and others engaged in this critical human drama in progress on the world stage.

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