Dynamic Modelling of Stochastic Demand for Manufacturing Employment (Lecture Notes in Computer Science)

Book Description

In this book interrelated factor demand models are surveyed. New methods are developed and are analysed empirically using Dutch and U.K. time series data. New methods are discussed for obtaining closed form solutions of linear ratinal expectations models, providing deeper insights into the identification of structural parameters of underlying theoretical models; recently developed time series techniques are applied in order to estimate structural parameters and test for model specification, stationarity and stability through time; new models are developed in which the rather stringent and questionable restrictions of symmetry generally imposed upon stochastic adjustment models of labour demand are relaxed, the models are analysed empirically using time series data of Dutch and U.K. manufacturing production and nonproduction workers.

Book Description

This book presents a quarter of a century of empirical research on interest rates and a variety of asset prices. It will serve to deepen our understanding of asset price inflation. The book includes extensive analysis of the measurement of interest rates, with case studies from The Netherlands, Belgium and EMU, and emphasizes statistical measurement and the attempt to understand interest rate behavior through statistical estimation. The book also includes an examination of historical interest rate development in the long run, both theoretically and empirically. In conclusion, Professor Fase also analyzes the behavior of bonds, stocks and investment in art and examines the factors indispensable for a monetary strategy designed to target inflation.

Average customer rating:

Took me by surprise!

How to Buy and Sell (Just About) Everything: More Than 550 Step-by-Step Instructions for Everything From Buying Life Insurance to Selling Your Screenplay to Choosing a Thoroughbred Racehorse
Jeff Wuorio
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Negotiating | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Techniques | Sales & Selling | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Reference | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Applied Psychology | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Reference | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

How to Do Just About Everything

How to Fix (Just About) Everything : More Than 550 Step-by-Step Instructions for Everything from Fixing a Faucet to Removing Mystery Stains to Curing a Hangover

How to Fix Damn Near Everything

How to Sell Anything on Amazon...and Make a Fortune!

How to Organize (Just About) Everything: More Than 500 Step-by-Step Instructions for Everything from Organizing Your Closets to Planning a Wedding to Creating a Flawless Filing System

ASIN: 0743250435

Customer Reviews:

Took me by surprise!.......2003-11-13

I was recently given a copy of this book for my birthday. At first glance I thought oh, great, another book I'll never look at, but then started leafing through it. It's packed with information on things my husband and I have been recently shopping around for, like a digital camcorder and a new lawnmower. There are loads of tips on how to make the most of your money and things to watch out for. But there's also stuff I never thought of: Hire a body guard, buy bonds, sell your body to science, buy a hourse trailer, sell a used bike?-and it's funny! My husband paws through it before he goes to Home Depot to get a good read on just about everything he needs. There'll be a lot of people getting this book for Christmas.

The Home Buyer's Organizer: A Step-by-Step Guide to Paving the Way to Your New Home

Average customer rating:

The Home Buyer's Organizer: A Step-by-Step Guide to Paving the Way to Your New Home
Todd Thornton
Manufacturer: Sterling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound

General | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Buying & Selling Homes | Real Estate | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Real Estate | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Organizational Behavior | Business Management | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1402735448

Book Description

This must-have interactive resource guides readers through the complicated process of buying a home and helps them stay organized as they make one of the biggest financial commitments of their lives. Designed to cut out the chaos, this user-friendly book helps consumers ask the right questions, make well-thought-out decisions, and avoid costly mistakes while enabling them to keep important information at their fingertips. Through checklists, worksheets, and succinct bulleted text for quick reference, this unique organizer covers everything from finances and house hunting to closing the deal and making the move. What’s more, it’s packed with special features, including numerous tabbed dividers with pockets for storing related papers by subject and a PVC business- card holder for keeping contact information at the ready.

Buying and Selling a Business: A Step-by-Step Guide

Average customer rating:

A wonderful primer written by an attorney on what you need to know about the process of either buying or selling a business.

Buying and Selling a Business: A Step-by-Step Guide
Robert F. Klueger
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Consolidation & Merger | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

New Business Enterprises | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

All Amazon Upgrade | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Biographies & Memoirs | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Biographies & Memoirs | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0471657026

Book Description

A twenty-first-century update to the modern business classic . . .

For more than fifteen years, this handy guide has provided entrepreneurs and small business owners with a simple, step-by-step plan for buying or selling a business-without their own special team of lawyers and accountants. Written by leading business attorney Robert Klueger, this up-to-date guide now includes everything you need to know about recent tax law changes, as well as an entirely new chapter on limited liability companies. It answers all your critical questions, covering everything from the valuation of a business through the negotiation stages to closing the deal.

Packed with the kind of real-world guidance you can only get from a professional, Buying & Selling a Business, Second Edition shows you how to:

Choose a business that's right for you
Evaluate the business, determine why the seller is selling, analyze the seller's operations, and analyze balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow
Negotiate effectively-including negotiating for price, timing, stock and asset agreements, noncompetitive agreements, and more
Buy a franchise-key considerations that make a franchise different
Ensure a hassle-free closing with no surprises

Download Description

An updated edition of the popular guide to buying and selling a business

Written in clear terms by a man who has been involved in scores of sales of businesses, private offerings, and corporate reorganizations, this handy guide covers everything entrepreneurs need to know to buy or sell their business. Readers will learn how to choose the right business to buy; negotiate effectively; buy a franchise; secure financing; structure their business for maximum tax, legal, and financial benefits; and close the sale with no surprises. This Second Edition has been fully updated and revised to include information about new tax regulations, including goodwill writeoffs, and other changes. A new chapter has been added on limited liability companies.

Robert Klueger (Woodland Hills, CA) is a partner in the law firm of Boldra, Klueger & Stein, LLP, specializing in taxation, estate planning, and asset protection for small and mid-sized companies.

Customer Reviews:

A wonderful primer written by an attorney on what you need to know about the process of either buying or selling a business........2007-03-03

I loved this book. The author does a wonderful job telling us what is involved in buying and selling a business. If you are thinking about buying a business to run yourself, or buying a business to add to an existing business, then this book will open your eyes to the process and demystify the process if you aren't knowledgeable about the subject already.

When covering how to evaluate the target business (the one you are considering to buy) the author discusses how to analyze the seller's operations and its financial statements. He also emphasizes that it is important to consider why the seller is selling.

When covering how to negotiate the sale the author discusses how much to pay, when to pay, stock purchases, asset purchases, and the purchase agreement terms. Since stock purchases were mentioned, I probably would have liked the book better if it had included a chapter on tax-free reorganizations. Adding such a chapter would have at least let readers know that such an animal exists. But maybe it would have been beyond the scope of the book?

The book is organized into 8 topics:

1. How to choose the business that is right for you
2. Evaluating the Target
3. Negotiating the Sale
4. How to buy a franchise
5. Choosing the form in which to conduct business
6. Financing the purchase
7. The closing
8. Some thoughts on selling a business

Appendices included: Sample Letter of Intent, Sample Purchase Agreement, and Sample Business Plan.

My favorite sections of the book for me were the third and fifth topics. The author did a wonderful job of explaining how to put a value on a target company. And he did a great job explaining Choice of Legal Entity issues. The annotated purchase agreement with exhibits in Appendix II was very helpful. And the sample business plan included in Appendix III for a building components manufacturing business was great. 5 stars!

Average customer rating:

11 Steps to Brand Heaven: The Ultimate Guide to Buying an Advertising Campaign
Leonard Weinreich
Manufacturer: Kogan Page
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Advertising | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

STEPHEN POLLANS FOOLPROOF GUIDE TO BUYING A HOME: A Step-By-Step System for Closing the Deal

Average customer rating:

STEPHEN POLLANS FOOLPROOF GUIDE TO BUYING A HOME: A Step-By-Step System for Closing the Deal
Stephen Pollan , and Mark Levine
Manufacturer: Fireside
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Buying & Selling Homes | Real Estate | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Real Estate | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Investments | Real Estate | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Home Repair | How-to & Home Improvements | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0684802287

Average customer rating:

Buying and Selling A Business : A Step-by-Step Guide
Robert F. Klueger
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MU79GG

Handbook on Buying and Selling a Business: Complete Step-By-Step Guide to Buying and Selling a Business With Ready-To-Use Forms

Average customer rating:

Handbook on Buying and Selling a Business: Complete Step-By-Step Guide to Buying and Selling a Business With Ready-To-Use Forms
Arnold S. Goldstein
Manufacturer: Irwin Professional Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0913864935

Average customer rating:

Radio Deals: A Step by Step Guide
Erwin G. Krasnow , and Eric T. Werner
Manufacturer: Radio Business Report
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Book Description

Read this book before you buy or sell a radio station and save yourself legal troubles down the road. That's why it's being called "a safety guide for station sellers and buyers."

This book, chock full of information, warnings and advice, could save you thousands of dollars in legal fees.

Book Description

Immerse your students in refreshing and lively topics while increasing their vocabulary base and preparing them for academic assignments. This series for beginning to high-intermediate learners offers robust comprehension activities that encourage students to access and interact with text and to develop reading and critical thinking skills.

College English and Communication 8th Edition Instructor Annotated Edition Student Activity Workbook

Average customer rating:

College English and Communication 8th Edition Instructor Annotated Edition Student Activity Workbook

Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0078282721

College English and Communication, Student Edition

Average customer rating:

Look at before you buy
College English and Communicate

College English and Communication, Student Edition
Sue C. Camp , and Marilyn L. Satterwhite
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill/Irwin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Communications | Skills | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Business Writing | Skills | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Words & Language | Reference | Subjects | Books

Technical | Writing | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Arts & Photography | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Reference | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 007825860X

Book Description

College English and Communication 8e by Camp and Satterwhite provides expanded coverage of grammar, usage and writing skills, along with a comprehensive review of the principles of communication with emphasis on real-world communication. The eighth edition includes new features that provide students with real-world information and activities.

Customer Reviews:

Look at before you buy.......2002-03-05

I am currently using this book for a Business Communications class. I have to say it is by far the worst book I've used in my college career to date. I talked to one instructor who said she changed books because the examples in this book were so bad. She even went through the effort of re-designing the course just to switch books. That is how bad this book is. If the instructor you are going to take a class from recommends this book please do yourself a favor and find an instructor who has the courtesy to search for a book that will allow you to excel in this type of class. This is not the book to help you do that.

College English and Communicate.......2000-03-29

Being a college graduate from a another country, commmunicating in English has been one of the setbacks I encounter while working in the retail industry. I kept searching for materials that will help me improve in my communication. But the materials that I found were either not to my level or not emphasising on business communication. But Camp, Satterwhite and co. were able to address the issues I have been looking for. This book lays emphasis on daily communication faced in today's business world. I will recommend this book to anybody seeking on how to improve on their business communication especially for foreigners. I really liked how the dealt on the speaking aspect of communication.

College English and Communication. Eighth Edition. with Student Work

Average customer rating:

College English and Communication. Eighth Edition. with Student Work
Sue C. Camp
Manufacturer: Publisher Unknown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UYC806

College English & Communication- Student Activity Workbook, 8th Edition

Average customer rating:

College English & Communication- Student Activity Workbook, 8th Edition
Sue C. Camp
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill/Irwin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OGQHUM

Average customer rating:

College English and Communication. Eighth Edition. with Student Work
Sue C. Camp
Manufacturer: Camp, Sue C. nd Marilyn L. Satterwhite. College English and Communtion: Instructor Annotated Edition. Eighth Edition. With Instructor Annotated Edition Student Workbook. NY: Glencoe/ McGraw-Hill, 2002. Quality paperback. pp. Near new condition (textbook and workbook).
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000TAHFD6

Average customer rating:
Personal Finance + Student CD-ROM + Personal Financial Planner + SkillBooster
Jack R. Kapoor , Les R. Dlabay , Robert J. Hughes , Jack Kapoor , and Les Dlabay
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill/Irwin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books | Banks & Banking | Corporate Finance | Foreign Exchange | Inflation | Interest
General | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Student Resource Manual to accompany Personal Finance

Practical Business Math Procedures

Extended Prelude to Programming: Concepts and Design (2nd Edition)

Personal Finance (The Mcgraw-Hill/Irwin Series in Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate)

C Programming for the Absolute Beginner (For the Absolute Beginner (Series).)

ASIN: 0072952407

Book Description

Kapoor/Dlabay/Hughes' Personal Finance is the #1 market-leading Personal Finance text. It provides comprehensive coverage of personal financial planning in the areas of money management, career planning, taxes, consumer credit, housing and other consumer decisions, legal protection, insurance, investments, retirement planning, and estate planning. The goal of this text is to teach students the fundamentals of financial planning so they can make informed choices related to spending, saving, borrowing, and investing that lead to long-term financial security. Personal Finance, 7/e provides many financial planning tools using a step-by-step approach to help students identify and evaluate choices as well as understand the consequences of decisions in terms of opportunity costs.

Personal Finance w/Student CD ROM & Personal Financial Planner + Student Resource Manual

Average customer rating:

Great reference in Personal Finance
Very interesting

Personal Finance w/Student CD ROM & Personal Financial Planner + Student Resource Manual
Jack R. Kapoor , Les R. Dlabay , and Robert J. Hughes
Manufacturer: Mcgraw-Hill College
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0072504455

Book Description

This #1 market-leading Personal Finance text provides comprehensive coverage of personal financial planning in the areas of money management, career planning, taxes, consumer credit, housing and other consumer decisions, legal protection, insurance, investments, retirement planning, and estate planning.

Customer Reviews:

Great reference in Personal Finance.......2001-05-12

To make the long story short, when I started to work as a CSR in a bank, I kept this book as a reference on my desk. Before that I tried to ask the branch manager - he didn't have a clue. In the end, I put it in bank's "Better Practices Manual" binder and used it it explain products to the customers.

Very interesting.......2000-09-14

I used this book for an online course that I took from BYU. It was very informative and interesting.

Personal Finance + Student CD-ROM + Personal Financial Planner + SkillBooster

Average customer rating:

Personal Finance + Student CD-ROM + Personal Financial Planner + SkillBooster
KAPOOR
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill/Irwin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OG86AQ

Personal Finance w/Student CD ROM and Personal Financial Planner + Student Resource Manual

Average customer rating:

Personal Finance w/Student CD ROM and Personal Financial Planner + Student Resource Manual
Les R. Dlabay, Robert J. Hughes Jack R. Kapoor
Manufacturer: Mcgraw-Hill College
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OGT1NC

Average customer rating:

Taking a stand...

Color Me Green!

Sustainability and growth at Fetzer Vineyards

More than just a "business" book!

Dolan's Book captures context for leadership

True to Our Roots: Fermenting a Business Revolution
Paul Dolan , and Thom Elkjer
Manufacturer: Bloomberg Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Company Profiles | Biography & History | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Leadership | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Entrepreneurship | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
California | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Streamlined Life-Cycle Assessment

Leading Teams: Setting the Stage for Great Performances

The Natural Step: Towards a Sustainable Society (Schumacher Briefing)

Gung Ho! Turn On the People in Any Organization

Raising the Bar: Integrity and Passion in Life and Business: The Story of Clif Bar & Co.

ASIN: 1576601501

Product Description

TRUE TO OUR ROOTS sets forth the simple but powerful management principles that enabled Fetzer Vineyards under Paul Dolan to become one of America's biggest and best-know wineries even as it was becoming a model for sustainable business practices everywhere. Dolan and Fetzer led the California wine industry toward profound change in how wineries and grape growers preserve their environment, strengthen their communities, and enrich the lives of their employees, without sacrificing the bottom line.

Filled with personal anecdotes and practical wisdom, this book offers inspiration and guidance to business managers who see the compelling need to build and grow healthy, sustainable organizations.

Customer Reviews:

Taking a stand..........2004-06-11

What could be more fitting than a recommendation for Paul Dolan's book, "True to Our Roots: Fermenting a Business Revolution"? Through this book, I became aware of Fetzer's attempt to reengineer the entire American wine industry along sustainable principles.

A few quotes:

"Fetzer Vineyards increased earnings an average of 15 percent a year through the 1990s, while keeping its environmental and social responsibilities as top priorities. Our experience proves that operating on a more sustainable basis is not an economic liability. If anything, we see sustainability as an economic asset and a competitive advantage."

"A successful sustainable business... reaches out beyond the next four quarters, beyond the next five years, to consider what's ahead for the next generation. I is prosperous without being wasteful. It grows without mortgaging its future. It shares its discoveries without giving up its leadership. A successful business lives by its principles, and each new challenge is an opportunity to express those principles more fully, not abandon them conveniently."

Taking a stand is different from taking a position. Gandhi did not take a position that the British salt laws were bad, or unfair, or illegal. They may have been all that, but he was not interested in taking a position about them. He wanted to end them. So he took a stand. There is a huge difference."

(I wish I had space to reprint Dolan's vision of a sustainable society based on sustainable business. If you get the book, it's on pages 150-151.)

Color Me Green!.......2004-05-15

True to Our Roots is a combination of one man's evolution as a leader and a case history of how to engage business in serving its stakeholders in more ways. This is one of the rare books I have read where a company has used environmentally friendly policies and practices to enhance its business performance on a sustained basis while influencing its industry to make the same kind of improvements. Any business leader can learn helpful lessons from this book.

Mr. Dolan came to Fetzer as a winemaker and helped the company make great strides in that role. One day he had an epiphany. Tasting grapes to see if they were ready for harvest, he noted that the flavors were much richer in one section than in the next. They were the same type of grapes, grown in the same microclimate. What could be the difference? Then, he remembered that the better tasting grapes had been tended with organic farming practices while the less good tasting grapes at received conventional chemical fertilizers and pesticides. His conclusion: His customers deserved the better tasting grapes. From that epiphany, he began a life journey that has led him to becoming a new type of leader and one who hopes to influence everyone in the world.

As a young man, Mr. Dolan was like many young people -- anxious to prove his worth. Working like a maniac, he wanted everyone to cater to his decisions and purpose. That kept people from becoming close to him, and led to the break-up of his first marriage. He later remarried one of the Fetzer daughters, and tried to cure his over-controlling nature. Eventually, he learned that he should listen to, encourage, and inspire other people to do what they thought was right . . . rather than expect blind compliance to his ideas. That shift made all the difference in his personal life, and to the business.

One of the surprising things about this story is that Mr. Dolan made most of these changes after Fetzer had been acquired by Brown-Forman, the alcoholic beverages giant. It's even rarer to find such industry leadership innovations coming from the heart in a small division of a large public company. But Brown-Forman has encouraged the changes. No doubt the support was enhanced by the Fetzer company's extraordinary success . . . growing earnings by 15 percent a year -- a remarkable feat in the wine business.

One of the interesting lessons of the change to environmentally friendly practices (called "sustainability" in the book) is that it drew on the preferences of employees to do the right thing, and provide higher quality.

Most of the book is devoted to explaining the six principles of the company's management style (with one chapter for each).

Your Business Is Part of a Much Larger System -- The focus here is to see the linkages between what you do and the effects on your stakeholders and those who are connected to them. For more on this kind of systems thinking, see The Fifth Discipline.

Your Company's Culture Is Determined by the Context You Create for It -- By setting appropriate goals that inspire people, you establish a way of thinking to creates the changes that you seek to make. For more on this thought, see Peter Drucker's The Effective Executive.

The Soul of Your Business Is Found in the Hearts of Its People -- Letting people know that more than profits count leads to innovation by everyone in taking responsibility for the rest of the company's relationships. For more examples, see any of Millard Fuller's books about Habitat for Humanity International.

True Power Is Living What You Know -- Living with integrity creates great personal and organizational power and effectiveness. See Tony Robbins for more examples of personal and organizational power.

You Can't Predict the Future, but You Can Create It -- Your vision of what's missing to create a better future liberates the process of making the changes that are needed. The example of establishing leadership in the Merlot category is a very good one here.

There Is a Way to Make an Idea's Time Come -- Set a good example to ease the process of change makes good ideas become real.

The book has many good qualities, but I have to note what seems like a potential deficiency in the case history. While all of us like to think that alcohol is harmless, it actually destroys many lives and harms the families and friends of those whose lives it destroys. Alcoholics drink fine table wine just as much as they drink anything else. Although there is one brief mention of standing for wine consumption in moderation, the Fetzer story doesn't include any ideas for making itself more sustainable by dealing with alcoholism. It's a startling omission. I also wondered how much of the company's efforts to be "green" and respectful to stakeholders and stakeholders' stakeholders are related to residual guilt over the harm created by alcoholic beverages. For example, if you grow consumption of wine in the United States by increasing overall alcohol consumption, have you just created more alcoholics? Is that sustainable progress?

I graded the book down one star for failing to adequately address this issue.

Be sustainable in every way you can!

Sustainability and growth at Fetzer Vineyards.......2004-04-04

You don't have to be in the wine business to have noticed the rise of Fetzer Vineyards over the last decade or so. As a Californian and a long time devotee of the vintner's art (as well as a consumer!) I can tell you that Fetzer makes six and seven dollar bottles of wine with the best of them, and their more expensive labels are outstanding. And maybe this has always been the case, but before Paul Dolan was picked to head up the company in 1992 most of us didn't know much about Fetzer Vineyards.

In this candid memoir (and frankly, part manifesto) about corporate culture and responsibility, Dolan gives us some insight into how he was able to grow the company by more than fifteen percent a year as he shares with us his ideas about how businesses should be run in a time of dwindling and strained natural resources. Fundamentally he believes that "it's time for business, one of the most powerful forces on Earth, to become a positive force for change. We already know that we can create tremendous wealth and technological progress. The new possibility...is to preserve that progress and wealth for the generations to come." (p. 8) This is the mantra of "sustainability" which rewards employees as well as shareholders, customers as well as executives. For someone involved in viticulture this means sustaining the land as well, and for Dolan this means organic agriculture.

But Dolan also wants to make a difference in a larger sense. He wants to win awards for environmental excellence (and he has) by filtering the winery's wastewater and using renewable energy for the winery. He especially wants to show the world how Fetzer is both an economic success and a leader in environment-friendly practices and community and worker relationships. His "green" credentials might be judged from this statement: "The true cost of a gallon of gas is not the price you pay at the pump. The true cost" includes "what it costs the earth when oil is extracted and the cost when some of its byproducts return to the atmosphere..." (p. 17)

He also recognizes that "Nonrenewable resources are running out," and that "Nothing takes place in isolation." (p. 18) Would that more business leaders recognized these facts and acted appropriately.

This is also a book about how to become an effective manager. Dolan describes how he learned to listen, to his employees, to his son, and how he learned to put aside preconceived ideas and realized that sometimes the problem was himself. He tells a story about an annoying person (to him) named Tracey and the clay model they were trying to make (pp. 81-83) and how his change in attitude (inspired by his competitive nature!) allowed them to be successful in their project, and how that led him to stop regarding his son as "My Son The Jerk" (p. 84). This impressed me because it is not easy being that honest in public and in print. Later he even tells of a boldfaced lie he told and of an environmental mistake he made.

But Dolan can afford to reveal his shortcomings because when you read the chapter devoted to his third principle: "The soul of a business is found in the hearts of its people" it easy to see that he not only respects and appreciates the efforts of others, but that he knows that such respect and appreciation allows them to do their best work. He sees this as part of our "inner psychology engine...that gets us to put our heart and soul into something." (p. 101)

Another part of the book is actually about the wine making business, about how he grew the business by acquisition and branding, and how Fetzer committed, for example, to making a lot of Merlot and why (see especially pages 143-146). And there is an Afterword on how wine is made. The book ends with a Fetzer history time line and Resources for future study including books on sustainability.

This is an inspirational book by a man who is proud of his achievements and wants to share that pride with the world. And it is a story about growth, not just the growth of Fetzer, but the growth of Paul Dolan. I should add that this is a beautifully produced book, clearly written (wine writer Thom Elkjer had something to do with that) and meticulously edited.

More than just a "business" book!.......2003-11-22

Paul shows how a big business can have a much bigger and healthier effect on society not just the company's bottom line. The integrity of Paul Dolan and Fetzer vineyards in their goal to be sustainable should inspire everyone.

Dolan's Book captures context for leadership.......2003-11-12

Paul Dolan's book is different from many of the other leadership books on the market in that he develops the "context" for leadership. His description of his own experiences allowed me to understand more about how great leadership is developed individually. This is not a recipe or formulaic book, but a well written, heart-felt attempt to appeal to our humanity while those of us charged with leadership lead.

True to Our Roots: Fermenting a Business Revolution (Audiofy Digital Audiobook Chips)

Average customer rating:

True to Our Roots: Fermenting a Business Revolution (Audiofy Digital Audiobook Chips)

Manufacturer: Audiofy/Blackstone
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Cards
ASIN: 1599127555

Product Description

This Audiofy audiobook chip packs Barrett Whitener's full 7 hour reading of "True to Our Roots: Fermenting a Business Revolution" on a tiny memory card. A single Audiofy audiobook chip, hardly larger than a stamp, holds a complete digital audiobook, and saves the last listening position automatically, unlike CDs. With an SD memory card slot or low-cost adapter - like those for digital cameras - this Audiofy audiobook chip can be played on Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh desktop computers or laptops (Microsoft Windows XP/2000/Me/98, or Apple Mac OS X 10.3.9 and above) or transferred to Apple iPod media players. Audiobook chips also move seamlessly to most Palm OS and Pocket PC handheld PDAs with SD expansion slots, as well as Treo and Windows Mobile "smartphones" (Palm OS 5.2 or Windows Mobile 2002 and above)... This book tells how Paul Dolan led his California company, Fetzer Vineyards, to growth and excellence through environmental sustainability and social responsibility. His six principles will inspire other business owners to balance values while creating value.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books