Product Description
When Tweedle's momma goes into the veterinary hospital soon after he is born, poorTweedle has a hard time finding out just what kind of an animal he is, until the friendly cat in the houseand her kittens befriend him. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Reviewer's Bookwatch, published by Midwest Book Review on January 1, 2005. The length of the article is 423 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Strange Valley.(Book Review)
Author: Mayra Calvani
Publication: Reviewer's Bookwatch (Newsletter)
Date: January 1, 2005
Publisher: Midwest Book Review
Page: NA

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thompson Gale ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Synthetic but effective strategic guide
Well written, very relevant and quite helpful! My advice is for everyoneinvolved in strategic issues and in particular for every Mba or graduatelooking for a job in top-tier consulting firms: you can get your prompttools' bag before the interview, letting you assemble the severalfragmented tools packed in your studies.Good insights on profit driversand a very good book for those who don't have all the answers before theexperiences in management issues. After you read this book, you are a lotsmarter: it's a nirvana point! ... Read more

Product Description
In 1993, Bain & Company launched a multiyear researchproject to gather facts about the use and performance of managementtools.The objectives of this study are twofold: 1) to providemanagers with an understanding of how their current application ofthese tools and subsequent results compare with those of otherorganizations across industries and around the globe; and 2) toprovide the information they need to identify, select, implement andintegrate the right tools to improve their company's performance.Aspart of this study, Bain creates a yearly guide to 25 of the mostpopular and pertinent management tools.This guide provides adescription, methodology, common uses and selected references for eachof the tools. The tools included in the 2001 guide are: Activity BasedManagement, Balanced Scorecard, Benchmarking, Core Competencies,Corporate Venturing, Customer Relationship Management, CustomerSatisfaction Measurement, Customer Segmentation, Cycle Time Reduction,Growth Strategies, Knowledge Management, Market Disruption Analysis,Merger Integration Teams, Mission and Vision Statements, One-to-OneMarketing, Outsourcing, Pay-for-performance, Real Options Analysis,Reengineering, Scenario Planning, Shareholder Value Analysis,Strategic Alliances, Strategic Planning, Supply Chain Integratino, andTotal Quality Management. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Quick introduction into the various management tools
Bain & Company is a famous management-consulting firm.

This is not a real book as such, but more a guide into the various management tools and techniques. The original guide was published in 1993. "The objectives remain to provide managers with: (i) an understanding of how their current application of these tools and subsequent results compare with those of other organizations across industries and around the globe; (ii) information they need to identify, select, implement, and integrate the right tools to improve their own company's performance." Each management tool/technique is broken down in a short description, methodology, common uses, related topics, and, probably most important, selected references. Each tool/technique is covered over two pages, which means not very detailed.

I see this guide useful for managers and MBA-students for a quick reference, but for more detailed information your will need to read additional literature. Personally, I use it as a library-tool in my bookcase pointing to additional information. It reminds me of Stuart Crainer's books 'The Ultimately Business Libary' (1997) and '110 Ultimate Book of Business Gurus' (1997). Perhaps other reviewers know better guides, but it does not mean that this one is completely useless (- please let me know where the more useful ones!). This one is written in simple business US-English.

Very Weak
The information presented in this book(pdf file) is terribly weak.Even though they offered it via download, it still was not worth the 12 or 13 dollars charged.I make purchases, fairly frequently of this sort of material, and believe me when I tell you, this is by far the most useless collaboration I've ever seen.

A good handbook
I have just purchased the pdf edition and am happy with it.This is a handbook of existing tools, reduced to their strict minimum: under each tool there is a list of other associated tools/methods (which are mainly variants, or other names for the same thing), so this helps reduce confusion.This is followed by a concise description of the tool and its use, and references.So this is much more focused than a dumb list of all possible tools/methods and we can quickly scan through it.My only complaint: no rating of the tools, which is a shame since there is a research project behind this book.So we are not sure if the method listed is there because it is used a lot, or because it is found to be more effective. ... Read more

Product Description
In 1993, Bain & Company launched a multiyear research project to gather facts about the use and performance of management tools. The objectives of this study are twofold: 1) to provide managers with an understanding of how their current application of these tools and subsequent results compare with those of other organizations across industries and around the globe; and 2) to provide the information they need to identify, select, implement and integrate the right tools to improve their company's performance. As part of this study, Bain creates a yearly guide to 25 of the most popular and pertinent management tools. This guide provides a description, methodology, common uses and selected references for each of the tools. The tools included in the 2003 guide are: Activity-Based Management, Balanced Scorecard, Benchmarking, Change Management Programs, Contingency Planning, Core Competencies, Corporate Code of Ethics, Corporate Venturing, Customer Relationship Management, Customer Segmentation, Customer Surveys, Downsizing, Economic Value-Added Analysis, Growth Strategies, Knowledge Management, Merger Integration Teams, Mission & Vision Statements, Outsourcing, Pay-for-Performance, Reengineering, Stock Buybacks, Strategic Alliances, Strategic Planning, Supply Chain Integration, and Total Quality Management. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Information is rehash of Content on website
I guess that the value proposition is to have a nicely bound copy of the content currently on the Bain site. I think that it has some value as a quick and dirty reference material when trying to write cogent para or two on some faddish management trend.
However, I would recommend that for most purposes bookmark to the online content would do just as well and perhaps this is something that one would give to their dilbertesque boss for a holiday present - void of any contention.
Having said that - the references for in-depth discussion for each "tool" or concept are useful although some of these (esp in the realm of options pricing) are a bit dated.

-> Bottom-line: If one has an expense account, buy it, for the rest, prod around Bain's site and bookmark the material. ... Read more

Product Description
Bain & Company launched a multi-year research project in 1993 to gather facts about management tools, and to track their use.The objective was and continues to be to provide managers with the information they need to identify, select, implement and integrate the tools that will improve the bottom line results. ... Read more

Product Description
Economic turbulence is forcing companies to sharpen their focus on customer loyalty. But a promising technique that emphases loyalty-building -- Customer Relationship Management programs, or CRM -- is falling flat. Bain's Darrell Rigby and Fred Reichheld offer insights on turning the promise of CRM into profits. ... Read more

Product Description
The past dozen years in business have witnessed an explosion in the use of management tools and techniques. The tools range from broad processes such as strategic planning and benchmarking to highly focused initiatives such as the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. Keeping up with the tools and deciding which ones to use have become an essential part of every executive’s responsibilities.But it’s a tough job. New tools appear every year, while others seem to drop off the radar screen.There is no Consumer Reports to help executives sort through what works best in any given situation. Without data, choosing and using tools becomes a risky and potentially expensive gamble.In 1993, Bain & Company launched a multiyear research project to get the facts about management tools. Our objective is to provide managers with the information they need to identify, select, implement and integrate tools that will improve bottom-line results. Every two years, we interview senior managers and conduct literature searches to identify 25 of the most popular and pertinent management tools.We define the tools in this guide, and then conduct a detailed survey to examine managers’ use of tools and success rates.The 2005 survey results are available in “Management Tools 2005: Global Survey Results”. ... Read more