Book Description
The Business Strategy Game is the #1 selling computer simulation in the strategic management market. It is the single best exercise available for helping students understand how the functional pieces of a business fit together and for providing students with a capstone experience in decision-making. The exercise of running a simulated company in a competitive market setting helps students develop better decision-making judgment and improves their skills in evaluating market and competitive conditions and responding to changes that are occurring. The BSG helps students learn from working with the numbers, exploring options, and trying to unite production, marketing, finance, and human resource decisions into a coherent strategy.
Customer Reviews:
greater practice method in real business world..........2003-06-13
it's awesome...just try then evaluate your ability in the complex business world..
Book Description
Master gun maker Bill Holmes shares what will and won't work in designing and building rifles and shotguns from raw materials. Includes the fine points of creating everything from actions to sights, as well as tips on tools, materials, assembly, finishing and more. For academic study only.
Customer Reviews:
I do not agreed with other reviews.......2003-12-06
People who really know Bill Holes' books should understand that this book was never meant as a how to build book. I have all volumes of bill's home workshop guns for defense and resistance and this book is just not one of the series on how to build a gun, it is written as a supplement on the first 5, it is a book written in a general style concearning general gun issues. However, the book gives a nice idea of several subject concearning gun design, and bill gives some nice alternatives for some designing problems wich you might encounter. People tend to see bill as some form of gun messiah who gives away a nice design in every book for a few bucks, well, he is not, he is just an experienced gun disigner who designed some nice guns and gives a lot of practical designing ideas of his own mind in his books home workshop guns part 1 to 5. Finally, you people go out and try to find one decent gun design on the internet, let me tell you, there are none. Every info you can get on gun designs is valuable, including the info written in this book, so just buy it, it will be soon that books like these will be forbidden by the weak pacifist mass.
Before you order this book . . . ........2003-08-31
This book is nice reading if you already know what the gun trade is about, but it gives only minimal information on the actual construction of firearms. Too much talk and crude drawings do not really promote this publication. If you're after a nuts-and-bolts handbook for firearms construction, don't buy this one, but start off with something simple. P.T.Luty's book would be a useful alternative.
Outdated by 20 Years.......2003-08-09
The author of this book prides himself of not having a formal education and it shows. You will find no useful technical information necessary to safely design, build, and test firearms.
What I didn't like about this book: Outdated information about firearms laws, hand drawn technical drawings (get a DELL dude), no information on new manufacturing technologies such as composite materials or CNC, total lack of technical information, single page on marketing of firearms. (There is more but I stop here)
What I did like about this book: It has a shiny cover.
If you are looking for real information on the engineering of firearms look elsewhere.
Technical and Non-intuitive........1999-07-14
Some authors have a gift for conveying their thoughts to the reader in simple, non-technical terms. Bill Holms, author of this book, simply isn't one of them. This book is a helpful guide for designing your own marketable firearms, but practically requires that you be well-versed in the inner workings of guns to start with. There seems to be a few holes here and there, such as the lack of information on the case extraction and ejection systems, and a good, thourough explanation is rare indeed; Holmes instead covers a huge variety of action types (bolt, autoloading, etc.) and other mechanisms, but devotes only minimal space to each.
Overall, the book (which includes the plans for a 12-gauge shotgun and 10-round magazine)is a worthwhile buy to those who already have a good idea of how a gun works. Otherwise, you're better off simply sticking with books by P.A. Luty or Gerard Metral.
Average customer rating:
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Knights Unhorsed: Internal Conflict in a Gilded Age Social Movement
Robert E. Weir
Manufacturer: Wayne State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Labor Policy
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
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Economic History
| Economics
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Labor & Industrial Relations
| Economics
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General
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Turn of the Century
| 19th Century
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General
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ASIN: 0814328733 |
Average customer rating:
- You've read the rest, now read the best.
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Predatory Marketing: What Everyone in Business Needs to Know to Win Today's American Consumer
C. Britt Beemer , and
Robert L. Shook
Manufacturer: William Morrow & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
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| Business Ethics
| Consolidation & Merger
| Decision-Making & Problem Solving
| Distribution & Warehouse Management
| Industrial
| Information Management
| Leadership
| Management
| Management Science
| Motivational
| Negotiating
| Operations Research
| Planning & Forecasting
| Pricing
| Production & Operations
| Project Management
| Quality Control
| Risk Assessment
| Statistics
| Strategy & Competition
| Systems & Planning
| Systems Analysis
| Teams
| Total Quality Management
| Training
General
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| Marketing & Sales
| Business & Investing
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ASIN: 0688148360 |
Book Description
Britt Beemer understands, probably better than anyone else in North America, how customers think, why they think that way, and what obstacles must be overcome to generate a sale. His expertise comes from a continuing dialogue with three million consumers and hands-on experience with hundreds of companies that cover the whole spectrum of consumer products. Clients who follow Britt Beemer's recommendations enjoy an average growth rate several times greater than their competitors, earning him a reputation as one of America's leading business strategists.
In
Predatory Marketing he shares his encyclopedic knowledge of changing consumer preferences, presenting new information and dozens of tips and practical solutions so business executives can cater better to customer needs. Beemer shows how to outsmart rivals by being the first to anticipate trends in the marketplace. And he presents his revolutionary predatory marketing strategy for increasing market share by attacking competitors at their strong points, not their weak ones.
Includes six special nationwide surveys conducted especially for
Predatory Marketing, including the ten reasons Americans most hate shopping and the latest on consumer attitudes toward phone marketing, automation, and the Internet.
Customer Reviews:
You've read the rest, now read the best........1997-07-12
This book is a must read by anyone interested in business, marketing, retail or directional insight. Britt is right on target for today's business leaders. He uses great examples and scenarios to get to the point.
Define your business then learn how to make it the best. Read this book and make sure your boss and your boss's boss does too
Average customer rating:
- Guide to Selling to Your Competitor's Customers !
- Great if you're a retailer - so - so otherwise
- How Much Do You REALLY Know About Your Customers?
- fascinating
- Primo Marketing Research Brain Dump
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Predatory Marketing
C. Britt Beemer , and
Robert L. Shook
Manufacturer: Broadway
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
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Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
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| Business Ethics
| Consolidation & Merger
| Decision-Making & Problem Solving
| Distribution & Warehouse Management
| Industrial
| Information Management
| Leadership
| Management
| Management Science
| Motivational
| Negotiating
| Operations Research
| Planning & Forecasting
| Pricing
| Production & Operations
| Project Management
| Quality Control
| Risk Assessment
| Statistics
| Strategy & Competition
| Systems & Planning
| Systems Analysis
| Teams
| Total Quality Management
| Training
Advertising
| Marketing & Sales
| Business & Investing
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General
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It Takes A Prophet To Make A Profit: 15 Trends That Are Reshaping American Business
ASIN: 0767901894
Release Date: 1998-01-05 |
Book Description
What do shoppers dislike most about shopping? What's the most common reason customers are turned off by ads? Which recent technology ranks highest as a consumer pet peeve? As founder and chairman of America's Research Group, Britt Beemer has spent the past two decades researching questions like these and learning how to virtually read the minds of American consumers.
Predatory Marketing is based on one powerful principle: find out what your competitors do best (don't focus on their weaknesses) and convince their customers that you can do it even better.
Applying this prescription to all aspects of marketing -- advertising, public relations, customer service, and sales -- Predatory Marketing reveals proven methods for winning customer satisfaction and loyalty. Including special nationwide Consumer Mind Reader surveys conducted exclusively for this book, Predatory Marketing is packed with hundreds of crucial facts, such as:
- The ten most budget-conscious cities in America
- The top ten reasons why advertising fails
- The eight characteristics of America's highest-rated retail salespeople
"Be first. Be right. Or be dead", Beemer teaches. Predatory Marketing is a gold mine of wisdom to help anyone in business not only survive, but win.
Customer Reviews:
Guide to Selling to Your Competitor's Customers !.......2006-03-11
This is a great combined effort of C. Britt Beemer and Rober Shook. Beemer is the founder and chair of America's Research Corporation and Robert Shook is an esteemed author of around 40 sales and marketing books. This book addresses the change in the economy of consumers shopping at less and less venues before purchasing. In 1980 for instance, 3.5 stores were visited on average for a major appliance. In 2000, 1.3 stores were visited before purchasing. Standing out and making a good first impression are vital.
This book clearly defines how customers evaluate retail establishments and how businesses evaluate suppliers. This, along with surveys will help you keep your customers.
The meat of this book is on how to get your competitor's customers and increase your market share. The attack is non-intuitive. It has to do with attacking the competition's strengths, not their weaknesses. The subject matter of this book is covered well and flows nicely.
Five Stars
Great if you're a retailer - so - so otherwise.......2003-03-15
C Brit Beemer is the founder and CEO of America's Research Group, a Charleston based market research firm. In Predatory Marketing, Beemer shares perspectives he has gathered from interviews with thousands of customers over the past 20 years. Some of the information he shares is fascinating, and the marketing philosophy he espouses is rock solid, but ultimately this book disappoints.
The basic premise of the book is that to gain market share, marketers must steal customers from their competitors. Beemer backs up this premise with some compelling research showing trends such as:
- In 1980, the average consumer expected to visit 3.5 stores before purchasing an appliance or electronics item. In 1990, the number was down to 2.8, and in 1995, it was down to 2.1.
- He asked consumers if any store came to mind first in a series of different categories. In 1983 38% or respondents said no. In 1996, that number was down to 6%, indicating that the number of consumers without a preference, or 'up for grabs' was ¼ of what it was in 1983.
As you can tell from the statistics cited, Beemer's main experience and area of expertise is retail marketing. He offers dozens of anecdotes from his work with retailers all across the country. He mentions other kinds of marketing here and there, but it is clear that he doesn't have the same depth of data or experience. For example, in discussing a survey about the importance of a knowledgeable sales person, he says 'While our study was limited to retailing, I believe this thinking applies also to non retailing industries'.
However, the biggest disappointment in the book is from the lack of depth in the examples and case studies. Never is a case study or example more than a single page, and often they are only a paragraph or two. Countless times I was left wanting more detail or more information. In a number of cases, the examples he cites aren't even on target for the topic he was discussing. The worst offender in this realm was an example in his chapter on niche marketing.. Through the chapter, he offers some good advice for niche players, then at the end he says 'There is still another problem that a niche player faces: He may be so focused that he can't see the forest for the trees.' Then he launches into a story about a long standing retailer that was having a very difficult time attracting new clients. Ultimately they found that the reason was that in the 10 years he had been in business, a tree grew over and covered the store sign. After the tree was removed, business picked up dramatically. Very amusing, but what does this have to do with niche marketing? It was as if he had an anecdote, and decided he needed to use it somewhere.
I found three chapters in this book to be of particular interest. In chapter 1, he lays out the importance of research, and some guidelines for doing research right. He cites several examples of business executives who were convinced that they knew their businesses, only to be proved wrong by the consumer. He makes a compelling case that asking your customers isn't enough, since people tend to avoid confrontation, they won't tell you what's wrong. However, a skilled researcher can get to a customer's true concerns and opinions.
In chapter 7, he lays out the 'Predatory Marketing' strategy. This strategy comes from his basic premise that in order to get new customers, you must take them away from your competitors. The methods he suggests for doing this tend to be superior value, service, and selection. He goes into a fair level of detail about what he means by each of these.
Finally, in chapter 10 he wraps up with the prevailing theme of the book, that 'Every marketing plan will ultimately fail.' Even successful marketing plans fail because conditions change. Competitors change their strategies, new competitors emerge, customers' tastes change, and new technologies make products or strategies obsolete. Indeed, as Beemer points out, 'The only constant is change.' I found this statement sobering to say the least. Even so, he points out that if you are armed with this knowledge, you can anticipate change and respond to it. Your strategies and tactics will have to change as conditions change in order for you to stay successful.
Should you buy this book? If you are a retailer, or closely connected with retail trade, you will get some valuable information and insight. If you are doing other kinds of marketing, you can still get some interesting perspectives from this book, but you should probably treat it more as a 'skim' focusing on chapters 1, 7, and 10, then as a 'read', and put this one on your "optional" list.
How Much Do You REALLY Know About Your Customers?.......2000-01-07
We are told that "the purpose of the book is to tell you how to get information, and most important, [how to] analyze it so that you can make the right decisions....So the main theme of this book is not to promote research -- it's to inform you of ways to find out more about your customer, your competition's customers, and trends in the marketplace." For Beemer, "predatory" is a synonym for proactive: "I'm a firm believer is taking an offensive -- rather than defensive position; marketing is always an offensive weapon." Recall John Newbern's comment: "People can be divided into three groups: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened." To these Beemer would probably add a fourth group: Those who wait for something to happen and then respond too late (if at all).
The title of Predatory Marketing is somewhat misleading. it really does not suggest strategies to "win today's customers" which require what the word "predator" denotes or even suggests. On the contrary, the advice offered is highly ethical as well as immensely practical. Many of the suggestions have previously been offered by others. Nonetheless, reminders of key points can often have substantial value.
One of the book's greatest benefits consists of a series of ten "Consumer Mind Reader" analyses of trends as well as tendencies which reveal consumer preferences are as well as the reasons for them. Another substantial benefit is derived from a series of check-lists and multi-step sequences which suggest how to implement the information provided.
Marketing either creates or increases demand for whatever one offers. For those whose organizations compete in a flat or declining marketplace, only increasing share will enable them to achieve sybstantial growth. Leaders of these organizations will probably derive the greatest benefit from Predatory Marketing.
As Jeffrey Gitomer correctly suggests, "customer satisfaction" occurs on a transaction basis. One bad experience and the customer is gone...perhaps forever. "Customer loyalty" must be earned over time so that, when a customer has a bad experience, the relationship with that customer is not necessarily destroyed.
Predatory Marketing places great emphasis on a thorough understanding of both current and prospective customers. Such understanding is even more important, obviously, when attempting to "capture" customers from competitors. Reading Predatory Marketing will assist such initiatives.
fascinating.......1998-12-17
If you are or wish to be in the marketing field, read this book. More information is packed into here than in dozens of other volumes I've read. Just save the money and the inane information overload and buy Predatory Marketing today!
Primo Marketing Research Brain Dump.......1998-08-02
Chock Full of trends, statistics, and case histories. Mr Breemer's approach is unique and empowering. As a professional marketing consultant I am usually bored with the traditional diaherrah of the pen so common in todays books. Not so here. This book is a keeper. I plan on quoting it in my next newsletter.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Consumer Affairs, published by Thomson Gale on June 22, 2007. The length of the article is 7918 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: Consumer experiences with predatory lending practices.
Author: Ronald Paul Hill
Publication:
Journal of Consumer Affairs (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 41
Issue: 1
Page: 29(18)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Mortgage Banking, published by Mortgage Bankers Association of America on October 1, 2004. The length of the article is 373 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: Hud launches campaign on predatory lending education.(Business Alert)(Housing and Urban Development)
Publication:
Mortgage Banking (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 1, 2004
Publisher: Mortgage Bankers Association of America
Volume: 65
Issue: 1
Page: 18(1)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
Who knows more about a business's shady practices than the people who work there? In this pioneering study, Paul Blumberg examines a wide variety of evidence, including over 600 accounts written by workers who disclose in elaborate detail the deceptions their employers practiced on the public. Employed in a wide variety of business enterprises--supermarkets, restaurants, fish markets, department stores, gas stations, drug stores, pet stores, and many more--these workers pull back the curtain and reveal the hidden recesses of the American marketplace. Blumberg documents these deceptions in numerous vivid stories, providing readers with a trenchant handbook on survival in America. He tells of stores that routinely mark prices up before a sale; gas stations that sell regular gas as high test; auto mechanics who spray-paint customers' old car parts and then charge them for new parts (in one gas stations, the workers claimed that the mechanic's best tool was his paint can); and pharmacists who sell generic drugs and charge name-brand prices. But equally important, he provides an insightful analysis of why deception pervades the American marketplace. Though at times amusing, The Predatory Society is also frequently disturbing for what it says about private capitalism: how dishonesty is all but built into the American marketplace, and how this dishonesty has potentially disastrous effects on trust and community in our society.
Customer Reviews:
misguided, but informative.......2001-05-01
"The Predatory Society" is quite entertaining. Blumberg clearly wants to get everyone mad about Capitalism, but he is so silly about doing it that he actually does the reverse. Most of the book centers on the diffuse nature of knowledge in society. Given extreme specialization and the costs of monitoring people that you trade with, there are always opportunities for people to cheat each other. Of course, Blumberg does not quite see things that way. To him, the profit motive makes people corrupt and under socialism people are nice to each other. Bumberg avoids the more dogmatic assertions that simple-minded Marxists make about overthrowing Capitalism, but he is still absurdly naïve about government. To him, advertising, ala Capitalism, has corrupted American Politics (as if American Politics was once pure as the wind-driven snow). Also, in Communist China Socialism breeds a wonderful sense of community- not the repression, mass murder and starvation that it is known for. All we need to do is to elect "progressive" politicians and trust them. Blumberg acknowledges that businesses have some incentive to be honest- to maintain their reputations. But he discounts this factor without providing any real statistical evidence to support this. Blumberg also acknowledges the productive nature of Capitalism, but he fails to acknowledge the extreme waste, fraud, and abuse in the public sector. Blumberg wants us all to patronize consumer cooperatives, but fails to recognize that the same problems with monitoring the operation of these concerns exist with these organizations as well. Workers at coops might not lie to customers as much, but they can slack of, steal, and cheat in other ways. The absence of a profit motive makes these problems worse than under for profit enterprise. Blumberg blames a lot on Capitalism. Recessions and the Depression are all the fault of Capitalism- the Federal Reserve is completely innocent in these matters despite its position in financial markets. Capitalism also alienates us from our true moral selves. The fact of the matter is that Capitalism is imperfect, but so is government. The same informational asymmetries that lead to fraud and waste in markets lead to (arguably greater) fraud and waste in government- at least I see the stores I shop at, who knows what those bureaucrats in DC do with my money. In short, Blumberg is an ideologue. He hates markets and loves government. He harps on market imperfections, some large, others small, a few imaginary, to try to justify the intrusive regulatory/welfare state that he worships. He trivializes government imperfections- that gave us disasters like Tuskegee, Vietnam, WWI, Japanese-American interment camps, Social Security (a Ponzi Scheme like no other) the Philippine-American War, Prohibition (Alcohol then, and MJ now), The Depression (courtesy of the Fed), and our vast array of Pork Barrel spending programs. But, to an ideologue like Blumberg there is no reason to bring up all the little problems with government that have come along through the years- what he needs to do is to demagogue issues of consumer fraud. Fortunately, Blumberg is so brazen in his biases that it is obvious that he is not a serious or thoughtful critic of markets. His book is an interesting and informative read- one that will make many consumers more alert to some of the tricks and gimmicks that await us all in markets. However, his desire for a more civil and communitarian society through big government is absurd. Read his book to hone your shopping skills, but for social theory and philosophy try reading F.A. Hayek, L. Mises, or Ayn Rand.
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