Make your Idea Matter


Bernadette Jiwa - 2012
    Each topic stands on its own so dip in and out. Reawaken a thought or an idea you've already had. Spark new ones. Discover different ways of thinking about your business, what you do and how you tell your story. Then go make your idea matter.

Strategic Management


John A. Pearce II - 2004
    Pearce and Robinson have retained high level of academic credibility and market-leading emphasis on strategic practice with this edition. This text continues to have strong support from longtime adopters and growing support in schools with a desire to provide straightforward treatment of strategic management with a practical, systematic approach. The 12th edition offers 30 cases with a mixture of small and large firms; start-ups and industry leaders; global and domestically focused companies; and service, retail, manufacturing, technology, and diversified activities. Pearce and Robinson continue to use a unique pedagogical model they created to provide logic and structure to its treatment of strategic management which in turn makes the material more easily organized by the instructor and learned by the student.

Agile Game Development with Scrum


Clinton Keith - 2010
    It's no wonder so many development studios are struggling to survive. Fortunately, there is a solution. Scrum and Agile methods are already revolutionizing development outside the game industry. Now, long-time game developer Clinton Keith shows exactly how to successfully apply these methods to the unique challenges of game development. Keith has spent more than fifteen years developing games, seven of them with Scrum and agile methods. Drawing on this unparalleled expertise, he shows how teams can use Scrum to deliver games more efficiently, rapidly, and cost-effectively; craft games that offer more entertainment value; and make life more fulfilling for development teams at the same time. You'll learn to form successful agile teams that incorporate programmers, producers, artists, testers, and designers--and promote effective collaboration within and beyond those teams, throughout the entire process. From long-range planning to progress tracking and continuous integration, Keith offers dozens of tips, tricks, and solutions--all based firmly in reality and hard-won experience. Coverage includes Understanding Scrum's goals, roles, and practices in the context of game development Communicating and planning your game's vision, features, and progress Using iterative techniques to put your game into a playable state every two to four weeks-- even daily Helping all team participants succeed in their roles Restoring stability and predictability to the development process Managing ambiguous requirements in a fluid marketplace Scaling Scrum to large, geographically distributed development teams Getting started: overcoming inertia and integrating Scrum into your studio's current processes Increasingly, game developers and managers are recognizing that things can't go on the way they have in the past. Game development organizations need a far better way to work. Agile Game Development with Scrum gives them that--and brings the profitability, creativity, and fun back to game development.

Platform Scale: How an emerging business model helps startups build large empires with minimum investment


Sangeet Paul Choudary - 2015
    Today's massively scaling startups - which rapidly grow to millions of users and billions in valuation - do not sell a product or service. Instead, they build a platform on which others can create and exchange value.The many manifestations of the platform business model - social media, the peer economy, cryptocurrencies, APIs and developer ecosystems, the Internet of things, crowdsourcing models, and many others - are becoming increasingly relevant.Yet, most new platform ideas fail because the business design and growth strategies involved in building platforms are not well understood.Platform Scale lays out a structured approach to designing and growing a platform business model and addresses the key factors leading to the success and failure of these businesses.Six core concepts for successful platform business model design1. Re-imagine your business for platform scaleThe mechanism by which these new business models scale so rapidly. Understand the shift in thinking needed to manage businesses with platform scale and the impact of network effects, virality, behavior design and data."We are not in the business of building software. We are in the business of enabling interactions."2. Leverage interaction-first designHow detailed consideration around designing the producer-consumer core interaction is critical for building business models that leverage platform scale."The design of the platform business model involves the design of a core interaction followed by the design of an open infrastructure that will enable and govern this interaction."3. Build cumulative value and minimize interaction failureKnow the key managerial decisions to focus on while managing platform scale businesses, all geared towards maximizing the ability of these businesses to enable interactions by scaling producer participation and minimizing interaction failure."Platform scale is achieved by maximizing the repeatability and efficiency of the platform's core interaction."4. Solve chicken and egg problemsPlatform business models face an all too familiar catch-22 chicken and egg problem on the way to scaling. This can be overcome by designing the conditions for sparking interactions."The solution to the chicken-and-egg problem requires a bait that can break the vicious cycle of no activity."5. Design viral enginesUnderstand the drivers of viral growth in a world of networks and apply the viral canvas design-first approach to viral growth."Virality is a business design problem, not a marketing or engineering effort. It requires design before optimization."6. Account for reverse network effectsConsider the counter view on platform scale and be on the lookout for conditions where scale can be detrimental to platform businesses."The goal of platform scale is to ensure the simultaneous scaling of quantity and quality, of interactions."Platform Scale is a maker's guide for entrepreneurs, innovators and educators looking to understand and implement the inner workings of highly scalable platform business models.

In Search Of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies


Thomas J. Peters - 1982
    The "Greatest Business Book of All Time" (Bloomsbury UK), In Search of Excellence has long been a must-have for the boardroom, business school, and bedside table.Based on a study of forty-three of America's best-run companies from a diverse array of business sectors, In Search of Excellence describes eight basic principles of management -- action-stimulating, people-oriented, profit-maximizing practices -- that made these organizations successful.This phenomenal bestseller features a new Authors' Note, and reintroduces these vital principles in an accessible and practical way for today's management reader.

Founder’s Pocket Guide: Startup Valuation (Founder's Pocket Guide Book 1)


Stephen Poland - 2014
    This guide provides a quick reference to all of the key topics around early-stage startup valuation and provides step-by-step examples for several valuation methods. In more detail, this Founder’s Pocket Guide helps startup founders learn: What a startup valuation is and when you need to start worrying about it. Key terms and definitions associated with valuation, such as pre-money, post-money, and dilution. How investors view the valuation task, and what their expectations are for early-stage companies. How the valuation fits with your target raise amount and resulting founder equity ownership. How to do the simple math for calculating valuation percentages. How to estimate your company valuation using several accepted methods. What accounting valuation methods are and why they are not well suited for early-stage startups.

Intercultural Communication in Contexts


Judith N. Martin - 1996
    The dialectical framework, integrated throughout the book, is used as a lens to examine the relationship of these research traditions. This text is unique in its emphasis on the importance of histories, popular culture, and identities.

Public Speaking Essentials: Six Steps to Sizzle on Stage


Ramakrishna Reddy - 2015
    You may be overloaded with too much of information. There are loads of information in form of books and articles out there that can help you. However, would it be nice to have an easy and simple process to follow to handle this area of your life? Discover The Easy Guide To Public Speaking: “Public Speaking Essentials” will reveal 6 steps that’ll help you overcome your fear and speak like a PRO. These are easy to understand and implement solutions coming from someone who was in the trenches and who's now an active and successful public speaker. Since he was a shy kid as he was growing up, Rama ventured into Public Speaking to handle this area of his life. As a result of his learning from mentors, toastmasters and contests, Ramakrishna Reddy has won more than 25 Public Speaking Contests and written 3 books related to Public Speaking. He speaks regularly to people ranging from few dozens to few hundreds. Ramakrishna is dedicated to sharing the lessons he’s learned to help others become confident in public speaking. Public Speaking Revealed in Six Simple Steps: How to overcome Public Speaking Anxiety How to master three pillars of Public Speaking How to Practice for Presentation Day How to Handle the Presentation Day How to create a connection with the audience How to handle glitches during the presentation day Download now to know more about this 'no clutter' guide.

The Sales Development Playbook: Build Repeatable Pipeline and Accelerate Growth with Inside Sales


Trish Bertuzzi - 2016
    This book is about not just growth, but high-growth, explosive-growth, the kind of growth that weather satellites can see from space.The success of any business-to-business company is directly linked to how effectively they acquire new pipeline. To skyrocket growth, sales development is the answer.This book encapsulates author Trish Bertuzzi’s three decades of practical, hands-on experience. It presents six elements for building new pipeline and accelerating revenue growth with inside sales.1. Strategy offers a framework for aligning your sales development model with your specific market and buyer's journey.2. Specialization presents stories of new thinking. You'll learn about segmenting your prospect universe, specializing roles, and how it all comes together.3. Recruiting offers a roadmap for hiring with urgency. Tactics, compensation, and a bullet-proof hiring process are presented in great detail.4. Retention goes deep on the stuff that never seems to get enough consideration: engaging, developing, and motivating people. 5. Execution switches gears and presents examples and tactics for onboarding, crafting buyer-based messaging, and designing effective outreach cadence.6. And, finally, Leadership, gives actionable advice on what it takes to lead sales development today. There's a lot to learn about quota setting, measuring what matters, and acceleration technologies, so those are covered in depth.As Ken Krogue (President of InsideSales.com) writes in the Foreword, “This is the playbook for how to succeed today. After reading this book, I know it will help you succeed, help your company grow, and change our industry.”

Strategic Market Management


David A. Aaker - 2007
    I found this book unique in its capacity to benefit executives, planning staff, and students of strategy alike." -- Robert L. Joss, Dean of the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University Create successful strategies for today's dynamic business environment It isn't your Dad's (or Mom's) marketplace any more. Business environments once seemed quite stable and simple. Today, every market can be described as dynamic, and you need to adapt your strategies in order to counter the threats and maximize your opportunities. The Eighth Edition of Strategic Market Management is designed to give you the strategic management tools you need to meet the challenges created by the dynamic nature of markets. Using a variety of concepts and methods such as strategic questions, portfolio models, and scenario analysis, the book outlines the five competencies that spark successful, ongoing strategizing: Strategic analysis--With an emphasis on external market analysis, this new edition illustrates a structured approach to understanding the customer, the competitor, and important trends that you can apply to your strategic decision making Stimulating and managing innovation--Understand different types of innovation and deal with the organizational challenges involved in bringing innovations to market Managing multiple businesses--Know how to allocate resources towards businesses of the future and away from businesses that lack growth potential Creating advantage--Take a long-term perspective to develop truly sustainable competitive advantages (SCAs) Developing growth strategies--Gain the skills to energize, leverage, globalize the business, or create new businesses Significantly revised, with a wealth of new and updated material, Strategic Market Management, 8th Edition remains the most authoritative guide to creating business strategies that will be relevant and compelling to customers, sustainable even in face of competitive attack, and maximize the assets and competencies of your organization.

The Mormon Way of Doing Business: Leadership and Success Through Faith and Family


Jeff Benedict - 2007
    The CEO of Dell Computers. The CEO of Deloitte & Touche. The Dean of the Harvard Business School. They all have one thing in common. They are devout Mormons who spend their Sundays exclusively with their families, never work long hours, and always put their spouses and children first. How do they do it? Critically acclaimed author and investigative journalist Jeff Benedict (a Mormon himself) examines these highly successful business execs and discovers how their beliefs have influenced them, and enabled them to achieve incredible success.With original interviews and unparalleled access, Benedict shares what truly drives these individuals, and the invaluable life lessons from which anyone can benefit.

Games of Strategy


Avinash K. Dixit - 1999
    The physical sciences and engineering claim to be the basis of modern technology and therefore of modern life; the social sciences discuss big issues of governance, for example, democracy and taxation; the humanities claim that they revive your soul after it has been deadened by exposure to the physical and social sciences and to engineering. Where does the subject "games of strategy," often also called game theory, fit into this picture, and why should you study it? Dixit and Skeath's Games of Strategy offers a practical motivation much more individual and closer to your personal concerns than most other subjects. You play games of strategy all the time: with your parents, siblings, friends, enemies, even with your professors. You have probably acquired a lot of instinctive expertise, and we hope you will recognize in what follows some of the lessons you have already learned. This book's authors will build on this experience, systematize it, and develop it to the point where you will be able to improve your strategic skills and use them more methodically. Opportunities for such uses will appear throughout the rest of your life; you will go on playing such games with your employers, employees, spouses, children, and even strangers. Not that the subject lacks wider importance. Similar games are played in business, politics, diplomacy, wars--in fact, whenever people interact to strike mutually agreeable deals or to resolve conflicts. Being able to recognize such games will enrich your understanding of the world around you, and will make you a better participant in all its affairs.

Absolute Value: What Really Influences Customers in the Age of (Nearly) Perfect Information


Itamar Simonson - 2014
    Most marketers still believe that they can shape consumers’ perception and drive their behavior. In this provocative book, Stanford professor Itamar Simonson and bestselling author Emanuel Rosen show why current mantras are losing their relevance. When consumers base their decisions on reviews from other users, easily accessed expert opinions, price comparison apps, and other emerging technologies, everything changes.Absolute Value answers the pressing questions of how to influence customers in this new age. Simonson and Rosen point out the old-school marketing concepts that need to change and explain how a company should design its communication strategy, market research program, and segmentation strategy in the new environment. Filled with deep analysis, case studies, and cutting-edge research, this forward-looking book provides a totally new way of thinking about marketing.

Commercial Real Estate Investing for Dummies


Peter Conti - 2008
    From office buildings to shopping centers to apartment buildings, it helps you pick the right properties at the right time for the right price. Yes, there is a fun and easy way to break into commercial real estate, and this is it. This comprehensive handbook has it all. You'll learn how to find great properties, size up sellers, finance your investments, protect your assets, and increase your property's value. You'll discover the upsides and downsides of the various types of investments, learn the five biggest myths of commercial real estate investment, find out how to recession-proof your investment portfolio, and more. Discover how to:Get leads on commercial property investments Determine what a property is worth Find the right financing for you Handle inspections and fix problems Make big money in land development Manage your properties or hire a pro Exploit the tax advantages of commercial real estate Find out what offer a seller really-really wants Perform due diligence before you make a deal Raise capital by forming partnerships Investing in commercial property can make you rich in any economy. Get Commercial Real Estate For Dummies, and find out how.

When Digital Becomes Human: The Transformation of Customer Relationships


Steven Van Belleghem - 2014
    In a recent global market study, 73% of respondents stated that even when a company’s digital channels work perfectly, they still want access to a real person.Steven Van Belleghem explores and explains the new digital relationships and offers a strategic guide to combining a business's two most important assets — its people and its digital strengths. He shows marketing managers, directors and commercial decision makers how to positively transform customers’ digital experiences by adding a human touch.  He covers the latest issues in digital marketing and CRM including: omnichannel and multichannel experiences, big data and predictive analytics, privacy concerns, and crowdsourcing.Packed with examples from organizations that have successfully transformed their customer relationships, such as Amazon, Toyota, ING, Nike and Starbucks, the book presents a clear model that illustrates how to integrate an “emotional” layer in any digital strategy to achieve consumer engagement and loyalty.