Financial and Process Metrics for the New Economy

Book Description

The economics of business have changed--forever! In the new economy of the Internet, light-speed work cycles, and "profitless" companies, traditional concepts such as "scarce resources" and "reliable forecasts" are generally irrelevant.

So...how can financial professionals measure the success of their businesses? This new book picks apart the assumptions of old-economy thinking, and then presents bold approaches to the new-economy reality.

Author James Sagner supplies readers with an insightful and detailed look at transaction finance and its component systems: financial metrics and process metrics. He also discusses the critical concept of the time value of money (TVM), giving readers a solid yet dynamic model for financial assessment. Finally, the book examines what the new metrics reveal about the success/failure potential of various industries.

Customer Reviews:

An invaluable resource.......2001-08-29

This is an invaluable book for business consultants, executive management, process analysts and IT professionals. Part I provides keen insights about the subtle and not-so-subtle differences between today's economic situation that has been changed dramatically by the Internet and e-commerce, and the "old" economy that is characterized by bricks and mortar and traditional distribution. The heart of this book is Part II, which provides metrics and indicators that need to be considered in today's competitive environment. In particular, the process metrics and transaction cycles that the author provides need to be carefully considered because they represent realities of competitively doing business in an e-commerce setting. This material will directly benefit process analysts and business process owners who are tasked with realigning their operations with systems that support e-commerce. Moreover, this information will also provide a solid foundation for IT analysts and architects who need to understand the business and functional requirements of systems they will be designing to support e-commerce. Another benefit that this book will provide is a method for performing an accurate cost/benefit analysis of any system or reengineering initiative that is undertaken to support business and IT alignment for e-commerce. I strongly recommend augmenting this excellent book with "Internet Commerce Metrics and Models in the New Era of Accountability" by Sri Jagannathan, which is a compendium of models and metrics that complement and validate the information in this book.

Book Description

Restore Creativity and Trust to Your Workplace
Much has changed since Driving Fear Out of the Workplace first made the undiscussable discussable back in 1991. Advances in technology, new employee/employer relations, and the corporate push to optimize intellectual capital have introduced a host of new workplace anxieties that, left unaddressed, can seriously inhibit individual performance and cripple a company's ability to compete. Which is why, in this revised edition, authors Ryan and Oestreich revisit their original, best-selling work to confront the fears that permeate today's organizations--so that they can become the high-trust, high-performance organizations of tomorrow. This insightful book digs deeply into the root causes of fear and the pervasive 'flu of mistrust' that weakens motivation and commitment.
--Terrence E. Deal and M. K. Key, authors of Corporate Celebration: Play, Purpose, and Passion at Work
You'll discover:
* How fear prevents people from doing their best
* How fear operates in organizations
How to build business relationships without fear...and much more!
This work is a timely antidote to the insecurities of workers faced with the pervasive push toward leaner, meaner organizations.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent resource for OD, HR and all managers.......2003-04-29

This is one of my all-time favorite management/OD books. I strongly recommend it to anyone interested in learning how to improve manager-employee relationships, trust, and communication in organizations. I think it should be on the bookshelf of every Organization Development specialist, Human Resource manager, executive coach, and leadership trainer. It contains useful, thoughtful, and often unique advice for managers, team members, trainers, and anyone else interested in reducing the climate of fear in their workplace. Some of the ideas translate well to personal and family relationships too.

Fear is extremely damaging to organizations. It can harm trust, communication, quality, knowledge sharing, cooperation, innovation, retention, and overall organization effectiveness. Whether you are interested in improving morale, communication, and performance company-wide, or you just need to improve your relationship with one person, you'll find something useful here. This is not just the same old recycled advice you'll see in leadership books. Some of the ideas will be familiar to experienced people in the field, but the authors expand them and put them into a new perspective based on their work. They contribute many new ideas and examples that you won't find elsewhere.

Portions of the book are particularly helpful for well-intentioned managers who just don't understand why people don't fully trust them. If you're not getting the level of communication, ideas, and candor needed to bring your organization to the next level, fear may be the problem. If you hear a manager say, "I don't know why they didn't tell me sooner," give him or her this book. Most of us don't realize all the little things we do to discourage good communication.

My favorite concepts in this book include the cycle of mistrust and undiscussables. The cycle of mistrust provides a great understanding of how our perceptions and assumptions influence the behavior of other people. It's a great model for leadership, teambuilding and communication workshops. You'll be sure to recognize a few "undiscussables" in your own workplace. An undiscussable might be a sensitive issue that employees whisper about to one another, but not with those who might have the power to do something about it. It's just too risky to speak up. Management might not learn about it until they experience the shock of scathing comments in an anonymous employee survey, or they hear about it from someone in another company! You can prevent this from happening by driving fear out of the workplace and by creating an environment that makes it easier for people to speak up in the first place.

A vision for high-trust and high performance organization.......2001-07-04

"Our work on this topic has been inspired primarily by personal consulting experiences over many years...Ten years ago, these experiences confirmed the teachings of W.Edwards Deming and others involved with continuous quality improvement. Deming asserted in his fourteen obligations of managment that quality was impossible where people are afraid to tell the truth...Besides Dming, other voices strongly reinforce the need to understand the dynamics and effects of fear. Chris Argyris's extensive body of work clarifies how invisible and self-reinforcing miscommunication due to fear can be. Peter Senge's explorations of systems thinking illuminate its far-reaching effects. Both of these thinkers underscore the need to understand the negative assumptions about people that keep fear in place. Peter Block's works on empowerment and stewardship demand a wholesale rethinking of the concepts of management and leadership as a way to escape thses destructive beliefs. Most recently, Thomas Stewart's examination of the rapidly emerging value of intellectual capital demands that even more attention be paid to reducing fear and building trust" (from the Preface).

In this context, Kathleen D.Ryan and Daniel K.Oestreich, with the following core questions, illustrate some important elements of the trust-fear continuum. They say that if your answers to these questions are all 'yes,' your workplace is clearly fear-based:

* Do a high proportion of people in your organization frequently hesitate to speak up about certain issues?

* Does a fear of speaking up exist at many levels in your organization?

* Are people in your workplace associating managers and supervisors with th presence of fear?

* Are leaders in your organization exhibiting behavior that causes employees to be afraid?

* Are people reacting with strong emotions to a perceived environment of fear?

* Is fear having an impact on work and how it is getting done?

Thus, by describing the following 'core behaviors,' they define the vision of a high-trust workplace: *mutual helpfulness and understanding, *serving as a reality check for one another, *providing feedback for one another, on strengths as well as areas that need improvement, *influencing each other's ideas and decisions; willingness to be influenced, *humor; enjoyment of each other's company, *creative, synergistic problem solving where the results are greater than the sum of the parts, *respect for different backgrounds and talents; reliance on one another's expertise to ensure the best results, *willingness and ability to work through conflicts and disagreements, *common commitment to the same goal; commitment to one another's success, *a high level of rapport and honesty with one another, *straightforward communication.

They argue that the vision of a high-trust workplace can draw people naturally away from the cycle of fear and mistrust toward a new set of possibilities for better workplace relationships, and hence high-performance organization.

Highly recommended.

Making the quantum leap from fear to trust........1999-03-02

A culture of fear permeates many organizations, draining them of their potential and vitality. Based on their interview findings, the authors examine how fear is a major obstacle to open communication and organizational effectiveness. The book also addresses fear during times of rapid change. In this work you will find strategies for building a high-trust work environment. The book is loaded with good, practical guidance for managers. From fear to trust is a quantum leap; this book can help you take that enlightening jump.

Book Description

While the global trade regime has made significant strides in eliminating tariffs and other barriers to free trade, it has yet to develop a consistent and enforceable antitrust and competition policy that combats monopolies, cartels, and other private arrangements that continue to hamper equitable access to the world's goods and services. This book takes a giant step toward achieving this goal. Based on a conference of national authorities and leading scholars in antitrust and competition law and policy, Competition Policy in the Global Trading System: Perspectives from the EU, Japan and the USA presents twenty insightful essays which together provide an in-depth assessment of current achievements and impasses, as well as a variety of possible ways forward. Among the relevant factors in this progression, the authors discuss such approaches as: + bilateral and regional international cooperation agreements; + WTO competition rules, enforceable through the dispute resolution procedure; and + international development of US, EU, and Japanese antitrust laws. Each of these approaches is examined through the all-important lens of enforcement - a spectrum that extends from deterrence to private actions imposing such penalties as prejudgment interest or treble damages. The crucial issue of how international antitrust rules should be incorporated into the global trading system is explored from many angles. Significantly, the book comes at a time when the report of the U.S. International Competition Policy Advisory Committee (ICPAC) is under close scrutiny in all major trading countries. The conference on which this book is based was in fact the first occasion at which top-level antitrust enforcers discussed this report. Including as it does the opinions of several former and present government and WTO leaders in antitrust and competition policy, Competition Policy in the Global Trading System: Perspectives from the EU, Japan and the USA sets the stage for the integration of trade and competition rules that is now gathering momentum. It is a book no official or academic in the field can do without.

Cooperative Capitalism: Self-Regulation, Trade Associations, and the Antimonopoly Law in Japan (Japan Business and Economics Series)

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Cooperative Capitalism: Self-Regulation, Trade Associations, and the Antimonopoly Law in Japan (Japan Business and Economics Series)
Ulrike Schaede
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Policy & Current Events | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Development & Growth | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Economic Policy & Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Exports & Imports | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Industrial | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

The Japanese government is becoming less involved in shaping industrial policyDSbut what does this imply for the openness of Japanese markets to foreign competition? In an extensive study of 'post-development' Japan, Ulrike Schaede argues that, contrary to what many have suggested, the reduced role of government regulation may not result in more open markets. Instead, as has happened throughout Japanese history, deregulation and the recession of the 1990s have once again led Japanese trade associations to assume important regulatory functions of their own. They do this through 'self-regulation'DSsetting and enforcing the rules of trade for their industries, independent from the government. As a result, many Japanese markets are now effectively governed by incumbent firms, in particular in terms of structuring the distribution system. As the record of postwar antitrust enforcement reveals, Japan's antitrust system considers most activities of self-regulation, other than outright price-fixing, as legal. Using interviews and a unique database of trade association activities, this book concludes that increasing self-regulation renders both government deregulation programmes and international trade negotiations ineffective in opening Japanese markets. The implications of self-regulation for Japanese industry are mixed: while internationally competitive firms can use self-regulation to reduce competition at home in order to compete more forcefully abroad, some domestic industries, such as the financial sector, may suffer from increased self-protection.

International Trade and Competition Law in Japan (Modern Japanese Law)

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International Trade and Competition Law in Japan (Modern Japanese Law)
Mitsuo Matsushita
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Exports & Imports | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Business Law | Reference | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Antitrust | Business | Law | Subjects | Books

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All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0198254407

Book Description

Modern Japanese Law Series This new series has been established to provide scholars and practitioners with a library of books which deal with contemporary issues in Japanese law, particularly in areas of law which are of importance to the international business community. It will include books on Japanese labour law, the Law of Civil Procedure, Securities Regulation, and environmental law. Two volumes containing accurate and up-to-date translations of all the major Japanese Codes (Civil and Criminal) are planned for 1994. This book analyses the means by which the Japanese government regulates business activity, principally through the use of competition or anti-monopoly laws. These laws operate both within Japan and, to a lesser extent, beyond. The book also looks at legal aspects of industrial policy as well as the legal framework of foreign trade and investment in Japan. As such it goes to the very heart of industrial and commercial life in Japan, and will be of interest to all those who are involved in doing business with Japan, as well as to their legal and financial advisers.

The System of Unfair Competition Prevention in Japan (Max Planck Series on Asian Intellectual Property Law, 3.)

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The System of Unfair Competition Prevention in Japan (Max Planck Series on Asian Intellectual Property Law, 3.)
Christopher Heath
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Antitrust | Business | Law | Subjects | Books

Commercial | Business | Law | Subjects | Books

Property | Business | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Intellectual Property | Law | Subjects | Books

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General | International Law | Law | Subjects | Books

International Law | Law | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

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All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 9041198377

Book Description

This is the first in-depth treatment in English of Japanese law and practice governing unfair competition. The author analyzes the interaction of the relevant laws - and the case law derived from each - to present a systematic description of how business reputation, trade secrets, well-known marks, and other aspects of business achievement and investment are protected against undue exploitation in Japan.

Prohibited acts of unfair competition covered include:
+ misappropriation by confusion or passing-off;
+ misappropriation through breach of trust or fiduciary duty;
+ slavish imitation of distinct product features;
+ trade mark piracy;
+ tortious acts of denigration, libel, and slander;
+ direct interference by, e.g., boycott or bribery;
+ undue exercise of intellectual property rights; and
+ misleading indications on goods and services (e.g., of geographical origin).

Several problematic areas - in particular, the obstacles to effective enforcement, and the lack of adequate protection for consumers against acts of unfair competition - are given particular emphasis. The book concludes with cogent proposals on how the Japanese system could be improved and developed, referring to the model provisions of the World Intellectual Property Organization and offering a new and original draft Unfair Competition Act. Any business person or investor interested in the Japanese market will benefit enormously from this practical and insightful volume.

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Fair trade in financial services legislation: Joint hearing before the Subcommittee on International Development, Finance, Trade, and Monetary Policy and ... One Hundred Second Congress, first session
United States
Manufacturer: For sale by the U.S. G.P.O., Supt. of Docs., Congressional Sales Office
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Law | Subjects | Books | Administrative Law | Biographies | Business | Constitutional Law | Criminal Law | Current Affairs | Dictionaries & Terminology | English Law | Environmental & Natural Resources Law | Ethics & Professional Responsibility | Family & Health Law | General | Intellectual Property | International Law | Law Practice | Legal Education | Legal History | Media & the Law | One-L | Perspectives on Law | Philosophy | Practical Guides | Private Law | Procedures & Litigation | Series | Specialties | Statute Summaries | Statutes & Cases | Taxation
ASIN: 0160377994

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International antitrust: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Business Rights, and Competition of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States ... with the Japanese market, May 4, 1999
United States
Manufacturer: For sale by the U.S. G.P.O., Supt. of Docs., Congressional Sales Office
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 0160605164

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International Trade and Competition Law in Japan (Modern Japanese Law)
Mitsuo Matsushita
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MU8988

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Lessons fromn the United States-Japan semiconductor dispute
David A Gantz
Manufacturer: Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006RYROC

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Resolved : that the United States should substantially change its trade policy toward one or more of the following : China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, ... to Public Law 88-246 (SuDoc Y 1.1/7:101-220)
U.S. Congressional Budget Office
Manufacturer: U.S. G.P.O.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B000103T0W

Book Description

This stunningly illustrated visual guide to the heavens deserves a place on every amateur astronomer's bookshelf. It features both sky maps and dramatic photos of all major constellations, from Andromeda to Virgo. It also provides a stargazer's excursion across the solar system, focusing on planets, asteroids, meteors, and comets. Exploring further into deep space, it presents breathtaking photos—many of them taken from NASA's famous Hubble telescope—of colliding galaxies, supernovas, and spirograph nebulae. The author advises beginners on nighttime sky-watching, whether they make their observations with the naked eye, with binoculars, or with a telescope. He also discusses unmanned space exploration, provides star maps for each month of the year, and explains such phenomena as the Big Bang and black holes. The Stargazer's Guide to the Universe is printed throughout in full color and features more than 250 photos and illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

Pompous title, down-to-earth text.......2007-05-07

The rather pompous title disguises a good beginner's guide to astronomy. The first two chapters provide a brief overview of our current understanding of astronomy, followed by a discussion of the instruments we now use to do astronomy, from Hubble to radio telescopes to space probes. After that comes the meat of the book, three chapters dividing the universe into our galaxy, outside our galaxy, and the solar system. Each chapter provides an overview followed by a host of examples. The examples are my favorite part of the book: each is a two-page spread, with a big beautiful photo on one side and an explanation on the other. The explanation consists not only of a brief text but a sky map showing the exact location of the object in the photo as well as a smaller, annotated version of the photo pointing out notable elements that appear in the image, whether it be craters or interstellar clouds of a particular composition or a ten-billion-year-old supernova. (I could have used some of that in my astronomy classes.)

The text is not terribly sophisticated, and I found myself skimming through it to get to the photo section. I also have one quibble and two errors. The quibble is that there's no mention of false-color imagery, even though I think a number of the photos are in false color - oxygen clouds are not automatically green. The errors are in the chapter on instruments. In one place it says the radio telescope at Arecibo is built into the top of a mountain. It's not, of course, it's built into the bottom of a (radio-dish-shaped) valley. It also states that the Very Large Telescope at Paranal, with its four 8.2 meter telescopes, has the light-gathering power of a mirror 200 meters across. Even with some additional smaller telescopes, that's unlikely: it would take another 590 8.2m telescopes to make that true. I assume he means the resolving power.

However, those are minor points in a beautiful and informative book. I got this at the library but would seriously consider getting my own copy, for both the beautiful photographs and the helpful explanations thereof.

Images that would have been impossible to get before........2005-11-08

Although most serious astronomers don't look at images through their telescopes (they have instruments like spectroscopes analyzing the light that's coming in) the images that have been produced in the last few years have been truly outstanding. For the first time mankind has sent spacecraft to objects in our solar system. We have rocks back from the moon, we have close up images of planets and moons, we have Spirit and Opportunity roving around on Mars. And we have the Hubble Space Telescope sending back astounding photographs.

The result is this book, filled with images and information that just a short time ago simply wasn't available. The images that are reproduced here are simply spactactular. The book starts with the biggest objects: galaxies and star clusters. Then it moves down to our own Milky Way Galaxy, and then to our own solar system.

This is a coffee table picture book, but with some truly out of this world images.

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