Dangers to successful enterprises

BookValue
How the Mighty Fall
Jim Collins
( http://www.rbooks.co.uk/)

Five stages of decline

Decline of enterprises does not happen all of a sudden, but in stages, says Jim Collins. His book How the Mighty Fall speaks of five stages of decline, viz. hubris born of success, undisciplined pursuit of more, denial of risk and peril, grasping for salvation, and capitulation to irrelevance or death.

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An advice for doctors!

BookValue
Financial Planning for Doctors
Amar Pandit
( http://www.myfinad.com/ )

Financial mistakes doctors make

Indian doctors may be among the best in the world in terms of diagnosis and treatment, but how good are they when it comes to money? Alas, they make at least seven major mistakes, laments Amar Pandit in Financial Planning for Doctors.

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Terrifying bubbles

BookValue
When Bubbles Burst
John P. Calverley
( http://www.landmarkonthenet.com/ )

Easy to win elections during bubble periods

While many central bankers are cautious about targeting asset prices, some have been terrified even of drawing attention to bubbles, finds John P. Calverley. “They fear that the markets will one day sell off sharply and they don’t want to encourage that, either as a committee or as individuals. Instead, they are inclined to cross their fingers, hoping that perhaps the market does know something they don’t or that it will deflate quietly in that usually el usive ‘soft landing,’” writes Calverley in When Bubbles Burst: Surviving the Financial Fallout.

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Characteristics of the successful companies

Book Mark
The Admirable Company
Michael Brown and Paul Turner
( http://www.vivagroupindia.com/)

Sustaining an admirable reputation

The foremost attribute of companies that sustain an admirable reputation is that they have processes that enable a long-term, continuously improving approach, say Michael Brown and Paul Turner in The Admirable Company. Such companies learn from their performance and make adjustments to improve it; they protect the things they do well and fix things that are not going well, the authors add.

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Convincing attractively

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The Gentle Art of Getting Your Own Way
Patrick Forsyth
( http://www.macmillanpublishersindia.com/)

Characteristics of persuasiveness

To be persuasive, a case must exhibit three key characteristics: be understandable, attractive, and convincing, says Patrick Forsyth in The Gentle Art of Getting Your Own Way.

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Tips for journalists

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Journalism
Tony Harcup
( http://www.sagepublications.com/)

Responsible choices

Journalism matters because it informs discussion in the public sphere, says Tony Harcup in Journalism: Principles & Practice, second edition. This social role in informing citizens means that a good journalist will be a reflective practitioner and will be aware that he or she is not simply an entertainer or a teller of stories, Harcup elaborates.

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Unified tax structure

Books of Account
Goods and Service Tax
Abhishek A. Rastogi and Aditya Kumar
(http://www.taxmann.com/)

Preparing for GST

What is the probable GST rate? Between 14 and 16 per cent, predict Abhishek A. Rastogi and Aditya Kumar in Goods and Service Tax: New face of indirect taxes in India.

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Raising resources from land

Books of Account
India Infrastructure Report 2009 of 3iNetwork
(http://www.oup.com/)

Financing urban infrastructure

Betterment charge or land value increase tax (LVIT) is one of the four alternatives for raising resources from land, lists India Infrastructure Report 2009 of 3iNetwork. This levy on the landowners in cities aims to recover from them a part of the land value gains or `unearned income,' which results from public investment in infrastructure.

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Carbon credits

BookValue
Clean Development Mechanism and Carbon Credits
( http://www.icai.org/)

Carbon trading

If a project generates energy using wind power instead of burning coal and in the process saves 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, what is the carbon credit it can earn? 25 CER (carbon emission reduction) or carbon credits, because one CER is equivalent to the reduction of one metric tonne of carbon dioxide, informs Clean Development Mechanism and Carbon Credits: A primer’ from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

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Rewards make people feel good

BookValue
Culturetopia
Jason Young
( http://www.macmillanpublishersindia.com/ )

Non-financial rewards

At the workplace, while financial reward plays an important part, it is the non-financial reward that is appreciated more than the financial equivalent simply because it takes more thought and consideration to choose the non-financial one, notes Jason Young in Culturetopia.

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Accounting methods

BookValue

Rena He Hanxi of HSBC Jintrust Fund Management

Khaw Weikang

( http://www.wiley.com/ )

Family finances

One of the time-tested nuggets of counsel in Honglou Fortune is to nurture the habit of accounting. “To men, accounting may be likened to polishing shoes every day before stepping out of the house,” explains the book from Rena He Hanxi of HSBC Jintrust Fund Management, translated by Khaw Weikang.

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Listener's obstacles

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Developing Communication Skills
Krishna Mohan and Meera Banerji
( http://www.macmillanpublishersindia.com/)

Barriers to listening

Some of the major barriers to listening are an adverse physical atmosphere, lack of motivation, improper perception, and negative personality traits, say Krishna Mohan and Meera Banerji in Developing Communication Skills, second edition.

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Anglo-Indians in Australia

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Nation in Imagination
Debjani Ganguly
( http://www.orientlongman.com/)

The Australia attraction

To Indians watching the recent developments in Australia, Debjani Ganguly’s essay about Anglo-Indians, in Nation in Imagination, should be of interest. Australia’s connections with Anglo-Indians go back to the earliest periods of British settler history in this continent, she traces.

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Media messages

Book Mark
Examining Identity in Sports Media
Heather L. Hundley and Andrew C. Billings
( http://www.sagepublications.com/)

Skewed perception of race and beauty

The media plays a significant role in encouraging the processes of racism, racialisation, and racial formation, writes Mary G. McDonald in one of the essays included in Examining Identity in Sports Media. She rues that, despite notable counterexamples, white-dominated media characterisations frequently infer that white bodies inherently excel in the culturally valued status positio ns as leaders, hard workers, and authoritative experts.

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Australian encounters with India

Say Cheek
Of Sadhus and Spinners
Bruce Bennett, Santosh K. Sareen, Susan Cowan and Asha Kanwar
( http://www.harpercollins.co.in/)

Indian tales from Australians

Much has been written about the Indians’ ‘encounters’ with Australia. Here’s the opposite, ‘Australian encounters with India,’ a collection of stories under the title Of Sadhus and Spinners, edited by Bruce Bennett, Santosh K. Sareen, Susan Cowan and Asha Kanwar.

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Conversation skills

Manage Mentor
You’re Hired!
Nasha Fitter
( http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/)

Speak concisely

Why does logic matter in conversation? Because people will not listen to every word you say no matter how interesting you may think you are, as Nasha Fitter reasons in You’re Hired!

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Be a knowledge seeker

Manage Mentor
Success Mapping
Arlene Johnson
( http://www.emeraldbookcompany.com/)

Keep your brain fit and flexible

Your potential is much greater than you realise, says Arlene Johnson in Success Mapping. What is available to each of us is far beyond what we imagine, acknowledge, or access, she reminds. “So, if you choose not to believe that you do indeed have tremendous unclaimed potential, your personal success could remain elusive, and your dreams and goals unfulfilled.”

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The LLP vehicle

Books of Account

Law Relating to Limited Liability Partnership

D. S. R. Krishnamurti

( www.taxmann.com )

Understanding LLP

LLP is viewed as an alternative corporate business vehicle, says D. S. R. Krishnamurti in Law Relating to Limited Liability Partnership, second edition. The LLP vehicle provides limited liability preserving for its constituencies the flexibility of organising their internal structure as a partnership based on a mutually arrived agreement subject to the LLP Act with least regulatory hassles, he adds.

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The poverty drivers

Books of Account

Reducing Global Poverty

( www.oup.com )

Publish what you pay

The economic channel of corruption affects two proximate drivers of poverty, namely, growth and inequality, says Reducing Global Poverty: Patterns of potential human progress, volume 1.

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A right can at times override permissions

Books 2 Byte
CompTIA Network+ Certification Study Guide
Glen E. Clarke
( http://www.tatamcgrawhill.com/)

Permission and right

What is the difference between permission and right? A permission, in the Microsoft world, is your level of access to a resource such as a file, folder, or object, explains Glen E. Clarke in ‘CompTIA Network+ Certification Study Guide,’ fourth edition.

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Kannada, the language of governance

Books 2 Byte
Language and Politics in India
Asha Sarangi
( http://www.oup.com/)

English vs Kannada

Never before in Karnataka’s history has the economic value of English education been as visible as in the opportunities offered by the new economy, writes Janaki Nair in one of the essays included in ‘Language and Politics in India,’ edited by Asha Sarangi.

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Microsoft’s business

Books 2 Byte
Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007
Elaine Anderson, Bruno Aziza, Joey Fitts, Steve Hoberecht and Tim Kashani
( http://www.wileyindia.com/)

Information worker

The core of Microsoft’s business is the ‘information worker,’ informs ‘Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007’ by Elaine Anderson, Bruno Aziza, Joey Fitts, Steve Hoberecht and Tim Kashani. But, who is an information worker? ‘Anybody who is an active participant in a business information flow or business information process,’ reads a definition by Jeff Raikes, president of Microsoft’s Business Division.

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'Online' terrorism

Books 2 Byte
Understanding Terrorism
Gus Martin
( http://www.sagepublications.com/)

Disquiet in cyberspace

Computer technology is now used extensively by many terrorist groups and extremist movements, observes Gus Martin in ‘Understanding Terrorism: Challenges, perspectives, and issues,’ third edition. It is not uncommon for their Web sites to be visually attractive, user-friendly, and interactive, he adds.

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Investing in funds

BookValue
36 Stratagems for Investors
HSBC Jintrust Fund Management
( http://www.wiley.com/ )

Celebrity fund managers

Much like the seductress at work, celebrity fund managers can be a trap wrapped in gloss and glitter, cautions 36 Stratagems for Investors: Timeless Financial Wisdom from a Chinese Classic brought out by HSBC Jintrust Fund Management. “Celebrity fund managers build their credit on having scored excellent results and won numerous accolades in the past.

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'Gold'en investment

BookValue
Sub Prime Resolved
Anil Selarka
( http://www.anilselarka.com/ )

Go for gold

India buys 800 tonnes of gold every year (33 per cent of fresh production) whereas ‘the dumb central bankers around the world have been selling this precious metal for over two decades,’ says Anil Selarka in Sub Prime Resolved. He computes the cumulative gold held by Indian households at over 20,000 tonnes, valued at $611 billions, or nearly 8 years of global annual gold production.

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Investment in microfinance

BookValue
Microfinance for Bankers and Investors
Elisabeth Rhyne
( http://www.tatamcgrawhill.com/ )

Microfinance market

The hallmarks of a mature microfinance investment market will include ready availability of high-quality information about MFIs (microfinance institutions), a wide range of investors, and active trading with ease of entry and exit, says Elisabeth Rhyne in Microfinance for Bankers and Investors. When that happens, MFIs will be able to raise funds at favourable costs that accurately reflect their risk and return profiles, she adds.

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The language of confidence

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Who Stole My Energy?
Ariana Trinity
( http://www.macmillanindia.com/)

Trust yourself

To Ariana Trinity, confidence is a language in itself. People with confidence are noticed straight away, she writes in Who Stole My Energy? Confidence seems lik e an unseen force; when confident people walk in, the others cannot miss them, because they have an air about them, the author adds.

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Secret of successful selling

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What the Customer Wants You to Know
Ram Charan
( http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/)

Customer prosperity key

The heart of the new approach to selling, which Ram Charan propounds in What the Customer Wants You to Know, is an intense focus on the prosperity of custo mers. “The entire psychological orientation is shifted 180 degrees. No longer do you measure your own success first. Instead, you measure success by how well your customers are doing with your help.”

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Reshaping the routine

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Built to Serve
Dan J. Sanders
( http://www.tatamcgrawhill.com/)

Be true to your mission statement

Organisations serious about their mission statements must reshape what they are busy doing every day to ensure that the effort is synchronised with what they plan to deliver, says Dan J. Sanders in Built to Serve: How to drive the botto m line with people-first practices.

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The five key relationship performance measures

Books of Account
Strategic Alliances & Marketing Partnerships
Richard Gibbs and Andrew Humphries
( http://www.vivagroupindia.com/)

Measuring partnership performance

One of the sections in Strategic Alliances & Marketing Partnerships, by Richard Gibbs and Andrew Humphries, is about measuring partnership performance. Current methods of judging the value and performance of a partnership generally address the traditional time, cost and quality perspectives, the authors note.

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The 'rent' and the 'return'

Books of Account
The Dynamics of Competition
K. Pushpangadan and N. Shanta
( http://www.oup.com/)

Rent-seeking behaviour

A disturbing finding about rent-seeking behaviour, in a recent book from Oxford University Press, is that in all industries, on an average, the rate of return is nearly double that of the estimated competitive return. The rent component and competitive return are more or less equal, observe K. Pushpangadan and N. Shanta in The Dynamics of Competition: Understanding India’s manufacturing sector.

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Health tips

BookValue
The Seven Pillars of Health
Don Colbert
( http://www.magnamags.com/)

Learn to rest

Busyness comes at a high price, observes Don Colbert in The Seven Pillars of Health: The natural way to better health for life. And his antidote is simple: Learn to rest, because rest helps to maintain our strength, energy, and youthfulness. So, begin taking off one day a week for rest, he encourages.

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Cost management

BookValue
Financial Wisdom
A. P. Dash
( http://www.biztantra.in/ )

Self-manage finances

As a small or medium-sized business, one of the simplest ways to control costs is to look after your finances yourself, says A. P. Dash in Financial Wisdom: Finance for non-finance executives.

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Making rational decisions in bear markets

BookValue
20/20 Money
Michael J. Hanson
( http://www.wiley.com/ )

Face the bear with guts

When fear begins to overtake reason, investors fall prey to the ‘do something’ reflex, cautions Michael J. Hanson in 20/20 Money: See the markets clearly and invest better than the pros. “Our Stone Age minds were made to react to fear – any sign of threat and our bodies get ready for action. That’s great for living in the wild with a sabre-toothed tiger on your heels, but it makes for horrible investing decisions.” In fearful times our minds get warped, Hanson describes.

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Restricted viewership

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Global Marketing and Advertising
Marieke de Mooij
( http://www.sagepublications.com/)

Media paradox

You’d tend to agree with the common perception that the growing number of satellites makes it possible for anybody on this global village to receive any TV channel. Alas, this is just theory, says Marieke de Mooij in Global Market ing and Advertising: Understanding Cultural Paradoxes, third edition.

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'Cross-border' fans

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Shadows Across the Playing Field
Shashi Tharoor and Shaharyar Khan
( http://www.rolibooks.com/)

From fans to ambassadors

Year 2004. By the time the last two ODIs (one-day internationals) were played in Lahore, a veritable cross-border invasion of Indian supporters had taken place, recount Shashi Tharoor and Shaharyar Khan in Shadows Across the Playing Field.

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To win a client

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Welcome to Advertising!
Omkar Sane
(Tranquebar)

Client-wise

Winning a client is like wooing a girl, analogises Omkar Sane in Welcome to Advertising! (Tranquebar). You have to spend on her, impress her with flashy things she doesn’t understand, pamper her, meet her unreasonable demands , be on your toes at all times of the day (and night) and massage her ego before she becomes yours, he describes.

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'What I practise is what I preach’

Manage Mentor
Gandhian Management
Ram Pratap
( http://www.jaicobooks.com/)

Grassroots level contacts

WIPIWIP or ‘what I practise is what I preach’ should be the motto of a leader, says Ram Pratap in Gandhian Management: The paragon of higher order management. Strategies can be transparent, he adds, citing how Gandhiji always dealt even with his adversaries: “He would speak truth forthright, execute his plans openly, and would leave it to the opponents to take any course of action which the latter deemed fit to thwart his plans.”

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The seven essential loops

Manage Mentor
Loops
Mike Chaet and Stephen C. Lundin
( http://www.tatamcgrawhill.com/)

Success is built one loop at a time

Manage the experience zones. This is the first of ‘the seven essential loops’ in Loops by Mike Chaet and Stephen C. Lundin. Experience zones are the areas where a large number of customer contacts occur, the authors explain. And you will best manage these zones only if you identify and understand your true market.

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The effects of technology in the classroom

Books 2 Byte

Cyber Law

Aimée M. Bissonette

( www.CorwinPress.com)

Ethics training

The ethical pitfalls associated with technology confronting today’s students are numerous, rues Aimée M. Bissonette in Cyber Law: Maximizing safety and minimizing risk in classrooms.

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‘Cargo on its way…’

Books 2 Byte

Mumbai Under Siege

Nikhil S. Dixit

( www.jaicobooks.com)

SIMmering trouble

Less than ten days before the deadly strike in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, information was building up in the offices of Indian intelligence authorities. For instance, the Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) centre at Bhuj was hearing about ‘cargo on its way…’ Telephonic intercepts also indicated requests for 35 SIM cards, narrates Nikhil S. Dixit in Mumbai Under Siege.

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Plug-in mechanism

Books 2 Byte

Eclipse (SDK 3.4) with MyEclipse (IDE 7.0) in Simple Steps

( www.dreamtechpress.com)

Eclipse study

If the images of the century’s longest solar eclipse are still fresh in your mind, it may be of interest for you to know that there is an open source community named ‘Eclipse’ which provides a platform comprising various tools to build, deploy, and run C, C++, and Java applications.
Eclipse also provides plug-in mechanism to add other functionalities in Java, Web, or Enterprise projects, informs a recent ‘Kogent’ book titled Eclipse (SDK 3.4) with MyEclipse (IDE 7.0) in Simple Steps. Examples of such plug-ins are Struts and Glassfish.

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Requirements creation or management

Books 2 Byte
Software & Systems Requirements Engineering
( http://www.tatamcgrawhill.com/)
Requirements engineering, a domain-neutral discipline

That any subject-matter expert can become a ‘requirements engineer’ is the first of the three misconceptions dealt with in Software & Systems Requirements Engineering: In practice.

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'Challenges', a new label for a successful life

BookValue
The 10 Minute Coach
Dan Lier
( http://www.jaicobooks.com/ )

Key questions

Adversity can hit anyone, but you may still use your choice to respond differently from the majority. How so? Check if you have negative patterns associated with handling adversity. Do you, for instance, speak of trouble, problems, issues, or distress? If so, how about thinking of a new label, ‘challenges,’ advises Dan Lier in The 10 Minute Coach: Daily Strategies for Life Success.

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Wealth vs 'well-th'

BookValue
Bazaars, Conversations & Freedom
Rajni Bakshi
( http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/ )

Blessed unrest

Post meltdown, activism is not happening merely at the fringes, says Rajni Bakshi in Bazaars, Conversations & Freedom: For a Market Culture Beyond Greed and Fear. Far more people are willing to rebel against the absurdity that mess-up of accounting entries on Wall Street can cause the real economy to collapse even though nothing has in fact changed in terms of willing workers with needed skills, requisite physical infrastructure and natural resources, she adds.

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'People follow people they like'

BookValue

Emotionomics

Dan Hill

( http://www.vivagroupindia.com/ )

CEO and stock path

Why is honesty the pre-eminent attribute employees wish to see in leaders? Because employees naturally want to know where a leader stands, answers Dan Hill in Emotionomics: Leveraging Emotions for Business Success, revised edition.

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Creating a new-age entrepreneurial department

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Policing: Reinvention strategies in a marketing framework
Rohit Choudhary
( http://www.sagepublications.com/)

Marketing the police

The present-day policeman is generally viewed by the public with the same loathing as were his imperial predecessors; however, the authority wielded by the policeman has diminished considerably over time, rues Rohit Choudhary in ‘Policing: Reinvention strategies in a marketing framework’.

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CV, a selling document

Book Mark
How to Get a Job in a Recession
Harry Freedman
(Research Press)

CV: is work in progress

If you are like most people, you will almost certainly have paid no attention to your CV since the last time you applied for a job, predicts Harry Freedman in How to Get a Job in a Recession (Research Press).

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'Words', the externally controlling factors

Book Mark
Learning Group Leadership
Jeffrey A. Kottler and Matt Englar-Carlson
( http://www.sagepublications.com/)

Symptoms of irrational thinking

Though words, by themselves, are neither good nor bad, some words can be symptoms of underlying illogical, distorted, or irrational thinking patterns, say Jeffrey A. Kottler and Matt Englar-Carlson in Learning Group Leadership, second edition.

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