Books/Online Services

This article reviews key business books covering business processes, leadership, general marketing and management techniques, niche marketing, customer satisfaction, career enhancement, and general reference. Also included is a review of easily available online services that provide information on government regulations, demographics, company profiles, and more.

BUSINESS PROCESS

Every Manager's Guide to Information Technology, by Peter G. W. Keen. This glossary of key terms and concepts goes beyond basic definitions to explain why and how fast-changing technologies are being used in business today. A good reference for managers. 290 pp. $18.95. Harvard Business School Press. Call 800-545-7685.

Business Processes, by Peter G.W. Keen & Ellen M. Knapp. Explains total quality management, concurrent engineering, front-ending, just-in-time, integration, and other business processes that have become the major means of competitive positioning for companies. A fascinating reference for current and would-be managers. 219 pp. $14.95. Harvard Business School Press. Call 800-545-7685.

The Discipline of Market Leaders, by Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema. A bold look at how companies succeed by mastering "customer value disciplines." The authors pick up where such process-based concepts as reengineering leave off and provide ideas for achieving success through market focus. 208 pp. $25.00. Addison-Wesley Publishing. Call 800-358-4566.

Strategic Management, by John A Pearce II and Richard B. Robinson Jr. This fifth edition offers 35 new case studies and updated chapters on environmental forecasting and global strategy. A definitive text. 935 pages. $66.95. Irwin Professional Publishing. Call 800-634-3966.

LEADERSHIP

The Self-Defeating Organization, by Robert E. Hardy and Randy Schwartz, chronicles the pratfalls of success: how companies fall back on familiar self-defeating practices and spiral toward failure. The authors tell how to avoid these problems by breaking bad habits. 313 pages. $25.00. Addison-Wesley Publishing. Call 800-358-4566.

The Pursuit of Wow!, by Tom Peters, debunks the current bumper-sticker homilies on empowerment and team building by showing that glib prescriptions can't work when the corporate culture is rotten. Full of fun discussions and indirect slams on the wisdom of today's business gurus. 349 pp. $14.00. Vintage Books. Call 800-733-3000.

Corporate Cultures, by Terrence E. Deal and Allan A. Kennedy, chronicles an often overlooked element of corporate success or failure. This book recognizes that companies are small societies and that the degree to which those societies are healthy has a tremendous impact on the company's success. 232 pp. $14.00. Addison-Wesley Publishing. Call 800-358-4566.

High Output Management, by Andrew S. Grove. The co-founder and CEO of Intel Corporation shares his views on everything from managing middle managers to boiling a three-minute egg. Worth reading. 243 pp. $12.00. Vintage Books. Call 800-733-3000.

Stop Managing, Start Coaching, by Jerry W. Gilley and Nathaniel W. Boughton. Less go-team-go! than the title suggests, this book contains clear, intelligent advice for managers who must assume myriad functions in today's workplace. 223 pp. $25.00. Irwin Professional Publishing. Call 800-634-3966.

Upsizing the Individual in the Downsized Organization, by Robert Johansen and Rob Swigart, helps managers prepare for the realities of work in the downsized business world. 195 pp. $14.00. Addison-Wesley Publishing. Call 800-358-4566.

Make It So, by Wess Roberts, Ph.D., and Bill Ross. With Star Trek's Captain Picard on the cover, this book takes a serious look at the philosophy, morality, and ethics systems embodied in the popular sci-fi series. Told as the captain's journal, it's an interesting meditation on leadership and not as silly as you might think. 242 pp. $22.00. Pocket Books. Call 800-223-2336.

MARKETING MANAGEMENT

The New Marketing Paradigm, by Don E. Schultz, Stanley I. Tannenbaum, and Robert F. Lauterborn. The dreaded P word is invoked to describe the trend toward customer-focused marketing that brings together the many elements of communications. The authors back their bluster with solid analysis. 218 pp. $19.95. NTC Business Books. Call 800-323-4900 or order online at NTCPub2@aol.com.

Aftermarketing, by Terry G. Vavra. A good book for the experienced pro, since it avoids cliches in favor of solid research and pragmatic advice. Good material on building databases, customer satisfaction, and direct marketing. 314 pp. $15.00. Irwin Professional Publishing. Call 800-634-3966.

How to Evaluate and Improve Your Marketing Department, by Keith Sparling and Gerard Earls. This book provides senior managers with a diagnostic process for objectively assessing their marketing program. Full of useful checklists and worksheets. 345 pp. $79.95. NTC Business Books. Call 800-323-4900 or order online at NTCPub2@aol.com.

Meeting of the Minds, by Vincent P. Barabba. Working from the premise that marketing should be more a state of mind than an organizational function, the head of General Motors' Strategic Decision Center builds an excellent case for scrapping traditional vertically-oriented marketing in favor of an enterprise-wide focus on the market. 247 pp. $27.95. Harvard Business School Press. Call 800-545-7685

Getting Partnering Right, by Neil Rackham, Lawrence Friedman, and Richard Ruff. Despite the awkward title, the authors provide a clear analysis of how successful companies turn partnering into a reality. 237 pp. $22.95. McGraw-Hill. Call 800-722-4726.

The Customer Driven Company (Moving from Talk to Action), by Richard C. Whiteley, is a treatise on gearing an organization to serve customers' needs. A readable book that is full of well supported, focused advice. 308 pp. $16.00. Addison-Wesley Publishing. Call 800-358-4566.

MARKETING TECHNIQUES

Interactive Marketing - The Future Present, by Edward Forrest and Richard Mizerski. The authors have found 23 experts to write about all aspects of this revolutionary new area of marketing. There are chapters on retailing, high-tech products, sales, web advertising, and much more. 390 pp. $47.95. NTC Business Books. Call 800-323-4900 or order online at NTCPub2@aol.com.

Developing, Implementing & Managing an Effective Marketing Plan, by Hal Goetsch. Today's focus is on the customer, and that's where this author bases his blueprint for marketing success. A good how-to for building a marketing plan that incorporates the latest thinking. 249 pp. $29.95. NTC Business Books. Call 800-323-4900 or order online at NTCPub2@aol.com.

The Successful Marketing Plan, by Roman G. Hiebing Jr. and Scott W. Cooper. This book is accessible, intuitive, and painless. It takes the confusion out of building a marketing plan by showing not only what needs to be there but by helping the reader understand why. 342 pp. NTC Business Books. Call 800-323-4900 or order online at NTCPub2@aol.com.

Strategic Database Marketing, by Arthur M. Hughes, approaches a hot topic from the perspective of a seasoned direct marketing pro. The book stresses the importance of having solid, informed goals before you leap off the d-base bridge. 352 pp. $35.00. Irwin Professional Publishing. Call 800-634-3966.

The New Positioning, by Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin. Following up on his best-selling works on positioning, Trout shares his sharp insights on breaking into the "crowded 1990s mind." 173 pp. $21.95. McGraw-Hill. Call 800-722-4726.

Concurrent Marketing, by Frank V. Cespedes, explains why the integration of product, sales, and service is necessary to gain a competitive advantage. More than simple theory, this book proposes enterprise-wide solutions. 307 pp. $29.95. Harvard Business School Press. Call 800-545-7685.

Market Segmentation, by Art Weinstein, describes the application of niche marketing techniques to predict customer behavior. It takes a thorough look at a critical marketing strategy, complete with case studies. 311 pp. $32.50. Probus/Irwin Professional Publishing. Call 800-634-3966.

The Handbook of Brand Management, by David Arnold. A managerial perspective on how to build and maintain a viable brand identity and a competitive branding strategy. A good overview. 259 pp. $24.95. Addison-Wesley Publishing. Call 800-358-4566.

The New Science of Marketing, by Vithala R. Rao and Joel H. Steckel, is a good guide to strategic marketing planning, with chapters on the role of analysis, market segmenting, and identifying competitors. 350 pp. $42.50. Irwin Professional Publishing. Call 800-634-3966.

Guerrilla Marketing Online, by Jay Conrad Levinson and Charles Rubin. This book teams up a leading author on street-level marketing (Levinson) with an expert on computer hardware and software. The result is an excellent primer on the rules of the road for commerce in cyberspace. 303 pages. $12.95. Houghton Mifflin. Call 800-225-3363, or go to Guerrilla Marketing at: http://www.sedona.net/crubin.

NICHE MARKETING

Marketing to Consumers with Disabilities, by Joel Reedy. Some 43 million disabled Americans represent a substantial and often overlooked market. With intelligence and clarity, Reedy helps you identify their special needs from a marketing perspective. 232 pp. $32.50. Irwin Professional Publishing. Call 800-634-3966.

Marketing to the Affluent, by Dr. Thomas J. Stanley. Comprehensive advice on prospecting and scoring with the carriage trade. 324 pp. $55.00. Irwin Professional Publishing. Call 800-634-396

Green Marketing, by Jacquelyn A. Ottman, shows how environmental concerns have become ingrained in consumer consciousness and how companies can benefit by greening their business approach. 188 pp. $24.95. NTC Business Books. Call 800-323-4900 or order online at NTCPub2@aol.com.

Targeting the New Professional Woman, by Gerry Myers. An excellent primer for anyone wishing to tap this affluent market. The author explores what motivates professional women to buy and describes the psychological differences between male and female consumers. 258 pp. $32.50. Probus/Irwin Professional Publishing. Call 800-634-3966.

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Customers Mean Business: Six Steps to Building Relationships That Last, by James A. Unruh, Charman and CEO of Unisys Corporation. (New Oct. 1996.) Unruh shares Unisys's successful process, "Customerize," whose six steps "integrate and reconcile every aspect of an organization--purpose, people, processes, and information--to serve customers better." 203 pp. $22.00. Addison-Wesley. Call 800-358-4566.

Customer Centered Growth, by Richard Whiteley and Diane Hessan, espouses five basic steps for building a competitive advantage through customer loyalty. The book is based on the premise that customer satisfaction comes from the ability of a company to focus all employees on satisfying clearly identified target customers. 307 pp. $25.00. Addison-Wesley. Call 800-358-4566.

The Customer Crisis, by Phillip E. Mahfood, provides a solid how-to guide for implementing a customer satisfaction program. Good advice on complaint resolution. 173 pp. $24.95. Probus/Irwin Professional Publishing. Call 800-634-3966.

AMA Handbook for Customer Satisfaction, by Alan Dutka. The American Marketing Association has put together a comprehensive, no-nonsense guide to achieving customer satisfaction. Includes valuable advice on research goals and methods. 231 pp. $24.95. NTC Business Books. Call 800-323-4900 or order online at NTCPub2@aol.com.

High Performance Sales Organizations provides strategies to revolutionize customer-supplier relationships and strengthen customer loyalty. 171 pp. $27.50. Irwin Publishing, 1995. Call 800-634-3966.

CAREER ENHANCEMENT

The Articulate Executive, by Granville N. Toogood. As the author's name would suggest, this book is more a guide to forceful, effective verbal presentation than a treatise on trendy business-speak. (He even gets a blurb from Martha Stewart.) Think of it as everyone's personal Roger Ailes. 204 pp. $16.95. McGraw-Hill. Call 800-722-4726.

Business Speak, by Suzette Haden Elgin, Ph.D., is about harnessing proven communication techniques to gain advantage in the workplace. Intelligent and thought-provoking, Elgin stresses the gentle aspects of persuasion, as opposed to macho confrontation and game-playing. 247 pages. $12.95. McGraw-Hill. Call 800-722-4726.

REFERENCE

FIND/SVP is probably the most comprehensive source of business information available. This company publishes countless research documents on companies, markets, industries, business trends, statistics, and much more. The downside is that the reports often cost several hundred dollars, and some several thousand dollars. But the breadth of markets and information covered is unparalleled. To get a free directory of all of the currently available research reports, call 800-346-3787.

AMA Dictionary of Marketing Terms, by Peter D. Bennett. Published by the American Marketing Association, this reference is full of updated definitions of more than 2,500 marketing terms. Now you can learn without embarrassment what such words as laddering, relationship marketing, and the sleeper effect mean. 316 pp. $39.95. NTC Business Books. Call 800-323-4900 or order online at NTCPub2@aol.com.

ONLINE SERVICES

You can use commercial online services to find articles on trends, industries, and companies or to get demographic statistics and government reports. Most services charge for searches and for downloading articles. Getting the articles you want without paying for many inappropriate articles is difficult, because most services charge you to view a document without telling you enough about it in advance. It pays to review each service's search instructions before forging ahead. Bills can mount up fast, and there's a good chance you won't find the exact information you want. Note that many of the services use the same databases. The four major on-line services are:

• Compuserve: 800-848-8990. $9.95 monthly access fee, includes five hours.
• America On-Line: 800-827-6364. $9.95 monthly access fee, includes five hours.
• Prodigy: 800-776-3449, $9.95 monthly access fee, includes five hours.
• Internet: Get Internet access through one of the above services or through an Internet provider such as Netcomm 800-353-6600 ($19.95 per month unlimited time) or Mindspring 800-719-4664 (call for price.)

ARTICLE SEARCH SERVICES

IQUEST Business Management Infocenter offers access to databases containing articles, reports, and research on virtually every aspect of business management, including management research, marketing studies, ownership information, and mergers and acquisitions. It lists journals, books, government publications. The service has an old-fashioned user interface and has complicated pricing because it depends on which database you ultimately use. Be sure to read the search instructions carefully and watch the screen prompts to see how much you are paying. Each scan is $2, and you pay much more to download an article, depending on the database you select. Compuserve Business and Professional/Reference.

Business Database Plus lets you obtain full-text articles from two collections of regional, national, and international business publications. It claims to include up to 750 business magazines, trade journals, and business newspapers. Offers company profiles and industry descriptions. It can also search industry newsletters from two years back. It has a Windows version that is much friendlier than the old-fashioned search systems and seems to be more cost-effective than other services. It charges $15 per hour for connect time plus a $1.50 surcharge for any portion of an article that you read or retrieve. There is no per-item charge to view or download company profiles or industry descriptions. Easy-to-find usage charges. Compuserve Business and Professional.

Business Week offers a terrific retrieval service that lets you get articles from past editions through an easy-to-use procedure with no per-article charges or extra usage fees on top of your basic America On-Line package. America On-Line.

Marketing/Management Research taps 20 databases for indices and full-text articles from major publications along with industry and market reports, market studies, statistical reports, and company news releases. Includes a how-to guide for owning and operating a small business. Works much like IQUEST. Read search criteria carefully and watch the screen prompts for charges. It's $2 per scan and charges mount up fast. Compuserve Business and Professional.

DEMOGRAPHICS/GOVERNMENT

Business Almanac provides a motley collection of business reference information, including mileage tables and reference material in the areas of business law and government, communications, corporate administration, human resources, international, manufacturing, marketing, office management, personal computers, and weights and measures. It does not tell you a lot about the resources it mentions, so it's difficult to know what will be of use to you. It also has sparse offerings in most areas of sales and marketing. There are no special fees or usage charges. Compuserve Business and Professional.

Business Demographics Reports are designed to help businesses analyze their markets either by geographic area or industry based on U.S. Census Data. Business-to-business information is organized by SIC code. Industry reports include office equipment, high-tech, manufacturing, and medical insurance. You can sort information by zip code, county, state, or Arbitron or Nielsen geographic units. $10 per report. Compuserve Business and Professional.

CENDATA offers a variety of U.S. Census data free, so start here before using any of the paid services. It includes a host of demographic and industry information in an old-fashioned but easy-to-use system. Arbitron and Nielsen breakouts are not available. Free. Compuserve Business and Professional.

Neighborhood Reports lets you get demographic information by state, zip, metropolitan area, and Arbitron and Nielsen regions. More detailed information is available through the Supersite service. This provides some lifestyle information not available in other services. $10 per report. Compuserve Business and Professional.

Information USA provides an index to government statistics and reports. Provides a brief description of each item featured and tells you how to get the complete report. Free. Compuserve Business and Professional.

National Technical Information Service enables you to obtain government research and reports on a variety of subjects. This is also one of those old-fashioned interfaces, so be careful when searching for information. Each search is $1; to download a report is $3. Compuserve Business and Professional.

COMPANY INFORMATION

Obtain profiles on leading companies, private and public. Great to use in preparation for sales calls or presentations.

Company Research lets you obtain detailed information on publicly traded companies. It's also easy to use and filled with valuable information. Dun's Electronic Business Directory has more than 8 million companies listed but only provides basic information, including SIC code, address, and telephone number. It's $7.50 per search for up to five companies. Compuserve Reference.

Fortune 500 lets you obtain information on the top 500 companies, including rankings by industry and performance, as well as information on various industries. Includes an article on the top 500 companies in the world. You can get basic information on each company at no cost. http://www.pathfinder.com

Hoover's Company Database offers company profiles and capsules, company name, address, top officers. Includes profiles on 1,100 U.S., foreign, public, and private companies; capsule reports on 7,200, including companies on New York, American, and NASDAQ exchanges. Profiles include information on sales, number of employees, names of key management, top products, major competitors, and financial information. The profile information is useful, but the number of companies is limited. Compuserve Reference.

The Wall Street Journal has a web site that offers a company information search service at no cost. All of the companies covered are publicly held: http://www.wsj.com/.

Dow Jones News Retrieval is an excellent article search service for information hounds. Software is free and the annual subscription is only $21, but usage charges mount fast. Make sure you know how to sort search services for information. Call 800-522-3567.

OTHER SEARCH ENGINES

Yahoo is an invaluable tool to help you find what you want on the Internet. It is essentially a directory of Internet sites. It enables you to pick a topic and then click on the underlined blue text to go to what you want. It can be slow, but it enables you to find information without memorizing all these crazy Internet addresses. The Business and Economy section will help you find companies, products and services, and other business directories. The Companies section lets you review the home page of 23,000 companies on the World Wide Web. It also has a products and services directory that gives names and information on hundreds of companies but only in some categories. You need Windows to operate Yahoo. INTERNET: http://www.yahoo.com/

The following Internet search engines work almost identically to Yahoo and offer a similar magnitude of business information: Lycos (Lycos.com), Pathfinder (Pathfinder.com), Webcrawler (Webcrawler.com), and Altavista (Altavista.com).

SALES AND MARKETING FORUMS

Articles written by a variety of authors from professionals to novices. You can chat online with people in your field, solicit vendors, or look for employees. These services are evolving, so we will report improvements in future articles.

The PR & Marketing Forum has articles by lots of people on lots of different subjects under rather haphazard categories. It's free, easy to review, but poorly organized, with many key aspects of sales and marketing omitted. You don't have to join. There are jobs sections. You can use it to ask questions and get responses or to find new vendors. Compuserve Business and Professional.

FIND A SUPPLIER

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