Wry and insightful, Shakespeare, Einstein, and the Bottom Line takes us on a cross-country tour of the most powerful trend in academic life today--the rise of business values and the belief that efficiency, immediate practical usefulness, and marketplace triumph are the best measures of a university's success.
In recent decades, business schools have become important components of higher education throughout the world. Yet, surprisingly, they have received little serious attention. This book provides a sober and evidence-based assessment, charting the history and character of business schools in the light of current debates about the role of universities and the evolution of advanced economies. Previous commentators have viewed business schools as falling between two stools: lacking in academic rigour yet simultaneously derided by the corporate world as broadly irrelevant. However, over-concern with criticism risks ignoring the benefits of reform. What business schools need is reconfiguration based on new relationships with academia and business. Such change would deliver institutions that are truly fit for purpose, allowing them to become key players in the 21st century's emergent knowledge societies. This timely critique should be read by academics and policy-makers concerned with the present state and future development of business education.
The first book to distill the best of the forward-looking ideas of socially responsible policies emerging from the corporate world. By following the suggestions detailed here, individuals can institute similar programs in their own companies--because it's the right choice to make, and the smart one.
Offers a broad view of leadership and shareholder value based on multiple business disciplines In Why the Bottom Line Isn't! authors Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood argue that sustainable shareholder value comes increasingly from assets not accounted for on an organization's balance sheet. These assets include a company's reputation, its ability to attract talent, and its ability to react quickly to new opportunities in the marketplace. Why the Bottom Line Isn't! harnesses research from a number of disciplines including human resources, finance, and leadership to establish a hierarchy of such intangibles. The authors extrapolate from these intangibles to establish leadership tools that will help create sustainable shareholder value. The book offers a broad, expansive perspective on leadership while eschewing convoluted theory for concrete practice. Dave Ulrich, Ph.D., ([email protected]) has been listed by BusinessWeek as the top "guru" in management education. He has co-authored 10 books and over 100 articles, serves on the Board of Directors of Herman Miller, and has consulted with over half of the Fortune 200 companies. He is currently on professional leave as Professor at the University of Michigan to serve as Mission President for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Montreal. Norm Smallwood ([email protected]) is co-founder of Results-Based Leadership (www.rbl.net), which provides education and consulting services based on this book as well as the ideas in Results-Based Leadership: How Leaders Build the Business and Improve the Bottom Line, which he co-authored with Ulrich. He has led leadership development, business strategy, organization capability, change management, and HR projects for a wide variety of clients spanning multiple industries.
This book provides a clear understanding of performance improvement opportunities and what is at stake if these opportunities are overlooked. It outlines a powerful and logical approach for assessing the state-of-play in any organization, and offers ways to estimate the specific opportunities related to implementing a change in strategy and practices. It also details a comprehensive framework for organizing the transformation plan across multiple dimensions, and gives advice on which areas to focus on first in order to build and ensure success.
In one compact volume, here are the innovative tactics business leaders need to attain maximum financial performance for their companies. Whether they're selling beer or land, this book is one book managers can't afford to ignore
A pragmatic new business model for sustainability that outlines eight steps that range from exploring a mission to promoting innovation; with case studies. Many recent books make the case for businesses to become more sustainable, but few explain the specifics. In this book, Francisco Szekely and Zahir Dossa offer a pragmatic new business model for sustainability that extends beyond the traditional framework of the triple bottom line, describing eight steps that range from exploring a vision and establishing a strategy to implementing the strategy and promoting innovation. Szekely and Dossa argue that businesses and organizations need to move away from the business case for sustainability toward a sustainable business model. That is, businesses should go beyond the usual short-term focus on minimizing harm while maximizing profits. Instead, businesses on the path to sustainability should, from the start, focus on addressing a societal need and view profitability not as an end but as a means to support the sustainable organization. Szekely and Dossa explore key problems organizations face when pursuing a sustainability agenda. Each chapter presents one of the eight steps, describes a business dilemma for sustainability, provides a theoretically grounded strategic framework, offers case studies that illustrate the dilemma, and summarizes key findings; the case studies draw on the experiences of such companies as Tesla Motors, Patagonia, TOMs, and Panera. The book emphasizes leadership, arguing that leaders who question the status quo, inspire others, and take risks are essential for achieving sustainable business practices.