Download or read book Companies That Changed the World written by Jonathan Mantle and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2014-08-28 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Companies that Changed the World tells the fascinating stories of 50 joint-stock companies - or companies based on that model - that have exerted a critical influence on the social and economic history of the past four hundred years. As well describing clearly and accessibly the companies' growth and influence over time, and profiling the pioneering entrepreneurs who built them, Jonathan Mantle's text is crammed with intriguing and unexpected information: from the role played by the humble pigeon in the history of news dissemination to how a pharmacist's five-cent patent medicine became the world's most powerful brand. Each of the 50 companies profiled has changed and reflected change in - the world of its time, in far-reaching and often unexpected ways. Together, their stories amount to nothing less than a concise history of commerce and capitalism.
Download or read book Companies that Changed the World written by Jonathan Mantle and published by Quercus Books. This book was released on 2008 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Companies that Changed the World tells the fascinating stories of 50 joint-stock companies or companies based on that model that have exerted a critical influence on the social and economic history of the past four hundred years. As well describing clearly and accessibly the companies growth and influence over time, and profiling the pioneering entrepreneurs who built them, Jonathan Mantle s text is crammed with intriguing and unexpected information: from the role played by the humble pigeon in the history of news dissemination to how a pharmacist s five-cent patent medicine became the world s most powerful brand. Each of the 50 companies profiled has changed and reflected change in the world of its time, in far-reaching and often unexpected ways. Together, their stories amount to nothing less than a concise history of commerce and capitalism.
Download or read book Southwest Airlines written by Chris Lauer and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2010-05-20 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using the words of its own people, this intriguing book provides an in-depth look at the incredibly successful airline that changed the rules of the game with a no-frills business model and innovative corporate culture. Southwest Airlines turns in-depth interviews with the company's leaders, managers, employees, and passengers into a powerful case study of this highly successful, game-changing business. Ranging from the early days of the company to the present, the book covers the history of the airline and its founders, while also detailing the unique corporate culture that attracts employees and passengers alike. Throughout its history, Southwest has championed a culture that puts employees first, creating a productive workforce by hiring for "attitude before aptitude" (because skills can be taught) and allowing employees to be themselves at work. The founders' philosophies of "servant leadership" and a "fun-LUVing" attitude continue to attract employees and influence the company's daily work today. In detailing the airline's inner workings in the words of its own people, this book shows other companies how they can emulate Southwest's powerful business model and strategies, as well as its hiring practices and corporate culture.
Download or read book Google written by Virginia Scott and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2008-10-30 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It's the American dream—start a company, make a fortune, and retire early. But to become multimillionaires in their twenties, as Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin did, boggles the mind. All they did, after all, is come up with a better way to search for things on the Internet, right? Only in part. No company achieves a market value in the range of $172 billion (in early 2008) based on a single good idea. This new entry in the Corporations That Changed the World series shows how Google exploited the rage for click through ads, instant news, mapping and satellite imagery, email, and more to create a high-tech behemoth that has done nothing less than change the way we work and live. Chapters in the book: • Explain the importance of the company and the essential disruptions it introduced that changed business forever. -Detail Google's origins and brief history • Present biographies of the founders and the historical context in which they launched the company. -Explain Google's strategies and innovations • Show how Google's treatment of employees—food for free, concierge services, laundry facilities, and more—set the bar high for any company eager to attract the best and brightest • Assess Google's impact on society, technology, processes, methods, etc. (Huge, considering that the company's name has become a verb in the English language!) • Show how Google beat Yahoo and other companies working hard to create a roadmap of the Internet. -Detail financial results over the years • Predict Google's future prospects and successes. In addition, author Virginia Scott offers special features that include a look at the colorful people associated with Google, interesting trivia, ethical issues and controversies, a focus on products, what its detractors have to say, and a look at where the company is headed. Google—a company that changed, and is changing, the world.
Download or read book The Corporation That Changed the World written by Nick Robins and published by Pluto Press. This book was released on 2012-10-30 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The English East India Company was the mother of the modern multinational. Its trading empire encircled the globe, importing Asian luxuries such as spices, textiles, and teas. But it also conquered much of India with its private army and broke open China's markets with opium. The Company's practices shocked its contemporaries and still reverberate today. The Corporation That Changed the World is the first book to reveal the Company's enduring legacy as a corporation. This expanded edition explores how the four forces of scale, technology, finance, and regulation drove its spectacular rise and fall. For decades, the Company was simply too big to fail, and stock market bubbles, famines, drug-running, and even duels between rival executives are to be found in this new account. For Robins, the Company's story provides vital lessons on both the role of corporations in world history and the steps required to make global business accountable today.
Download or read book World Changers written by John A. Byrne and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2011-12-08 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What if you could sit down with some of the world's most influential entrepreneurs and gain their knowledge and insights on how to create a game changing business? Imagine having the chance to listen to a John Mackey (Whole Foods) or a Fred Smith (FedEx) on the most important things they've learned from their experiences. Or having the benefit of the self-reflection of Howard Schultz of Starbucks, who had to come back to the company he originally built to reinvent it and himself? Of course it's not possible to deliver these rock star entrepreneurs to your dinner table. But John A. Byrne offers the next best thing: he spoke with many who have changed the face of business. In World Changers he captures the most important lessons they've learned, the biggest challenges they've tackled, and the most valuable advice they can offer others who have an entrepreneurial dream. You'll learn the inspiring stories of how these world changers discovered their disruptive ideas, then made them a reality; overcame a variety of obstacles; and created sustainable enterprises. You'll get the firsthand accounts of how: Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank got the confidence to start The Home Depot after being fired from their jobs. Reed Hastings turned a forty-dollar video late fee into a disruptive upstart called Netflix. Herb Kohler, the "reluctant prince of porcelain," came back to the family business and made it number one in its industry again. Narayana Murthy, after one fateful train ride and wrongful incarceration, converted from communist to capitalist and cofounded one of the most successful entrepreneurial ventures in India. World Changers is an inspiration for those who want to create something meaningful on their own. It serves as both a celebration of entrepreneurial achievement as well as a practical handbook for everyone who dreams of starting his or her own world-changing business.
Download or read book 50 Companies that Changed the World written by Howard Rothman and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In an easy-reading jaunt through business history, Rothman shows how some of the greatest businesses of all time achieved their success, found untapped niches, stayed on top of trends, managed progressively, and encouraged creativity.
Download or read book Nike written by Tracy Carbasho and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2010-08-19 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This compelling book provides a comprehensive examination of Nike, utilizing never-before-heard interviews with top sports celebrities and the informed perspectives of marketing gurus to explain why Nike has ruled the sports world for more than four decades. Nike's immortal "Just Do It" slogan is displayed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. The company's pioneering use of athlete endorsements as the foundation of its marketing and its dedication to incorporating advanced technology and materials in its products has forever changed the world of sports. Amazingly, what is now Nike sprang from the humblest beginnings—two runners with a passion for improving the sport willing to sell shoes out of their cars at track meets. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the company, giving readers a full appreciation of its fascinating history and the attributes and strategies that have helped Nike outlast its competitors. Material derived from interviews with star athletes and marketing experts lend additional insight into the Nike phenomenon.
Download or read book Apple Inc written by Jason D. O'Grady and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2008-12-30 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two guys named Steve, working in a garage, created a prototype computer designed to be different in a way no one thought possible: It would be easy to use. Those two Steves, one now a billionaire and still at the head of Apple, not only succeeded with that product, but they also broke ground in the business world in ways few thought possible: They proved you could not only have fun at work, but pursuing a capitalist dream could be hip. How did Apple do it? How did it go from making computers that made a difference but not much of a dent in the overall market to creating a device (the iPod) and a music service (iTunes) that has changed the way we buy and experience music? And how did the Macintosh and its successors capture the hearts and minds of computer users so deeply that being a Mac person makes you a member of a special club? That's what this book is all about. As author Jason D. O'Grady shows, Apple is a rare company—one that is not afraid to think about a future that does not exist and turn it into reality. Critics have written Apple off time and again, yet it rises from the ashes to astound the critics and delight its customers. That's not luck or happenstance—it's vision, dedication, and persistence. Besides delighting Apple aficionados, this book will inspire students eager to launch a business career or work in the technology sector. Apple has never been afraid to chart its own path, and readers will learn what makes the company tick.
Download or read book Good to Great written by Jim Collins and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2001-10-16 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Challenge Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the verybeginning. But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? The Study For years, this question preyed on the mind of Jim Collins. Are there companies that defy gravity and convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? And if so, what are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great? The Standards Using tough benchmarks, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. How great? After the leap, the good-to-great companies generated cumulative stock returns that beat the general stock market by an average of seven times in fifteen years, better than twice the results delivered by a composite index of the world's greatest companies, including Coca-Cola, Intel, General Electric, and Merck. The Comparisons The research team contrasted the good-to-great companies with a carefully selected set of comparison companies that failed to make the leap from good to great. What was different? Why did one set of companies become truly great performers while the other set remained only good? Over five years, the team analyzed the histories of all twenty-eight companies in the study. After sifting through mountains of data and thousands of pages of interviews, Collins and his crew discovered the key determinants of greatness -- why some companies make the leap and others don't. The Findings The findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice. The findings include: Level 5 Leaders: The research team was shocked to discover the type of leadership required to achieve greatness. The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles): To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence. A Culture of Discipline: When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great results. Technology Accelerators: Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology. The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Those who launch radical change programs and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap. “Some of the key concepts discerned in the study,” comments Jim Collins, "fly in the face of our modern business culture and will, quite frankly, upset some people.” Perhaps, but who can afford to ignore these findings?
Download or read book 50 Companies That Changed The World written by Howard Rothman and published by . This book was released on 2003-01-01 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Incisive Profiles of the 50 Organizations, Large and Small, That have Shaped the Course of Modern Business 50 Companies That Changed the World shows how some of the greatest businesses of all time achieved their success - found untapped niches, stayed on top of trends, managed progressively, and encouraged creativity. The book also shows how some, nonetheless, fell from their pinnacle when they failed to follow the path that made them successful. Each sketch will spark discussion and debate as readers ponder the author's rankings.
Download or read book Small Giants written by Bo Burlingham and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-10-11 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How maverick companies have passed up the growth treadmill — and focused on greatness instead. It’s an axiom of business that great companies grow their revenues and profits year after year. Yet quietly, under the radar, a small number of companies have rejected the pressure of endless growth to focus on more satisfying business goals. Goals like being great at what they do, creating a great place to work, providing great customer service, making great contributions to their communities, and finding great ways to lead their lives. In Small Giants, veteran journalist Bo Burlingham takes us deep inside fourteen remarkable companies that have chosen to march to their own drummer. They include Anchor Brewing, the original microbrewer; CitiStorage Inc., the premier independent records-storage business; Clif Bar & Co., maker of organic energy bars and other nutrition foods; Righteous Babe Records, the record company founded by singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco; Union Square Hospitality Group, the company of restaurateur Danny Meyer; and Zingerman’s Community of Businesses, including the world-famous Zingerman’s Deli of Ann Arbor. Burlingham shows how the leaders of these small giants recognized the full range of choices they had about the type of company they could create. And he shows how we can all benefit by questioning the usual definitions of business success. In his new afterward, Burlingham reflects on the similarities and learning lessons from the small giants he covers in the book.
Download or read book Toyota written by K. Dennis Chambers and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2008-06-30 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Toyota rose from the ashes of World War II to become, just fifty years later, one of the dominant automakers in the world. How did Toyota do it? How did it go from making cars that Westerners pointed to and laughed at to making cars, like the Lexus, that people now lust after? That's what this book is all about. As veteran writer K. Dennis Chambers shows, Toyota, crazy like a fox, had a long-term plan to become a top-tier player in the auto industry. Through patience, persistence, and a willingness to dream of a different future as well as to look back to the past for ideas, Toyota has succeeded step by step. Yes, Toyota is unique. From peddling ugly 3-cylinder cars to working with quality guru W. Edwards Deming (when his U.S. countrymen thought him a crank) to totally revamping production processes, Toyota has never been afraid to chart its own path. Readers will learn what makes Toyota tick through Chambers's penetrating text, which: -Explains the importance of the company and the essential disruptions that changed business forever. (Think Prius.) -Details Toyota's origins and history. -Presents biographies of the founders and the historical context in which they launched the company. -Explains Toyota's strategies and innovations. -Assesses Toyota's impact on society, technology, processes, methods, etc. -Shows how Toyota beat the competition and wormed its way into the U.S. and European markets. -Details financial results. In addition, Chambers offers special features that include a look at the colorful people associated with Toyota, interesting trivia, a Toyota time line, a focus on products, a look at how the company treats and trains its workers, and where the company is headed. Toyota—a company that changed, and is changing, the world.
Download or read book Net Positive written by Paul Polman and published by Harvard Business Press. This book was released on 2021-10-05 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Financial Times Best Business Book of the Year Named one of 10 Best New Management Books for 2022 by Thinkers50 "An advocate of sustainable capitalism explains how it's done" — The Economist "Polman's new book with the sustainable business expert Andrew Winston…argues that it's profitable to do business with the goal of making the world better." — The New York Times Named as recommended reading by Fortune's CEO Daily "…Polman has been one of the most significant chief executives of his era and that his approach to business and its role in society has been both valuable and path-breaking." — Financial Times The ex-Unilever CEO who increased his shareholders' returns by 300% while ensuring the company ranked #1 in the world for sustainability for eleven years running has, for the first time, revealed how to do it. Teaming up with Andrew Winston, one of the world's most authoritative voices on corporate sustainability, Paul Polman shows business leaders how to take on humanity's greatest and most urgent challenges—climate change and inequality—and build a thriving business as a result. In this candid and straight-talking handbook, Polman and Winston reveal the secrets of Unilever's success and pull back the curtain on some of the world's most powerful c-suites. Net Positive boldly argues that the companies of the future will profit by fixing the world's problems, not creating them. Together the authors explode our most prevalent corporate myths: from the idea that business' only function is to maximise profits, to the naïve hope that Corporate Social Responsibility will save our species from disaster. These approaches, they argue, are destined for the graveyard. Instead, they show corporate leaders how to make their companies "Net Positive"—thriving by giving back more to the world than they take. Net Positive companies unleash innovation, build trust, attract the best people, thrill customers, and secure lasting success, all by helping create stronger, more inclusive societies and a healthier planet. Heal the world first, they argue, and you’ll satisfy your investors as a result. With ambitious vision and compelling stories, Net Positive will teach you how to find the inner purpose and courage you need to embrace the only business model that will matter in the years ahead. You will learn how to lead others and unlock your company's soul, while setting and delivering big and aggressive goals, and taking responsibility for all of your company's impacts. You'll find out the secrets to partnering with others, including your competition and critics, to drive transformative change from which you will prosper. You'll build a company that serves your people, your customers, your communities, your shareholders—and your children and grandchildren will thank you for it. Is this win-win for business and humanity too good to be true? Don't believe it. The world's smartest CEOs are already taking their companies on the Net Positive journey and benefitting as a result. Will you be left behind? Join the movement at netpositive.world
Download or read book The Machine That Changed the World written by James P. Womack and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-12-09 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When James Womack, Daniel Jones, and Daniel Roos wrote THE MACHINE THAT CHANGED THE WORLD in 1990, Japanese automakers, and Toyota in particular, were making a strong showing by applying the principles of lean production. However, the full power of lean principles was unproven, and they had not been applied outside of the auto industry. Today, the power of lean production has been conclusively proved by Toyota's unparalleled success, and the concepts have been widely applied in many industries. Based on MIT's pioneering global study of industrial competition, THE MACHINE THAT CHANGED THE WORLD offers a groundbreaking analysis of the entire lean business system, including product development, supplier management, sales, service, and production - an analysis even more relevant today as GM and Ford struggle to survive and a wide range of British abd American companies embrace lean production. A new Foreword by the authors brings the story up to date and details how their predictions were right. As a result, this reissue of a classic is as insightful and instructive today as when it was first published.
Download or read book Leading Change written by John P. Kotter and published by Harvard Business Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the ill-fated dot-com bubble to unprecedented merger and acquisition activity to scandal, greed, and, ultimately, recession -- we've learned that widespread and difficult change is no longer the exception. By outlining the process organizations have used to achieve transformational goals and by identifying where and how even top performers derail during the change process, Kotter provides a practical resource for leaders and managers charged with making change initiatives work.
Download or read book The Fourth Industrial Revolution written by Klaus Schwab and published by Currency. This book was released on 2017-01-03 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World-renowned economist Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, explains that we have an opportunity to shape the fourth industrial revolution, which will fundamentally alter how we live and work. Schwab argues that this revolution is different in scale, scope and complexity from any that have come before. Characterized by a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, the developments are affecting all disciplines, economies, industries and governments, and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human. Artificial intelligence is already all around us, from supercomputers, drones and virtual assistants to 3D printing, DNA sequencing, smart thermostats, wearable sensors and microchips smaller than a grain of sand. But this is just the beginning: nanomaterials 200 times stronger than steel and a million times thinner than a strand of hair and the first transplant of a 3D printed liver are already in development. Imagine “smart factories” in which global systems of manufacturing are coordinated virtually, or implantable mobile phones made of biosynthetic materials. The fourth industrial revolution, says Schwab, is more significant, and its ramifications more profound, than in any prior period of human history. He outlines the key technologies driving this revolution and discusses the major impacts expected on government, business, civil society and individuals. Schwab also offers bold ideas on how to harness these changes and shape a better future—one in which technology empowers people rather than replaces them; progress serves society rather than disrupts it; and in which innovators respect moral and ethical boundaries rather than cross them. We all have the opportunity to contribute to developing new frameworks that advance progress.
