Bangalore Tiger. Steve Hamm.2007. ISBN 0071474781. How Indian Upstart
Wipro Is Rewriting the Rules of Global Competition. Wipro differs from
the other Indian outsourcing companies in many ways. Volumes, profits,
creation of IP, use of CMM, Six Sigma, Lean manufacturing in all its
efforts, and the ability to partner with world class Orgs (like GE, TI )
to learn as much as they can.
No politics internally, scrupulous ethics, lack of NIH’sm and an incredible work ethic all mean if you are running a service business you better read this book. If you are looking at creating a worldwide competitive advantage, read this book, and if you want to find out about the applications of modern management practise read this book. Or if you just want to be scared out of your complacent Canadian low productivity shorts, read this book.
I found it a reasonable easy read. The author is a journalist from BusinessWeek so he should be a writer. At times it seems like he is the chief Wipro cheerleader, and I would have preferred some more analysis of Infosys and TCS. Apparently the author was asked into Wipro by the owner/CEO
India’s second wealthiest person , who seems to act and live like Warren
Buffett. I could not help but think that the author made the company
look too good IMHO. Worth a read tho. Listen to apodcast at http://www.podtech.net/home/technology/1377/steve-hamm-on-bangalore-tiger-and-wipro

Book reviews for the business side of the technology industry.

Small Giants. Bo Burlington.2005. ISBN 1591840937. Companies that choose
to be great instead of big.
Co Author with Jack Stack of the great game of business, Burlington is
an Inc editor, so he can write
easy to read, clear copy. He looks at companies you may not have heard
of, who are successful, had the offer to
grow, merge, acquire etc….and choose not to.
http://www.smallgiantsbook.com/

More than a feel good
profiles of several companies, it is a refreshing reversal of the famous
Jack Welsh GE Be no 1 or 2 or get out of the business
mantra. Rather be the absolute best at what you do, know everyone’s
name and create a winning culture. A good book
well written and researched. By the way, these are not “life-style”
companies but they are “balanced.”

Book reviews for the business side of the technology industry.

Sales and Marketing the Six Sigma Way. Michael J. Webb and Tom Gorman.
2006. ISBN 13 978 1 4195 2150. If you only buy one book this year on
Sales and Marketing, this is the one. Over ten years of practice and
application placed in a breakthrough book. Webb has delineated where
high performance sales and marketing teams must move to in the present
day. Well beyond solution selling he addresses how to meet the customers
business goals, while eliminating the waste and uncertainty in today’s
sales and marketing approaches. We just completed an amazing set of
engagements where we took a lot of waste/uncertainty out of sales and
marketing programs, yet Webb has provided more tools allowing us to go
even further. The subject is well treated, you learn a lot and the co-writer
is a good writer. Buy read, read again, again and apply, learn,
re-apply. Am I excited? You bet!

Book reviews for the business side of the technology industry.

Writing White Papers. How to capture readers and keep them engaged.
Michael A. Stelzner. 2007. ISBN 0977716937. This is the definitive
guide. In our continued pursuit of improving the marketing – sales
process, white papers can be a key tool. This book can help anyone
charged with this task. Stelzner is all about the details as he delves
into every facet of the white paper. He is easily the North American
expert in this field, plus as a writer the book is easy to read, however
the task is not easy to master. Check him out at
www.whitepapersource.com including a free short ebook download.

Book reviews for the business side of the technology industry.

The J Curve. Ian Bremmer. ISBN 139780743274715. 2006. A concise and
thoughtful analysis of nations, their stability and what is a head of
them if they move toward a more “open” (Ie US/Canadian/EU) style of
government. He uses examples and shows historically why or why not they
can or cannot progress toward a more “open and stable” style of govt.
Fascinating and it gives you some real alternatives to the popular
press. Many of the free worlds “responses” to these states are shown to
be doomed to failure while holding up exemplars of what does and will
work. Examples used ( boy are they relevant) Far left (closed) North
Korea, Cuba, (Saddams) Iraq. Sliding Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia In
the depths South Africa, Yugoslavia, Right (opening) is Turkey,
Israel, India, and then China’s dilemma. The North Korea example is
held up as an example how the far left closed states want to remain
separate from the Western influences and our hope is regime change from
within, i.e. do everything in our power to assist Western influences to
penetrate the country over time. He posits that we must deny N Korea any
chance to sell nuclear technology as it has nothing else to sell, while
pushing for any chance to increase western influence inside the country.
Do not make it easier for closed societies to remain closed. Reads like
a novel, good writing.

Book reviews for the business side of the technology industry.

Why business people speak like idiots. Fugere, Hardaway &
Warshowsky.2005. ISBN 074326909. Continuing our campaign against
corporate BS, we just had to read this book. These are the great guys
that brought you Bullfighter anti BS software ( free)
http://www.fightthebull.com/bullfighter.asp
The book is a hoot but oh so true. These folks pierce everyone’s balloons from Gartner, Accenture, Cisco, Enron and so on. Brief book, but very insightful., so easy to read! They are really dead on. So in the interest of brevity, just get it and read it.
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Book reviews for the business side of the technology industry.

China Shakes the World. James Kynge. The Rise of A Hungry Nation. 2006.
ISBN 0297852450. The author is a journalist (Economist, BBC, PBS) who
has lived in China since 1985. He traveled all over the country and is
fluent in Mandarin. For this book he also looked at the impact of China
on Italian, German, English and US businesses though visits and
interviews. It is a great read that flows like a novel. The Chinese
juggernaut is driven by the need to create 24 million jobs a year.
Manufacture at all costs ( and loses of which there are legion) is the
creed. Consider that 700 million Chinese live on under $2 per day yet
the EU subsidizes every cow in Europe $2 per day. Lots of nuggets and
criticisms of China are in this book. Due to Mao’s hatred of “nature”
the countries resources have been wasted or destroyed to great measure,
thus the overwhelming need for China to lock up offshore resources. Thus
every time the US ” isolates’ a country for “bad ” behavior, China sees
this as an opportunity to get resources. Thus Iran, the Sudan, Zimbabwe
etc will always have a “friend” in China. US businesses criticism abound
and are based on truths it appears. The Renminbi is fixed at a very low
rate, the govt bans independent unions for migrant workers, the domestic
prices for power, water, and oil are fixed below cost of production,
capital flow is heavily restricted to support Chinese “banks”, many
industries have restrictions on foreign investment, pollution is
exported to neighbors as the govt fails to enforce its own rules, and
illegal felling of overseas rainforests by China-based syndicates.
Worth the read, especially the detailing of all the small to medium
businesses being devastated in the US. It appears that the
multinationals are the ones making the big profits from China. The China
advantage appears to carry some heavy weights with it that may catch up
to all of us.

Book reviews for the business side of the technology industry.

Don’t Make Me Think. Steve Krug (2nd ed). 2006. ISBN 0321344758. A
Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. If you are wondering why your
web site does not “work” then this is one of the books you need to read.
Pragmatic, web tested and quickly applicable, this book will help
prevent you from making the most common mistakes. Of course he does not
help with the “content” you are placing there nor how you need to guide
the various types of viewers to the most appropriate materials. But,
this is much better than doing nothing to fix your sites usability. Two
hours to read ( well written and clear), a lifetime to master.

Book reviews for the business side of the technology industry.

Selling the Dream. Guy Kawasaki. 1991. ISBN 0887306004. I found this,
his second book, in a remainder bin. I have now read all his books and
enjoy his blog on a regular basis. Aside from an easy, good read, his
writing is always immediately valuable. The advice and insights can be
used for profits and non profits alike. This book is core to internal HR
policy if building your culture is important ( Job 1 according to Jack
Welch). Great, fast, relaxing read, plus it includes the original
Macintosh product introduction plan, still one of the best examples
ever.

Book reviews for the business side of the technology industry.