Rome, Inc.: The Rise and Fall of the First Multinational Corporation (Enterprise) - Hardcover

Bing, Stanley

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393060268 ISBN 13: 9780393060263

Publisher: W. W. Norton, 2006

Synopsis

The world's first corporate case study, as only the best-selling Stanley Bing could tell it.

A family business prospers through a productive series of brutal consolidations and rational growth. Then the rise of an executive class that pits one egotistical senior manager against another in senseless internal conflicts eventually leads to a long line of demented CEOs, excessive expansion, and foolish diversification—and a high cost in shattered lives. In the end, a series of reverse takeovers leave the once-proud but now overextended and corrupt parent company at the mercy of the mom-and-pop operations that previously cringed at the grandeur of the corporate brand.

Enron? WorldCom? Try Rome, whose rise and fall carry a moral that lingers to this day for the managers, employees, and students of any global enterprise. Stanley Bing—whose satirical business books are as savagely funny as they are insightful—mingles business parable and cautionary tale into an ingenious, often hilarious new telling of the story of the Roman Empire.

About this title

About the Author

Stanley Bing is the author of four humorous books on business, including most recently Sun-Tzu Was a Sissy, and two novels. He lives in New York City, where he works for a gigantic multinational conglomerate.

Reviews

Starred Review. Fortune columnist Bing (Sun-Tzu Was a Sissy) condenses the 1,200-year history of Rome into a slim, wildly entertaining satire for businessmen, particularly those who happen to be fans of HBO's Rome. Irreverent without ever slipping into Dave Barry–style logical anarchy, the volume renders epic history in corporate-speak, providing enough substance and insight along the way to keep readers' attention. As Bing notes, much of Roman history consists of "wars, wars and more wars," and he skips over big chunks of it. "I give up," he shrugs, focusing instead on the decisions and personalities of the colorful leaders, from Romulus to Caligula. Most interesting are the author's discourses on why Rome's "corporate strategy" worked so well for so long ("corporations willing to kill people do better than those which are not") and why its "corporate culture" was sufficiently strong to rally its citizens/soldiers/employees for an endless series of battles. And while wryly acknowledging that the Romans' use of "murder as a business tool" may be excessive in today's environment, Bing endorses many of their strategies as sound: "In any corporate transformation, a good housecleaning is absolutely called for." Word to the wise: if the guy in the next cubicle is reading Rome, Inc., watch your back—especially if it's the Ides of March. (May)
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Edition details

• Publisher: W. W. Norton
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0393060268
• ISBN 13: 9780393060263
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192