The 1994 Information Please Business Almanac & Desk Reference (INFORMATION PLEASE BUSINESS ALMANAC AND SOURCEBOOK) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395643848 ISBN 13: 9780395643846

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1993

Synopsis

In the course of a typical workday, today's businessperson searches for information in a host of specialized reference works, including telephone directories, trade publications, magazines, industry newsletters, databases, almanacs, on-line services, and others. Ironically, in a world where so much information is now available, it has become increasingly difficult to get one's hands on just what one needs.
Enter the new Information Please Business Almanac and Desk Reference. This is the first work to assemble and distill the most useful and interesting facts, rankings, contacts, and advice specifically for the American business community. Drawn from more than 500 sources, the 1994 IPBA covers over 700 specific topics, including thousands of addresses and phone and fax numbers and specific advice on where to find more in-depth detail. In an age of information overload, anxiety, and frustration, this single volume is sure to become the "business Bible" for everyone who works in an office - secretaries, office managers, entrepreneurs, even top management.
Critical information is easy to locate and use. Arranged to parallel organizational structure (complete with an organization chart and corresponding thumb tabs for easy look-up), the IPBA focuses on ten key areas: Marketing, Finance, International, Human Resources, Corporate Planning, Personal Computing, Manufacturing, Communications, Office Management, and Legal Issues and Government.
It is simple to find a specific fact or contact quickly by using the comprehensive index or the complete listing of every individual and organization mentioned in the book.
Aside from having immense practical value, the IPBA is a browser's delight. With hundreds of anecdotal "almanac facts" and an editor's evaluation of the most highly recommended business references, even the most accomplished specialist will be fascinated and entertained.

About this title

About the Author

ROBERT W. HARRIS has been a freelance writer and designer since 1990. He has written twelve books, including DOS, WordPerfect & Lotus Office Companion and When Good People Write Bad Sentences. His books have been main selections in the Small Computer Book Club and the Book-of-the-Month Club.

From Booklist

Claiming to be the "first one-volume business library" ever published, this book can answer such general business questions as "How do I reach the Small Business Administration?" to the more elusive "Where do I rent a blimp?" or "What is the cab fare from Narita Airport to Tokyo?" In this first edition, the almanac is arranged in 12 broad areas roughly similar to the way a corporation is organized: "Communications," "Finance," "Corporate Administration," "Marketing," etc. More than 450 topics are arranged under these headings. For example, within the "Human Resources" section are lists with addresses of speech and image consultants and employee-relocation firms, a summary of parental- and medical-leave policies by state, tables of unemployment benefits by state, charts on the job outlook, and information on various types of health-insurance plans. Most topics are accompanied by a recommended reference source. Boxed facts add interest, for example, "In the average office, 19 paper copies are made of each original document." Most information is taken from other sources, and the source is always noted. Among the sources cited are Statistical Abstract, Survey of Current Business, Fortune, National Real Estate Index Market Monitor, Working Woman, and the Futures Industry Association.

Many entries give addresses or telephone numbers of federal and state regulatory agencies. Others give step-by-step tips, such as "Time Management Techniques." Maps of 26 major metropolitan areas are provided for the corporate traveler. Among the unique listings are companies that can provide Japanese-English business cards, contacts for the Federal Laboratory Consortium, average warehouse rates in major cities, Packaging Award winners, and top infomercial companies.

The last section of the book, "Reference," includes a glossary of business terms, telephone numbers of large public libraries (with the suggestion to call the Honolulu Public Library for after-hours research), industry newsletters, and media contacts. There are indexes of companies mentioned on lists, of reference sources, and of the 450 topics. Unfortunately, there is no true subject index, so a lot of browsing will need to be done to use this book effectively.

Priced under $30--and including more than $100 in coupons for discounts on business products and services--this book will be very useful as a desk reference for the corporate manager. (One of the coupons is for a free update of the book to be published in January.) But public and academic libraries should consider a copy, too, because of the way facts from a wide variety of sources are pulled together. Librarians in large business collections could find most of this information, but even with the skimpy indexing, this book has some ready-reference value.

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0395643848
• ISBN 13: 9780395643846
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 832
• Editor: Godin Seth