The 75 Greatest Management Decisions Ever Made: ...And 21 of the Worst - Hardcover

Crainer, Stuart

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 081440491X ISBN 13: 9780814404911

Publisher: Amacom Books, 1999

Synopsis

What is the common thread tying together such diverse and seemingly unrelated figures as Mickey Mouse, the Marlboro Man, Julius Caesar, and P. T. Barnum? Find out in THE 75 GREATEST MANAGEMENT DECISIONS EVER MADE, a pithy compendium celebrating pinnacles of decision-making that have shaped management through the ages--and left their indelible impressions on business and society.

Sometimes controversial, sometimes irreverent, but always witty and informative, this book represents managerial genius across all (not just business-related) spectrums. Each entry describes a feat of management brilliance, extracts the invaluable lessons it contains, and explores its ultimate impact.

Readers will learn about the history-making decisions (some of them from highly surprising sources) that gave rise to: the assembly line, the first reliable system of weights and measures, the credit card, the discovery of America, print and television advertising, the Walkman, Microsoft, CNN, the mainframe computer, the PC, the weight-loss industry, market research, mass production, brand management, and more. And, as icing on the cake, as well as for balance, objectivity, or maybe even a few laughs (or moans and groans), THE 75 GREATEST MANAGEMENT DECISIONS EVER MADE also exposes 21 of the worst management decisions ever made.

About this title

About the Author

Stuart Crainer (Oxford, U.K.) is a noted business and management writer who contributes regularly to The Financial Times, The (London) Times, the British Airlines in-flight magazine, Across the Board, and other publications. His many books include The Ultimate Business Library (AMACOM 0-8144-0395-6), The Ultimate Book of Business Quotations (AMACOM 0-8144-0447-2), The Ultimate Book of Business Gurus (AMACOM 0-8144-0448-0), Business the Jack Welch Way (AMACOM 0-8144-7033-5), and Business the Rupert Murdoch Way (AMACOM 0-8144-7034-3).

Reviews

Crainer's objective is to present a cornucopia of management decisions drawn from history to honor as well as to learn from them. He selects these decisions on the basis of the results achieved--they made things happen. In addition, he offers his "Hall of Infamy," 21 major decisions that failed. His 75 great decisions include Henry Ford's decision to start his own company; Sears Roebuck's decision to go into retail sales; Bill Gates' decision to license MS-DOS to IBM; Napoleon's decision to promote people on the basis of merit; and the ancient Chinese decision to institute a system of currency. The author's list of the worst decisions includes the sale for $1 of bottling rights for Coca-Cola; Xerox's rejection of the first PC and virtually handing it to Apple Computer; Sony's development of Betamax (a much better product than VHS), but failure to license it; and IBM's inability to see that PCs were indistinguishable and there was no need for consumers to pay for the IBM brand. Mary Whaley

Edition details

• Publisher: Amacom Books
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 081440491X
• ISBN 13: 9780814404911
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 239