Advice on business literature from Helen Edwards

We are glad to greed you again!
We are opening our blog with advice on business literature from Helen Edwards!
Hopefully, it will make you feel enthusiastic after New Years holidays

1. Business exposed: the naked truth about what really goes on in the world of business.
Freek Vermeulen
Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2010
237 pages
ISBN: 9780273732921

This books uses the evidence from research to challenge many of the myths about business. How do strategies evolve? Why are executives paid so much and is it necessary? What use are management consultants, or are they even harmful, propagating ineffective management fads? Further strategy insights include thoughts on the long term downside to downsizing; the benefits of R&D departments as a means to assess the innovations of the competition even when they do not invent anything themselves and the problem of knowledge management systems resulting in formulaic "cookie cutter" solutions rather than real insights.

2. The buying brain: secrets for selling to the subconscious mind
A K Pradeep
Wiley, 2010
252 pages
ISBN: 9780470601778

Described as "a one-stop playbook for understanding and applying the latest research using findings from sophisticated neuromarketing techniques", this book shows how advertising really works. For example research shows faces with ambiguous expressions hold the attention longer than smiles; whereas younger people process both positive and negative images, older people focus much more on the positive and respond to advertising which promotes"the idea of wisdom". Practical methodologies for utilizing the research include the Brand Essence Framework, a tool for understanding how consumers connect to brands at a subconscious level.

3. The mesh: why the future of business is sharing
Lisa Gansky
Portfolio Penguin 2010
242 pages
ISBN: 9781591843719

This book is based on the simple idea: some things are better shared. Mesh companies use information and its technologies to provide goods and services as they are needed and are changing the concept of ownership. With many examples and case studies of the new sharing companies, from renting living Christmas trees to Zipcar, the author shows how these business models work and explores social media in its broader economic, cultural and environmental context.

4. Open leadership: how social technology can transform the way you lead
Charlene Li
Jossey-Bass, 2010
312 pages
ISBN 9780470597262

Charlene Li, co-author of Groundswell, shows how leaders must let go to succeed. She describes how organizations can use social technologies to improve communication, efficiency and decision making. Critical is to have a strategy beyond just customer engagement - otherwise a company can be left with the expense of maintaining the new online relationships without clear benefit - and to be prepared for some inevitable failures which will now be played out in public. With case studies from a range of business environments, the book provides practical guidance for moving to openness, reinforced by the companion website http://www.open-leadership.com

5. The China strategy: harnessing the power of the world’s fastest growing economy
Edward Tse
Basic Books, 2010
247 pages
ISBN: 9780465018253

Written by the Booz & Company Chairman for Greater China this book describes the reality of doing business in China. The author describes how change in China is not taking place in a linear fashion, some areas are expanding exponentially while others are reaching a plateau. The book explores the Chinese business environment: consumers, competitive enterprises, government, integration with the rest of the world and how these elements interact.