Advice on business literature from Helen Edwards

We offer you some new set of books selected by SKOLKOVO Library project manager Helen Edwards.
A previous set can be found here.

1. The power of positive deviance : how unlikely innovators solve the world's toughest problems

Richard T Pascale, Jerry Sternin, Monique Sternin
Harvard Business Press, c2010
xvi, 231 pages
ISBN: 9781422110669

Why is it that some individuals seem not to suffer from problems which are affecting everyone else? The central concept of this book is the value of learning from those few people who are able to tackle seemingly insurmountable problems in new ways. The authors were involved in fieldwork dealing with malnutrition in Vietnam where it was noticed that some village children were thriving much more than the rest. It turned out that their mothers were mixing low value sweet potato greens with the rice and from this insight an effective social programme could be generated. The book describes other instances of the value of "observable exceptions" in health, social and business settings. Importantly the book also discusses the implementation issues and the type of leadership which, by engaging and transforming social dynamics at the grassroots level, best enables the adoption of new practices.

2. China 2.0 : the transformation of an emerging superpower--and the new opportunities

Marina Yue Zhang and Bruce W. Stening
J. Wiley & Sons (Asia), 2010 .
xxvii, 300 pages
ISBN: 9780470824238.

This book argues that Web 2.0 or the social web is having a more profound impact on China than anywhere else. The possibility of collaborating has altered the social order by mobilising public opinion and enabling an unheard of level of transparency in Chinese society. Zhang explores technology, the economy, the move from the primary focus on infrastructure and export to the domestic consumer markets, and society from a Chinese perspective. Also highlighted is China's unique business system "neither black nor white, but grey", with its unwritten codes and the need to establish the optimal distance between government and private enterprise.

3. Crisis management in the new strategy landscape

William Crandall, John A. Parnell, John E. Spillan
Sage, 2010
xiv, 265 pages
ISBN: 9781412954136

A crisis can be a major environmental disaster or terrorist attack but also any sudden unexpected event of low probability but high impact. This book describes the latest trends in crisis management, advocating incorporation of crisis planning into the regular strategic management processes. It offers a number of crisis management frameworks highlighting the usefulness of identifying "families" of potential crises and also discusses an alternative approach based on chaos theory. Case studies, tools for applying the frameworks and an outline crisis management plan are included.

4. Presentation Zen design : simple design principles and techniques to enhance your presentations

Garr Reynolds
New Riders, 2010.
252 pages
ISBN 9780321668790

Garr Reynolds is the master of applying the tenets of Zen simplicity to enhance presentations. In this book he applies the Zen perspective to design, colour, images and video, data presentation and space with the overall aim of creating harmony which itself enhances communication. Japanese aesthetic principles such as Kanso (elimination of clutter), Fukinsei (asymmetry or irregularity) and Ma (emptiness, void) are discussed. The book includes many beautiful illustrations and example slides.


5. 5 industries hit the reset button

Booz&Company industry teams
strategy + businesss, 14 January 2011

Booz&Company consultants look at how the consumer products, telecommunications, industrial goods, automotive and financial services industries are changing their business models. The article identifies key trends for each sector, for example within consumer goods "frugality with a twist", the willingness of consumers to treat themselves to individual experiences even in hard times. For industrial processes there is the opportunity to reassess supply chains and broaden the geographical reach to recognise that countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam or Mexico and Eastern Europe could now offer lower costs than China and India.