Books on Profit 2006: A Mid-Year Evaluation
As reviewed by Dan Bergevin
As usual, the massive glut of business books published in the first half of 2006 far exceeds my available time to read them. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it is doubtless that many of these books expound hyped–up versions of general knowledge or advice that I would find neither practical nor thought-provoking.
Book selection can be a hit and miss process, and for many business-people, this process can be frustrating as hell. Buyer’s remorse is, in my case at least, miniscule compared to the remorse of having spent a weekend or even just an evening trying very hard to glean something useful from a book, but to no avail. However, I feel that I have been lucky thus far in 2006, as the good books I have read seems to outnumber the mediocre or just plain bad. This is a refreshing change for me.
In order to share this luck with you, I have written this report as an evaluation of six of the 2006–published books that I found most useful. I have also found a common thread running through these books—a complimentary logic that weaves in and out of them, forming a picture of value, pricing, and profit creation. This report will bring this picture into focus and hopefully will prove more useful than a simple list of reviews or synopses.
The Books
Baker, Ronald J., Pricing on Purpose: Creating and Capturing Value. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2006. www.wiley.com
Denove, Chris and Power, James D, VI., Satisfaction: How Every Great Company Listens to the Voice of the Customer., New York, NY: Portfolio, 2006. www.penguin.com
Pritchett, Bob, Fire Someone Today and Other Surprising Tactics for Making Your Business a Success. Nashville, TN: Nelson Business, 2006. www.thomasnelson.com
Simon, Herman, Bilstein, Frank F and Luby, Frank, Manage for Profit, Nor for Market Share: A Guide to Greater Profits in Highly Contested Markets.Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2006. www.hbspress.org
Smith, Jaynie L with Flanagan, William G., Creating Competitive Advantage: Give Customers a Reason to Choose You Over Your Competitors.New York, NY: Currency Doubleday, 2006. www.currencybooks.com
Steinmetz, Lawrence L, PhD, and Brooks, William T., How to Sell at Margins Higher Than Your Competitors: Winning Every Sale at Full Price, Rate, or Fee.Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2006. www.wiley.com