In today's cluttered marketplace, consumers are faced with too many choices. They are bombarded with too much information. And retailers provide them with too little advice. Because of this, consumers find it increasingly hard to make informed decisions. And as a result, building loyalty and finding new customers is an impossible challenge. Today, to be relevant, you can't go on treating all customers the same way. You need to focus on them, on their needs, on who they are and why they nee...

Competitive advantage. The value chain. Five forces. Industry structure. Differentiation. Relative cost. If you want to understand how companies achieve and sustain competitive success, Michael Porter’s frameworks are the foundation. But while everyone in business may know Porter’s name, many managers misunderstand and misuse his concepts.Understanding Michael Porter sets the record straight, providing the first concise, accessible summary of Porter’s revolutionar...

Get the know-how to manage your time effectively—in a day!Effective Time Management In a Day For Dummies helps you to effectively set up a time management system to regain control of your days and responsibilities. It showcases the importance of maximizing effectiveness and reveals why (and how) time management is the key to organizing hectic lives.Focusing efforts and blocking your timePrioritizing for daily successSettin...

A comprehensive playbook for applied design thinking in business and management, complete with concepts and toolkitsAs many companies have lost confidence in the traditional ways of running a business, design thinking has entered the mix. Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation presents a framework for design thinking that is relevant to business management, marketing, and design strategies and also provides a toolkit to apply concepts for immediate use i...

Rethink your business for the digital age.Every business begun before the Internet now faces the same challenge: How to transform to compete in a digital economy?Globally recognized digital expert David L. Rogers argues that digital transformation is not about updating your technology but about upgrading your strategic thinking. Based on Rogers's decade of research and teaching at Columbia Business School, and his consulting for businesses around the world,...

Join forces with others inside and outside your organization to solve your toughest problems.If you read nothing else on collaborating effectively, read these 10 articles. We’ve combed through hundreds of articles in the Harvard Business Review archive and selected the most important ones to help you work more productively with people on your team, in other departments, and in other organizations.Leading experts such as Daniel Goleman, Herm...

Teambuilding is one of the fastest-growing areas on the business shelf, as companies look to increase efficiency and morale.Teambuilding That Gets Results, an easy-to-use guidebook for building effective teams, will increase the strength of any business. Harriet and Linda Diamond offer expert advice gleaned from years of consulting businesses on building strong teams. Topics include:Building strong, flexible, collaborative teamsTeam assessment...

Master proven sales techniques and outperform the competition with The Ultimate Book of Sales Techniques—your go-to guide for cold calling, lead generation, closing the sale, and building long-term client relationships.The secrets of breakout selling!Using his thirty years of experience training corporate sales forces, Stephan Schiffman has put together a collection of the most essential techniques for succeeding in the field. From getting leads an...

Discover proven strategies for building powerful, world-class brandsIt's tempting to believe that brands like Apple, Nike, and Zappos achieved their iconic statuses because of serendipity, an unattainable magic formula, or even the genius of a single visionary leader. However, these companies all adopted specific approaches and principles that transformed their ordinary brands into industry leaders. In other words, great brands can be built—and Denise Lee Yohn know...

Bridge the gap between business and design to improve the customer experienceBusinesses thrive when they can engage customers. And, while many companies understand that design is a powerful tool for engagement, they do not have the vocabulary, tools, and processes that are required to enable design to make a difference. Experience Design bridges the gap between business and design, explaining how the quality of customer experience is the key to unlocking g...

Get the know-how to close a deal and make your quota—in a day!Closing a Sale In A Day For Dummies outlines the anatomy of a sales closing, offers strategies for asking the right questions, and gives you invaluable tips for overcoming tough customers.The anatomy of a closeQuestioning and listening strategiesNo frills closing techniquesOvercoming tough customersThis e-book also links to an online com...

Harvard Business Essentials are comprehensive, solution-oriented paperbacks for business readers of all levels of experience. In today's ever-changing business environment, hiring an all-star work force and keeping it in place is a challenge for any organization. With an overview on topics such as recruiting the right people, cultivating the right culture, avoiding employee burnout, and calculating employee turnover, Hiring and Keeping the Best People offers managers a clear understanding ...