An investment banker and professor explains what really drives success in the tech economyMany think that they understand the secrets to the success of the biggest tech companies: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google. It's the platform economy, or network effects, or some other magical power that makes their ultimate world domination inevitable. Investment banker and professor Jonathan Knee argues that the truth is much more complicated--but entrepreneurs a...

Jonathan A. Knee had a ringside seat during the go-go, boom-and-bust decade and into the 21st century, at the two most prestigious investment banks on Wall Street--Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. In this candid and irreverent insider's account of an industry in free fall, Knee captures an exhilarating era of fabulous deal-making in a free-wheeling Internet economy--and the catastrophe that followed when the bubble burst. Populated with power players, back stabbers, celebrity bankers, and...

If Rupert Murdoch and Sumner Redstone are so smart, why are their stocks long-term losers?We live in the age of big Media, with the celebrity moguls telling us that "content is king." But for all the excitement, glamour, drama, and publicity they produce, why can't these moguls and their companies manage to deliver better returns than you'd get from closing your eyes and throwing a dart? The Curse of the Mogul lays bare the inexcusable financial performanc...

The past thirty years have seen dozens of otherwise successful investors try to improve education through the application of market principles. They have funneled billions of dollars into alternative schools, online education, and textbook publishing, and they have, with surprising regularity, lost their shirts.In Class Clowns, professor and investment banker Jonathan A. Knee dissects what drives investors' efforts to improve education and why they consistently fail. Knee ...

An investment banker and professor explains what really drives success in the tech economyMany think that they understand the secrets to the success of the biggest tech companies: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google. It's the platform economy, or network effects, or some other magical power that makes their ultimate world domination inevitable. Investment banker and professor Jonathan Knee argues that the truth is much more complicated--but entrepreneurs a...

Find the right innovation modelInnovation is a much-used buzzword these days, but when it comes to creating and implementing a new idea, many companies miss the mark-plans backfire, consumer preferences shift, or tried-and-true practices fail to work in a new context. So is innovation just a low-odds crapshoot?In The Architecture of Innovation, Harvard Business School professor Josh Lerner-one of the foremost experts on how innovation works-says in...

Two experts on the information economy explore the true economic value of technology and innovation.A wave of business innovation is driving the productivity resurgence in the U.S. economy. In Wired for Innovation, Erik Brynjolfsson and Adam Saunders describe how information technology directly or indirectly created this productivity explosion, reversing decades of slow growth. They argue that the companies with the highest level of returns to their techno...

Every day companies and their leaders fail to capitalize on opportunities because they misunderstand the real sources of business success.Based on his popular column in Business 2.0, Jeffrey Pfeffer delivers wise and timely business commentary that challenges conventional wisdom while providing data and insights to help companies make smarter decisions. The book contains a series of short chapters filled with examples, data, and insights that challenge questionable assumptions and ...

In the early '80s, Allan Kennedy and Terry Deal launched a new field of inquiry and practice, with the publication of Corporate Cultures, in which they argued that distinct types of cultures evolve within companies and have a direct impact on strategy and performance. Fifteen years later, the authors have teamed up to assess the effects of globalization, short-termism, technology, downsizing, outsourcing, mergers, and reengineering on corporate culture. They find that despite thes...

An international bestseller, BUSINESS: The Ultimate Resource is a one-stop reference and interactive tool covering all aspects of today's world of work.Unique, authoritative, and wide-ranging, it offers practical and strategic advice for anyone doing business today. Written with a team of world-class writers and editors, it is an essential desk reference for managers, MBA and business students and for small business owners worldwide.Fully u...

Each year we pay billions in fees to those who run our financial system. The money comes from our bank accounts, our pensions, our borrowing, and often we aren’t told that the money has been taken. These billions may be justified if the finance industry does a good job, but as this book shows, it too often fails us. Financial institutions regularly place their business interests first, charging for advice that does nothing to improve performance, employing short-term buying strategies that...

An outstanding book about CEOs who excelled at capital allocation.” - Warren Buffett#1 on Warren Buffett’s Recommended Reading List, Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Letter, 2012Named one of 19 Books Billionaire Charlie Munger Thinks You Should Read” in Business Insider.A book that details the extraordinary success of CEOs who took a radically different approach to corporate management.” - Charlie Mu...