Annual Guide to Stocks 2002: Directory of Obsolete Securities

Book Description

Offers precise lessons on how to: * Focus the evaluation * Identify tracking strategies * Manage instrument development and data collection * Score and summarize data * Analyze information and interpret findings * Use findings and continue monitoring

Book Description

Thanks to healthier lifestyles and medical advances, seniors are living longer than ever. And now, with the baby boomers approaching retirement age, the demand for financial advice for the 60+ investor is skyrocketing. To fully and effectively serve the needs of this rapidly growing group, financial advisors need a source of information that is comprehensive, reliable, and timely.

Advising the 60+ Investor offers tax and financial planners an authoritative resource for the financial concerns of those who have retired or are about to retire. Drawing on the combined expertise of tax, finance, and accounting professionals, this remarkable book makes it easier for financial advisors to present their clients with a full range of planning strategies and to provide practical advice custom tailored to their clients' individual circumstances. An abundance of detailed, real-world examples illustrate many of the most common financial situations faced by older investors, and handy computation aids and data tables make calculations clear, quick, and straightforward.

The broad, comprehensive scope of Advising the 60+ Investor includes:

Basic Financial Planning—Investor objectives, asset allocation, insurance requirements, and related topics, such as reverse mortgages and post-retirement employment.
Pension and Annuity Income—Distribution options from retirement plans and their taxability, including IRAs, annuities, and lump-sum distributions.
Social Security Benefits—Calculating the amount of the benefits; worker, family and survivor benefits, taxation of benefits, Medicare and Medicaid.
Transfer of a Closely Held Business—Owning a business and transferring ownership/control of a family business to the next generation: proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations; private annuities, family limited partnerships, and businesses transferred at death.
Estate Planning—The estate and gift transfer tax system, the basic goals of estate planning, estate planning techniques, marital deduction planning, and grantor retained interest trusts.
Marriage and Remarriage—The marriage penalty, Social Security benefits, estate planning, and maximizing the exclusion of gain on the sale of both homes.
Miscellaneous Provisions—Important general tax issues affecting older taxpayers, including the additional standard deduction, the credit for the elderly and disabled, deductions for medical expenses, multiple support agreements, life insurance proceeds, endowments contracts, the tax consequences of volunteerism, and much more.

Designed to meet the needs of busy investment advisors, financial planners, accountants, and attorneys, Advising the 60+ Investor is an invaluable resource and essential addition to the professional financial advisor's reference library.

NOW YOU CAN TARGET THE SPECIFIC FINANCIAL SERVICES YOUR 60+ CLIENTS NEED IN THEIR RETIREMENT YEARS.

Book Description

Take control of your most important retirement assets

Investment advisors, financial planners, accountants, and attorneys are always hungry for expert advice and guidance on the best ways to help their clients make the most of their investments during their work lives and successfully manage their payouts when they retire. Written by two of today's most visible retirement planning experts, Tax-Deferred Investing meets that need. Cory Grant and Andrew Westhem describe proven wealth-building and payout strategies for both employers and employees.

A complete guide to plan selection, investment, asset allocation, and distribution strategies
Includes estate planning techniques for keeping the wealth in a family from one generation to the next

Cory C. Grant (La Jolla, CA) is Executive Vice President of Westhem Group/Wealth Planning, Inc., and a specialist on advanced estate, retirement, and business planning strategies. Andrew Westhem (La Jolla, CA) is President of Westhem Group/Wealth Planning, Inc., focusing on advanced estate, retirement, and business planning strategies.

Average customer rating:

Needs better focus

Forces you to practice due diligence

From a Jaffe fan: This book is what we have come to expect

Lots of fluff

A lifesaver

The Right Way to Hire Financial Help - 2nd Ed.: A Complete Guide to Choosing and Managing Brokers, Financial Planners, Insurance Agents, Lawyers, Tax Preparers, Bankers, and Real Estate Agents
Charles A. Jaffe
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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Smart Questions to Ask Your Financial Advisers (Bloomberg Personal Bookshelf (Hardcover))

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Ernst & Young's Personal Financial Planning Guide (Ernst and Young's Personal Financial Planning Guide)

Investors and Markets: Portfolio Choices, Asset Prices, and Investment Advice (Princeton Lectures in Finance)

ASIN: 0262600439

Book Description

Hiring financial help is a task that many otherwise savvy people approach the wrong way, opting to go on recommendations from family and friends, chance encounters, or advertisements rather than on sound research. In engaging, accessible prose, nationally syndicated columnist Charles A. Jaffe takes the reader through the basics of how to locate appropriate candidates, understand their credentials, check references, conduct initial interviews, maintain control of the relationships and one's finances, and fire an adviser who is not working out.

The book contains guidance on hiring and checking the backgrounds of seven types of advisers--brokers, financial planners, insurance agents, lawyers, tax preparers, bankers, and real estate agents--as well as specific questions to ask to determine whether an adviser is a good, qualified match. In addition the book offers guidance on how to help the advisers function as a team. The author's aim is to help the reader assemble and manage a pool of advisers to serve every major financial need for the rest of his or her lifetime.

This new edition has been updated throughout. It includes hundreds of Web addresses and an online resources directory. Two new chapters discuss online advice services and how to choose an online broker.

Customer Reviews:

Needs better focus.......2003-06-24

A previous reviewer who accused the book of having too much fluff is, unfortunately, only slightly exaggerating. If the author had taken the time to tighten up the book and used only half as many words as he did, the resulting book would have been first rate useful. As it is, the book is a serious test of one's patience and concentration. The ideas are very reasonable, but the reader has to struggle to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Forces you to practice due diligence.......2001-04-27

Some people might think that Jaffe's book is obvious. But what's obvious to some may be revolutionary and important to others.

The book outlines questions that should be asked of any financial proessionals one is considering hiring, and suggests interviewing at least three of each type of adviser to learn differences and to become comfortable.

Jaffe's advice is so good that it is almost impossible not to gain many times the cost of the book in better financial planning and better peace of mind that one has proceeded with due diligence.

From a Jaffe fan: This book is what we have come to expect.......2000-08-27

I read Mr. Jaffe's column every week in the Boston Globe and bought this book after hearing him talk on this subject atthe Globe's personal finance conference (he autographed the book for me).

This book gave me exactly what I have come to expect from Mr. Jaffe: Clear, insightful, unafraid commentary that helped give me the courage to go through with choosing a financial planner. I learned which questions to ask, and I took the book with me and asked those questions. And while it's early to tell (Mr. Jaffe says all the time that anything less than one year is not really long enough to judge), I am happy with my financial planner and expect to stay that way for a long time.

As for the reviewer who thought this book was redundant, he must have skipped the introduction. That's where Mr. Jaffe explains why parts of the book are redundant and advises more knowledgeable investors to skip the parts that they don't need.

If you do that, this book will give you exactly what you need. It certainly did for me.

Lots of fluff.......1999-12-30

As with many books these days, the author seems to have been desparately trying for the maximum number of pages as his primary goal. Large margins, explaining the obvious, repetition, unnecessary quotes, all add up to a book that's only about 25% actual content. If this book was 75% shorter, I'd give it two, maybe three stars. But most of the useful info in this book could be found on the web. A shorter book might have been worthwhile to avoid having to search for it on the web, but having to wade through all the fluff negates this potential benefit.

A lifesaver.......1999-03-03

I had worked with financial planners befor but I was never comfortible. Then I read about this book in the local paper. I bought it. I used it. I just hired a planner, and this time I am comfortible. This book is the reason. I recomend it!

The McGraw-Hill Personal Tax Advisor (Mcgraw Hill Personal Tax Advisor)

Average customer rating:

The McGraw-Hill Personal Tax Advisor (Mcgraw Hill Personal Tax Advisor)
Cliff Roberson
Manufacturer: Mcgraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Civil Procedure | Procedures & Litigation | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Law | Subjects | Books

McGraw-Hill Personal Tax Advisor : The Year-Round Guide to Prospering Under the

Average customer rating:

McGraw-Hill Personal Tax Advisor : The Year-Round Guide to Prospering Under the
Cliff Roberson
Manufacturer: McGraw Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000V5TX5M

The Personal Tax Advisor: Understanding the New Tax Law

Average customer rating:

The Personal Tax Advisor: Understanding the New Tax Law
Cliff Roberson
Manufacturer: Liberty Hall Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Civil Procedure | Procedures & Litigation | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Taxation | Law | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0830631348

Average customer rating:

Price Waterhouse Personal Tax Advisor

Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0671728792

The Price Waterhouse Personal Tax Advisor 1992

Average customer rating:

The Price Waterhouse Personal Tax Advisor 1992
Price Waterhouse
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0671747290

Relocation Tax Advisor, Year 2001 Early Edition

Average customer rating:

Relocation Tax Advisor, Year 2001 Early Edition
ReloTax Accounting Group
Manufacturer: The Hessel Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Buying & Selling Homes | Real Estate | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Real Estate | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0963629611

Book Description

The Relocation Tax Advisor, Year 2001 Early Edition,is a tax planning guide specifically geared toward corporate employees who are being transferred and need guidance in planning for the tax implications of their move. Also included in the publication: current state and federal tax rates, full size IRS Form 3903.

Tax Lien Advisor's Overview of the Tax Lien and Tax Deed Industry (5 Volume Set)

Average customer rating:

Tax Lien Advisor's Overview of the Tax Lien and Tax Deed Industry (5 Volume Set)
Villanova Lillian
Manufacturer: Lillian R. Villanova
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound

General | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0978829670

Product Description

This FIVE VOLUME set on Tax Lien and Tax Deed investing includes EVERYTHING you need to learn how to succeed in the tax lien and deed industry. Forget those programs that cost hundreds of dollars and provide nothing by hype for more products. Forget those seminars that cost thousands of dollars. Each purchase includes a brief one on one phone consultation with the author.

Book Description

This one-of-a-kind guide explores the human side of ISO 9000, showing readers how to overcome organizational (and human) inertia and ultimately lead the organization through a glitch free ISO 9000 registration process. Based on the authors' experiences at T&T/NCR, ISO 9000: prepares managers for common workforce conflicts and issues that aren't addressed in most seminars, articles, or books about ISO 9000; devotes an entire section to ISO 9000 registration for small companies, the fastest-growing group of registrants; offers a step-by-step plan for ensuring ISO 9000 registration and continued compliance.

Book Description

Managers today are understandably skeptical of the promises of new technologies. During the 1990s, vendors of both enterprise applications and Internet platforms promised enormous benefits. Companies invested large sums, but the benefits either failed to materialize, or came at a high price. Managers sacrificed flexibility and struggled to collaborate with business partners-a crippling disadvantage in today's marketplace.

Now, leading business strategist John Hagel III has a refreshing message for managers burned by over-hyped technologies, yet pressured to find innovative ways to deliver more value with fewer resources. He focuses on a new generation of technology-known as Web services. This technology connects existing IT platforms in more automated and flexible ways, leading to much lower operating costs.

The premise is practical and devoid of "change the world" promises. That very pragmatism, says Hagel, will drive enterprises to adopt it. In this book, he provides a clear view of the business implications of Web services: its distinct capabilities, its power to deliver near-term profits, and its potential to drive long-term growth.

Drawing from the experiences of pioneering adopters, Hagel shows how Web services will enable companies of all sizes to:

- Realize bottom-line savings quickly with modest investment
- Leverage investments in existing applications and create more flexibility
- Target specific areas for near-term cost reduction
- Establish-or leave-business relationships fluidly and inexpensively
- Create leveraged growth platforms for long-term competitiveness

A landmark book for CEOs, strategists, and IT managers, Out of the Box addresses near-term cost concerns and requirements for future success. As it discusses Web services, it provides deep insights into business strategy. At its core, this book tackles the most fundamental business issue facing managers today: how to continue to create value as competition intensifies. It also outlines innovative approaches to business process management and organization.

John Hagel III is a business consultant based in Silicon Valley, and is coauthor of two best-selling books, Net Gain and Net Worth. He has served as a senior executive with various technology companies and spent sixteen years as a Partner at McKinsey & Company, Inc.

Customer Reviews:

How distributed data can bring new horizons.......2005-06-17

This book is supposed to describe the benefits of using Web Services and XML to join data of various resources from different organizational units or cooperating enterprises into a single entity, but if you omit this particular "Web Services" technology, you will get a high-level outlook of problems and solutions of information technology in the modern world. You will see how the inability to processing data in correct way can slow down the development of a particular service or product. And you will see how distributed data can bring new horizons. Take fixed or cellular operator as an example. Lots of improvements have been postponed just because there was no correct billing software ready. There are many real world examples in the book to support the author's idea. All these examples are very noteworthy. I can recommend "Business @ the Speed of Thought" by Bill Gates in addition to this book.

A different way of thinking about web services.......2003-09-17

If you're like me and spend a lot of time with techies and read lots of tech journals, you're well familar with the "nuts and bolts" of how web services work. "Out Of The Box", however, takes a decidedly different approach, exploring not only what web services are, but also how they came to be, and where they're going.

John Hagel's observations are generally high-level and strategic, exploring the ways that web services can change how businesses operate and interact with one another. Hegel's thesis is that web services have the power to transform the fundamental ways in which business is conducted, removing many of the barriers and problems in information management, and allowing business relationships to form and dissolve more rapidly than ever before. As a result, wholly new business models can emerge that allow businesses to respond to changes in customer preferences, compensate for new economic or political realities, and make continuous improvements in quality and value.

A highly readable work, just about the book's only weakness is that it is indeed based largely on conjecture, and the premise that today's web service protocols will form the foundation of long-term IT development. Anyone even remotely familiar with IT knows that change can be sudden and dramatic. However, Hagel presents a lot of sound and creative thinking that is especially helpful for an emerging technology such as web services.

"Out Of The Box" should be essential reading for any manager or executive whose job involves implementation of web services at any level. By contrast, techies will find this book sorely lacking in specifics. But that's okay, as there are a host of other books by O'Reilly and other technical publishers that do an excellent job of "drilling down" into the details of the technology.

Great intro to web services for non-techie.......2003-06-06

This book did the best job of anything I've read in describing what web services is, the history behind it and what it means for businesses.

Good start but just the beginning.......2003-05-24

As Hagel has done in his other books, he successfully synthesizes a signficant emerging trend into some provocative concepts and models. The three phases of restructuring, reduced cost of interaction, notions of loosely coupled process networks, unbundling/rebundling, etc. are all provocative and applicable concepts. There is much that I liked alot in this book and many new and interesting examples bring his ideas to life. I have already handed out over 50 copies of this books to friends and associates.

As with Hagel's other books, however, some of the concepts are taken too far almost to the point of being contrived...or to an unpractical level of abstraction. I think he actually could have left the almost "technical" explaination of the Web services grid out entirely. Components of the Web-services architecture don't tie to the rest of the book. A non-technical exec could skip/skim that chapter entirely and not miss much and still gain lot's from the book. Bottom line: Web-services (2nd Generation Web apps) facilitates easy connections between systems and building and extended real-time enterprise(big deal) but is still very much a work in progress...with lot's of value to be achieved today while remainder of grid is maturing.

I think there will be many more books written on this topic. The next logical one would examine and model the economics of process networks and rebundling while providing examples of rebundling and likely incorporate offshore/low-cost sourcing...and illustrate the practical tradeoffs, returnes, risks, against the existing human capital.

Great start!

Exciting Concept Which Could Overpromise.......2003-05-11

Out of the Box provides a visionary approach to the promises of this new web programming and architecture called web services. In the second chapter he warns the ready about the writing becoming technical challenging but does a fair job of bringing the technology to the beginner's level. Perhaps more business books should help executives understand Internet technology so that the complexity could be appreciated in a realistic light. As with many books which try to predict future trends in Internet technology in business, Hagel works from a limited number of examples and tends to overuse some. The main weakness of the book is what many who purchase IT consulting services understand too well - early applications of new technology can easily be overpromised and deliver disappointing or more costly results. However, the book's strength is its forward-looking application of a technology that does indeed have great potential.

Out Of The Box: Strategies For Achieving Profits Today And Growth Tomorrow Through Web Services

Average customer rating:

Explanation of Web Services fo Executives

Out Of The Box: Strategies For Achieving Profits Today And Growth Tomorrow Through Web Services
John Hagel III
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1591397596

Book Description

"Anyone in search of an exhaustive treatment of the role of technology in enabling loose 'process networks', should turn to John Hagel's Out Of The Box." -Financial Times

Managers are understandably skeptical of the promises of new technologies. Now, leading business strategist John Hagel III has a refreshing message for managers burned by over-hyped technologies yet pressured to find innovative ways to deliver more value with fewer resources. Out of the Box tackles the most fundamental business issue facing managers today: how to continue to create value as competition intensifies. The book's practical advice will enable companies of all sizes to realize bottom-line savings quickly with modest investment, and create leveraged growth platforms for long-term competitiveness. For any manager who must envision and execute the next IT/business strategy, and the strategy after that, this book will prove to be a rich source of new ideas and a landmark in shaping their thinking.

Customer Reviews:

Explanation of Web Services fo Executives.......2005-08-04

Customer Reviews:

Reprint of classic study.......2002-12-19

This is a reprint of Cohen's 1949 book. (Sansom wrote the foreward.) While amended in some respects by later work, there is a great deal here that is valuable and unique. Cohen provided much of the economic information for the U.S. Strategic Survey reports on Japan; this is much more detailed and comprehensive in most respects.

Book Description

Use this powerful collection of experiential learning activities to confront—and eliminate—difficult organizational problems. All the designs are devoted to changing hidden attitudes, assumptions, and values that people seldom even acknowledge, but that often sabotage even successful companies. Stimulating and challenging to facilitate, the interventions make it possible to win employees’ trust and confidence while changing negative attitudes, healing old mistrust, repairing team conflicts, fostering empathy towards minority groups, restoring lost confidence in a leader, and more.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Resource, with depth........2000-02-02

Napier & Gershenfeld have created a real gift to the seasoned facilitator/trainer with this work. It's not just a quick cookbook of games, but instead a guide to the design process of interventions with sample templates (activities) in major areas such as leadership, communication, conflict resolution, etc. Each activity has a standard version and a Turbo version if time is short. Granted some of the activities are "on the edge", but I happen to like that, and after all the title says it's ADVANCED. Expensive, but comes in the form of a loose-leaf binder with reproducibles. For me worth every penny!

Very tricky ideas,watch yourself!.......1999-05-07

. Only for the most advanced facillitator. Many of these activities put people at risk, you better know how to handle this! Many of the ideas are old "hat" with a new twist, really nothing new. Something of a disappointment.

Customer Reviews:

Great help for the customer care practitioner.......2001-07-09

An all-in-one reference manual for those involved in customer relationship management. The topics covered are wide in scope and are really after enabling the development of effective customer focus.

Written in a refreshingly easy and readable format, the book begins with an introduction to the concept of customer care, and the changing nature of customer service. The book then goes on to discuss management's role in developing strategy geared towards effective customer service. What follows is a chapter devoted to developing tools geared towards generating and monitoring customer feedback and satisfaction - my favorite chapter, as this area is the usual point of slack in assessing an organization's quality of service. Pieces of advice are given in various areas including (but not limited to): appropriateness research methods to be used, questionnaire development, involvement of top management in the monitoring of action points taken from customers' feedback.

Empowerment, training and development, communications, and implementation of a customer-care strategy - concepts that are all indispensable to the customer care practitioner - are also covered in detail in this book. Real-life examples of concept applications are also incorporated so that the reader does not feel inundated with theories alone. Each section ends with a checklist of practical and applicable activities that can be used in evaluating the service that your company currently provides, and in assessing areas for possible improvement.

Average customer rating:
Customer Care Excellence: How to Create an Effective Customer Focus
Sarah Cook
Manufacturer: Kogan Page
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Customer Service | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Sales & Selling | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Testing & Measurement | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0749450665

Book Description

Customer loyalty is essential to the long term financial success of a business, but with more choice than ever before, customers today have high expectations of products and services. Businesses need a top-notch customer services system in place, and Customer Care Excellence explains how to achieve just that. In clear, practical language, this book explains how to develop and sustain a customer-service focus within a company. Emphasizing both strategic and practical aspects of customer care, Customer Care Excellence explains how gaining customer commitment and motivating employees to deliver an excellent service at all of a company's touch points can ensure successful results and satisfied customers. This new edition includes material on how online technology has affected customer service and employee and customer engagement, illustrated with new examples from Tesco and eBay.

Book Description

Given the increase in large scale mergers throughout the world, this book addresses the growing problem of restricted competition through collusion and the perennial debate surrounding the use of government subsidies for industries to further national interests.

The aims of the book are threefold, firstly, to elucidate the antecedents of competition policy in the US and Europe and to demonstrate how far a convergence of principles has developed. Secondly, to outline the theory of industrial organization as a major tool to devise an appropriate policy, and thirdly, to discuss the practice of competition policy in the US, individual European countries and the EC as a whole, in terms of collusion, mergers and vertical restraints.

Manfred Neumann comprehensively explores the economic arguments that justify the need for competition policy. He considers the historical development of competition policy and the relationship between competition policy and the objectives of governmental policy as a whole. In conclusion, he argues that competition policy should be regarded as a constituent part of economic and social policy. This enlightening and comprehensive book will be of great value to students, researchers and practitioners of law, corporate strategy and industrial and political economics.

Average customer rating:

A good KM introduction for managers.

DECENT EXPOSE OF KNOWLEDGE CHARACTERISTICS

A practical and illustrative guide to operationalising KM

Knowledge Unplugged: The McKinsey & Company Global Survey on Knowledge Management
Jurgen Kluge , Wolfram Stein , and Thomas Licht
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Communications | Skills | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
MIS | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Decision-Making & Problem Solving | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Management Science | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Knowledge Management (Harvard Business Review Paperback Series)

Copyright's Highway: From Gutenberg to the Celestial Jukebox

Knowledge Management Tools and Techniques: Practitioners and Experts Evaluate KM Solutions

The Social Life of Information

The Digital Person: Technology and Privacy in the Information Age

ASIN: 0333963768

Book Description

Knowledge Unplugged announces the results of a major survey of knowledge management practice within the most influential companies in the world, by the most influential management consultancy group in the world. The McKinsey Knowledge Management team interviewed top executives and also investigated how far their plans were implemented in practice, in 40 companies in the US, Europe and Japan. In many companies they discovered a significant gap between the vision at the top and the reality on the shop floor. Knowledge Unplugged draws together their findings and presents a practical guide to improving knowledge building and sharing at all levels within an organization, vividly illustrated with case studies of best practice and common pitfalls. They argue that knowledge management is much more than simply installing a new database and can only be successful when it is at the heart of everyday personal exchanges, personal incentives and personal responsibilities at every level of the firm.

Customer Reviews:

A good KM introduction for managers........2006-06-27

The concepts in Knowledge Unplugged are nothing particularly new, if you are familiar with the area of Knowledge Management. Written in 2001, it is a good survey of the thinking around the subject that was current in the 1990s.

This is not to imply that the book is not valuable now. Practitioners should find the metrics from the McKinsey global survey valuable, even if the treatment of the concepts feels as though it may lack the more detailed current understanding.

I would particularly recommend the book as an introduction to an interested executive who wanted to understand KM basics. The clear language and underlying survey support would make it a good way to begin a dialogue on the subject. I found the emphasis on sharing and reuse as a learning opportunity for the rest of the company particularly relevant and well-explained.

DECENT EXPOSE OF KNOWLEDGE CHARACTERISTICS.......2003-03-25

Suited to deeper thinking operations managers and KM
practitioners. Geared to globalised players who have
the resources.

Until we can grasp the nature of knowledge we are foolish
to think we can setup systems to leverage it. The McKinsey
book is one of the very few in KM to specialise in
identifying and measuring the knowledge characteristics
in companies('...the six characteristics that distinguish
it from other assets..'p.21). It is the only one to my
extensive knowledge that provides scientific results from
their survey ('We found a strong correlation between a
company's knowledge index and ...'P.19). Both are worthy
contributions to the literature.

Example of typical chapter :
Chapter 4 is about
'Subjectivity: Reading From The Same Page.'

Breakdown:
Six sub-sections of Strategies to minimise(!)subjectivity.
- major issue.

Sub-Section 1. Build Common Experiences -
-identifiable issues,
-case1-'An automotive company.. (1 page)
-summary
Sub-Section 2. Generate an Open Knowledge Flow Across
Hierachies -
-identifiable issues,
-case2- 'A European capital goods..(3/4ths page)
-case3- '..an automotive supplier..(1/2 page)
-summary
Sub-Section 3. Break the Status Barrier
-identifiable issues,
-case4- 'One global automotive..' (1/2 page)
-case5- 'At Oticon, a Danish...' (1/2 page)
-case6- Full study on Oticon (1 1/2 pages)
-summary
Sub-Section 4. Get the Experts Together
-identifiable issues,
-case7- 'One US investment goods...' (1/2 page)
-case8- 'To expand the Oticon example..'(1/3 page)
-strategies explanations (2pages)
-survey findings/summary
Sub-Section 5. Synchronize High-Level Goals
-identifiable issues
-case9- '..an international conglomerate..' (3/4 page)
-strategies explanations (1/4page)
-case10- 'At an international telecoms equipment..' (1/2page)
Sub-Section 6. Chapter summary (1 page)
Survey Results Pertaining to Subjectivity.
In addition, a chapter explaining First Steps...
preliminary KM questionnaire.

Formatting & Writing Style: No diagrams but survey bar graphs.
Page font and spacing- generous and readable.Almost no bullet
points in the entire book, making it difficult to isolate key
points ! Nice sub-headings, good analogies, illustrations and
loads of mini-case studies spread out with a dozen lengthier
case studies.

Conclusion : Holistic, deeper thinkers will see this as a
valuable resource to develop a company KM framework.

Spiro Raftopoulos

A practical and illustrative guide to operationalising KM.......2003-01-23

While knowledge has always been an important factor of production (in addition to land, labour and capital), it is becoming a key differentiator as the other three factors are becoming abundant and accessible. ï¿½While the importance of knowledge is, at the very least, widely acknowledged, we are still missing a comprehensive approach to managing knowledge in order to maximize returns,ï¿½ according to consultants Jurgen Kluge, Wolfram Stein and Thomas Licht.

ï¿½Understanding how knowledge works throughout your organization therefore allows you to reap the highest rewards from KM: the ability to adapt successfully through constant reinvention and optimization, to tap into new market opportunities, to jump on the latest trend earlier and more decisively than others, and to innovate,ï¿½ the authors begin.

The material is based on a two-year survey conduced by the consultancy, encompassing 40 manufacturing companies in the US, Europe and Japan. At least eight interviews were conducted in each of these companies, to assess their deployment of upto 139 KM techniques culled from KM literature. Techniques included incentive schemes and use of IT infrastructure; the degree of application of these techniques was rated on a scale of 1 to 5. Companies were also classified on a performance spectrum (based on financial and process indicators) and divided into categories like less successful and more successful companies. This combination of scores provides a very powerful framework for assessing the differentiating ï¿½knowledge contributionï¿½ or ï¿½KM indexï¿½ of a company, which is one of the very useful contributions of this book.

The authors define knowledge as the ï¿½understanding of relations and causalitiesï¿½ and management as ï¿½conscious and systematic decision making.ï¿½ Though knowledge can be slippery and nebulous as a subject, it is important not to get distracted by imperfect definitions. Dedicated techniques need to be designed, applied, coordinated and aligned to ensure a successful KM practice.

There are six key attributes of knowledge which must be factored into KM practices:

1. Subjectivity (context and individual background shape the interpretation of knowledge)
2. Transferability (knowledge can be extracted and transferred to other contexts)
3. Embeddedness (knowledge is often in a static and buried form that makes it difficult to extract or reformulate)
4. Self-reinforcement (the value of knowledge increases and not decreases when shared)
5. Perishability (knowledge can become outdated)
6. Spontaneity (knowledge can develop unpredictably in a process)

More successful companies deal with the challenges of subjectivity by ensuring agreement on general rules and values, cross-functional collaboration in product development and order generation, and increased face-to-face communication. For instance, Danish hearing aid manufacturer Oticon ensures that team membership is constantly shifting, as experts shuttle between teams.

Transferability of knowledge can be facilitated by internal and external benchmarking, market research, external alliances, and competitor analysis. Lateral thinking is needed to bring knowledge into entirely new contexts and even from entirely new industries. Japanese auto component company Aisin AW draws lessons actively from the consumer electronics industry mecca Akihibara. A European engine company actively participates in a variety of public research projects where it partners with universities and even competitors.

Best-practice KM techniques for dealing with embedded knowledge include knowledge databases, corporate yellow pages, job rotation, teamwork with suppliers, and co-location of product development staff. Finnish metal group Outokumpu has a solid IT infrastructure to make it easier to find knowledge among its staff. Apprenticeships and collocation with suppliers can help in the automotive sector.

Self-reinforcement knowledge networking practices for jump-starting the knowledge value chain include online training, formal networks with retailers, joint problem-solving, alignment with partner IT systems, and easy access for service data. Amazon.com links book purchases with past customer book preferences; an international conglomerate gets all its employees to write year-end reports containing their successes and outlook for the next year. SAP opened SAP University in 1999; it offers blended e-learning courses, and employees can set up their own sites and present a skill set.

Coping with perishability of knowledge involves continuous training related to standards and design rules, development optimization, FAQs, and clear division of responsibilities. Intel speeds chip development via a ï¿½Copy EXACTLY!ï¿½ initiative to avoid overdoing customization and ensure that best practices can be precisely replicated across its global chip plants; chip-turnaround time has been cut from 7 years to 2 years. It is important to balance standards with creativity, of course.

Based on the analysis of more successful companies along these six knowledge parameters, the authors have devised a six-dimensional ï¿½KM scannerï¿½ audit metric, and have come up with several recommendations for successful KM.

Be precise in your KM objectives and link them to business targets. Leverage push as well as pull factors to holistically grow and share knowledge. Create the right cultural context which nurtures reciprocal trust, openness and cooperation. Employees must be enthused with a desire for world-class performance and lust for knowledge, from within and outside the company. Financial and non-financial incentives should be devised. Avoid micro-management and encourage self-steering mechanisms.

ï¿½You must instill in your company a sense of caring for knowledge so that it becomes part of everyday life, rather than something that ebbs and flows as the mood suits. Soon, every worker will become a knowledge worker,ï¿½ according to the authors.

ï¿½Working with knowledge is much more creative, gives a higher sense of doing value-added work and, simply put, is much more fun. Just as no company will probably survive without taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the Internet, soon no worker will survive without actively using knowledge as a tool of their trade, whatever trade that is, and no company will succeed without tapping into the great potential of their employeesï¿½ knowledge,ï¿½ the authors conclude.

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Madanmohan Rao is the author of ï¿½The Asia Pacific Internet Handbookï...

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