Product Description

The business environment has become increasingly precarious, thus raising the stakes for nearly every managerial move. This cutting edge collection includes articles on how to lead in a downturn economy, overcome a growth crisis, stay resilient through difficult periods, and more.

The Harvard Business Review Paperback Series

The series is designed to bring today's managers and professionals the fundamental information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world. From the preeminent thinkers whose work has defined an entire field to the rising stars who will redefine the way we think about business, here are the leading minds and landmark ideas that have established the Harvard Business Review as required reading for ambitious businesspeople in organizations around the globe.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #597834 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

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Customer Reviews

A bunch of outdated articles some of which looks odd from the current perspective
The Harvard Business Review Paperback Series is designed to bring today's professionals the information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving global market. This book is a collection of papers from academics and business professionals on various business strategies during an economic chaos. This book was published in 2003 which consists of eight chapters originally printed from 1998-2002. These papers discuss fixing the business fallouts prior to 2002. The economic picture you read in this book is nothing like what we experience now. The economic bubble created largely by booming real estate market and the collapse of mortgage industry resulting in domino effect that hastened the bankruptcy of many mortgage banks, investment firms, major commercial banks, the American auto industry, and airline companies. Government intervention on a massive scale that includes bailouts and takeovers with significant government regulation and bureaucracy is a rigorous application of Keynesian dynamics into the operation of free market. The economy is no longer localized but it is global and the ripple effect is very damaging.

The first chapter is an interesting chapter that analyzes the economic downturns and what the executives need to focus on. The author identifies three phases and illustrates with some examples (page 5). Solving the growth crisis during economic downturn is to identify hidden assets and using them a source to generate revenues (chapter 2); this is illustrated with examples on page 39-40. It is rather ironic that in this chapter, the authors discuss GM and Chrysler and positive impact their business decisions had with regard to identifying and using the hidden assets to increase revenue. Now we know that these to companies ended in bankruptcies because of their failure to remain competitive. Ford was not mentioned in this chapter but it remains strong with no government help. I think the editors could have excluded this chapter from the book as it stands out as odd in the present day circumstances. Sometimes layoffs and downsizing may not be the best solution to fight the economic crisis since your competitors are too eager to absorb your good mangers (Chapter 3). This point is further supported in chapter 6 where the author suggests that cutting capital budget, which increases cash flow rather than cutting costs by layoffs. Individual and organizational resilience (chapter 4), and quiet business leaders who work patiently (chapter 7) are important factors during turbulent times for a company. I found the last chapter on patching most interesting; this chapter shows how patch work as opposed to reorganization (mergers) of a company is useful in handling some tough times (summarized on page 157).

1. Harvard Business Review On Leadership
2. Harvard Business Review on Effective Communication ("Harvard Business Review" Paperback)
3. Asset Prices, Booms and Recessions: Financial Economics from a Dynamic Perspective
4. How to Eliminate Fear of Global Economic Recession and Terrorism
5. How to Thwart Recessions and Economic Slowdowns