Success Business Fund

Book’s Title : From Products To Services

Written By: Laurie Young

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Selling Price: US$ 55

During the last 30 years, a wide range of product companies throughout the Western economies have considered moving into or setting up service businesses.

Some have rejected the idea after careful consideration, some have wandered into competitive services without any real idea of what is involved and others have deliberately executed a carefully considered strategic manoeuvre.

And yet, very little has been published on this profound transition. As a result, myths and idiocies abound. Some routinely claim that the ‘evolution from products through services to solutions’ is inevitable.

Laurie Young, himself a successful businessman who has been at the heart of these changes in several companies and, with case studies from companies like IBM, Unilever, BT, Michelin, Ericsson and Nokia, decided to come up with this book exploring the experience of those who have made the transition; and some who have resisted it.

It covers in-depth subjects such as strategic focus, change management, service operations, branding a service business, service sales and service marketing. It is the first major work on this subject.

Interestingly, Young details in very practical ways the reasons and methodologies for change. A must-read for those planning to do so.

Book’s Title: “And Then the Roof Caved In”

Written By: David Faber

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Selling Price: USD 29.90

Excessive greed can bring about massive devastation to mankind. Such is the moral of the story behind this book by David Faber, a CNBC anchor, co-producer and reporter behind the critically-acclaimed documentary House of Cards.

As the title itself suggests, “And Then the Roof Caved In” lays bare the truth of the credit crisis, whose defining emotion at every turn has been greed, and whose defining failure is the complicity of the United States Government in letting that greed rule the day.

Page by page, Faber explains the events of the previous seven years that had planted the seeds for the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression (1929-1939).

He begins in 2001 when the Federal Reserve embarked on an unprecedented effort to help the economy recover from the attacks of 9/11 by sending interest rates to all-time lows.

Along the way, Faber also offers close-ups at where the crisis was incubated and unleashed upon the world — Wall Street — and introduces insiders from investment banks and mortgage lenders to ratings agencies that unwittingly conspired to ensure lending standards were abandoned in the headlong rush for profits.

Faber is no stranger to the financial world by virtue of having reported on Wall Street and corporate America for over 22 years, 16 of them as foremost reporter at CNBC. Based on two years of research, this book certainly provides deep insight into the current credit crisis and offers the views of experienced professionals — from Alan Greenspan to prominent bankers and regulators — who were on the front lines.

Last but not least, this book will make a good read for anyone who wants to get into the roots of this devastating worldwide economic crisis.