Analyzing companies and new markets, identifying potential pitfalls and overlooked values, crunching numbers and meeting the local players, this title shows even the most casual investor how to view investing abroad, how to devise a global investment strategy, and the pros and cons of buying individual stocks or mutual funds.
What does it really take to succeed in business today? In A New Brand World, Scott Bedbury, who helped make Nike and Starbucks two of the most successful brands of recent years, explains this often mysterious process by setting out the principles that helped these companies become leaders in their respective industries. With illuminating anecdotes from his own in-the-trenches experiences and dozens of case studies of other winning—and failed—branding efforts (including Harley-Davidson, Guinness, The Gap, and Disney), Bedbury offers practical, battle-tested advice for keeping any business at the top of its game.
What is the purpose of a business? In what ways does a business create value and whom does it really serve? This book shows business leaders how to assess a company's performance, adopt a socially responsible approach to doing business and embark on a path of long-term growth.
From artificial hearts to pink flamingos, kevlar vests to credit cards, plastic has invaded every aspect of modern life. Surpassing wood, cotton, steel and glass in all categories (except possibly good taste), it is more than just a product of modern society: it has revolutionized our entire way of life. <em>Plastic</em> traces the obscure origins of synthetic materials to present: a century's worth of information on the fascinating inventors, speculators and designers who ushered in the plastic invasion. Among the colorful characters: John Wesley Harding, who pursued a quixotic quest to create the perfect billiard ball; and Wallace Carothers, who committed suicide just as the sexual revolution was about to be ushered in by his creation, nylon stockings. Written in the tradition of James Womack's <em>The Machine that Changed the World</em>, this is a fresh and eminently entertaining look at an ubiquitous and nearly indestructible substance, and the way it has shaped our world.