5 comments about Profit Building: Cutting Costs Without Cutting People.

1. Perry Ludy's book, Profit Building examines a powerful dichotomy for business in the new millennium. It empowers commerce to make effective choices to achieve profit building by cutting costs without cutting people.

   Profit Building is also an imperative to examine conventional business models during periods of economic uncertainity. This book is precise, concise and truly on the cutting edge of contemporary issues in today's economy.

   Profit Building is a must read for savvy business management - or those who expect to join the ranks - to "get ahead of the curve" or virtually reinvent the human possibilities.

   Reviewed by former Group Publisher CBS.




2. As one CEO said to me recently, "No one who has a conscience ever wants to lay anyone off." Yet the headlines are filled with announcements that companies are making massive cuts in jobs and employees. Recently, these cuts are even coming in the fastest growing technology industries. If people don't like to fire anyone and people don't like to be fired, why is this happening?

   Mr. Ludy argues that faced with missing budgets, the orders come down to spend less. Most people do know how to fire someone, so that option gets plenty of attention. Most people do not know many other ways to cut costs or boost profits in the short term, so the alternatives get little attention.

   Our firm did a study more than a decade ago that has been quoted in dozens of books and magazine articles. We found that the stocks of companies which did layoffs usually underperformed the stocks of companies that did not. By the end of four years, the differences were enormous in favor of those who did not do layoffs.

   Many people believe that this is because people do layoffs poorly, and many people do. But it also because the effort that goes into the layoffs could be better deployed in activities that increase profits. Usually, the bulk of those who go are the most employable people. They end up working for the competition, or having to be hired back as expensive consultants. How does either alternative help, while you are paying severance benefits as an additional cost?

   Mr. Ludy points out, based on his extensive experience, that most executives, managers, and supervisors know little about profit improving.

   Much of the recent training in companies has been on how to reduce errors, and that may help cut costs in main processes. That learning is often of little help in secondary processes and in areas where the processes need to be totally replaced, revised, or outsourced. Xerox and Motorola are both famed for their quality processes, and both companies are struggling now to make a profit.

   Mr. Ludy has developed a process described in the book that helps to get people focusing on the best opportunities, and following through to implement the opportunites that they select. He also provides lists of items which many companies ignore, to help get the process started.

   Although I have not seen this process working in practice, it is similar enough to elements of successful processes I have seen that is has credibility to me.

   If you decide to pursue this process, I suggest that you can improve upon it. First, rather than just having one small team working on this, you should try to get as many people working in small teams as possible. The most successful profit-improvement program I ever saw involved over 14,000 people in suggesting ideas. Second, be sure to compare the performance you are achieving in one part of the company with what you are achieving in another part of the company in the same activity. Most large companies get their best ideas from benchmarking to their own best practices. Third, be sure to create an e-intelligence capability to get more information to everyone about how the company is performing. E-Business Intelligence is a book that can help you understand this point better.

   The three strengths of Mr. Ludy's process to me are:

   1. The emphasis on finding ways to improve profits, without hurting people.

   2. Training people about how to improve profits.

   3. Eliciting questions to locate opportunities.

   In regard to the second point, you may find it helpful to read Dr. Ram Charan's new book as well, What the CEO Wants You to Know. That book focuses on simple business concepts and metaphors to make everyone better able to relate to the issues of the enterprise.

   One of the major weaknesses of companies is that leaders are often asked to pursue tasks for which they do not have relevant information, experience, or training. Where else does your company have this issue? In my experience, two areas stand out.

   (1) Finding better solutions to repetitive problems.

   (2) Choosing directions that will lead to better results, regardless of business conditions.

   May you find more intelligent, and more humane, ways to profit!




3. Perry J. Ludy, a seasoned executive, presents his strategies for building profits and cutting costs in this well conceived book. He provides a team-based, profit-making plan that companies of any size could implement. In this simple, highly effective book, Ludy dispels myths about cutting costs and building profits. He uses examples from his professional experience to show his suggestions in action. We [...] recommend this book to managers and executives who are responsible for cost cutting and profit building.



4. If you are looking for a way to increase profits in your organization, I strongly recommend that you start by first reading Profit Building - Cutting Costs Without Cutting People. Mr. Ludy takes you step by step though the process of building an on-going profit build team for your organization. We have used it as a blueprint for our company and it has really turned our employees. The book moves fast and I found it to be an easy read.



5. 
   It is axiomic that the role of the firm is to maximise profit; some would say to maximise shareholder value. Profit can be increased by selling goods and services at a premium price that the customer is prepared to pay. However, in a highly competitive environment, prices can be depressed and the company may have to focus on cutting costs whilst maintaining an acceptable level of service and quality.
   
   With the various economic shocks that the world is subjected, one typical and favourite target for cost cutting is reducing the workforce. This short-sighted approach to cost cutting not only causes a lot of human suffering but seldom achieves the intended objective of reducing costs in the long-run. Perry Judy proposes a more progressive approach that focuses on profit improvement. The Profit-Building Process that the author proposes appears to be an effective and workable method for building profit without employing the short-sighted and often self-defeating cost-cutting through cutting people.
   
   I work in the airline industry where people cutting is a favourite strategy employed during lean times. Very often, following the drastic reduction in manning levels, service levels are reduced to such an extent that customers are turned away, further worsening the plight of the airlines concerned. The step-by-step approach of building on-going profit through motivated teams appears to be an excellent strategy for companies to employ when cost-cutting is required.
   
   The book is required reading for all managers tasked with the responsibility to cut costs and build profits in any department.

No comments about Planning Local Economic Development: Theory and Practice.

2 comments about Real World Globalization: A Reader in Business, Economics and Politics, 9th Edition.

1. This book offers critical perspectives (without the conservative bias) on the rapidly changing globalized world. An important read for anyone interested in economics, political philosophy, political science, or global justice!



2. This is a great book for anyone looking for concise, understandable literature on the economic and social issues surrounding globalization. The book is organized into specialized sections that have 6-10 articles about various topics related to the section. It is a great source for both beginners and advanced students of globalization.

1 comments about Whats Wrong with Microfinance?.

1. I initially thought this book will have negative points of view on Microfinance. In other words, what has Microfinance done apart from creating more debts but on smaller scale? Which only goes to enchain more people with loans? However, I now think, the book was a necessary read for any Microfinance enthusiast, its an eye opener, which will no doubt help Microfinance practitioners consider more factors before shouting "Hey lets do Microfinance" or when considering Microfinance as a solution to world poverty, it may be one good way for supporting small businesses, but not the solution to world poverty.
   
   The book is a good and enjoyable read and very very informative.

1 comments about Privatizing China: Socialism from Afar.

1. Privatizing China discussed a very timely topic about the development of new form of society in China. Specifically, it is about a new social, that was badly understood by some western writings. The authors, within their specific encounters with Chinese culture, articulated the process of creating new private spaces for each individuals and institutions. From new apartments, to internet cafes, professionals, land owners, restaurants, and religious forums, we saw the effects of this new found `freedom' on China and how it is evolving.
   
   As the whole society gravitates towards new forms of expression and differentiation between people, successful people built new spheres of power that at times conflicted with national interests. Hexie shequ, or harmonious communities, that Hu Jintao proposed, acted as a counter-balance between the state interests and need for zhengqi fenkai (separation of politics and businesses). The formation of yeweihui, for instance, was a case of individuals, within their personal sphere of influence, experimentally coming together to pursuit a common interest. In China, all these were part of the great experiment. Within each context, we can see the cultured forms of negotiation at dining tables and with the use of guanxi, and how these dances around formal rules otherwise so rigid in western settings. Not to forget that all these changes were built on the foundation of the old socialist. While western ethos such as privatization can give China a headstart, we can see evidence from the book of a new emerging social.
   
   Overall, recommended reading for all who are interested more in depth, and at the same time, wide ranging perspectives on the social dynamics of Chinese economic development.

3 comments about The Analysis of Household Surveys: A Microeconomic Approach to Development Policy (World Bank).

1. This is an excelent manual for anyone interested in studying consumption or welfare in developing countries. Profesor Deaton is certainly one of the experts in the field. His book is well written and flows easily from theory to practice. Really enjoy it !



2. It is a great book, and I would have not canceled the order if you would have shipped as your website said it would.



3. This book is a masterpiece. In practice, it deserves to become the "Holy Bible" of Microeconometrics applied to (but not only to) Development Economics. It is beautifully written by an amazingly knowledgeble economist, who has actually worked for years (and still does) on most of the issues this book deals with. It is no easy reading, and it would be worth spending a day for every single page, but it's excellent even if you don't want to go through the details, and you just need an intuition about the issues covered. The first chapter introduces the reader to many important aspects of the contruction and use of household surveys. The second chapter masterfully reviews many concepts of applied econometrics. Chapter 3 is about poverty and inequality measurement. Chapter 4 is about "Nutrition, children, and intrahousehold allocation", Chapter 5 deals with prices and tax reforms, and Chapter 6 with saving and consumption smoothing. The book also contains many useful Stata codes the author wrote and used for his many papers. Again, this is not a trivial reading, but if you are interested in applied economics you will find reading this book extremely rewarding, and often almost entertaining, because Deaton is one of the very few economists around able to write about technical stuff in a brilliant and intuitive way.

5 comments about How to Get the Financing for Your New Small Business: Innovative Solutions from the Experts Who Do It Every Day.

1. Poor management may be a leading cause of small business demise, but under-funding affects many more start-ups and determines success or failure: that's why obtaining a copy of Sharon Fullen's How To Get The Financing For Your New Small Business: Innovative Solutions From The Experts Who Do It Every Day is so important. From understanding how traditional financing methods work and alternative options to the all-important business plan, valuation techniques and more, you won't find many competitors offering the depth and focus here, which even delves into angel investors, IPOs, and venture capital.



2. "How to Get the Financing for Your New Small Business" is an excellent resource for entrepreneurs who are serious about starting a new business. One of the biggest stumbling blocks is obtaining financing to begin the process. This book not only talks about traditional financing through a bank, but also offers several more creative methods of raising money to start your small business.
   The author stresses the importance of having a well written, complete business plan. She gives helpful tips on how to make your business plan stand out and give you the best financing possible. The author also offers hints on how to dress and how to act when presenting your business plan to financiers.
   The book also includes a chapter that features resources offering business plan templates, grants and addresses for specific financier groups in each state.
   This book would be a great asset for anyone considering starting a small business. The tips and hints scattered throughout the book will give the reader an advantage over other applicants, maximizing financing possibilities.



3. Here is a resource written to provide the New Small Business owner the tools necessary to understand the process entailed in securing the lifeblood of every new small business, money. This book is a must-have for every new small business owner and a should have for every one involved in owing a business whether new, on going, large or small. Regardless of where you are in the business development stage, opening, growing, turn-around or change management, this book by Sharon Fullen does it all. By providing the simple progressive understanding to creating image, knowing and understanding your image, communicating that image, the savvy owner/manager can develop a message that is irresistible.
   Truly, this book provides the information, processes and options available to secure the needed funding. The author guides you through the processes of choosing options of financing by explaining each and providing reasoning for choosing one or more methods. Venture capital, private loans, factoring, debt-financing, grants, small business loans, equity financing, all options are covered. From the business plan to the loan documents, this book guides you there.



4. This books is comprehensive, smart and powerful. I'd highly recommend it to anyone else. I'd also recommend a commercial video to help you apply for commercial credit on-line. These two tools together can help you get credit in less than 90 days.
   
   Link:
   Business Credit Building & Grant Information Video



5. This book walks you through the different types of financing and how to go about securing that financing for your small business. It also includes resources about how to set up your financial statements and a business plan.
   
   I wanted to start my own business. I knew what I wanted it to be and I knew how I wanted it all to lay out, but I didn't know how I was going to finance this thing. Actually, I didn't know much about financing at all. This book changed that for me and my business.
   
   First off it explained what financing entails and the types of financing that are traditionally available. This worked well for me because I wasn't sure where to even start. It walked me through making a business plan too. This part helped me tremendously because I didn't feel like I was making an progress in this area and I knew that many financing options rely heavily on a business plan.
   
   I found out how to set up my financial statements with the information in this book. That was also an important part for me because I wasn't sure what I would need as far accounting records.
   
   It also showed me alternative forms of financing. Things I had never even heard of before like investor angels, SBA financing and IPO's. These things are also very important to a small business and it's financing. Because I didn't have a clue about these types of financing I was grateful for the wonderful references in this book. It made my life much easier when it came to finding and securing the money needed to get my business up and running.
   
   With all the information and options laid out in this book you begin to feel like you can accomplish this financing stuff with ease. It builds your confidence and keeps you focused on making the right choices for the business. This book covers all the basics of securing your financing and making your small business a success from the very beginning.
   Achieving Objectives Made Easy! Practical goal setting tools & proven time management techniques

5 comments about Seven Fat Years.

1. Quote from Paul Krugman in the NY Times:

   Here's how tax-cut advocates look at it: after a deep slump between 1979 and 1982, the U.S. economy began growing rapidly. Between 1982 and 1989 (the first year of the first George Bush's presidency), the economy grew at an average annual rate of 4.2 percent. That's a lot better than the growth rate of the economy in the late 1970's, and supply-siders claim that these ''Seven Fat Years'' (the title of a book by Robert L. Bartley, the longtime editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page) prove the success of Reagan's 1981 tax cut.

   But skeptics say that rapid growth after 1982 proves nothing: a severe recession is usually followed by a period of fast growth, as unemployed workers and factories are brought back on line. The test of tax cuts as a spur to economic growth is whether they produced more than an ordinary business cycle recovery. Once the economy was back to full employment, was it bigger than you would otherwise have expected? And there Reagan fails the test: between 1979, when the big slump began, and 1989, when the economy finally achieved more or less full employment again, the growth rate was 3 percent, the same as the growth rate between the two previous business cycle peaks in 1973 and 1979. Or to put it another way, by the late 1980's the U.S. economy was about where you would have expected it to be, given the trend in the 1970's. Nothing in the data suggests a supply-side revolution




2. Robert L. Bartley must have been living on a different planet(during the 1980's) with this book. OR he is really just trying, sincerely, to sell a book with complete (deceptions). We hope(for our mental sake that he was living on a different planet) and NOT being a hypocrite in (relaying) inaccurate data/events by trying to pull the wool over our economic eyebrows with this book of hyper lies or exaggerations.

   The Reagan first term in office started with lies!. His early 1981 Tax breaks, were masked by tax increases(state and local taxes rose). He also claimed that he would be responsive and
   responsible for sound fiscal budgetary accounting. His entire term in office was scarred by ballooning federal budget deficits.

   Because of his overwhelming budget cuts(he sold the American people in early 1980 on STARVING late 1970's hyper inflation by cutting the budget and Federal Reserve monetary supply so severly, too severly) and because of the real tax breaks (and) tax increases in the early 1980's and because of left over inflationary pressures from the Carter and Nixon years,therefore THE FIRST half of the first term of Reagan's years were marked by an early (1980's technical recession, just look at the GDP figures for that period). And every so called heavy weight media and non media conservative in this country allowed this lie of 7 fat positive growth years to continue.

   The battle cry at the end of Reagan's first term in office fiscally proves my point here. With Reagan's NOW famous "stay the course". He and his campaign fake strategists were ACTUALLY begging us good American's to stay the economic course for his second term. And why?. Because his supply side economic policies of his first term WERE NOT WORKING for positive economic growth. Yes we were in a Contraction or recession during (NEARLY) the entire first half of this so called "7 Fat Years". It was NOT until the mid 80's that economic growth took hold and continued to late 1989(and this was false growth based on government debt/spending and consumer debt/fake borrowing).You are a real jokester, Mr. Robert L. Bartley author of this book. You should have titled this book "4 or 5 Fat Years Based on False Growth or Debt".

   Also to throw voodoo economics on top of BAD economics, we as a Nation were treated to the S AND L mess. Co-authored in part by then Vice President George Bush Sr's son in Colorado. That cost us big(in the financial pocket books Mr.and Mrs. America). We are still paying for this calamity in the form of left over 80's now new millenium insurance premiums and fees from our wonderful consumer based banks.

   And to top this whole terror Reagan economics off, coupled with too lazy "deregulations" we fell back into a technical recession at the end of his term(1989). NOT because of Bush Sr's lack of his own creative supply side economics. But because of the TOTALLY faulty beginning pen-menship of Reagan economics to begin with(all debt and false/fake economics all the time).

   The ONLY really UNIQUE portrait of Reagan economics is: Reagan is one of the few, IF not only American President ever to be partially responsible for creating a technical recession(1981-1983)and fully responsible for 1989-1992 technical recession. How about that as a factorial for you history making maniacs?.

   Care to debate it further? Contact me,
   www.frankievradioshow.com
   at Email:media19582003@yahoo.com
   Phone 609-835-0984




3. The problem with most contemporary books about economics (or
   politics or the stock market) is that it becomes obvious a few
   years later that the causes and effects perceived at the time
   are not borne out by subsequent events. This book definitely
   suffers from this malady. In short, it's an amusing one-sided
   supply sider fantasy. Gee whiz, how come the economy boomed under
   Clinton with all his gigantic tax increases? Basically supply
   side economics is just another smokescreen offered by the haves
   to the have-nots. Supply siders are the same people who believe
   in Amway and chain letters as a means of getting rich.



4. Robert Bartley, former editor of the Wall Street Journal (may he rest in peace), has written one of the best accounts of the 1980s economic policies, explaining what led to the economic growth, and what can be done to re-create these policies once again.

   Many people who claim to oppose supply-side economics never explain how the theory works. The notion that Reagan's tax cuts were mere "trickle down" economics is buttressed by the fact that no one claims that the money will "trickle down." That is not how the economic philosophy works in theory or in practice. Instead, the theory considers high taxes to be another example in which a high cost placed on a product or service is likely to result in fewer interested buyers. Similarly, high marginal tax rates are more likely to stiffle growth since the reward for working additional hours is diminished. Those with small businesses, or those who invest, may decide that the extra work will not translate into higher returns, and thus may produce less. That is not good for the economy because this stiffles economic growth, and is a recipe for stagnation, which is exactly what happened in the 1970s. So reduce taxes to create more growth. The marginal rate fell from 70% to 28% during Reagan's tenure.

   The other part of Reagan's program was to have a tigheter monetary policy. By tightening the dollar, it would reduce inflation. Thus, tighten the dollar, reduce inflation, and reduce taxes, and create growth. That is exactly what happened. During Reagan's tenure, inflation went down and growth went up. THIS IS AN INDISPUTABLE FACT.

   The left does not like this theory because it contradicts the notion that government has an effect in creating economic growth.

   But no matter what the liberals want to think, the young economist who went to Eureka College -- Ronald Reagan -- outsmarted all of them. His plan worked, while Jimmy Carter, the man who thought he knew everything, was an abyssmal failure.

   Michael Gordon




5. What's remarkable is how much gall and bravado it takes to defend a failed economic perspective AFTER it's been tested and proven wrong. Bartley, of course, was one of the chief proponents of "supply-side" economics, an extreme right-wing attitude toward economic policy that had little to do with solid economics, or indeed economic theory at all, so much as an attitude toward government and capitalism.
   
   Even Milton Freidman, who had many valid initial points about the constraints on growth resulting from excessive taxes and over-regulation, or the delayed effects of federal monetary policy, never went this far... and non-economists like Bartley and Laffer were pretty much alone in their claims about the "magic of the marketplace" generating increased revenues by lowering taxes.
   
   The sad thing is that, even though serious economists never bought into or supported the "supply side" concept, it didn't really matter to cranks like Bartley: their purpose was superficial populism and public-opinion essays to drum up right-wing support. And, of course, that resulted in the great Reagan-era "experiment"--which was (let's not forget) an unqualified failure by any measure.
   
   Bartley would like to pretend otherwise--understandably, since he was largely responsible for this era of economic catastrophe. But to claim with a straight face that the supply-side policies of the 80s resulted in faster growth is simply ludicrous. Supply-side tax cuts generated a hideous and unprecedented peacetime deficit, a loss of federal revenues, a widened gap between rich and poor, and _slower_ growth. These are indisputable facts. If anyone had suggested this experiment with a full awarenss of the inevitable consequences for our society, they would be condemned as inhumane sociopaths.
   
   But like any crackpot, Bartley isn't impressed with mere facts. You can always tell a far-right crackpot by their willingness to ignore not only the knowledge of those who've actually made their careers studying the field (i.e., "that darn ol' academia"), but also the real-world results of their tested and failed policies.
   
   Supply-side was a disastrously bad idea with no intellectual foundation (not even among monetarists of the Friedman/Chicago school). It proved to be a complete failure. That alone should be enough to ensure that no one ever listens to Bartley again, let alone takes seriously the idea that these policies should be tried again.
   
   But like the Evil Dead, the old supply-side notions of "tax cuts for growth" have never died in the minds of the frenetic faithful at the Wall Street Journal. So we're still dealing with this idiocy today, long after a trial run should have discredited this foolishness once and for all.

3 comments about Capitalism as if the World Matters.

1. Jonathan Porritt's CAPITALISM AS IF THE WORLD MATTERS provides college-level readers with a fine survey of how capitalism at its foundations may be a part of the environmental problem as a whole. Many time commercial activities themselves lend to eroding environments: it's up to both business and government to work hand in hand to build a form of capitalism and free market solutions which lend towards sustainability rather than away from it - and to consider the chapters in CAPITALISM AS IF THE WORLD MATTERS, which offers commentary and guideposts for building different capital resources.



2. Activist Jonathon Porritt offers the startling proposal that capitalism may provide the best solution to poverty and global environmental degradation, though his solution requires reshaping capitalism. Porritt is aware that conventional environmental activists, greens and political academics favor socialism more than capitalism. However, he takes them to task for ignoring the power and potential of such capitalist mechanisms as markets and property rights and for their naïveté in expecting voters or political leaders to embrace their dismal vision of environmental responsibility as asceticism. We find his book more suggestive than programmatic. It meanders like a river and is sometimes directionless. The author makes his passions apparent, including anti-Americanism and scathing criticism of certain forms of Christianity. Though Porritt does not offer a detailed description of his vision or the practical steps needed to realize it, he does suggest a path toward a utopian ideal; for that hope, he deserves appropriate attention.



3. The author goes to great lengths to demonstrate that, when natural capital is included in the calculation, capitalism can be made docile. Capitalists are disinclined to follow this more ethical course without guns pressed to their temples, however. Corporations are mandated by Supreme Court decisions to put return on investment before any other consideration, meaning they are prohibited from acting ethically if profits might be compromised. This sociopathic perspective means corporations must "externalize" whatever costs they can, environmental costs being the easiest. "Free market democracy" (as used by neocons) means we must eat the soot and drink the effluent of industry.

No comments about Law & Capitalism: What Corporate Crises Reveal about Legal Systems and Economic Development around the World.