The Marketing Century
Edited by Jeremy Kourdi, £19.99 WILEY
The Chartered Institute of Marketing is 100 years old this year, and to mark the event it has put together this compendium of think pieces under the subheading of 'How Marketing Drives Business and Shapes Society'. Contributions come from the great and the good of the marketing world and cover all the bases, from good old advertising, branding and PR to more recent phenomena such as digital marketing and sustainability.
One piece that's almost worth the price of admission on its own is that on the subject of sales and business development. Beth Rogers, principal lecturer at Portsmouth Business School, writes fascinatingly on the subject of selling. Putting it into a historical perspective, she points out the low esteem in which salespeople and sales managers have been held over much of the last century, their portrayal in popular culture tending generally to be of the Del Boy Trotter kind. "It is important to know why this happens," she writes. "When selling is done badly, it is ghastly."
On the bright side, Rogers perceives an emerging understanding and recognition of the strategic role of selling, although a recent Labour Market Information report in the UK identified a large skills gap in the sector. And she's right when she says that's an issue that needs to be addressed.
9/10
BUY IT HERE: The Marketing Century
The Facebook Effect
by David Kirkpatrick £7.99 VIRGIN BOOKS
You've used the website and you've seen the film. Now it's time to read the definitive account of the remarkable rise of Facebook. With more than 500 million users and rising (fast), the ubiquitous social network is changing the way we live our lives, and indeed the way we run our businesses. Technology writer Kirkpatrick had unprecedented access to founder Mark Zuckerberg and a host of his senior employees and the result is the most detailed study so far of the subject — and it's an effortless read.
8/10
BUY IT HERE: The Facebook Effect
In Too Deep
Stanley Reed and Alison Fitzgerald £16.99 WILEY
Last year a blowout on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 workers and led to the largest offshore oil spill in America's history. It also made a pariah of BP in the US and heralded the end of Tony Hayward's tenure as CEO. In this thoroughly researched and highly readable book, seasoned Bloomsberg reporters Reed and Fitzgerald seek to establish whether the disaster was foreseeable and indeed what lessons can be learned from it.
8/10
BUY IT HERE: In Too Deep
Good Small Business Guide 2011
£19.99 A&C BLACK
If there's a bible for small business owners, this is surely it. Positively encyclopedic in content and bursting with practical advice, this fifth edition of the Good Small Business Guide is essential reading for anyone running a small enterprise (or indeed planning to). From deciding whether to start a business to how to run it and even how to shut it down, it's all in here. The book is endorsed by the Federation for Small Businesses, whose national chairman, John Wright, has written the foreword.
9/10
BUY IT HERE: Good Small Business Guide 2011
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