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Book
Review
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Getting
it right the second time,
Gershman, Michael, Roli Books, 2003
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Some of the top-class brands that we see in
the market today have proved right the age-old
adage that failures are the stepping stones
of success. This book speaks about a whole lot
of 47 brands that failed the market at their
first launch. And it took belief and reworking
of marketing strategy to convert the products
into winners. This book speaks about brand building
and the repositioning techniques to make a failed
brand a success. It is all about ‘re-marketing’
strategies that have turned failure into success.
Turning around a company has far less pitfalls
that revitalising a brand, the author asserts,
giving examples of some of the leading names
in the world. As per this book, success, at
times, comes easier the second time round. And
the author goes on to say that that the markets
have changed, but the marketing tools have not.
Based on the pivotal P’s, the 12 chapters
of this book discuss what went wrong with brands
and how after a lot of retrospection and market
studies these very products became money spinners
by re-positioning and adding some of the missing
P’s. |
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To
the desert and back: The story of one of the
most dramatic Business Transformations on Record, |
Mirvis, Philip H., Ayas, Karen, and, Roth, George,
Jossey-Bass, 2003
This book tells the story of merger of Unilever
Vlees Groupe Nederland (UVDN) and Van den Bergh
Nederland (VdBN), both in crisis, to form a
combined entity (later named as Unilever Bestfoods)
and the dramatic financial turnaround and business
transformation of the same. Some of the best-known
brands in the world are owned by Unilever like
Lipton, Bertolli, Knorr. SlimFast, Dove, Pond’s,
Signal, Close-up, Unox and Surf, to name just
a few. The plight of the companies, as well
as some of the brands, was at stake. The authors
of this book describe how a workforce and its
leaders created growth, energised the market
and brought new spirit to a traditional and
tired organisation. The authors had the privilege
to observe, participate and interview the leaders
as well as hundreds of staff and work with all
of them. Accolades go to Louis Willem “Tex”
Gunning who was the turnaround leader with a
philosophy to grow people to grow the business.
In conclusion the authors wonder whether change
management by performance is possible without
a compelling individual in charge. |
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The
South Asian Experience with growth,
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Williamson, John and
Ahluwalia, Isher Judge, Oxford, 2003
While some countries stagnate and stay famishing,
others grow fast and gain wealth. In this book,
the authors have edited and presented in this
volume three papers by six eminent economists
that highlight the experience of and give the
reasons for growth in the five dominating economies
of the region - India, Pakistan, Bangladesh,
Nepal and Sri Lanka. Growth being the dominant
condition for social and economic development,
the editors assert that if overcoming poverty
is of significance, then policies that favour
growth should be pursued, as it has a kinship
with the rise in income of the poor. The papers
in this book explore the role of the factors
that influence growth in South Asia in the second
half of he 20th century. This book suggests
policy measures for sustaining and speeding
up the growth of a nation, which makes this
volume a must-read for policy makers. |
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