Get New Releases Audiobooks in Business, Commerce & Economy

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Title: Doing Business in China

Subtitle: How to Profit in the World's Fastest Growing Market

Author: Ted Plafker

Narrator: Ted Plafker

Format: Abridged

Length: 3 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-13-07

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 28 votes

Genres: Business, Commerce & Economy

Publisher's Summary:

Now, respected business journalist Ted Plafker has written a fully detailed, yet user-friendly, handbook on how individuals and companies can succeed in this challenging and often confusing environment. Sections include: "Pinpointing the Top Emerging Markets", "Laws, Rules and Regulations", "Understanding Cultural Differences", and "Sales and Marketing".

Members Reviews:

Kind of dull and boring for the first half of the book

Kind of dull and boring for the first half of the book, but get past that and everything becomes very interesting and would be great advice to follow

Good read on the basics of doing business in China

Fairly basic information on business in China, including legal business structures, cultural tips, how to use guanxi, etc. A good book for someone who has never worked and/or traveled to China. China CEO and One Billion Customers are also good with more in depth real-world examples of the challenges of doing business in China.

A good read

A good read for anyone looking to get a brief informal overview of challenges facing international relations with China. Don't just read the book to get the picture, go visit.

Four Stars

Gives some good information about what to expect when living and working in China.

Five Stars

Great product and quick delivery.

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Title: The Elephant and the Dragon

Subtitle: The Rise of India and China, and What It Means for All of Us

Author: Robyn Meredith

Narrator: Laural Merlington

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-06-07

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 318 votes

Genres: Business, Commerce & Economy

Publisher's Summary:

Not since the United States rose to prominence a century ago have we seen such tectonic shifts in global power; but India and China are vastly different nations, with opposing economic and political strategies - strategies we must understand in order to survive in the new global economy.

The Elephant and the Dragon explains how these two Asian nations, each with more than a billion people, have spurred a new "gold rush", and what this will mean for the rest of the world.

Critic Reviews:

"Robyn Meredith's systematic analysis fills the gap in a spirited, readable manner." (Mike Wallace, 60 Minutes)

"An exciting and journalistic account of one of the great economic stories of our time: the transformation of China and India." (Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize winning economist)

Members Reviews:

Confused and not scholarly

The problem with Robyn Meredith's book is that she cannot make up her mind. Alternately a fundamentalist free-trader and then demanding more government regulation, she fails to have more than an ad hoc understanding of China and India. Perhaps this because she has no clear understanding of either countries history. Content with caricatures, she never really tries to understand the broad sweep of either of these countries 3000+ history or culture.

The other thing the alert reader will find distressing is her easy switching between anecdote and statistics and real numbers. The combination of which appears to make an argument, but in reality actually hides the truth rather than presents it. When Meredith states that "tens of millions of Chinese have been lifted out of poverty" that sounds impressive until one realizes that such a number would still leave more than 90% of the country impoverished. By failing to stick with more consistent statistical percentages, Meredith can create an illusion of greater prosperity than is really merited.

Certainly, this is a better introduction to the issues of Globalization than Tom Friedman's rightfully excoriated work and yet it suffers from some of the same problems of substituting isolated anecdotes for real data. It is by no means a scholarly book and should be taken as a business reporters reflections rather than a real contribution to understanding the economics of gloablization.

A word also about the audiobook for audible listeners. The narrator here has a mechanical voice that I was convinced was computer generated for quite a while. Her lifeless reading makes the book that much more difficult to take. When combined with the myriad flaws of the text itself I would give this book a pass. I am still looking for a good book on globalization on audible. If I find one I will update this review.

Readable, even enjoyable, macroeconomics

This is an excellent synopsis of the emerging Asian economies of China and India presaging the implications of their economic growth and "coming of age" as global powers.

The author does a wonderful job of combining economic statistics with the stories of leaders and individuals that illustrate the meaning of the raw numbers. Economics may be the "dismal science," but Robyn Meredith makes it quite readable, even enjoyable.

Some of author's own political opinions color the "hard facts" contained in this book - which would be fine if clearly written as such.

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Title: The Coming China Wars

Subtitle: Where They Will Be Fought and How They Can Be Won

Author: Peter Navarro

Narrator: Stow Lovejoy

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-23-06

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 256 votes

Genres: Business, Commerce & Economy

Publisher's Summary:

In The Coming China Wars, best-selling author Peter Navarro previews all these potential conflicts, and reveals the urgent, radical decisions that must be made to avoid catastrophe. You'll learn how China's thirst for oil is driving nuclear proliferation in Iran, genocide in the Sudan, even Japan's remilitarization. You'll discover China's shocking role in the drug trade and how its reborn flesh trade may help trigger tomorrow's worst AIDS crisis.

Navarro also reveals how China has become the world's most ruthless imperialist; how it is promoting global environmental disaster; and, perhaps most terrifying of all, how this nuclear superpower and pirate nation may be spiraling toward internal chaos.

The threat is real. We all must come to understand it and then act! Start here and now by arming yourself with the information and insights of The Coming China Wars.

Editorial Reviews:

The narration, by the wonderfully named Stow Lovejoy, is delivered in a business-minded, mid-toned American voice that you can listen to for hours on end without pain. It is very easy with a book where myriad facts are dealt out to get lost and confused, necessitating lots of rewinding to pick up the thread. I am happy to report that this does not happen here, in spite of the heavyweight subject matter. Mr. Navarro presents his evidence and arguments simply, and has divided the book into chapters that concentrate on one specific area at a time.

I listened to the whole book in one sitting; such was the power of both content and narrator. I would recommend this book to everyone; not just those interested in world politics and economics, but also to those who think that their country has nothing to fear from the awakening dragon...

--Brad Jackson, UK

Members Reviews:

Good Narration, Book Flawed

The narration on this book is very good. however, the book itself does have some significant flaws. For example, at one point in the book the author runs on about a projected aids epidemic in China due to past faulty blood handling procedures. He paints this as a great catastrophe even leading perhaps to large scale civil unrest, which he then says could involve as many as a projected 50 million people infected. The problem though is that you are talking about 50 million out of a population of over 1.2 billion. So, this hardly seems like the end of Chinese civilization. At another point in the book the author complains about Chinese chemicals ending up in drug labs across Europe. But here the problem is that the author does not clearly ever cite what he bases his conclusions on. I do like the part where the author digresses about unfair labor/trade practices, semi-slave labor conditions in China, and Communist Party/entrepenerial corruption. But, why did the author not write the book just about these topics? He easily could have filled volumes on this alone. The author attempted to cover way too much ground and way too sparsely. The problem is that his book comes across just as a bunch of rants and China bashing, instead of a serious analysis.

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Title: The Long Tail

Author: Chris Anderson

Narrator: Christopher Nissley

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-20-06

Publisher: Random House AudioBooks

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 37 votes

Genres: Business, Commerce & Economy

Publisher's Summary:

Chris Anderson first explored the Long Tail in an article in Wired magazine that has become one of the most influential business essays of our time. Now he takes a closer look at the new economics of the Internet age, showing where business is going and exploring the huge opportunities that exist: for new producers, new e-tailers, and new tastemakers. He demonstrates how long-tail economics apply to industries ranging from the toy business to advertising to kitchen appliances. He sets down the rules for operating in a long-tail economy. And he provides a glimpse of a future that's already arriving.

Unabridged and featuring a special conversation with the author.

Critic Reviews:

"Anderson's insights with the long tail influence Google's strategic thinking in a profound way." (Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google)

"A terrifically impressive analysis. It captured the forces underlying this business perfectly." (Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon)

"Christopher Nissley's reading style fits the content; he's clipped and staccato, like Anderson's writing." (AudioFile)

Members Reviews:

It is true: "Sh*t happens!" (frequently)

What made the experience of listening to The Long Tail the most enjoyable?

The listening experience was good.

What does Christopher Nissley bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you just read the book?

Nissley kept me focussed and did not allow to dose off.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The book strengthened what was already obvious for daily experience.

Any additional comments?

I recommend the book strongly to policy makers, corporate boards and project managers alike.

Change your focus on your business approach!!

REally interesting approach to a different way of business. In a way it gives some clues on how to address business in the internet era... It focuses a bit too much on Google (the author seems fascinated at some point in time) but it helps to open your mind to new ways of thinking.

In some chapters, it seemed aligned and complimentary to the "Blue Ocean Strategy"

An important book

This is a really important read for anyone in or thinking about business in the 21st century. The key points here are put across very clearly: the internet allows businesses to carry a virtually unlimited range of things and supply them to a virtually unlimited range of niche markets.

That the future belongs to the 'aggregators' (the Amazons carrying their unlimited stock) and the 'connectors' (the Googles connecting demand with supply) is likely. However, for my money, Anderson makes a fundamental mistake. He includes the producer as the third group to benefit from the 'long tail'. In the post 'hit' world that Anderson proposes, the new, democratised, individual producer will benefit. The problem is, he won't - and the examples that Anderson cites of creative individuals exploiting the 'long tail' are everything but. They are, in fact, examples of individuals who have used viral and guerrilla tactics to work their way into, guess what? The mainstream. In order to, guess what? Sell lots of albums or win mainstream TV air-time. In short, to achieve 'hit' status.

This for me is the weakness of this book.

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Title: The Search

Subtitle: How Google & Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business & Transformed Our Culture

Author: John Battelle

Narrator: John Battelle

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-21-05

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 767 votes

Genres: Business, Commerce & Economy

Publisher's Summary:

Jumping into the game long after Yahoo, Alta Vista, Excite, Lycos, and other pioneers, Google offered a radical new approach to search, redefined the idea of viral marketing, survived the dotcom crash, and pulled off the largest and most talked about initial public offering in the history of Silicon Valley.

But The Search offers much more than the inside story of Google's triumph. It's also a big-picture book about the past, present, and future of search technology, and the enormous impact it is starting to have on marketing, media, pop culture, dating, job hunting, international law, civil liberties, and just about every other sphere of human interest.

More than any of its rivals, Google has become the gateway to instant knowledge. Hundreds of millions of people use it to satisfy their wants, needs, fears, and obsessions, creating an enormous artifact that Battelle calls "the Database of Intentions". Combined with the databases of thousands of other search-driven businesses, large and small, it all adds up to a goldmine of information that powerful organizations (including the government) will want to get their hands on.

No one is better qualified to explain this entire phenomenon than Battelle, who co-founded Wired and founded The Industry Standard. Perhaps more than any other journalist, he has devoted his career to finding the holy grail of technology. And he has finally found it in search.

For anyone who wants to understand how Google really succeeded, The Search is an eye-opening and indispensable read.

Critic Reviews:

"This is an excellent, thought-provoking book." (Booklist)

"John Battelle has written a brilliant business book....All searchers should read it." (Walter Isaacson)

"This book ought to be called The Answer. As usual, John Battelle delivers insightful, thought-provoking, and essential reading." (Seth Godin)

"The book is a deeply researched and nimbly reported look at how search has defined the Internet and how it will continue to be a tremendous reflection of culture." (Publishers Weekly)

Members Reviews:

Trevor Goss

Great book about search in general and google in particular. The book also goes through yahoo, ask, and several other search engines in such a way that gives the reader the appropriate background to understand how Google came about and why it was so revolutionary. The author does a nice job of explaining several technical issues (e.g. Google's page rank algorithm) in such a way that non-technical people can understand.

If you had to pick one book to read to understand the basis for the modern interenet, I think this would be a good choice. I'm in the process of writing the business plan for my company prior to our beta launch and reading/listening to this book caused me to see our product in somewhat of a different light. Translation: it's a powerful and thought provoking book that moves well.

The intro is a little bit slow, but once you get through that part, the rest moves along at rapid pace. I was also impressed that this book told several stories that I'd not heard mentioned in other books. Often times, authors of popular topics or companies will all tell the same legendary tales of the companies greatness.

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Title: Confronting Reality

Subtitle: Doing What Matters to Get Things Right

Author: Larry Bossidy, Ram Charan

Narrator: Kevin Gray

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-20-04

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 117 votes

Genres: Business, Commerce & Economy

Publisher's Summary:

The fundamentals of how a business makes money are being rapidly and permanently altered by sweeping structural changes. With their extraordinary depth and breadth of experience, Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan are the ideal guides so you can get things right in this challenging, radically changed world. They start by showing you how to understand the most fundamental element of any business: whether you can realistically make the money you hope to in the game you're playing.

Bossidy and Charan show how to use the business model to develop a robust, reality-based process for thinking about the specifics of your business in a holistic way. They show how to tie together the financial targets you must meet, the external realities you face, and internal activities such as strategy development, operating tactics, and selection and development of people.

Through the lens of the business model, as well as the skillful use of initiatives and development of people with the right leadership characteristics, you'll see how Robert Nardelli at Home Depot, Michael Wisbrun at KLM, Joseph Tucci at EMC, and John Chambers at Cisco confronted reality. Whether they faced crisis or opportunity, all made the right kinds of changes through a combination of business savvy and business model thinking.

Members Reviews:

On Point

As a new manager with aspirations of upward mobility, I found this book to be both enlightening and encouraging. I am a realist at heart and this book points out the areas that I should be looking at to ensure my business succeeds over the long term. I think its a good read.

Clarity that redefines your vision

I was surprisingly pleased with this book. It was very clearly written with a clear set of examples of companies that did and didn't deal with reality.

My management team has now listened to the book and we are revising our company objectives as a result There were realities that we were not bringing to the surface that this book has shed light on. It has help solidified our management team, redefined how we set goals, and made our analysis of problems much clearer.

Well worth the time to read/listen to.

Changed my thinking

THis book changed the way I thought about my business. It is a little repetitive and you really need some visuals as it talks about a business process and plan and a schematic would have helped understanding and subsequent implementation. Otherwise was worth listenting to.

Bossidy and Charan do it again

This book gets right to it. Businesses often fail because they fail to look at reality, either because they do not use enough resources to determine their outside realities, or they cannot confront their internal realities, or both. When confronted, reality is a challenge that can be dealt with. With well organized thought and concise examples, this book is a must for the struggling company, leader, manager, or consultant.

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Title: Dot.Bomb

Author: J. David Kuo

Narrator: J. David Kuo

Format: Abridged

Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-26-01

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 53 votes

Genres: Business, Commerce & Economy

Publisher's Summary:

Dot.Bomb is the amazing story of the Internet gold rush as it could only be told by an insider. David Kuo saw it all: the sky's-the-limit optimism, the hundreds of millions of dollars spent in a giddy grab for eyeballs and market share, the investors slavering to be on the inside, the belief that there really were new rules. He also saw what happened when gravity reasserted itself, Wall Street demanded results, and flaws and failures that had been glossed over suddenly loomed huge. In the blink of an eye, Value America crashed back to earth, filed for bankruptcy, and was gone.

David Kuo's account of his days and nights at Value America captures with the intensity of a great novel the people who made this such a powerful experience with their incredibly hard work, their genuine belief, and their humor. Just as vividly it portrays their unbridled greed, wretched excesses, ego-driven blunders, and unmitigated power grabbing.

Critic Reviews:

"This is a great story of behind-the-scenes action in the Internet gold rush." (AudioFile)

Members Reviews:

A look at Net Mania at its worst

As a former long-time resident of Charlottesville, I'm all too familiar with the rise & fall of the area's only billion+ $ net venture. So it was very interesting to get an insider's look at Value America through David Kuo's eyes.

First and foremost, this is a case study of a fast-moving dot.com with a "flexible" business plan. Value America was heralded for its inventory-less business plan, but eventually the major flaws in the model were revealed, especially on the B2C side. This book provides mostly cautionary tales. It describes the infighting and power struggles among the executives. It details the inability of the CEO to rein in the founder Craig Winn, the "visionary" promise-now/deliver-later salesman. And it touches on the operational failures that led to thousands of delayed orders and a general technology break down. Because Kuo was in PR and bus dev, we don't get an in-depth look at the information technology infrastructure, supposedly the crown-jewel of this company's assets. Instead we see the excessive and sometimes irresponsible deal-making that occured with little executive knowledge of the technological requirements.

It is an entertaining book that depicts how a company can blow through hundreds of millions of dollars that result in little salvageable value. Like the "startup.com" movie, dot.bomb also shows the emotional fallout at the executive level.

Abridged

I read this book years ago and loved it as a time capsule of the dot.com era - but unfortunately this isn't the full story, it's an abridged version of the book that leaves out countless details that made the story so absurd. Hopefully this will get a full and proper unabridged version one day.

With that said this abridged version is still pretty good and gives you a general overview and some detail here and there. It does seem to skip around a lot but you get all the basics. As a fairly quick read this is enjoyable.

The reader is the author and he does a professional job.

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Title: World War 3.0

Subtitle: Microsoft and Its Enemies

Author: Ken Auletta

Narrator: Robert O'Keefe

Format: Abridged

Length: 6 hrs

Language: English

Release date: 01-15-01

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 56 votes

Genres: Business, Commerce & Economy

Publisher's Summary:

No one has been more powerful or felt more fear or reacted more violently than Bill Gates and Microsoft. Afraid that any number of competitors might outflank it - whether Netscape or Sony or AOL Time Warner or Sun or AT&T or Linux-based companies that champion the open-source movement or some college student hacking in his dorm room - Microsoft has waged holy war on all foes, leveraging its imposing strengths.

In World War 3.0, Ken Auletta chronicles this fierce conflict from the vantage of its most important theater of operations: the devastating second front opened up against Bill Gates' empire by the United States government. With his superb gifts and extraordinary access to all the principal parties, Ken Auletta crafts this landmark confrontation into a tight character- and incident-filled courtroom drama featuring the best legal minds of our time. And with the wisdom gleaned from covering the converging media, software, and communications industries for The New Yorker for the better part of a decade, Auletta uses this pivotal battle to shape a magisterial reckoning with the larger war and the agendas, personalities, and prospects of its many combatants.

Critic Reviews:

"A highly compelling account of the extraordinary trial that challenged the invincibility of the world's most powerful corporation. Auletta reveals the personalities behind the headlines and brings into sharp focus the very human qualities that have made Microsoft so powerful - and so vulnerable." - Kim Polese, chairman and chief strategy officer, Marimba, Inc.

Members Reviews:

Biased and boring

Very one-sided (anti-Microsoft) - I guess if you're a Microsoft-hater you'll probably like it, but otherwise skip it.

Dry

If you want some court transcripts read to you, then listen to this book. If you are looking for color, insight, or just a good listen -avoid this one.

Somewhat interesting, terrible narrator

This book is a somewhat interesting insight into legal issues that Microsoft faced in the mid-to-late 90s. The narrator is the worst I've heard. He sounds like a boring drone and sometimes reminded me of a synthetic computer voice. Don't waste your money or credits, and skip this one.

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Title: From Start-Up to Success in Internet Years

Author: Deborah Triant

Narrator: Deborah Triant

Format: Original Recording

Length: 47 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-17-99

Publisher: Stanford Audio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Business, Commerce & Economy

Publisher's Summary:

Building your business presence online is no longer a luxury; it is a necessity. Deborah Triant, CEO and President of Check Point Software Technologies, explores how the Internet affects the growth of companies and what success really means in this era of the Internet. In detailing a roadmap to success, she offers ideas on how to thrive despite significantly shortened company life cycles and create a global strategy to include a world that is one click away from your front door.

(P) and ©1998 Stanford Alumni Association

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Title: Intellectual Property in the Information Age

Author: Roberta Katz, PhD

Narrator: Roberta Katz, PhD

Format: Original Recording

Length: 57 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-17-99

Publisher: Stanford Audio

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: Business, Commerce & Economy

Publisher's Summary:

Technological changes associated with the Information Age have forced us to revise our traditional methods of doing business. From an intellectual property standpoint, some of these changes have been beneficial - but some have been problematic. Our courts and legislative bodies must grapple with current and anticipated technologies in order to protect intellectual property in today's - and tomorrow's - arena. Roberta Katz, Senior Vice President, Secretary, and General Counsel at Netscape, explains the ways in which law has responded to cultural change and outlines the current state of these various developments as they continue to rise in importance.

Members Reviews:

Not cutting edge

What disappointed you about Intellectual Property in the Information Age?

My project teams and I have to tackle IP issues every day, so I thought an academic primer on IP rights would be helpful. I was disappointed. The speaker has a very narrow and terribly incorrect view of his business clients. He says the only people who deal with IP are attorneys wearing green shades huddled by themselves in a corner of the law department. I guess he never gets out of his office much. It doesnt get any better. The content is just not practical for people who actually have to work or want to know more about dealing with IP rights.

What didnt you like about the narrators performance?

He was out of touch with the business world.

a little outdated

also did not feel the speaker was quite as good as the other Stanford professor I heard on this subject.