Automata examines how AI and advanced robotics are rapidly surpassing human abilities in fields once thought uniquely ours – from playing chess to discovering new antibiotics to fraud detection. The question is no longer if machines will replace workers, but how we can stay relevant in a world shaped by intelligent automation. This book explores the profound transformation ahead, drawing on real-world trends and technologies already beginning to reshape our lives.With most ...

How do leading retailers create value for their customers? They craft unique experiences at compelling prices. This book introduces a new and effective way to manage those experiences based on three critical factors – environment, selection, and engagement (ESE) – that separate successful retailers from those that fail and are forgotten.The ESE framework is derived from the academic literature on retail management and consumer marketing, and supplemented by hundreds of hours of int...

The American economy is profoundly dependent on the success of its retailers and the strength of its consumer spending. Yet, how do leading retailers create value for their customers?To a large extent this has been accomplished by streamlining operations and a decades-long focus on cost cutting and price competitiveness. Today, retailers realize that they need to discover new ways to differentiate themselves and attract consumer spending. The American Retail Value Proposition

Dylan’s summer just got more exciting. Can he catch the mail thief before they strike again?Join 8-year-old Dylan, his talkative little sister, and his adorable dog as they kick off a summer they’ll never forget. Armed with his detective kit, Dylan is ready to solve any crimes in the neighborhood. All he needs is a case to get started. Luckily for Dylan, his neighbor has realized that her mail is missing! Can Dylan and his trusty sidekicks collect the clues and sol...

Dylan and Emily are back in book #2 of this series. This time, someone stole the bases from the baseball field. Can they track down the culprit in time for practice?Dylan and his little sister, Emily, don’t go anywhere without Dylan’s detective kit. Their trusty dog, Theodore, is always by their sides, ready to lend a helping paw. One sunny Saturday, the trio heads to the ball field for some practice, only to discover a puzzling problem—the bases are missing! Deter...

Competitive advantage. The value chain. Five forces. Industry structure. Differentiation. Relative cost. If you want to understand how companies achieve and sustain competitive success, Michael Porter’s frameworks are the foundation. But while everyone in business may know Porter’s name, many managers misunderstand and misuse his concepts.Understanding Michael Porter sets the record straight, providing the first concise, accessible summary of Porter’s revolutionar...

In the first edition of this landmark book, business loyalty guru Fred Reichheld revealed the question most critical to your company’s future: Would you recommend us to a friend?” By asking customers this question, you identify detractors, who sully your firm’s reputation and readily switch to competitors, and promoters, who generate good profits and true, sustainable growth.You also generate a vital metric: your Net Promoter Score. Since the book was first publi...

Philip Kotler's name is synonymous with marketing. His textbooks have sold more than 3 million copies in 20 languages and are read as the marketing gospel in 58 countries. Now Kotler on Marketing offers his long-awaited, essential guide to marketing for managers, freshly written based on his phenomenally successful worldwide lectures on marketing for the new millennium.Through Kotler's profound insights you will quickly update your skills and knowledge of the new challenges...

Young serial entrepreneur Scott Gerber is not the product of a wealthy family or storied entrepreneurial heritage. Nor is he the outcome of a traditional business school education or a corporate executive turned entrepreneur. Rather, he is a hard-working, self-taught 26-year-old hustler, rainmaker, and bootstrapper who has survived and thrived despite never having held the proverbial "real” job.In Never Get a "Real" Job: How to Dump Your Boss, Build a Business, and Not Go Broke...

If you’re starting a new business or planning your business’s future, there are plenty of things you should take into account. Strategic Planning For Dummies covers everything you need to know to develop a plan for building and maintaining a competitive advantage — no matter what business you’re in.Written by Erica Olsen, founder and President of a business development firm that helps entrepreneurial-minded businesses plan for a successful future, this handy guide covers a...

The retail world is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Rapidly evolving technology, globalization, and a saturated marketplace offer consumers instant access to thousands of equally compelling products and services, creating unprecedented levels of expectation. The impact of these changes is so profound that 50 percent of today's retailers and consumer companies will not survive it. Traditional business models will become extinct, and the relationship between vendors and consumers wi...

In this long-awaited book from the world's premier brand expert and author of the seminal work Building Strong Brands, David Aaker shows managers how to construct a brand portfolio strategy that will support a company's business strategy and create relevance, differentiation, energy, leverage, and clarity. Building on case studies of world-class brands such as Dell, Disney, Microsoft, Sony, Dove, Intel, CitiGroup, and PowerBar, Aaker demonstrates how powerful, cohesive brand strat...