Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize 2016We all depend on the finance sector. We need it to store our money, manage our payments, finance housing stock, restore infrastructure, fund retirement and support new business. But these roles comprise only a tiny sliver of the sector's activity: the vast majority of lending is within the finance sector. So what is it all for? What is the purpose of this activity? And why is it so profitable?John Kay, a distinguished ec...

If you want to go in one direction, the best route may involve going in another. This is the concept of 'obliquity': paradoxical as it sounds, many goals are more likely to be achieved when pursued indirectly. The richest men and women are not the most materialistic; the happiest people are not necessarily those who focus on happiness, and the most profitable companies are not always the most profit-oriented as the recent financial crisis showed us.Whether overcoming geographical o...

The follies of finance have threatened the stability of the global economy, and the world of finance has become increasingly complex and sophisticated, but also greedy, cynical and self-interested. The Long and the Short of It provides a guide to the complexities of modern finance and explains how to put your finances in the only hands you can confidently trust - your own.In this new, wholly updated edition of The Long and the Short of It, you will learn everything...

El sector financiero es, sin duda, necesario, pero… ¿lo es también todo lo que le rodea? En los últimos tiempos, el mundo de las finanzas ha crecido demasiado, se ha distanciado de los negocios ordinarios y de la vida cotidiana, para convertirse en una industria muy rentable que principalmente comercia consigo misma, habla consigo misma y se juzga a sí misma según unas reglas propias.El afamado y prestigioso economista John Kay pone el dedo en la llaga y expone una incisiva crítica...

A radical reappraisal of the nature and activities of business—what it is for and how it works**“A characteristically acerbic analysis of the archetypal organisational unit of capitalism.”—Andrew Hill, Financial Times, “Best Books of 2024: Business”Shortlisted for the 2024 Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award**In the world of Adam Smith and Karl Marx, capitalists built and controlled mills and factories. That relati...

This book provides a guide to the complexities of modern finance. It describes the basics of investment and the sophisticated innovations of the modern financial system. It explains how the follies of finance have threatened the stability of the world economy, and describes an environment that is complex and sophisticated, but greedy, cynical and self-interested. This book explains how to put your finances in the only hands you can confidently trust - your own.Readers will learn ev...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES AND SCHRODERS BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024'Original and thought-provoking... A brilliantly erudite account of the major waves in the theory and practice of management' Financial Times'Instead of theory it has wisdom... an excellent ...

Capitalism faltered at the end of the 1990s as corporations were rocked by fraud, the stock-market bubble burst and the American business model – unfettered self-interest, privatization and low tax – faced a storm of protest. But what are the alternatives to the mantras of market fundamentalism?Leading economist John Kay unravels the truth about markets, from Wall Street to Switzerland, from Russia to Mumbai, examining why some nations are rich and some poor, why ‘one-size-fits-all...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES AND SCHRODERS BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024"Original and thought-provoking... A brilliantly erudite account of the major waves in the theory and practice of management" - The Financial Times"The doyen of British thinkers on the evolution of business...One of the great attractions of his [work] is that he stands above and apart from conventional political attitudes" - Literary Review

The finance sector of Western economies is too large and attracts too many of the smartest college graduates. Financialization over the past three decades has created a structure that lacks resilience and supports absurd volumes of trading. The finance sector devotes too little attention to the search for new investment opportunities and the stewardship of existing ones, and far too much to secondary-market dealing in existing assets. Regulation has contributed more to the problems than th...

How did BMW recover from the edge of bankruptcy to become on of Europe's strongest companies? Why did Saatchi and Saatchi's global strategy bring the company to its knees? Why has Philips's outstanding record in innovation not been translated into success in the market? What can be learnt from the marriage contract about the conduct of commercial negotiations? These are some of the questions addressed as John Kay asks `What makes a business successful?' Drawing on his own business experien...

How did BMW recover from the edge of bankruptcy to become on of Europe's strongest companies? Why did Saatchi and Saatchi's global strategy bring the company to its knees? Why has Philips's outstanding record in innovation not been translated into success in the market? What can be learnt from the marriage contract about the conduct of commercial negotiations? These are some of the questions addressed as John Kay asks `What makes a business successful?' Drawing on his own business experien...