The Bear Necessities of Business: Building a Company with Heart [Hardcover]

Maxine Clark (Author), Amy Joyner (Contributor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471772755 | ISBN-13: 978-0471772750 | Publication Date: April 21, 2006 | Edition: 1

Build-A-Bear Workshop® is one of the most successful retailing concepts in recent history. Starting with just one location in 1997, the company now operates more than 200 stores worldwide.

Leading the way is Maxine Clark, the company's founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Bear. Clark is widely recognized as one of the nation's leading and most creative entrepreneurs. In The Bear Necessities of Business, she reveals how she built this amazing global business from the ground up, while arming you with the tools you need to start, run, and market your own company in today's tough competitive environment. While primarily drawing on real-life experiences from Build-A-Bear Workshop®, Clark also offers wisdom gained throughout her entire thirty-plus-year career, including lessons and examples from some of the other great companies that do so much right.

Straightforward and accessible, The Bear Necessities of Business is divided into seven parts, each built around an essential element that will allow you to stand apart from the crowd. The short, accessible chapters show you everything you need to:

• Get your business started
• Become a great boss
• Connect with your customers
• Add value to the overall experience
• Effectively market your company
• Plan for future growth
• Give back to your customers, employees, and community

Best of all, these principles can be applied to any industry and are proven to work whether your target audience is children, teenagers, baby boomers, seniors, or any age in-between.

Whether you're looking to start a new business, improve an existing one, be a better manager, or hire the best employees, The Bear Necessities of Business contains the insights and information you need to succeed. Even if you work for some-one else and have no plans to strike out on your own, you'll still benefit from the advice found in this book. After all, the best employees—and those who consistently rise to the top—are those who think like entrepreneurs!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"... it’s well structured so that people can easily dip in and out. Worth reading whatever your line of business." (The Guardian, September 2006)

"The advice is excellent and easily transferable." (Professional Manager, Octobebr 2006)

From the Back Cover

Praise for The BEAR NECESSITIES of BUSINESS

"Maxine Clark has written a powerfully effective book that will help you build an organization that's more competitive, more inventive, more productive, and simply more fun to work in. It takes a tough-minded entrepreneur to create such a warm-hearted business. I can't 'bear' the thought that you won't read this book."
—William C. Taylor, Founding Editor, Fast Company magazine

"This book not only shows how to get customers to spend more time with you, it comes with a heart—Maxine Clark's heart for her business, associates, and Guests. Few companies both mass-customize their offerings and stage a compelling experience. Of those that do, Build-A-Bear Workshop® is the beary best."
—Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore, authors, The Experience Economy

"The Bear Necessities of Business is pithy, accessible, fun, and very smart. Maxine Clark is the twenty-first century's Walt Disney. The knowledge she shares on building a global business and creating customer evangelists is as infectious as the enthusiasm evident around every corner of her empire. Whatever business you're in—or dream of building—this chock-full-of-wisdom guide is a must-read."
—Susan W. Bird, founder and CEO, Wf360

"The spirit and passion Maxine Clark has for bringing dreams to life is now in your hands. Every chapter is stuffed with the secrets of what has made her so successful in every aspect of business. Her mentoring and the words in this book are a big part of the magic of my success."
—Denise Chapman Weston, President and Director of Imagination, MagiQuest

"As price, convenience, and customer service become 'table stakes,' firms have to depend on innovation and personalized, co-created experiences for sustained value creation. Maxine Clark is a pioneer in this area. Now she shares her insights in an eminently readable book. A must-read not just for aspiring entrepreneurs, but for seasoned managers as well."
—C. K. Prahalad, coauthor, The Future of Competition

"This book provides a 'how-to manual' for all those budding entrepreneurs with an idea they want to see blossom into a booming business."
—Martin Sneider, Adjunct Professor of Retailing, Olin School of Business, Washington University

Maxine Clark will donate 100 percent of her proceeds from the sales of this book to¿the Build-A-Bear Workshop® Bear Hugs Foundation, which supports meaningful philanthropic efforts for children and families through financial and in-kind support for health and wellness causes and educational and literacy programs.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 334 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (April 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471772755
• ISBN-13: 978-0471772750
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,129,580 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great story and a worthwhile read, May 25, 2006

By 

Build-a-Bear Investor (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bear Necessities of Business: Building a Company with Heart (Hardcover)

Maxine Clark's book The Bear Necessities of Business: Building a Company with Heart is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how a capable executive goes about transforming a compelling vision into a highly profitable public company.

For entrepreneurs of humbler ambitions, the book also has loads of good insights and advice about attitudes and disciplines that can work in every business.

Don't be put off by the kid-centric nature of Build-a-Bear and the cutesy "bearisms" -- although Maxine is a CEO with heart, both eyes are always on the bottom line.

This is a very well-written book which I found much better and more useful than many other books in the "entrepreneurial how-to" category.

It might also be an imaginative gift for any little future entrepreneurs, no longer so interested in stuffed bears, who might enjoy learning how grownups who also like bears turned them into a business with $360 million in sales last year.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get it, Get it, Get it!, August 27, 2006

By 

Amanda M. Lee (Knoxville, TN<P>Knoxville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Bear Necessities of Business: Building a Company with Heart (Hardcover)

At first glance this book may appear to be about Maxine Clark's company Build-a-Bear Workshop. While she does share many stories featuring her company, the insights and advice she gives are PRICELESS.

This is a fantastic read for anyone who is starting out, needs a pick-me-up for their current business, or wants to reconnect about what it's like to be a customer. It's not just about bears...it's for all of us!

Way to go, Maxine! Thanks for following through on another great idea. It's the best purchase I've made in a long time.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bear Necessities of Business : Building a Company with Heart, June 9, 2006

By 

George Whalin (Carlsbad, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bear Necessities of Business: Building a Company with Heart (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful book for anyone in the retail or consumer products business. It is jam-packed with insights into one of retailing's most successful companies. When the founders of most companies write a book about their businesses the result is usually a "fluff" piece with little in the way of real content. That is not the case with Maxine Clark's story about how she created and built Build-A-Bear Workshop. Her book provides valuable tools for building a unique retail business at a time when innovation is severly lacking in retail.