Brain of the Firm (Classic Beer Series) [Paperback]

Stafford Beer (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 047194839X | ISBN-13: 978-0471948391 | Publication Date: December 15, 1994 | Edition: 2

"Stafford Beer is undoubtedly among the world's most provocative, creative, and profound thinkers on the subject of management, and he records his thinking with a flair that is unmatched. His writing is as much art as it is science. He is the most viable system I know." Dr Russell L Ackoff, The Institute for Interactive Management, Pennsylvania, USA. "If . anyone can make it [Operations Research] understandably readable and positively interesting it is Stafford Beer . everyone in management . should be grateful to him for using clear and at times elegant English and . even elegant diagrams." The Economist This is the second edition of a book which has already become a management 'standard' both in universities and on the bookshelves of managers and their advisers. Brain of the Firm develops an account of the firm based upon insights derived from the study of the human nervous system, and is a basic text from the author's theory of viable systems. Despite the neurophysiology, the book is written for managers to understand. The companion volume to this book is The Heart of Enterprise, which is intended to support and complement this text. "Stafford Beer's works represent required reading for everyone who believes that a capacity for rigorous thinking is an essential attribute of today's successful managers and administrators. Brain of the Firm shows a first-rate intellect at work and provides concepts, models and inspiration for both practitioners and teachers." Sir Douglas Hague, CBE

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (December 15, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047194839X
• ISBN-13: 978-0471948391
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 1.5 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,533,055 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Historic, but deeply flawed and disturbing, September 9, 2005

By 

William A. Smith "Polymath" (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Brain of the Firm (Classic Beer Series) (Paperback)

The first two-thirds of this book are worth the considerable effort needed to get through them. Beer lays out an intriguing model for the organization and control of the firm based on a combination of cybernetics and neurophysiology. It replays careful consideration for anyone trying to make some sense of the general mess that passes for organization and control at more firms.

There are some significant flaws. First, the assumption that all divisions or strategic business units are viable systems, in his terminology, does not square with financial theory. (If they were all truly viable systems and potentially indepedent, then the firm should divest all, because the combination would trade at a discount to the value of the pieces because they cannot be easily valued independently. Many would make the same argument about GE today.) Second, the system as described has a strong centralizing tendency, whereas many would think that decisions and responsibility need to be pushed to the edge. Third, the system as a whole is homeostatic by design, where the greatest failing that most firms have today is the inability to change with changing conditions. Beer does attempt to deal with these issues (except the first), but I do not find his arguments convincing.

But, generally, he had me until the final third, which deals with a project to use these ideas to create a control and management system for (as he says) the "social economy" of Chile under the Marxist Allende regime. At this point, a great deal of clarity goes out the window, and is replaced with a combination of Marxist posturing and cybernetic babble. And, as we all know, one of the many reasons for the collapse of the Allende regime was endemic mismanagement of an economy rapidly appropriated by the state. (I take issue with the reader who sees "hope for the future" in this colossal fiasco. It's more like a nightmare.) I could say a great deal more, but I want to keep this review fairly objective without letting too much of my disgust with an obvious brilliant man supporting a repressive, inept, and antidemocratic regime show through.

My perspective on this is as a business consultant with 25 years of experience in dealing with complex strategy issues, an abiding faith in free markets, and enough background in mathematics to follow the arguments. If you still believe in Marxism, you may find the final section of interest. If you have an interest in cybernetics, it's worth a look. From the practical point of view in the design of control and organizations, however, I couldn't recommend it. And, because of the final section, I am left with the same queasy feeling that thinking about artists like Furtwangler staying in Nazi Germany engenders.

5 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History maker of the XXth Century!!, August 23, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Brain of the Firm (Classic Beer Series) (Paperback)

The last six chapters of the second edition are an historic document describing a cybernetic dream that brings back hope to mankind

6 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Historic, but not leading edge...., February 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Brain of the Firm (Classic Beer Series) (Paperback)

Beer seems at times to have sopped too much of his namesake. Interesting enough from the historic sence much of what is presented here has roots in other works, including Bertalanffy, Powell and Mumford. Fortunately the work is more interesting than one of his lectures!