The Frontiers of Management: Where Tomorrow's Decisions are Being Shaped Today [Paperback]

Peter F. Drucker (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0750621826 | ISBN-13: 978-0750621823 | Publication Date: May 10, 1995

The Frontiers of Management offers stimulating and profitable reading for both existing Drucker disciples and those new to his writing.

This collection of thirty-five finely balanced articles and essays, plus an interview and afterword, was planned by the author from the beginning to be published eventually in one volume and as variations on one unifying theme - the challenges of tomorrow that face the executive today.

What kind of tomorrow it will be depends heavily on the knowledge, insight, foresight and competence of the decision makers of today. The future is in the hands of executives who are already fully occupied with the daily crisis, and for whom the daily crisis is the one absolutely predictable event in their working day. It is to these people that this Drucker volume is addressed, to enable them to see and to understand the long-range implications and impacts of their immediate, everyday, urgent actions and decisions.

Collection of thirty-five articles and essaysCollection of thirty-five articles and essays

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

One of our most esteemed writers on economics and management here gathers 35 essays aimed at instructing America's industrial managers in the problemsand certainly the opportunitiesof our postindustrial society. Drucker may be difficult reading for the novice in this field, but his pieces, arranged in categories such as economics, people, management and the organization, make clear his thesis that today's economic-industrial frontiers are being manned by more-or-less faceless entrepreneurs who are emerging as managers of the big corporations that have gone through such crises as the 1973 oil crunch devised by OPEC and the ensuing inflationary storm, the virtual takeover of the car market by the Japanese, etc. American managers, he shows, have courted disaster by going for "short term" profits, whereas innovation is the ticket for the futureand for workers whose jobs are gone, the need for flexibility is urgent. Drucker shows keen insights into his themes, which range from high-tech innovations, automation, German/Japanese productivity, to the "liberal art" of management, the prophetic "visions" of IBM's Tom Watson, hostile takeovers and much more. Fortune Book Club and Executive Program main selectons; BOMC alternate.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This is a collection of 35 previously published articles and essays, 25 of which have appeared on the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal. The common theme that Drucker uses to bring them together is that the kind of tomorrow we will have depends "on the knowledge, insight, foresight, and competence of the decision makers of today." He divides his articles into four parts: Economics, People, Management, and The Organization. Each part presents Drucker's views on the direction we are or should be going to meet the challenges of the future. As with all of Drucker's books, there is likely to be high demand for this new title. Michael D. Kathman, St. John's Univ. Lib., Collegeville, Minn.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann (May 10, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750621826
• ISBN-13: 978-0750621823
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,170,957 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peter F. Drucker (1909-2005) was considered the top management thinker of his time. He authored over 25 books, with his first, The End of Economic Man published in 1939. His ideas have had an enormous impact on shaping the modern corporation. One of his most famous disciples alive today is Jack Welch. He was a teacher, philosopher, reporter and consultant.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crystal gaze by Drucker, August 7, 2001

By 

R.Santhanakrishnan (Bangalore, India.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Frontiers of Management: Where Tomorrows Decisions Are Being Shaped Today (Paperback)

Excellent book on Management.

A compilation of the papers on the contemporary trends and what they indicate for the future as seen by Drucker in the mid-eighties. This revised edition with only slight changes stands good for the economic realities of even today. That's precisely the speciality of this book.

The chapter on economy deals with the economy as seen differently by Keynes and Schumpeter, two contemporary economists of which the latter is not very well known. The concept of Dynamic disequilibrium is elaborated in an easily understandible manner. Also the concept of profit as to be the future cost and the ethical questions attached with profit making are clearly answered.

Cartel theory with relevance to the oil cartel and the developments leading up to the fall of the same is also dealt with.

Chapters on the relevance of unions and their changing role in today's industry, inevitability of automation, need for the rationalisaing the salaries and wages of the blue collar workers, chapters on IBM Tom watson, dependence of Japanese economy on US economy and the exim policies of the successive governments in US and their effect on the competitiveness of US exports all make an interesting read.

The macro perspective one gets after reading the book will enable you appreciate the relevance of the projections and caveats sounded by Drucker long before today's events(and those of the recent past) showed any signs of occurence at all.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Superb!!!, September 23, 1998

By 

J. Alley (London) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Frontiers of Management Cassette (Audio Cassette)

Drucker took a lot of risks predicting the inevitable decline of commodity prices, as well as the current East Asian/Japanese financial difficulties, when this book was first published in the mid-1980's. More importantly he details the reasoning behind his predictions. Drucker once again demonstrates with this book why he is the Godfather of all management "gurus"!!

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An entrepreneurial teller of tales, September 17, 2003

By 

Mary E. Sibley (Carneys Point, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Frontiers of Management : Where Tomorrow's Decisions Are Being Shaped Today (Paperback)

An entrepreneur endows something with new wealth-making capacity. The majority of small businesses are incapable of innovation. There is entrpreneurial work and there is managerial work.

High tech is living in the nineteenth century. The great role for high tech is creating a climate for entrepreneurs. In Japan ther is still a cult of bigness. Entrepreneurship is not a romantic subject. It is hard work.

The two great economists of the twentieth century were Joseph A. Schumpeter and John Maynard Keynes. Both challenged long-standing assumptions. The two saw different economic realities. Schumpeter became one of the fathers of the business cycle theory.

Widow-makers, jobs that regularly defeat even good people, appear more often when a company grows or changes fast. The conventional organization of business was modeled after the military. That power follows property is one of the laws of politics. Another is that reponsibility follows power.

The Japanese have been Drucker's most avid readers. The purpose of business is to create customers and satisfy customers. Watson of IBM was a computer seer and social innovator. Watson was an autocrat, of course. Visionaries usually are. Intelligent monopolies cut their own prices before competitors do.