Customer Reviews

Toy Wars: The Epic Struggle Between G.I. Joe, Barbie, and the Companies That Make Them

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Unbelievable how a group of businessmen have changed the way kids pretend play. The process of decision making in this industry is so elementary but yet so critical in shaping our childrens memories, desires, passions, and shaping their past time. This book brought me into a world that I no longer think is just fun and games. I like that Miller gives a broad insight to the industry. At first I felt the personalities of the key players wre being told in too much detail. Now I see that it is these personalities that rule and are changing play time forever. A great book for parents and educators. I do not feel there are many business lessons to learn here as I have seen in other profiles. I completed the book with a true feel for this important industry and that was my goal. Mostly Miller writes a story about Hasbro, family and product ups and downs.

Miller was granted clear access to the inner sanctum of Hasbro. His description of the personalities that control the world's leading toy company are insightful and often amusing.

The downside to this book is two-fold; It appears that in return for the access Miller was afforded, he has a tough time writing a bad word about Hasbro, or providing a more balanced portrayal of this corporate behomoth. The fact the Miller was a reporter for the Providence Journal, and that Hasbro is among Rhode Island's largest employers, could be responsible.

The second problem is Miller's lack of insight into Mattel. The book is billed as an "epic struggle" between Hasbro and Mattel, yet Miller clearly had trouble accessing the inner workings of Mattel (a fact he sights in the book). It's possible that Miller's Rhode Island affiliation deterred Mattel from responding to his inquiries or granting him access. Perhaps a co-authorship with an L.A.-based writer, where Mattel i! s headquartered, would have made this book a truely objective portrayal of these two fascinating companies.

Furthermore, Miller could have expounded on the most contentious issue facing the toy industry; the acquisitive appetites of Hasbro and Mattel resulting in the homogenization of the toy business. While one could argue that such merge and purge behavior characterizes many consumer product categories, the dominance of Hasbro and Mattel may be leading to a reduction of product selections for toy consumers.

Note that these companies often recoup the cost of their acquisitions by reducing the number of future items from the companies acquired. Furthermore, to recoup big investments in licensed properties, they spread licensed images and characters across many of the products from the companies they acquire. Finally, their "big company" mentalities often overtake what were originally entrepreneurial, dynamic work environments. These are all consequences o! f the toy industry's consolidation, and could have been add! ressed.

To his credit, Miller does cite the pressure to maximize shareholder value as the basis for Hasbro and Mattel to grow. All in all, Toy Wars is a good read, especially for those curious about the strange and wonderful toy business.

A well written book that makes for very interesting reading. It is the story of Hasbro and the events that unfold around it. Since the author had a good access to the Hasbro team, he has been able to write up about Hasbro executives in great detail. Competitiors, esp. Mattel get seen through Hasbro eye's and hence maybe make for a one sided perspective.
The book talks well about how toy brands have evolved from simple objects to complex products involving Hollywood, comics, cereals, mega blitz promotions and the like. It offers a good understanding of how the toy business is not a childs play any longer.

Now that hasbro and mattel are in the news again, Toy Wars is especially timely. Going behind the scenes, Miller explains the background leading up to today's problems in the toy industry. But the book reads like a true adventure story, with people as interestign as the toys! Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in business -- or toys.

The book gives an excellent history of both companies - Mattel and Hasbro, but devotes more time to Hasbro and seems to favor Hasbro as the sentimental, fun bunch while Mattel is the coldly calculating toy monolith. While this may be true to some extent (I don't know), it may be a little too strong in the book.

My favorite part of this book was the description of the history behind specific brands such as GI Joe, Mr. Potato Head, Barbie, etc. It's amazing how these brands have been developed and remain strong.

When I first picked up this book, I thought it would be another boring business book with hard to understand wording. But as I read the first page, I realized how wrong I was! This is a captivating, behind-the-scenes look into the world of toys that reads like a novel. It is definitely a must read for anyone!

I saw reviews for the hardcover and they were good, but I waited for the paperback, It was worth the wait. I got immediately into the people in this book, especially Alan Hassenfeld, who is the central figure and a very interesting character. This isa business book, but any reader would like it, since it's told like a fiction tale (but it isn't -- it's real)

It's unusual to read a book with such interesting characters -- and in a Fortune 500 company, no less. It reads like a novel, and I read it almost non-stop. Miller got very unusual access behind the scenes of a big company, and it paid off in a compelling account. I recommend this book highly.

having worked at toys r us for many years and living near the hasbro company- i felt that the subject would be of interest to me only - but in trying to get the book at my local bookstore i found that it was difficult to obtain. When i bought the book and read it i was pleased to find that the book was easy reading. The book is fast paced and takes you through the high stakes world of the toy industry dealing with two giants - mattel and hasbro- it was fun reading how favorite toys got started and even more fun to learn about toys that you knew were doomed to failure i went to high school with one of the people that is acknowleged as helping the author and can't wait to talk to him about his contribution.

This was a great story about the history of Hasbro and their battle with Mattel. It's such an interesting story, you'd think it was fiction. It's really cool to read about how some of your favorite toys started out.