Customer Reviews

Value Drivers : The Manager's Framework for Identifying the Drivers of Corporate Value Creation

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have spent hours pouring over business texts as part of my studies and it is only recently that it occured to me that a pre-condition for business writing is verbosity. Where one word will do it seems that the norm is to write 10! I wouldn't mind if they were wise, witty or otherwise held my interest but for the most part seem to fit the catageory of "padding".

Value Drivers suited me very well because it seeme to highlight the pertinent issues quickly and accurately without going into unnecessary detail. The models introduced have been relevant to a number of the modules on my course including marketing and finance as well as strategy. Since I am interested in marketing then the case study examples given have also been relevant.

In a nutshell a fine example of brevity, clarity and precision. One small niggle. More illustrations, please. Pictures paint etc. My course load would reduce if more books were written in this way!

Whether looking in from the outside or evaluating an internal business unit, it is easy to forget that a business is a holistic undertaking made of many parts. From manufacturing to marketing, these parts impact each other and are neglected at the manager's peril. Mr. Scott's presentation takes the full view into account and provides a vauable framework for evaluating the elements and the role they play.

I am utterly disappointed. Despite the title and other comforting words on the cover, I had to find out that this book is unfocused and very much written in a fairy tale style.

Particularly, I dislike:

- The "critically acclaimed toolkit" turns out to be series of chapters scratching the surface on how to categorize companies. Chapters have the depth of a professor outlining his course "Strategy 101" in the first lecture.

- Examples seem to be improvised and are definitely of a wordy nature to lengthen the book.

- The graphics provided come very close to "cut and paste" graphics from the Word-drawing toolbar with little change from illustration to illustration. Also, the information conveyed is very generic.

-For the publisher: I don't really understand how such a reputable publisher, let's himself down to advertise this book with the incestuous references from a WPP Group member and a Lighthouse holding affiliate. Both are organisations in which the author had/has high positions.

What might be appreciated:

- Despite all the wordiness of some examples trying to highlight a strategy concept, the book is "readable". Also, with its ca. 250 pages, it might indeed serve as strategy primer (but only for the very uninitiated.)

- For somebody who never touched or heard about the topic of evaluating companies it might be the right introduction. But once the book has been read, there are no reasons to get back to it.

- It might help first year business student to create their table of contents for their first term paper/case study in evaluating a company.

Conclusion: Try to browse this book physically before you order.

As a university professor, I found "Value Drivers" by M.C.Scott to be an exceedingly insightful, no frills introduction, focused on how to make a business work better, something particularly relevant to someone like myself with little background in the field. This dramatically contrasts with typical management texts that are dense, difficult to read, and filled with arcane and obtuse information with no sight of the forest for the trees. The numerous figures are exceedingly helpful, summarizing what would otherwise call for many pages of text explanation. Anyone with a modicum of intelligence could make ample use of these cleverly presented, clear summaries of critical management concepts.

One walks away from this book with the key fundamentals rather than the typical, irrelevant mumbo jumbo found in other books on the subject. This is an informative, practical introduction, the only such example I have found among available books on the subject.

Further, the author's writing style is clear and to the point rather than going on and on and on filling up pages with irrelevance of typical management texts. This is a great relief, and a welcome, dearly needed addtion to the field.

I suggest "Value Drivers" as mandatory reading for anyone who desires to quickly understand how easily a business can be made to work better.

As a general manager, I found Mr. Scott's work excellent. In a clear and comprehensive manner, he gets at the essence of value creation. His work is a good read for any manager looking to step back from the daily urgency of his operations and regain a perspective on the big picture issues that drive strategy.

I was very pleased to read this book. Based on an earlier edition, it was recommended by many other estudents who had attended master degree management courses at the Business School here, at the University of Mexico City.

The novel "toolkit" provided was tremendously useful, depicting a practical and conciso means to categorize companies. The examples given were creative and thought provoking, and differentes from anything I have read in standard management books that are always very boring.

Graphics were also valuable, very simplified and to the point, instead of being so complicated.

I believe that I will go back to this sophisticated book, in the future. It helped to clarify what so many others books on this subject tend to present in a pompous and tedious complicated fashion.

I want to thank John Wiley & Sons for publishing this book. It meets expectation of high quality associated with this publisher. Excelente!

This is an excellent book for anyone who wants to get started in thinking about modern managment concepts and hasn't got time to plough through a library of management periodicals.

Scott takes a variety of modern business, strategy, and marketing concepts and boils them down. However the book is very readable, and thoughtfully illustrated to guide you through the sequence. This is not a book for academics, who may get frustrated by its down to earth practicality.

It is a book for working managers and we intend to make it a standard text in our management development program.

This would make a great "airplane" book. It was well-balanced with examples and general facts. It was an easy read but did have some depth to it.

As a university professor, I found "Value Drivers" by M.C.Scott to be an exceedingly insightful, no frills introduction, focused on how to make a business work better, something particularly relevant to someone like myself with little background in the field. This dramatically contrasts with typical management texts that are dense, difficult to read, and filled with arcane and obtuse information with no sight of the forest for the trees. The numerous figures are exceedingly helpful, summarizing what would otherwise call for many pages of text explanation. Anyone with a modicum of intelligence could make ample use of these cleverly presented, clear summaries of critical management concepts.

One walks away from this book with the key fundamentals rather than the typical, irrelevant mumbo jumbo found in other books on the subject. This is an informative, practical introduction, the only such example I have found among available books on the subject.

Further, the author's writing style is clear and to the point rather than going on and on and on filling up pages with irrelevance of typical management texts. This is a great relief, and a welcome, dearly needed addtion to the field.

I suggest "Value Drivers" as mandatory reading for anyone who desires to quickly understand how easily a business can be made to work better.

Got this for one of my MBA courses. It was not the most thrilling read. Good information, but a little dry.