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Now that you’ve stuffed yourself with turkey, it’s time to turn attention to Christmas shopping. As we regularly do, NDE is here to help with our annual holiday books issue that lists new and interesting reads for the entrepreneur or policy wonk in your life. All recommended books were published in 2003 and are available at major booksellers or online vendors. Happy reading.
David M. Hart (ed.)
The Emergence of Entrepreneurship Policy: Governance, Start-Ups, and Growth in the U.S. Knowledge Economy
Cambridge University Press, 2003
This one comes from deep in the heart of the NDE family. In 2001, the
Kauffman Foundation’s National Commission on Entrepreneurship (NDE’s predecessor) and Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government held the first-ever conference that sought to examine the linkages between public policy and the entrepreneurial economy. This book is one result from that event. Many of the nation’s leading analysts are included here. The book includes chapters on creativity and regional economic growth (Richard Florida), universities and entrepreneurship (Nathan Rosenberg), minority business assistance (Timothy Bates), and telecommunications policy (Eli Noam). The volume offers a comprehensive look at how public policies create the conditions under which entrepreneurial firms can flourish.
Barry J. Moltz
You Need to be A Little Crazy: The Truth about Starting and Growing Your Business
Dearborn Trade Publishers, 2003
The title says it all. Barry Moltz offers a no-holds barred look at what it’s really like to start your own business. Moltz is a serial entrepreneur who now helps head up the Midwest Angel Network Association. He’s lived both the upside and downside of entrepreneurial ventures, and his book tells those stories—warts and all. Early in the book, Moltz quotes a job advertisement used by Ernest Shackleton, the famous arctic explorer: “Men wanted for Hazardous Journey, Small Wages, Bitter Cold, Long Months of Complete Darkness, Constant Danger, Safe Return Doubtful, Honor and Recognition in Case of Success.” For Moltz, that says it all. If you want to start a business, don’t expect it to be easy. But it will be enlightening—and that’s the key message you’ll find in the journey that this book covers.
Mary Cantando
Nine Lives: Stories of Women Business Owners Landing on Their Feet
Raleigh, NC: Cantando and Associates, 2003
Here’s another one that offers a no-holds barred look at what it’s really like to run your own business. Mary Cantando interviewed nine leading women entrepreneurs to get an insider’s look at the challenges of starting and growing a new venture. The interviewees come from all walks of life—from a former heroin addict to a technology firm CEO to head of a manufacturing firm in McKee, Kentucky. If you’re looking for inspiring stories about how women entrepreneurs have persevered and prospered, this is a good place to start.
Michael Treacy
Double-Digit Growth: How Great Companies Achieve It-No Matter What
Portfolio, 2003
MIT Professor Michael Treacy is fairly well-known thanks to his 1995 book, The Discipline of Market Leaders. This new volume re-examines some of the firms from his earlier book, and offers some additional lessons and case studies. The bottom line is tough: business needs to quit blaming poor performance on a slow economy, fickle consumers and other external factors. Firms can continue to grow in good times and bad. How? Treacy argues that businesses must “keep the growth they have” and then systematically take business from competitors and move into new lines of business. That’s often easier said than done, but Treacy does offer clear guidelines as well as illustrations from successful firms like Harley-Davidson, Dell, Starbucks, and others who have succeeded in generating double-digit growth on a regular basis.
Barry J. Nalebuff and Ian Ayres
Why Not? How to Use Everyday Ingenuity to Solve Problems Big and Small
Harvard Business School Press, 2003
Entrepreneurship is about effective problem-solving, so this book should come in handy for many of us. The authors argue that innovation can be taught, and their book offers a primer on how to do so. The book references various academic trends, such as game theory, but it is not a dry read. It’s an interesting review of varied strategies to spur creativity and effective problem-solving. If you ever feel “stuck” and can’t come up with new solutions to pressing problems, the tips in this book can help you think differently.
Paul Newman and A. E. Hotchner
Shameless Exploitation in the Name of the Common Good
Doubleday, 2003.
While we often think of Paul Newman as an actor, he is an entrepreneur as well. This fun book details his experiences with “Newman’s Own” salad dressings and other food products. The authors confess that their business success has been something of fluke. First started in 1980 as Newman and Hotchner were bottling salad dressing to give as gifts, the business evolved by fits and starts to today’s hugely successful enterprise. Even better, the firm has donated millions of dollars to charity along the way. The book tells this story, and it also includes funny customer letters, recipes, and stories from various charities, such as the Hole in the Wall Camp, supported by “Newman’s Own.”
Other
Selections:
Here
are a few more selections that were submitted by NDE subscribers.
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Dinah
Adkins - A Brief History of Business Incubation in the United
States
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Ryan
P.M. Allis - Zero to One Million
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Kathy
Cammarata - Self-Evaluation Workbook for Business Incubators
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Yanky
Fachler - My Family Doesn't Understand Me! Coping Strategies
for Entrepreneurs
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Dan
Hanlon - Riding The American Dream: Surviving Road Rash & Living To Tell About It
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Sally
Linder - 2002 State of the Business Incubation
Industry
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Ron
Peterson - When Venture Capitalists Say 'No'
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