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Week of June 16 - 22, 2008

Welcome to the NDE-news Summer Books Issue. Below we have listed new and notable books for those with an interest in the entrepreneurial economy. All recommended volumes have been published within the last year and should be available from major book retailers.

The New Age of Innovation: Driving Cocreated Value Through Global Networks

C.K. Prahalad and M.S. Krishnan (McGraw Hill, 2008)

Prahalad is best known for his book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, which delineates the power of new markets among the poor in emerging economies. Krishnan is an expert in information technologies and strategies. They are good team to write a book about how innovation now requires an ability to access the best talent and resources located anywhere in the world. Fortunately, this book goes beyond the commonplace assertion that business competition is now global. It also delineates strategies and models for how firms can respond to these changes in the processes of innovation and value creation.

Awakening the Entrepreneur Within: How Ordinary People Can Create Extraordinary Companies

Michael E. Gerber (Collins, 2008)

Many entrepreneurs consider Gerber to be their “guru” of entrepreneurship. His E-Myth books are very popular, and have served to inspire countless entrepreneurs. Awakening the Entrepreneur Within doesn’t contain a lot of new insights when compared to Gerber’s previous books. It does contain a heavier emphasis on finding meaning and fulfilling one’s dreams through entrepreneurship. And, it also contains many of Gerber’s useful suggestions for turning your ideas into a viable business.

Vermeer’s Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World

Timothy Brook (Bloomsbury Press, 2007)

You may be wondering how a book about Vermeer makes it on a listing of books about innovation and entrepreneurship. In this fascinating book, Brook uses the subjects and objects of Vermeer’s paintings to provide history of the development of global capitalism. Vermeer’s rise paralleled the Netherlands’ rise as a major economic force, and Brook tells these stories by tracing the emergence of trade in new products like tobacco, porcelain, and furs.

A Future of Good Jobs?: America’s Challenge in the Global Economy

Timothy J. Bartik and Susan N. Houseman (eds.) (W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 2008)

This excellent edited volume should be required reading for anybody who is grappling with today’s economic conundrums of rising inequality, increased global competition and a fraying social safety net. The chapters here assess how and why these challenges have emerged, and, more importantly, they offer specific and feasible solutions in key areas such as retraining those affected by corporate downsizing, improving the skills of low wage workers, and creating an affordable health care system that serves all.

Creative Capital: Georges Doriot and the Birth of Venture Capital

Spencer E. Ante (Harvard Business School Press, 2008)

It often seems like the venture capital industry has been around forever, but, in reality, someone had to invent it. That someone was French business professor and investor Georges Doriot, and his achievement occurred not too long ago. Beginning in 1946, Doriot and his firm, American Research and Development Corporation, virtually created the modern model of the venture capital firm. This well-written biography examines Doriot’s life and his impact on the world of business finance.

The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google

Nicholas Carr (W.W. Norton, 2008)

A few years ago, Nicholas Carr made a name for himself by claiming that “IT didn’t matter.” In his view, information technology was becoming a commodity that would not offer a sustainable strategic advantage to specific companies or sectors. Carr seeks to understand the future trajectory of the IT industry by examining the history of an earlier technology---electrification. He argues that we are entering the era of “utility computing,” where IT services are offered on a centralized grid model. Carr also teases out some of the implications of this shift, from increasing concerns about privacy to potentially reduced job security for content producers like writers, photographers, and editors.

Who’s Your City? How the Creative Economy is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life

Richard Florida (Basic Books, 2008)

This volume builds on Florida’s previous claims for the importance of the creative class as a driver of regional innovation and prosperity. Who’s Your City? argues that the world is not flat. It is spiky, as talented individuals seek to live near other talented individuals. These agglomerations are and will become the world’s innovation hotspots. Regions that lack key ingredients, such as openness and strong technology sectors, may face difficult economic challenges in the future. The book combines an academic analysis of regional economic trends with some how-to-guides such as ten-step process for deciding where to move for the best job and career opportunities.

Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies

Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff (Harvard Business School Press, 2008)

We are regularly told that Web 2.0 technologies, embodied in companies like Facebook, blogs, and social networks, are going to change the world of business. But, what does that really mean in practice? Groundswell, written by two Forrester analysts, seeks to provide some guidance. The book targets business leaders who hope to tap into the “groundswell” to better understand their customers and markets. It includes numerous case studies of how firms have used “social technographics” to build better links to key customers.

Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India are Reshaping Their Futures and Yours

Tarun Khanna (Harvard Business School Press, 2008)

This is another in what seems to be a cottage industry of books detailing the rise of India and China. Despite the title, the book does not really focus on the region’s entrepreneurs. Instead, Khanna provides us with a review of the culture and history of both countries. And, since he is a business school professor, his work is heavy---and enlightening---on what these trends may mean for business.

The Illusions of Entrepreneurship: The Costly Myths That Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Policy Makers Live By

Scott A. Shane (Yale University Press, 2008)

There are a lot of myths and illusions about entrepreneurship, and we do try to knock them down and share the real facts with our readers. This book from Case Western University professor Scott Shane does a great job on this front. Shane offers a well-written and engaging guide to the real world of entrepreneurship. As he notes, most entrepreneurs start with limited funds, don’t use venture capital, and, unfortunately, often don’t make a lot of money. Shane has also developed a quick quiz to test your entrepreneurship knowledge.

Bounce!: Failure, Resiliency, and Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success

Barry J. Moltz (Wiley, 2008)

Many of the most successful entrepreneurs and inventors can point back to a lot of failures and wrong turns along the way. The secret to success is not failure avoidance, but the ability to bounce back from failures, i.e. what optimists would call learning moments. Bounce! offers lots of useful tips on how to bounce back from setbacks and move on to create future success.

Birthing the Elephant: A Woman’s Go-For-It Guide to Overcoming the Big Challenges of Launching a Business

Karen Abarbanel and Bruce Freeman (Ten Speed Press, 2008)

Birthing an elephant is perhaps not the most attractive image or metaphor, but it does capture the magnitude and challenges of starting a new venture. Birthing the Elephant is a step-by-step guide for women (and men) who are thinking about taking the leap into entrepreneurship. Think of it as a coaching manual with lots of checklists, case studies, and a handy resource guide.

Talent on Demand: Managing Talent in an Age of Uncertainty

Peter Cappelli (Harvard Business School Press, 2008)

Wharton’s Peter Cappelli is one of the most innovative thinkers and writers about how workforce issues have been transformed in the modern globalized economy. In Talent on Demand, he builds on the metaphor of supply chain management. Managing talent is becoming much like managing a manufacturer’s supply chain. Future projects will amass talent from around the globe. These teams will share their relevant expertise, complete their task or mission, and move onto new projects. Future corporate success will depend on the ability of managers to identify, nurture, and manage this global talent supply chain.

Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations

Clay Shirky (The Penguin Press HC, 2008)

Consultant and NYU professor Shirky offers another take on what the world of Web. 2.0 means for individuals and businesses. He contends that the real strength of Web 2.0 is that it allows people to organize seamlessly. This means that social networks will become a more important part of our lives. Shirky helps explain why some networks stick, and why others collapse. He provides lots of anecdotes of cases where collaboration has prospered (e.g. Wikipedia) and others where Shirky contends it hasn’t achieved its full potential (e.g. MoveOn.org).

The National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship is an initiative of the Public Forum Institute made possible by a grant from the Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City. Through NDE-news, we bring you short summaries and analyses of various trends driving entrepreneurship around the world. Subscribe now to receive your weekly copy. Archived issues are available online.

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