MCOB Summer 2012 Book Reviews Published

Our latest edition of the Mitchell College of Business Library Book Reviews for Summer 2012 has been published.  This booklet contains all our new holdings since the spring semester and associated reviews.

We have copies of this book review at the Front Desk or you can find on our website by following this link:

http://libguides.southalabama.edu/content.php?pid=203679&sid=2313074

Enjoy reading!

Harvard Business Review, Fortune, Economist and MIT Sloan Management Review

Have you browsed the magazine section in the library lately?  The latest editions of our business magazines really have great articles for you to read and perhaps give you a break from cramming for that next exam or finishing a project.

Fortune (Nov. 7^th issue) includes a book excerpt from one of the latest books on Steve Jobs.  The title of the book is Steve Jobs: the Biography by Walter Isaacson which is also on order for our library.  However, this particular book section focuses on the relationship between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs – very interesting as you read about the parallels in their lives.  In the same issue is a section on the 40 top business stars under 40.  It won’t surprise you that Mark Zuckerberg is on the list but seeing others may just inspire you as well whether an entrepreneur, to working for a large corporation or a government agency.

The Economist (October 29^th) has a really strong yet short article on the economic crisis in Europe.  We are all hearing it so much in the news but this article really outlines the issues well.  

Harvard Business Review (November 2011) focuses on what great companies do differently.  There is an article on what businesses can learn from organized crime such as exploiting the long tail, money isn’t the only incentive, outsource to specialists and use new groups to create opportunity.    There is also a great read on “What every CEO needs to know about the Cloud”.

Finally, MIT Sloan Management Review (Fall 2011) puts the spotlight on the “Age of the Consumer-Innovator” and what companies can learn from consumers when it comes to product development.

Come browse more business magazines and newspapers we carry – we may have just the article you need for that final paper or project as well helping you be the informed business student!

Steve Jobs

I expect there will be many books and articles written on Steve Jobs and we will carry most of them as they become available.  Two magazines came in today that are focused on his amazing life's story.  One is the Economist (October 8-14th issue) and the second is a magazine from Bloomburg Businessweek that is totally dedicated to him.  As you have time, come to the library and browse our magazine section to read these articles.  I will make you aware of the new books as they come in as well.

Browsing the Stacks

I noticed a young man in our library yesterday really browsing our stacks and taking notes.  I did not want to interrupt him but after he stayed for some time, I had to walk over and ask him if he needed any help.  His response was that he had searched the USA Catalog and was amazed at all the holdings we had at the MCOB Library on social media, search engine optimization, B2B strategies with social media and ROI when businesses implement social media.  He wanted to write down the information of books for his own library but as well to check out and read.

This kind of exchange between a librarian and a patron makes the day so worthwhile.  Come visit us, browse the stacks and have your own moment of finding just what you need! 

How to make $6B in 2 years (teaser: may include a library)

It can be done!  In the most recent edition of Fortune magazine, there is a great article on how the Skype deal came to be.  Basically, Silver Lake Partners and a venture firm, Andresseen-Horowitz, bought Skype from eBay for $2.75B.  In May 2011, the new owners announced they were selling the company to Microsoft for $8.25B!

Of course, this transaction is an example of the current technology bubble but what would make this transaction grow by 6B in two years is a great read and we have this current issue in the MCOB Magazine Shelves.

The real kicker, however, is when one of the critical meetings was to be held between the venture capital company and Cisco's Tony Bates.  Mr. Bates had long been an admirer of Andresseen but when he came into the Andresseen-Horowitz office, he found they had a library!  So, Mr. Bates began looking at the books to see if any of his favorites was in the library and couldn't find one of his particular favorites by William Gibson titled Neuromancer.  As Mr. Bates tells the story, he said that this became a great opening to the discussion at hand.

You just never know the impact of libraries and reading books may have in your future business discussions - come see us and browse our books - we have alot to offer you!

P.S.  and yes we do have Neuromancer in the Main Library (PS 3557.I2264 N48 1984)

Harvard Business Review - it's all about collaboration!

The latest edition of the Harvard Business Review (July-August 2011) is in the library and the theme is about collaboration.  Articles range from "Are you a collaborative leader" to "Building a collaborative organization" which should be very interesting to those in management.

For those of you in marketing, there is also an article on "What is your social media strategy" that outlines four ways companies are using technology to form connections as well as an article on the Group phenomenon and understanding more about this latest online discounting approach.

Finally, a great read on how the CEO of Bayer Corporation created a lean growth machine to a case study of how management has to decide who has to be let go in a downsizing initiative when all of his employees have the same performance review scores.

Indeed - this issue, as always, contains alot of material for those in management, marketing, HR, etc. in our journal/magazine section - come enjoy!

Mitchell College of Business Faculty Publications in the spotlight!

One of our more popular offerings in the library is the collection of our faculty's published research.  I decided to create a special reading area with the publications in a bookshelf dedicated solely these writings.  We will also create an index to the specialization of each of faculty member's research so if a student needs to learn more about a specific area of research, we can guide them to our faculty's research in addition to the other library resources.

If you haven't been to the library lately, you should come check us out - we keep adding resources every day to assist you while you are at MCOB.

Our Electronic Books Collection continues to grow!

The USA University Library System continues to invest in eBooks with the recent subscription to ebrary's Academic Complete Collection with over 70,000 titles in 15 disciplines including business.  Currently, one can access these titles by going to the USA Library Homepage, choosing electronic books and then select ebrary.  The team is working on adding the titles to USA's catalog, SOUTHcat, as well so they will appear when one searches using the catalog.

Pages from ebrary titles can be printed using the InfoTools button and choosing Print as an option.  You can select to print one page or up to 60 pages.  You can also save books to a bookshelf within ebrary by creating a free account.  Since ebrary books cannot be saved to your computer, they currently cannot be used on an ereader.  This is something the company is working on and hope to make available soon!

Researching Private Companies

When we research privately-held companies, it is sometimes a 'hit and miss' whether or not we can gather the financial information needed as we do with publicly-held companies.  Also, trying to find the information online or in electronic databases can be challenging.  This is an example of when a book can assist our online research efforts.

We just received the 2011 Hoover's Handbook of Private Companies (HG 4057.A28616) and it will be shelved in our reference section.  It is divided into four sections:  how the information is compiled; a listing of the largest and fastest-growing private companies; company profiles section (900 arranged alphabetically) and the last section contains three indexes.  These indexes sorts the companies by industry, HQ location and an executives section.  By gathering this information first, you are more prepared to research online for articles, company website or competitors.

Come check this and other resources we can share with you when conducting an analysis of a privately-held company.

Recommended Summer Reading

The summer season is a great time for all of us to catch up on reading and I wanted to recommend a few business 'classics' that all of us should read and even re-read.  Here is the list and the library location and call number:

The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (MCOB 74.P8L4)
The Peter Principle by Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull (UL 6231.M2 P4)
Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher (UL BF 637.N4 F57)
Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely (UL 74.P8 P7)
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team:  a leadership fable by Lencioni (UL 66.2456)
The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt (UL 9510.9.G64 G6)
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (UL PS 3535.A547 A84)
Built to Last by Jim Collins (MCOB Media HF 5386.C735)
Good to Great by Jim Collins (MCOB Media HD 57.7.C645)
Men and Women of the Corporation by Rosabeth Moss Katner (UL 58.7.K36)
In Search of Excellence by Thomas J. Peters (UL HD 70.U5 P424)
The Affluent Society by John Kenneth Galbraith (UL 171.G14)
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (MCOB Media BF 448.G53)
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (UL 1033.G53)
The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb (MCOB Q375.T35)

So many more but these titles never grow old for those in business!

Books, Books and More Books!

If you haven't noticed lately, our collection of books is growing by leaps and bounds!  We have created a book review binder at the front desk so you can review the titles by discipline that has been ordered this year and more is on the way!  We have titles of business interest, interesting business people (including Jay-Z) as well as books that will support your efforts in course assignments.  While you don't have to read a whole book, you should review the book's table of contents and the index at the back of the book.  We call this 'gutting a book' - review what you do need - one or two small facts or ideas pulled from a book just might make that project be an "A" versus a "B"! 

To quote Jay-Z, he is not a businessman but rather "business, man".  Enjoy.