Books on Operating a Small Business

	Beans: Four Principles for Running a Business in Good Times or Bad Beans is the story of The El Espresso, a legend in its own time in Seattle and a coffee company that has prospered by intentionally staying small, inspiring fanatical customer loyalty in the process. Told over the span of a single day, it follows The El's founder, Jack Hartman, through a business crisis that will challenge him and make him clear on why he does what he does. Unsure of whether he has lost the passion needed to sustain his business, Jack hires a consultant who flies to Seattle to "help" him but in reality bears witness to the secrets of good business, whether it's a company of 20 employees or 20,000. In the process, Jack learns about "the Four Ps" and how applying these universal principles can reenergize his employees, his customers, and even himself.
	Building Professional Services: The Sirens' Song Companies worldwide are discovering outstanding growth opportunities in professional services -- but building professional services organizations at "product-centric" firms can be extremely challenging. Now, three leading experts present a comprehensive guide to creating professional services organizations, managing them to maturity, and delivering both quality services and superior margins. Building Professional Services introduces a complete, practical framework for delivering the full spectrum of professional services - from support and education services to managed, consulting, and productized services.
	Business This book provides readers with a comprehensive overview of every aspect of business and the environment in which business prospers. Chapter topics include understanding the U.S. business system, understanding the global context of business, conducting business ethically and responsibly, managing and organizing the business enterprise, understanding entrepreneurship and small business, managing human resources, understanding labor & management relations, understanding principles of marketing, managing operations and information, and understanding financial issues. For anyone who wants to better understand the business environment and the people who populate it. Used as a textbook in many colleges.
	First Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently In today's tight labor markets, companies compete to find and keep the best employees, using pay, benefits, promotions, and training. But these well-intentioned efforts often miss the mark. The front-line manager is the key to attracting and retaining talented employees. No matter how generous its pay or how renowned its training, the company that lacks great front-line managers will suffer. Buckingham and Coffman explain how the best managers select an employee for talent rather than for skills or experience; how they set expectations for him or her -- they define the right outcomes rather than the right steps; how they motivate people -- they build on each person's unique strengths rather than trying to fix his weaknesses; and, finally, how great managers develop people -- they find the right fit for each person, not the next rung on the ladder. And perhaps most important, this research -- which initially generated thousands of different survey questions on the subject of employee opinion -- finally produced the twelve simple questions that work to distinguish the strongest departments of a company from all the rest. This book is the first to present this essential measuring stick and to prove the link between employee opinions and productivity, profit, customer satisfaction, and the rate of turnover.
	Game Plans for Success: Winning Strategies for Business and Life from 10 Top NFL Head Coaches As the coaches talk about their experiences of putting a team together and winning, they give effective strategies for leadership and management. With techniques such as goal setting, preparation, communication, and trust, along with beliefs such as listen as well as command and present ideas not mandates, make this book not only relevant to people in sports but also to those in business and education. These coaches underlie what it takes to win in any arena.
	Inventory Accuracy: People, Processes, & Technology Inventory accuracy is an important issue for any business that sells, buys, consumes, manufactures, or handles inventory. Inventory Accuracy: People, Processes, & Technology provides a comprehensive treatment of inventory accuracy in distribution, fulfillment, and manufacturing environments. Topics covered include cycle counting, physical inventories, process evaluation, training, accountability, and various technologies including bar codes, voice technology, RFID, and light-directed systems.
	Managing in the Short Term: The New Rules for Running a Business in a Day-to-Day World As managers, senior executives, and CEOs all over have painfully discovered, if you don't manage for the short term, you won't be around for the long term. Bestselling business author Chuck Martin found that nothing consumes business managers more than how to manage a company in the weeks and months immediately ahead. As founder of NFI Research, an executive think tank made up of some 3,000 high-level executives at over 1,400 companies, Chuck Martin has interviewed and gathered the results of thousands of management specialists the world over to discover how companies are successfully zeroing in on improving short-term performance, while still balancing these efforts with long-term strategic goals. By looking to managers and executives at companies like IBM, SAP, Deloitte & Touche, Kraft, AT&T, Dow Chemical, and hundreds of others, Martin has uncovered the "best practices" that help propel short-term performance.
	Managing the Professional Service Firm Maister simplifies management issues by observing that "every professional service firm in the world, regardless of size, specific profession, or country of operation, has the same mission statement: outstanding service to clients, satisfying careers for its people, and financial success for its owners." Professional service firms, he shows, must practice "balance sheet" management by learning to develop their two key assets: client relationships and their stock of skill, talent, knowledge, and ability.
	The Management Secrets of T. John Dick This satire of corporate life goes inside the head of marketing executive T. John Dick, whose uniquely incompetent and exasperating management style leads him into a series of embarrassing and occasionally fatal mishaps at SuperPumps, Inc. This is the perfect antidote to the serried ranks of worthy business tomes that assault the weary traveler in airport bookstores, and will raise a chuckle with anyone who's ever been touched by the corporate world - managers, secretaries, engineers, or just anyone who feels the need of a good laugh.
	Master Scheduling John F. Proud shows companies how to create and maintain valid and realistic master schedules. Anyone involved in designing and maintaining a companys master schedule will find a wealth of practical, proven advice in Master Scheduling. From sales and marketing to manufacturing, materials management, and engineering, Proud includes important advice for integrating all areas of a company within the framework of an effective master schedule.
	Monday Morning Leadership This book is about real management issues, advice and solutions. It is written in an entertaining manner yet it includes some powerful messages. Each chapter is a stand-alone tool for management development and personal improvement.
	Sales & Operations Planning Sales and Operations is a powerful business process that integrates Sales & Marketing, Operations, Product Development, and Finance. Tom Wallace describes how it works and lays out a detailed plan for making it happen. This valuable handbook covers all aspects of a successful implementation, from the composition of the Executive S&OP team to the nitty-gritty of S&OP spreadsheet design.
	Teamwork: What Must Go Right/What Can Go Wrong What are the secrets of successful teams? Why do some teams achieve remarkable success while others fail or are consigned to mediocrity? To find the answers, Larson and LaFasto conducted a three-year study of teams and team achievement. Interviewing a wide range of teams, including the space shuttle Challenger investigation team, executive management teams and a championship football team, they discovered a surprising consistency in the characteristics of effective teams.