Author: Biz India

Author: Natasha Terk Publisher: Write It Well Publishers; 236 pages Book Review by Sonu Chandiram Natasha Terk has written other books relating to writing well. Besides this one  – Professional Writing Skills – she has written books on business letters, emailing,  grammar, performance reviews, reports and proposals. She is not only a writer, she is a specialist on writing well. Her books pertain to business writing, and in my view, the best qualified person to write on any field is someone who has practical experience in that endeavor, rather than just academic knowledge on it. She started a company in 1980 appropriately named Write It Well, of which  she is president. This firm develops books, workshops, webinars and how-to-guides that provide practical, relevant information, techniques and strategies on improving business communication. Professional Writing Skills is basically a reference work. This is the best format for a book on such a subject, because who can remember all the correct ways of writing something – all the rules and details?  Even news reporters who typically write every day, and copy editors who read and correct a  large volume of news writing everyday, have reference books that guide them on form, grammar, spelling, style and other writing details. The book is very well organized. It starts out with an outline of seven basic lessons and each lesson has sections. What makes the...

Author: Pekka A. Viljakainen, with Mark Mueller-Eberstein Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Business: 303 pages. Book Review by Nano Khilnani This unique and interesting book has been written by the two authors named above along with eight other friends of theirs in the business world who contributed their thoughts on the issue of leadership. The eight contributors had discussions and questioned the Finnish author Viljakainen’s ideas. The end result is an unusually different book that challenges widely-accepted thinking in the world of business. This is a unique way to put together a book, perhaps the first time a book has been organized and written this way. What is also very unusual about it and what led us to choose this book for a review is that the co-authors, if you will, come from different countries and different backgrounds, from Russia, Scandinavia, other parts of Eastern and Western Europe, the United States and China. So who are these “digital cowboys”? If you remember Western movies, cowboys were men who, when they heard that someone was shot at, killed, robbed, cheated or in any way became a victim of a wrongdoing, rode their horses fast to the scene of trouble and meted out justice. They went prepared with as many weapons as possible. They were independent in their judgment and action. They were looked up to for their sense of justice and viewed...

  Author: Joli Ballew Publisher: McGraw-Hill ;  192 pages Book Review by Krishnan Ramamurthy Joli Ballew is a best-selling author specializing in technical writing and literature. She has written over 40 computer-oriented books that crack the gadget use code. One of her latest books, iPad 2 Quick Steps employs various aspects of navigating a cutting-edge powerhouse gadget, Apple’s iPad 2. This photo-packed guide makes the iPad 2 even more user friendly. It’s step-by-step illustration gives readers of any age the opportunity to learn Apple’s iOS software with ease, right out of the package. The guide provides an extremely detailed table of contents with picture-perfect headings for fast reference. What is fantastic about this book is that you can open it and start reading from wherever you please. There is no requirement to read the entire guide cover to cover to answer questions. Whether you are to use this guide to find answers to quick questions or as a comprehensive instruction manual, this book has both characteristics. IPad 2 Quick Steps provides ancillary tips in the margins to accompany the reading quite seamlessly and opens the gadget up to infinite tools unbeknownst on the surface. For example, chapter 10 provides insight on organizing contacts but offers advice on adding reminders for birthdays or meetings utilizing the calendar app. This can be extremely useful when trying to remember that “special someone’s”...

Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press. 284 Pages Book Review by Sonu Chandiram Many an owner of a traditional (non-franchised) business often wonders if he or she should not have bought a franchise business instead. For many such owners (except a lucky few),all the years of learning, investing time, money and effort, the outcome may not be as satisfactory as they hoped to be. The non-franchise business owner may find many things wanting in his business, such as insufficient sales; a constant struggle toward marketing the products and services and developing predictable demand for them; a constant, uphill path to getting more customers and retaining existing ones; an unpredictable stream of cash flow, getting good sales people who are not only consistent producers but also fast learners, and much else.. All these difficulties become real obstacles in a recessionary period such as now, when potential and actual customers are hesitant to spend. They are hesitant to spend because they see no clear direction ahead; they instead see a national government that’s led by a person who has no vision, lacks experience and has no clue what to do next. Studies have shown that franchise businesses have better chances of success and better financial outcomes. The two main obstacles to buying a well-known and successful franchise is the high purchase cost as well as the low net profit after all costs...

Authors: Omari Bouknight and Scott Shrum Publisher: Career Press: www.CareerPress.com -138 pages Book Review by Nano Khilnani This is the third edition of the book since it was first published in 2003 and in the last eight years Omari Bouknight and Scott Shrum have been helping applicants get admitted into top-ranked business schools in the United States and abroad. In that period, the number of aspirants for MBA programs has been getting larger while available seats have been getting fewer, making it tougher for them to get admissions. At the same time, the mean Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) score and the Grade Point Average (GPA) requirements have been rising, with the current numbers being 705 and 3.40, respectively. Some top schools While these statistics lay open the stark reality of an increasingly difficult prospect of getting admitted into a Master of Business Administration program, the authors say that when applicants equip themselves with the needed critical knowledge and the right tools, they can achieve success in their quest to gain admission. That is exactly what this book is intended for – to help applicants get admitted into prestigious business schools with great MBA programs. And the writers have the background, the experience and the performance record to help MBA seekers. Omari is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Scott is a graduate of the Kellogg School of...