Book Review: Mastering Business in Asia: Supply Chain Management

‘Mastering Business in Asia: Supply Chain Management’

By Bowon Kim

John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte Ltd

ISBN 0-470-82140-X

‘Mastering Business in Asia: Supply Chain Management’ is a wonderful book on the interesting subject of supply chain management. Written in a comprehendible language and full of examples and some very useful charts, this book deals with hosts of some very relevant issues in global supply chain management.

The book starts with a discussion on how in the modern challenging times, a lot of organizations have focused on the supply chain management (SCM) to create value for customers. Then author discusses the role of effective decision making in supply chain management and a chapter on “dynamic learning in SCM” has been a great value add. Some topics like strategic management of a supply chain and innovation in SCM field give a lot of fresh perspective. The concluding chapters are on “global SCM” and “SCM for sustainable competitive capability”.

The book has been a wonderful read. And to top that, the readers get to go through some brilliant case studies in SCM. For example, one on the MP3 player industry and others on online bookstore industry and an auto parts industry are really enlightening.

Highly recommended for all SCM lovers and practitioners.

- Rahul

Book Review: Getting Rich your Own Way by Brian Tracy

‘Getting Rich Your Own Way’: Achieve all your financial goals faster than you ever thought possible

By: Brian Tracy

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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A lot of books have been written on the topic of financial wisdom. Most of these authors are self-made millionaires (some are even billionaires) and that gives the required confidence to both the authors and readers. Brian Tracy is one coming from such a background (I read that he started working as a laborer and when he became unemployed, he went into sales and the rest as they say is history). 

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This book tells us the ways in which we can work towards our financial goals so as to get them faster. He starts with the psychology of success, and some usual stuff like miracles of compound interests. Then he says “change your thinking, change your life”, telling us ways to become what he calls “money magnet”. At places his methods are conservative, like he puts too much emphasis on saving (different from investing). But then he goes on to investing also and covers it pretty exhaustively. To give an idea, he goes to the extent of suggesting a way to make money like this: buy a house which is in bad shape at cheap price, repair and refurbish it with your own hands, learning carpentry in the weekends and practicing in the evenings, and then sell the house at higher price. The idea is amazing, though the methodology may not be acceptable to all. He also asks us to learn from the best and emulate them.

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I found this book different and unique in the sense that though in the book on financial wisdom, Brian Tracy has actually tried to write a self-help book covering all dimensions of success. After all, if one becomes rich without inculcating the discipline to sustain it, there is no point in achieving it in the first place. I highly recommend this book to all.

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- Rahul 

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P.S.Some Links of interest:

Brian Tracy’s website: http://www.briantracy.com/

Brian Tracy’s blog: http://www.briantracy.com/blog/