This is an account of one student’s experience of going through the Harvard MBA program, written by a former (and current) editor at the Financial Times. It is not unflawed, but is nevertheless highly readable and generally fascinating. I recommend it for anyone thinking about ever pursuing an MBA degree.

I have a limited tolerance for “business books” in general, and marketing books in particular – but this is an exception. It is admittedly rather too breezy, and prone to sloganeering  – but the author has real substantive experience as the advertising executive (in-house) responsible for (1) Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign, and (2) the break-out of the Starbucks brand into the true mass-market. His insights, while disorganized and of sometimes mixed quality, are generally useful, and his ideas about Brand – a premier Franchise Asset – influenced my thinking more than any other book on the subject I have read so far.

This is a very good presentation of the basics of business cycle analysis, using fundamental economic indicators. Very easy to read, and provides a more thematic and focused viewpoint than the Baumohl and Constable/Wright books described below. A supplementary text for QF 102.

This is a more comprehensive survey of the major economic indicators that move the financial markets. It is very good, and provides in effect a topical survey of many of the major macro-economic concepts and principles along the way (e.g., theories of the causes of inflation, the interpretation of yield curves, the role of productivity in job creation).

I will probably be using this book as a required text in QF 102 next Spring, and as a supplementary text in BT 401 in the Fall.

This highly readable book combines several intriguing narratives – it is simultaneously an insider’s history of the Wall Street Journal and how it has operated over the years; a dramatic struggle by Rupert Murdoch to acquire the paper from a heterogeneous and contentious family of shareholders; and a profile of Murdoch himself in action (he is certainly one of the great “moguls” of our day). From a pedagogical standpoint, it is a classic M&A case study, vivid and fascinating. The author is generally disciplined and tells an honest story (spoiling it only with a tendentious and unconvincing final chapter carping about Murdoch’s politics).

This is a breezy but useful survey of a diverse selection of economic indicators, focused mainly on the business cycle (predicting recessions & recoveries), and on inflation. It is not a deep treatment of these issues, but a practical discussion of what sorts of metrics are available to help keep track of these changes in market regime.

This is an assigned supplementary text for Quantitative Finance 102.

This is obviously a “contrarian” view on the Chinese manufacturing phenomenon. That said, the author is deeply experienced and knows what he is talking about – as he describes the systemic problems with “quality fade” and poor business practices in the Chinese export economy. The style is anecdotal, which certainly has its limitations – there is not a single chart or generalized statistical argument in this book. But it also makes it very readable, and certainly should be on the reading list for anyone doing business with China.

This is a good read and a very informative book, one of the best on Japan. It is relevant for three reasons: (1) as an account of Japanese bank-based capitalism, which contrasts institutionally with American market capitalism; (2) as a detailed and fascinating story of the rottenness of the Japanese banking system in the 1990s (from which they still have not fully recovered); and (3) as an object lesson for U.S. policy makers today on the dangers and costs of failing to come to grips fully with sick or failing financial institutions. The author, Gillian Tett, is one of the leading columnists for the Financial Times.

There have been so many bad books and movies about McDonald’s – they are presented so often in a negative light that you might wonder how they ever became the phenomenally successful company they are today. This is the best book on the company, full of surprising revelations that shed real light on the McDonald’s business model.

There are many (too many) books about Enron, but I think this is likely the best of them. It rings truer to me, by far, than much of what is out there. Enron was nine parts folly, and one part villainy (the CFO, Andy Fastow), which is about right I think for most business scandals. Thus, despite a really awful title, I recommend this one – written by a NY Times reporter (but we won’t hold that against him).