Enterprise Excellence 1
Books
Social Capital
David Halpern
Ever since Robert Putnam's famous book Bowling Alone, writing on social capital has risen to become a boom industry. Halpern's book stands out in this corpus as being clearly written and accessible as well as being rigorous and comprehensive. It grapples with the question whether social capital is in decline and it considers policy implications. As Senior Policy Adviser in the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, Halpern's thinking will almost certainly be reflected in UK government policy.
Promoting the Common Good: Bringing Economics and Theology Together Again
Marcus Braybrooke & Kamran Mofid
Shepheard-Walwyn, 2005, 127 pp
The authors of this book, a theologian and an economist, believe that contemporary economics has been so dehumanized that it no longer serves the common good. Their response is to recover a moral and spiritual framework within which the global economy can be properly analyzed. Their discussion ranges over such topics as equity and efficiency, production and consumption, economic and spiritual well being, happiness, economic growth and social justice, free trade and fair trade. All aimed at the general reader.
Small Customers, Big Market: Commercial Banks in Microfinance
Malcolm Harper and Sukhwinder Singh Arora
TERI Press, 2005, 306 pp
Providing microfinance in developing countries is largely philanthropic rather than commercial – funding comes from donors rather than investors. But on the basis of eighteen case studies this book aims to show how commercial banks can profitably provide microfinance services to the poor and that they can do so more cheaply and effectively than specialist microfinance institutions. The book matches Prahalad's Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid in terms of originality, timeliness and importance.
The Worlds we Live in: Dialogues with Rowan Williams on Global Economics and Politics
Claire Foster & Edmund Newell (eds)Darton, Longman & Todd, 2005, 144 pp
In autumn 2004 Archbishop Rowan Williams was a participant in four public dialogues on the ethics of global economics and politics. Experts in the fields under review joined him in each dialogue. This book is an edited version of the proceedings. The dialogue entitled 'Is there an alternative to global capitalism?' featured Muhammad Yunus, founder of the famous micro-credit Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, and John Kay, professor of economics and Financial Times columnist. The book has the benefit of an Afterword by Archbishop Williams. We need more of this kind of public debate – irenic, robust and well informed.
Spiritual Capital: Wealth we Can Live By
Ian Marshall and Danah Zohar
Bloomsbury, 2004
Marshall and Zohar aim to show how we can use our rational, emotional and spiritual intelligence to transform ourselves and corporate culture. They claim that the choice between two future scenarios is before us. The first of these is entrepreneurship as we have known it in recent times with its emphasis on self-interest and short-term profit. The second is an enterprise culture that arises out of a deep sense of purpose, well being and the common good – values that for the authors constitute 'spiritual capital'. These scenarios are presented not merely to provoke new attitudes but also new practice, the authors laying out for business leaders 'the twelve principles of transformation'.
Building a Better Business
Patrick Dixon
Profile Books, 2005
This book is for entrepreneurs and business leaders who aspire to greater things than they have already achieved. It is full of practical examples designed to provoke, inspire, encourage and challenge. Dixon advocates a strategy for radical change in business thinking. This includes reconnecting with your true purpose; focusing more on the good your company does; connecting with the passions of your staff and customers. Dixon is himself a passionate and visionary motivational speaker as well as being a notable trends analyst and business thinker. His book is endorsed by leading figures both from the academy and from business.
God is at Work: Transforming People and Nations Through Business
Ken Eldred
Regal Books, 2005, 36 pp
This book springs from the author's vision of both the purpose of business and of the vocation to business. It aims to show how business can bring economic, social and spiritual transformation to individuals and communities around the globe. Eldred describes how leaders of some developing countries actively encourage visionary business leaders to come to their countries to help foster values-led business and the development of spiritual capital amongst their people. An inspiring read based on a wealth of experience.
The World's Banker: A Story of Failed States, Financial Crises, and the Wealth and Poverty of Nations
Sebastian Mallaby
Yale University Press, 2005, 462 pp
This very readable book tells the story of James Wolfensohn, until recently the President of the World Bank. Wolfensohn is a larger-than-life figure who led the Bank to disband its discredited structural adjustment policies, adopted the language of participation and local ownership and brought anti-globalization activists into the discussion. Seen by many as the best tool the world has for managing globalization, the bank's staff of 10,000 forms the greatest concentration of bright development experts anywhere. This is a fascinating 'insider's tale' of a key international institution, written by an accomplished journalist.
Happiness: Lessons from a New Science
Richard Layard
Penguin, 2005
Since the 1950s, western countries have enjoyed unparalleled economic growth and standards of living. In theory this should have made their inhabitants happier. But research shows that, as societies become richer, people tend to become less happy. Lord Layard, a professor at the LSE and Co-Director of its Centre for Economic Performance, provides an interesting and comprehensive overview of these findings. The results of surveys are supplemented with more objective measurements, such as crime, alcoholism and suicide statistics. The book is prescriptive as well as descriptive, presenting a series of economic policy proposals as to how happiness – an important form of spiritual capital – might be increased.
The Heart of a Business Ethic
With an Introduction and Afterword by C William Pollard
University Press of America, 2005
In the wake of the recent series of high-profile corporate scandals, many business leaders and experts in corporate reform have been pointing to the importance of moral leadership, rather than reliance on legal measures, to secure public confidence in business. This book reflects this trend and is based on a lecture series on business morality established by the ServiceMaster Foundation and presented at US and UK universities. Contributors include distinguished business academics and practitioners, including Michael Novak and Brian Griffiths. This helps ensure its relevance to a broad readership. William Pollard is Chairman Emeritus of The ServiceMaster Company
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