Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning

Book Description

You have more information at hand about your business environment than ever before. But are you using it to “out-think” your rivals? If not, you may be missing out on a potent competitive tool.

In Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning , Thomas H. Davenport and Jeanne G. Harris argue that the frontier for using data to make decisions has shifted dramatically. Certain high-performing enterprises are now building their competitive strategies around data-driven insights that in turn generate impressive business results. Their secret weapon? Analytics: sophisticated quantitative and statistical analysis and predictive modeling.

Exemplars of analytics are using new tools to identify their most profitable customers and offer them the right price, to accelerate product innovation, to optimize supply chains, and to identify the true drivers of financial performance. A wealth of examples—from organizations as diverse as Amazon, Barclay’s, Capital One, Harrah’s, Procter & Gamble, Wachovia, and the Boston Red Sox—illuminate how to leverage the power of analytics.

Customer Reviews:

Covers the basics of both the what-is and the how-to of fact-based decision making.......2007-10-04

Mark Twain once said something to the effect that it isn't what you don't know that gets you into trouble, it's what you know for certain that isn't so that will get you. Too many businesses are run on assumptions, guesses, and inertia. What we are doing now worked in the past so lets keep doing it. Shareholders lose a lot of money when their businesses are run with that kind of thinking.

This book is about fact-based decision making. It is really more of an introduction to the subject than a detailed text, but it is still quite useful for those wanting to learn the basics of the subject. The first five chapters discuss what analytics are, how you compete using them, and the growth path from wondering what an analytic competitor is through the fives steps to becoming one. They also discuss what it means when using internal data that you completely control, and what it means when you do it using data you control and supplier or customer data that you do not control.

The last four chapters take on the practical side of implementing a road map to becoming an analytic competitor. I particularly enjoyed the chapter emphasizing that all your plans will fail if you don't have the right people. Systems alone won't do it. The next chapter discusses the kinds of systems you need. The last chapter discusses the future of analytics.

For the right audience, this is a fascinating book. The stories about businesses succeeding by using analytics or getting themselves into serious trouble by ignoring them are all good and entertaining. Be careful, though. Some of the stories talk about instances (such as the Red Sox losing the World Series by letting the pitcher go beyond his statistical maximum pitching range) rather than trends and large numbers of events. Statistics don't work on instances. That is, at any given moment a coin might come up heads or tails. Just because there have been ten heads flips in a row does not mean you should take less than 50-50 odds on the next flip. It is still 50-50. That pitcher might have won, might have lost that game and it would have become part of the statistical information. However, for the stats to become powerful, you would have to be able to make a strong prediction over a series of games that he pitched. That is, if he goes beyond X pitches in 10 games he will lose about 8 of them. That means he still wins two (or one or three) and you don't know when in the series the wins will come.

The idea that very small observations can be exploited for big advantage is very important in today's ever more competitive business climate. For example Harrah's learned that moving the odds on slot machines one-tenth of one percent in their favor did not affect customer play at all, but netted them at extra $80 million (company wide). Marriott's hotel management system improves hotel performance by a couple percent. Remember that these improvements incur little cost, so most of the improvement flows quickly to the bottom line.

I thought that might get your attention. Read it so you can learn and profit from it.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

A limited introduction to business analytics.......2007-09-21

MY RATING SYSTEM:

* - if you have to chose between torture and reading this book, then you might want to consider reading the book - although it depends on just how severe the torture would be.

** - if you've lost your job and have quite a bit of free time on your hands, and don't have anything else better to do, then you might want to consider reading this book; don't expect to learn much or really be entertained. It will however, help you pass the time until your death.

*** - meh...I'm indifferent. Reading this book will not alter your life in any significant way, yet it is not so horrendously dreadful that your taking the time to read it will be a complete waste of time.

**** - Good book to great book zone here. You should probably read this book if you have some spare time. This book could be interesting, entertaining, or informative.

***** - Outstanding book! Make time to read this book - you'll learn or be entertained or intrigued. The book might even be good enough to provide original or helpful insights into the world that we live in.

REVIEW:

Competing on Analytics serves as an interesting, albeit limited, introduction to the concept of using complex data collection, management, and analysis techniques to gain a competitive edge in business.

For me, the book served as a useful introduction, but fell far short of satisfying the objectives I had in mind when I first came across it. What I was expecting was a book that provide a detailed guide to developing and implementing an analytical approach to business decision making. While early on the authors acknowledge the limitations of the book, I found what followed to be less than satisfying.

The book contained a variety of examples of companies that were using analytical techniques to improve the quality of business decision making, and discussed a variety of business areas in which companies might want to adopt such analytical techniques but failed to present comprehensive case studies that would provide real guidance to readers. I would have liked to have been led through a few cases, from a diverse set of industries, where the authors describe what information was collected and why, how the information was manipulated, analyzed and presented, and how the entire analytics process was influenced by and/or influenced the company's strategy and performance. Instead, the book left me with the impression that I need to go out an hire a consulting firm to lead me through the development of an analytics program.

One of the most ironic components of the book was that while it touted the use of analytical techniques and objective analysis to motivate business decision making, it's argument was largely based on anecdotal evidence of a handful of companies that have adopted analytical approaches.

Good Overview of Business Analytics.......2007-09-20

Technology & the easy with which information spreads has rendered many products and services easily replicable. Companies need to compete on the basis of something their competitors can't recreate. What companies don't have ready access to is each other's data, i.e., on customers, suppliers, & processes. What companies do with this data is what can set them apart from competitors.

Davenport & Harris describe how data is transformed into competitive advantage by discussing the types of information used in analytics, the stages of becoming a more analytic corporation, and many examples of companies who have applied analytics to successful operations. Problems encountered down the road to becoming more analytical were similar to those described in another recent book on the criticality of enterprise data, Information Revolution by Davis, Miller, & Russell.

This book contains no numeric formulas or specific procedures for using analytics, but it is an excellent as an overall survey of business analytics as used today.

Who Is The Audience.......2007-08-30

This book is meant for those who make things happen and need to gain a fresh perspective. It is not meant for those who know a lot but can't make things happen yet keep looking for more information, while criticizing a good effort, which without doubt could have been better.

Great Subject/Weak Effort.......2007-08-26

Not a lot of meat to this topic other than the obvious. Not very exciting stuff.

Average customer rating:

Good program with textbook
Graduate Students Guide
Good college textbook
katz

Introduction to Management Science
David R. Anderson , Dennis J. Sweeney , and Thomas A. Williams
Manufacturer: South-Western College Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Financial Management: Theory and Practice with Thomson ONE

Accessories:

Study Guide to accompany Introduction to Management Science: Quantitative Approaches to Decision Making

ASIN: 0324202318

Book Description

ASW's Introduction to Management Science: A Quantitative Approach to Decision Making provides thorough, application-oriented coverage in a very readable writing style. This is the leading text on the market. Simply put, it's a classic! The problem-scenario approach introduces quantitative procedures through situations that include both problem formulation and technique application. The extensive linear programming coverage includes problem formulation, computer solution, and practical application. The text covers transportation, assignment, and the integer programming extension of linear programming, as well as advanced topics like waiting line models, simulation, and decision analysis. A large selection of problems includes self-test problems with complete solutions and case problems. Excel spreadsheet appendices are included as well.

Customer Reviews:

Good program with textbook.......2007-08-22

I had to use this text for a sophmore level management science course. While the book is extensively detailed, it is written for graduate school level course work. The program that comes with the text is much more useful for the undergrad student tackling business statistics.

Graduate Students Guide.......2006-03-10

This book is an essential guide for every graduate student. It makes mathematical and technical concepts of management science understandable and useful.

Good college textbook.......2006-02-25

This book provides thorough explanations, good tables, graphs, examples and self-test questions with most of the answers in the back of the book.

katz.......2005-04-19

Trust Me. This is the only book that you'll need to get started started in this area. The authors have done an excellent job in producing such a work, that takes care to explain all the details of management science.

I used this text for my professional exams (CIMA) and the it was great. All the chapters in this book are cleanly written to take that I doesn't leave anything unexplained. However, the following chapters are the ones that I like the most in this book:

1. Introduction to LP
2. LP: Sensitivity Analysis: Amazing work here.
3. LP Applications: formulation of problems in this chapter may be bit difficult at first, but keep reading and you'll learn and appreciate the work that the authors have put in.
4. LP - Simplex Method: My favorite chapter. Is highly readable. This one chapter alone is worth the book.
5. LP - Simplex Sensitivity.
6. Integer LP
7. Project Scheduling - Great, well written chapter, another favorite of mine.
8. Decision Analysis - Good but the problems are repetative.
9. Markov Process - An introduction only, but the application of markov process to accounts receivable anlaysis is very useful for anyone wondering about the applications of markov processes.

Overall a great book that is worth its price.

Statistics for Management and Economics (with CD-ROM and InfoTrac )

Average customer rating:

Not so good!

Statistics for Management and Economics (with CD-ROM and InfoTrac )
Gerald Keller
Manufacturer: South-Western College Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Managerial Accounting

ASIN: 0534491243

Book Description

This worldwide best-selling business statistics text teaches students how to apply statistics to real business problems through the author's unique three-step approach to problem solving. Students learn to IDENTIFY the right technique by focusing on the problem objective and data type. They then learn to COMPUTE the statistics either by hand, using Excel, or using MINITAB. Finally, they INTERPRET the results in the context of the problem. Keller's approach enhances student comprehension as well as practical skills. The book offers maximum flexibility to instructors wishing to teach concepts by hand or with the computer, or by using both hand and computer methods.

Customer Reviews:

Not so good!.......2005-12-10

Now in my second statistics course, I have a great base in statistics. This book seems to confuse everything that i've already learned. I would recommend using The Basic Practice of Statistics over this book anyday.

A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing, Ninth Edition

Average customer rating:

Quarterlife Finance says, "A Classic that Every Investor Should Read"
not a fan.
Excellent Message. Sweeps some exceptions (particularly those noted herein) under the rug.
Best guide ever
Still the Best

A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing, Ninth Edition
Burton G. Malkiel
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need
One Up On Wall Street : How To Use What You Already Know To Make Money In The Market

ASIN: 0393062457

Book Description

The million-copy bestseller, revised and updated with new investment strategies for retirement and the most current research into behavioral finance.

Updated with a new chapter that draws on behavioral finance, the field that studies the psychology of investment decisions, here is the best-selling, authoritative, and gimmick-free guide to investing. Burton Malkiel evaluates the full range of investment opportunities, from stocks, bonds, and money markets to real estate investment trusts and insurance, home ownership, and tangible assets such as gold and collectibles. This edition includes new strategies for rearranging your portfolio for retirement, along with the book's classic life-cycle guide to investing, which matches the needs of investors in any age bracket. A Random Walk Down Wall Street long ago established itself as a must-read, the first book to purchase before starting a portfolio. So whether you want to brief yourself on the ways of the market before talking to a broker or follow Malkiel's easy steps to managing your own portfolio, this book remains the best investing guide money can buy.

Customer Reviews:

Quarterlife Finance says, "A Classic that Every Investor Should Read".......2007-10-03

I recently finished reading the 9th edition of Burton Malkiel's classic text A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing, Ninth Edition. First published in 1973, this book is a classic text that deserves a place on any investor's bookshelf.

Malkiel presents two possible security valuation models - one based on a firm foundation of value and one based on finding a "greater fool" to sell your speculative buys to. He analyzes the history of investment bubbles from the Dutch tulip mania some two hundred years ago all the way through the tech stock bubble of the late 1990s. He discusses fundamental analysis of stocks and thoroughly trashes technical analysis. Finally, Malkiel presents a strategy that virtually guarantees that your investments will keep pace with the market with minimal investment of time.

I enjoyed and recommend this book for several reasons. First and foremost, it blows the whistle on many common "beat the market" strategies, including all manner of technical analysis. As a relatively young investor, I was always intimidated by the chartist strategies (moving averages, buy points, etc) but after reading Malkiel there is no cause for fear. Those strategies simply do not work.

Moreover, I found the book to be an easy read relative to many texts on investment. While he covers different types of stock analysis, modern portfolio theory, the efficient market hypothesis, and asset allocation in detail, the book is not weighted down with too much heavy terminology. His writing style, use of historical anecdotes, and ability to challenge your beliefs again and again keeps you riveted to the book.

Finally, I believe that the strategies presented in the book are clear, concise, and can be employed by anyone to their immense gain. Too many people pay for poor investment advice, make mistakes by chasing gains and paying for active portfolio management, or even pay absurd 12b-1 fees on underperforming mutual fund investments. By reading this book and taking Malkiel's advice to heart, I believe that just about anyone can end up with more dollars in hand.

On the other hand, the book does delve into financial topics that may be intimidating for someone completely new to the investment world. The basic message (buy and hold a well-diversified portfolio of extremely low-cost index funds) could be expressed much more succinctly. However, I wouldn't change a thing with this book...just be prepared for a wild ride that challenges everything you thought you knew about investing.

not a fan........2007-10-03

This book was not what it was trumped up to be, as far as I am concerned. It's a gloomy, negative, pessimistic, unending drivel of known and common sense information and data presented in a much more complicated manner that they are in real life. After reading this book you may be inclined to start taking anti-depressants and definitely stay away from the stock and other securities markets. Weeooogh!!

Excellent Message. Sweeps some exceptions (particularly those noted herein) under the rug........2007-10-02

Particularly in a day and age where mutual funds are often touting themselves on the television, this book has an excellent, largely unbiased message for the average investor: buy low cost index funds and stay in them for the long haul.

The book is exceptionally well written, covering most of the lessons of an introductory to intermediate finance course in a very accessible format (i.e. all the right *ideas* without the confusing math). He utilizes dozens of powerful examples and good data to show that his basic premise, despite now being 30 years old, is sound. Due to its theoretical strength and accessible style, this book could be of particular value to Undergrad Business and MBA students who find the professor's academic approach to an Introductory Finance course confusing. Get the big picture here, making the math just that much easier to follow. (5 stars for making difficult financial concepts readable and interesting)

Despite my strong recommendation for both his message and style, the book does have some drawbacks. Number one is that he has clearly taken a side on the issue and has thrown impartiality to the wind. Regularly, the author depends on "transaction costs" (the cost to trade) to ensure that a trading strategy cannot beat his preferred portfolio (implying that it would have succeeded without the transaction costs). This "sweeps under the rug" several clear counter-examples to the basic efficient market thesis in order to reinforce his index-investment message. While I understand his reasoning for doing so -- a desire not to encourage investment in high cost funds or heaven forbid day trading -- it does lead to some skepticism about his willingness to admit any possibility that his thesis has weaknesses. To that end, I would discourage readers who are familiar with CAPM and efficient-markets from reading the book (2 stars as a brush up).

In the end, however, I think the message is sound. Rather than cite trading costs, I think the message can effectively be said another way: If you spent 5h a day investigating stocks, what are the odds that you can beat a professional manager? If a manager has a staff of 20 that invest 8h per day investigating stocks, what are the odds that they're going to beat the whole financial services industry? If the whole industry is taking advantage of every opportunity to profit from small deviations, and you're going to pay a manager most if not all of that profit anyway, investing in an index basically gets you the benefit of thousands of mutual funds and investment bankers without the cost of any of them (or of your time to do research).

With qualifications to the highly technical reader, who should pass on the book, I can't, in good conscience, fail to give this book 5 stars for a profoundly valuable message targeted at the individual investor.

Best guide ever.......2007-10-02

A good informative writing on the handling of your finances in regards to investing. I found it to be quite basic but I have been investing since a club in the 1960's. It still gave me a lot of information and ideas that I knew a little or nothing on. I would recommend it highly to any and all that wish to have anything in the future for their retirement.

Still the Best.......2007-09-10

I first read this book in its seventh edition. I was great then. I recently purchased the ninth edition as a "refresher." It's still a great book and the one I recommend to prospective clients or other investors prone to believe all of the active management garbage out there. Burton Malkiel does a masterful job of dismantling all of the Wall Street hype and laying out investing in a simple, straight-forward, and long-term approach.

If you read this book and still believe in the Wall Street gurus then you're hopeless. And, you deserve every bit of the bad advice you're following.

Average customer rating:

Business Math (7th Edition)
Cheryl Cleaves , and Margie Hobbs
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0131606751

Book Description

This book reflects more than 25 years of author involvement with business math education and the business community. The focus of this edition is on linking mathematics with real business practices in real businesses—giving readers a better appreciation for and understanding of the concepts that are vital in the business world. The book is filled with chapter-opening scenarios, chapter-ending case studies, cases, boxed features, and exercise sets. It is organized in workbook format and opens with chapters on basic math. Coverage includes banking, business statistics, trade and cash discounts, markups and markdowns, payroll, consumer credit, mortgages, insurance, taxes, and stocks and bonds. For entrepreneurs and anyone interested in personal finance.

Business Statistics: A Decision-Making Approach and Student CD Update Package (6th Edition)

Average customer rating:

Business Statistics: A Decision-Making Approach and Student CD Update Package (6th Edition)
David F. Groebner , Patrick W. Shannon , Phillip C. Fry , and Kent D. Smith
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry (2nd edition) (Thin Book Series)

Average customer rating:

Excellent Primer
Raises an interesting idea
Straight to the point
Quantifiable Appreciation
Helps Create Possibilities

Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry (2nd edition) (Thin Book Series)
Sue Annis Hammond
Manufacturer: Thin Book Publishing Company
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Binding: Paperback

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Appreciative Inquiry Handbook: The First in a Series of AI Workbooks for Leaders of Change

ASIN: 0966537319

Book Description

An Easy To Read Introduction To The Theory Of Change Management That Focuses On What Works. --This text refers to the paperback edition of this title

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Primer.......2007-09-13

For those that are just beginning their quest of appreciative inquiry - this is a great primer. Good text to share with employees prior to the beginning of a organization orientation.

Raises an interesting idea.......2007-05-12

This book was a required text for one of my graduate school classes. The refreshing thing about it is that it's a quick read and very easy to understand. Hammond raises the very interesting idea that instead of looking at problems from a "how do we remedy our weaknesses" standpoint, she offers that we should capitalize on our strengths. We should figure out what we do well, and then work through our strengths to improve our performance and organizational environment. That's really as far as you need to go with this book. Hammond's explanation of her theory is extremely common sense. If you're still unsure how her theory could be applied in or impact the workplace, perhaps you should read this book. Otherwise, you could probably just use your imagination.

Straight to the point.......2006-03-20

I bought this book on a recommendation of a lecturer at a recent conference. He said that this was the first book to buy if one wants to learn about AI. He was right. The author is straight to the point. The material is easy to digest. The examples are applicable. Because of this book, I can immediately put AI to use in developing better teams and groups.

Quantifiable Appreciation.......2006-02-21

Recently, I attended a monthly meeting for professional coaches where the speaker made a presentation on Appreciative Inquiry. He passed around many books on the subject as he continued his talk. I was impressed enough with Sue Hammond's Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry to go right home and order it. I am not usually one who cares for national bestsellers, but in this case... I can see why. It is a valuable tool for any coach, mentor or anyone in life who seeks a better, clearer understanding of how to appreciate life, work, people, everything really. Learning to appreciate makes a quantifiable difference in your life and times.
Hammond writes with an easy style, touching on most aspects of positive thinking and behaviors that can and will make a difference immediately in whatever you do and how you work with family, friends, co-workers.
The focus is on "what is working?" not what is the problem. To me, it's a much better place to start, automatically gives us a leg-up to feel good about something that is already positive.
Highly recommended!
Thank you Sue Hammond.
Pie Dumas - Author & Life Coach

Helps Create Possibilities.......2005-09-10

I use this book in my coaching business. The book is a great source of usable information that can be easily understood. Hammond includes tips that can help shift one's thinking in a positive way. If we could all operate in the manner she describes we would be better leaders (at any level).

Spreadsheet Modeling and Decision Analysis (with CD-ROM and Microsoft Project 2003 120 day version)

Average customer rating:

A Good Book for Finance/IT majors
Great book, and includes @RISK
Good practical text
Decision analysis
Good book , worth to read

Spreadsheet Modeling and Decision Analysis (with CD-ROM and Microsoft Project 2003 120 day version)
Cliff Ragsdale
Manufacturer: South-Western College Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0324312563

Book Description

Valuable software, realistic examples, and fascinating topics . . . everything you need to master the most widely used management science techniques using Microsoft® Excel™ is right here! Learning to make decisions in today's business world takes training and experience. Cliff Ragsdale--the respected innovator in the field of management science--is an outstanding guide to help you learn the skills you need, use Microsoft Excel for Windows to implement those skills, and gain the confidence to apply what you learn to real business situations. SPREADSHEET MODELING AND DECISION ANALYSIS gives you step-by-step instructions and annotated screen shots to make examples easy to follow. Plus, interesting sections called The World of Management Science show you how each topic has been applied in a real company.

Customer Reviews:

A Good Book for Finance/IT majors.......2007-09-17

This book does what it sets out to do: teach spreadsheet modeling. I'm only on the third chapter, but the author does a good job including step by step instructions on how to create winning models. The author is also very easy to understand. So if you're going to be doing optimization and modeling in your work, I highly recommend this book.

Great book, and includes @RISK.......2007-08-06

Ragsdale really makes spreadsheet modeling accessible to real-world business situations. It was a great asset to my MBA coursework. As a student, it came with a free student version of @RISK risk analysis software as well.

Good practical text.......2006-11-12

A good book for those studying decision making techniques or as a reference for managers looking to upgrade their skills

Decision analysis.......2006-11-02

Excellent book; I am considering it as a textbook for a Managerial Sciences course. The examples are clear and real increasing the interest of the students.

Good book , worth to read.......2006-02-17

This book is designated as the textbook for our master's level management modeling class. The author concerntrated on the application of Microsoft Solver to solve various of optimazation problems that we freqently faced in the real business opreations. Overall, this is good book for entry-level management modeling study.

Principles of Financial Engineering (Academic Press Advanced Finance)

Average customer rating:

great book
Simply a must own for anyone with any use for Quant Finance
I can't praise this book too highly!
This is one of the top books on quantitative finance
Great!

Principles of Financial Engineering (Academic Press Advanced Finance)
Salih N. Neftci
Manufacturer: Academic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Introduction to the Mathematics of Financial Derivatives
Options, Futures and Other Derivatives (6th Edition)
The Concepts and Practice of Mathematical Finance (Mathematics, Finance and Risk)
Monte Carlo Methods in Financial Engineering (Stochastic Modelling and Applied Probability)

ASIN: 0125153945

Book Description

Bestselling author Salih Neftci presents a fresh, original, informative, and up-to-date introduction to financial engineering. The book offers clear links between intuition and underlying mathematics and an outstanding mixture of market insights and mathematical materials. Also included are end-of-chapter exercises and case studies.

In a market characterized by the existence of large pools of liquid funds willing to go anywhere, anytime in search of a few points of advantage, there are new risks. Lacking experience with these new risks, firms, governmental entities, and other investors have been surprised by unexpected and often disastrous financial losses. Managers and analysts seeking to employ these new instruments and strategies to make pricing, hedging, trading, and portfolio management decisions require a mature understanding of theoretical finance and sophisticated mathematical and computer modeling skills.

Important and useful because it analyzes financial assets and derivatives from the financial engineering perspective, this book offers a different approach than the existing finance literature in financial asset and derivative analysis. Seeking not to introduce financial instruments but instead to describe the methods of synthetically creating assets in static and in dynamic environments and to show how to use them, his book complements all currently available textbooks. It emphasizes developing methods that can be used in order to solve risk management, taxation, regulation, and above all, pricing problems.

This perspective forms the basis of practical risk management. It will be useful for anyone learning about practical elements of financial engineering.

* Exercises and case studies at end of each chapter and on-line Solutions Manual provided
* Explains issues involved in day-to-day life of traders, using language other than mathematics
* Careful and concise analysis of the LIBOR market model and of volatility engineering problems

Customer Reviews:

great book.......2007-05-07

Prof. Neftci gave one of our mandatory course - Financial Engineering, in HEC Lausanne. This book is the reference book for this course. His lecture is great, a lot of jokes and funny stories as well as insights about financial engineering. However, I find out that the book is even better than his lecture.

Simply a must own for anyone with any use for Quant Finance.......2006-08-26

Neftci is one of those rare authors who can begin at the begining, explain his major point and logic without excessive jargon or short-cuts, and do so without sacrificing depth and substance.

In a field were the readable texts are for MBAs or elementary practioneers or for the initiated members of the priesthood, here is one of a few handful of authors (Wilmott and Joshi as well) that are both clear and serious, rigorous and accessible, insightful and a plerasure to read.

I can't praise this book too highly!.......2005-12-09

As someone who teaches derivatives to practitioners and in a Masters program, I can't praise this book too highly. It is clear, comprehensive and, most importantly, concentrates on practical applications. I was particularly pleased with the chapter on repo, which is usually underestimated in importance, without requiring a whole, specialist book.

For someone with a fundamental, but non-quantitative background in financial markets (MBA or CFA level), this is the ideal place to go next before more specialised and quantitative books. The advantage of having studied this book first will be to have a clear picture of the forest for the trees.

My only (small) criticism is that the book would have been even better if it had included a chapter (or two) on the multi-tranche asset backed security structure followed by cash and then synthetic CDOs. I do hope that might be rectified in the next edition.

Bravo!

This is one of the top books on quantitative finance.......2005-11-22

I am a student of Prof Neftci in the Applied Math for Finance MS program at Baruch College. He is a great teacher and has written this wonderful book. This is the text book for the Calibration course he teaches at baruch.

The best thing about it is in the practical approach it is written with. It tries to explain the finance as interpreted by practioners like traders...the engineering of finance rather than the science of it. Knowledge of basic parobability thoery, martingales, PDE and some stochastic calculus is assumed. The book itself has less emphasis on mathematical rigour but there are plenty of other references for that.

The strength of this book is in its practical utility in understanding the market and the rational behind the products that exist in it and the priciples of pricing and hedging those.
Chapter 11 on the Fundamental Asset prcing theory is a gem and is the workhorse for pricing many of the products like swaps or swaptions.

Great!.......2005-11-20

A wonderful book with a great didactic approach! Very clear but never mundane. The best introduction to the field so far. It's only drawback is the sometimes slightly unintuitive notation.

Average customer rating:

Great Book
Methods, standards and work design
11th edition
1955 Concepts in 1999 Edition
1955 Concepts in 1999 Edition

Methods, Standards, & Work Design
Benjamin Niebel , and Andris Freivalds
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Science/Engineering/Math
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0072468246

Book Description

Faced with increasing global competition, every industry, business, and service organization is restructuring itself to operate more effectively. Cost-effectiveness and product reliability without excess capacity are the keys to successful activity in business, industry, and government, and these keys are the end results of methods engineering.

The 11th edition of Methods, Standards, and Work Design provides practical, up-to-date descriptions of engineering methods to measure, analyze, and design manual work. The text emphasizes both the manual components and the cognitive aspects of work, recognizing the gradual decline of the manufacturing sector and the growth of the service sector. The importance of ergonomics and work design as part of methods engineering is emphasized not only to increase productivity, but also to improve worker health and safety, and thus, company bottom-line costs.

Customer Reviews:

Great Book.......2007-09-11

Learn alot from the book about Project management. It does not only apply to management but apply to daily life. It teaches you more than there is. Definitely recommended.

Methods, standards and work design.......2005-09-26

I got the book on the first day that it was expexted to arrive and its in great shape.

11th edition.......2002-08-30

I am one of the professors Dr. Seifert is talking about in his review. I continue to use this textbook in both graduate and undergraduate classes on job design. Every semester I search for a better alternative, but am unable to find it. I find this book to be helpful and a good reference that incorporates ergonomics, work design, and methods engineering. (I also use old versions of the lab book that contain very well-made forms.) This text contains the best discussion of time standards I have seen. The 11th edition contains a new chapter on cognitive work. This is a topic I have always discussed and am glad to see formal treatment of it in the new edition. As with any textbook, I do not use it as the sole source of information taught in the classroom and would not recommend it as a sole source. I use the topics in the text to launch discussions and research papers on systems theory, lean, cycle time, environmental, process improvement methodologies, ethics, and other issues for manufacturing and non-shopfloor applications. I find the book especially useful in the area of work design and time standards.

Students have found these skills useful in the workplace. Many of our students work in process improvement and lean implementations. They use these skills to reduce cycle time and balance the lines to meet the demands of customers. Good implementation of lean requires knowledge of how to balance a line to meet customer demand, identify constraints, reduce cycle time, eliminate waste, understanding and dealing with change, cost/benefit analysis, and a direct understanding the relationship between the customer demand and production rate. This text touches on or covers in detail these topics.

I find that the book appears to focus on machine and operator efficiency and utilization, has a primarily decompositional view of work, and concentrates mostly on shopfloor operations. Even with these drawbacks, the text gives the reader solid information on improving workplace design and reducing cycle time while improving worker safety and productivity. I use the discussion on machine and worker utilization to compare and contrast with other manufacturing philosophies, and to relate what the text is covering to more 'big picture' aspects. Other topics not included are a good discussion of maintenance operations and quality. I suggest using other sources to incorporate those topics. All in all, the book is not perfect. It is a very good reference book and text book.

1955 Concepts in 1999 Edition.......2000-10-07

This antiquated textbook is still used at colleges and universities throughout the United States. The first edition of this book was published in 1955 and, after nine more editions, appears largely unchanged in its mentality. Specifically, the textbook is written for a time when corporations had legions of industrial engineers who did nothing but detailed and tedious time and motion studies. Unfortunately, today's dynamic manufacturing environment renders many of the authors' techniques impractical or even financially hazardous. For example, it emphasizes the need to maximize machine utilization (even if the machine is not considered a bottleneck operation). Practices like these lead to excessive inventory and sub-optimization of the collective manufacturing process. In summary, I believe this textbook does a great disservice to those manufacturing firms that have achieved dramatic productivity gains through the application of lean manufacturing techniques.

1955 Concepts in 1999 Edition.......2000-10-07

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