Business

Brief Summary Once a luxury that only the elite could afford, fashion is now accessible to all. Brands such as Zara and H&M have put fashion within the reach of anyone, while massive media attention has turned designers such as Tom Ford and Stella McCartney into brands in their own right. This third edition of the international best seller Fashion Brands explores the popularization of fashion and explains how marketers and branding experts have turned clothes and accessories into objects of desire. Full of first-hand interviews with key players, it analyzes every aspect of fashion from a marketing perspective. With its finger firmly on the fashion pulse, it also looks at the impact of blogging and the rise of celebrity-endorsed products and fashion ranges. Snappy and journalistic, Fashion Brands exposes how the use of advertising, store design and the media has altered our fashion "sense" and reveals how a mere piece of clothing can be transformed into something with mystical allure. ISBN:9780749442996 Author:Mark Tungate

Brief Summary The New Consumer's Revolution: * Why buzz beats hype * Why cheap is chic * Why brands must be authentic * Why segmentation is dead * Why advertising must reinvent itself * Why New Consumers loathe 'doing the shopping' * Why individuals' Taste-space will triumph in the marketplace New Consumers are revolutionizing the world of business, our culture and social expectations. No longer confined by gender, age, ethnicity or income, they are breaking down barriers, shattering stereotypes and redefining the very meaning of consumerism and the marketplace. From traditional to online retailing, from tracking cool-hunters to exploring taste-pace, The Soul of the New Consumer unearths the very essence of New Consumer's behavior - their drive for authenticity - and goes far beyond the simple concepts of how we shop or what we buy to answer the most important question of all: why. Every facet of the new economy, from buzz marketing and new retailing technologies to internet shopping, has dramatically altered not only how we buy but what we buy and why. In an era of 'cheap is chic', wealthy shoppers haggle to win even the smallest discounts ; gray consumers buy more rap and techno music than anyone else and are the fastest growing group of internet users ; and the Web and the power of micro-marketing have revolutionized forever the means of wooing new customers. New Consumers are taking over the world and redefining the very meaning of consumerism and the marketplace. As likely to be affluent over-fifties as ambitious under-thirties, New Consumers defy traditional marketing concepts and segmentation by age, gender or income. In pursuit of the authentic experience, New Consumers come together in their defining drive for all things 'real', in everything from food to fashion, foreign holidays to furniture, technology to spirituality. Their attention and interest have shifted from commodity to authenticity. In an affluent world now saturated with affordable products there are three new scarcities - time, attention and trust. This major book shows how these can be won by 'giving the soul control' rather than putting customers on the 'customer is king' pedestal. Over the past decade, Lewis and Bridger have been at the forefront of researching the New Consumers - studying their lifestyles, observing behavior and watching the steady rise in their numbers, influence and economic power. Here, for the first time and with example from Starbucks to Dyson, they report the results of their work, including Amex's use of computer technology to create intimate portraits of individuals - what the author's call 'taste-pace'. Regardless of product or service, for companies large and small, The Soul of the New Consumer gathers research from marketing, psychology, social trends and economics to present the first ever profile of the independent, individualistic, involved and well-informed consumers who are challenging the way marketing, selling and business are done. ISBN:9781857882469 Author:David Lewis and Darren Bridger

Brief Summary SuperCorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Innovation, Profits, Growth, and Social Good Rosabeth Moss Kanter on the answer to the global crisis of business and American-style capitalism. Out of the ashes of conventional business models arises a set of companies using their power not only for profits and sustainable growth but also social good. If you think business corporations are doomed to be lumbering, bloated, and corrupt, think again. Based on an extraordinary three-year investigation, interviewing more than 350 key people at major companies around the world, Rosabeth Moss Kanter provides encouraging and astounding evidence that this assumption is completely outdated. The businesses that are agile, keeping ahead of the curve in terms of market changes and customer needs, are the businesses that are also progressive, socially responsible human communities. Take IBM. When the tsunami and earthquake struck Asia, IBM didn’t just cut a check for relief funds and call it a day. The company used its technological expertise and skilled people to create what government and relief agencies could not: information systems to effectively track relief supplies and reunite families. While IBM did this with no commercial motive, its employees’ desire to serve people suffering during these crises stimulated innovations that later benefited the company. Or Proctor & Gamble. Despite a decade-long commitment to research and development of a water purification product, commercial prospects were unpromising. But because it was so consistent with P&G’s statement of purpose, people within the company persevered. And when the tsunami struck, it was then able to deliver roughly a billion glasses of drinking water for the victims, earning plaudits from aid partners, the media, governments, and crucially, P&G employees. SuperCorp captures the zeitgeist of the emerging twenty-first-century business. For example: • The strong potential synergy between financial performance and attention to community and social needs • The unique competitive advantage from embracing the values and expectations of a new generation of professionals • The growth opportunities that result from stressing values and supressing executive egos when seeking partners and integrating acquisitions SuperCorp is a remarkable look at the business of the future and the management skills required to get there. IBM, Banco Real, P&G, Cemex, Omron, and other companies reported on now move with the rapidity and creativity of much smaller enterprises. These companies are not perfect, but when people are empowered and values drive decisions, everything can come together in magical "Rubik’s Cube moments” of deep satisfaction. Kanter’s compelling and inspiring stories show that people are more inclined to be creative when their company values innovation that helps the world. ISBN:9780307382351 Author:Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Brief Summary The Baby Business: How Money, Science, and Politics Drive the Commerce of Conception Despite legislation that claims to prohibit it, there is a thriving market for babies spreading across the globe. Fueled by rapid advances in reproductive medicine and the desperate desires of millions of would-be parents, the acquisition of children—whether through donated eggs, rented wombs, or cross-border adoption—has become a multibillion dollar industry that has left science, law, ethics, and commerce deeply at odds. In The Baby Business, Debora Spar argues that it is time to acknowledge the commercial truth about reproduction and to establish a standard that governs its transactions. In this fascinating behind-the-scenes account, she combines pioneering research and interviews with the industry’s top reproductive scientists and trailblazers to provide a first glimpse at how the industry works: who the baby-makers are, who makes money, how prices are set, and what defines the clientele. Fascinating stories illustrate the inner workings of market segments--including stem cell research, surrogacy, egg swapping, "designer babies,” adoption, and human cloning--as Spar explores the moral and legal challenges that industry players must address. The first purely commercial look at an industry that deals in humanity’s most intimate issues, this book challenges us to consider the financial promise and ethical perils we’ll face as the baby business moves inevitably forward. ISBN:9781591396208 Author:Debora L. Spar