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It's Not Luck

It's Not Luck

List Price: $19.95
Your Price: $13.57
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Applying TOC to Sales & Marketing
Review: "The Goal" was written to introduce Goldratt's Theory of Constratins (TOC) to production problems, but it also suggested applications to sales and marketing. "It's Not Luck" takes us beyound "The Goal" and applies TOC to sales and marketing problems directly, with implications for corporate strategy.

No new theories are proposed, but Goldratt does not need to. Instead, one follows Alex Rogo as he becomes a true beleiver in TOC. He learns how to apply TOC to distribution channels, expensive high-ticket technology sales, and even commodity, price-driven situations. He also begins to understand how to use TOC to build a wider corporate strategy.

Nothing new is needed beyound what has already been introduced in "The Goal" The application of TOC to sales & marketing provides a more vivid picture of the power of TOC. If you liked "The Goal" then you will like "It's Not Luck". I did.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent process analysis techniques, but ...
Review: ... not as readable as The Goal. This jumps right into the analysis techniques he wants you to use, rather than setting up the story more. The techniques look like they're very useable, but at this point, I want some sort of concise manual to explain how to walk through them in a more organized fashion. Language is also a bit more stilted than The Goal. I guess Jeff Fox helped with the wording on the previous book, because I found myself saying "Nobody talks like that!" So, the message isn't as readable, but it's probably much more important.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: In the eyes of this customer, it has value!
Review: As a business guru, Eli Goldratt makes a pretty fair novelist! His spoonful of sugar definitely makes the lessons go down in the most delightful way. And in my case, this particular book solved a major business problem for one of my clients. Glad I bought it / glad I read it

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: EXCELENTE
Review: EXCLENTE LIBRO, ESTE LE PERMITE A UNO PODER VISUALIZAR EL ENTORNO DE UNA FORMA MAS ABIERTA Y SOBRE TODO LOGICA, ADICIONALMENTE FACILITA LA METODOLOGIA DE EVAPORACION DE NUBES PARA ESTABLECER RELACIONES GANAR-GANAR. SIMPLEMENTE EXCELENTE.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Alex Rogo does it again, of course
Review: From a list of UnDesired Effects (UDE) via a cloud through a Current Reality Tree to the Future Reality Tree. In "It's Not Luck" Goldratt takes the reader through the thinking processes, which "The Goal" fell short of. Read it as an inspiring article -not as a novel. Alex Rogo's success is so unbelievable, but that's exactly what Goldratt wants to show: unconventional thinking can make apparently impossible things possible.

(P.S. For a great novel, read Douglas Adams' "Dirk Gently's holistic detective agency").

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Theory of Contrainsts applied to marketing & family health
Review: Golabratt explores the theme of GOAL, in marketing context. In his earlier book " GOAL", his focus was on production management. The revolution was to move from COST-world to Throughput world. In this book, he continues this approach with the same hero in the context of marketing management. He are also uses family background in expert way. It starts with a tussle with her daughter ( whether she can go to party or not). He introduces his notation of conflict diagram. He arrives at a win-win solution using the analysis. In the professional front, top management decides to sell off the units under him. The stroy is how he deals with this challenge : both professionally, morally. The case of publishing unit is well developed. The unit is allowed to be recognisized as a model unit in the printing & publishing industry. Other units get quotes beyond the earlier expectations of the management. Well written. There is a balance between management theory and human angle.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Luck Is for Rabbits
Review: Goldratt has been an especially prolific author in recent years. This is the second of three books; the others are The Goal (1992) and Critical Chain (1997). In The Goal, Goldratt's primary focus is on the a-pplications of what he calls a Theory of Constraints (TOC) to the manufacturing process. In that book and in this one, he presents his ideas in the form of fiction (as a novel), complete with a cast of characters, a multi-dimensional narrative (or plot), a variety of settings, and perhaps most important of all, a series of conflicts. Few other authors with sufficient business acumen would attempt, much less succeed (as Goldratt does) in combining the two genres. Long ago, someone suggested that luck is the residue of preparation. Goldratt seems to agree. In this volume, he devotes much of his attention to demonstrating the relevance of TOC to marketing, sales, inventory control, distribution channels, strategic alliances, and conflict resolution. I believe it was Carl Rogers who suggested that one of the most effective strategies for conflict resolution is to set aside all points on which both parties agree, each party then makes whatever concessions are appropriate (i.e. terms and conditions of lesser importance); thereby, the parties involved can then concentrate on what are, for both sides, the most important differences. And do so with mutual respect and with goodwill. Goldratt applies the "Rogerian Model" to countless situations in this book, suggesting that conflict resolution is the result of sustained effort and patience, not luck.

It is occasionally said of an especially well-written business book that "it reads like a novel." What we have here IS a novel. Never before have executives had more to read and less time for reading. One of this book's most appealing qualities is that it is so easy to read. (The challenge is to make effective applications of TOC in an increasingly more competitive marketplace.) Goldratt is an authority on the business subjects he discusses as well as an excellent teller of tales. That's a rare combination.

For whom will this book have greatest value? Obviously, decision-makers who now have one or more of the following needs: to set or re-set the direction of their organization; to formulate appropriate marketing and sales strategies; to improve production, logistics, and distribution; to launch or improve project management initiatives; and/or to strengthen the skills of line managers.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to read Goldratt's other books, The Goal and Critical Chain; also, to check out David Maister's Practice What You Preach and David Whyte's The Heart Aroused. With all due respect to the core concepts Goldratt examines in this volume, they are worthless unless and until embraced by everyone involved. Master and Whyte can help managers to achieve that "buy in."

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Inspiring
Review: Goldratt has written an inspiring novel that illustrates how his Thinking Processes can help you find common-sense solutions to problems. In the story, protagonist Alex Rogo keeps three of his company's unprofitable units from being sold by applying the Thinking Processes to devise startling turnaround strategies, and then by seeing that those strategies were implemented. He also successfully applied the Thinking Processes to challenges he faced at home.

This book gives some insight into how to use the Thinking Processes, but does not explain them in detail.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Eli's stories pull you in
Review: How does a physicist so deftly apply the rules of logic to every day life and business? Just like The Goal this book teaches fundamental concepts and breaks down seamingly impossible situations. I believe Eli is every bit as good a read as Ayn Rand. I'm greatful for the experience, and I'll come back again for future inspiration.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Lacks examples
Review: I bought this book after reading Goldratt's "The Goal" and was a little disappointed. He presents the "cloud" and "logic tree" methods, but never really explains the procedure to use these for yourself.


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