Mars Inc. (the chocolate story)

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal shows how the fast food industry has reshaped the American economic system and imprinted itself on the nation’s culture since the 1950s. The industry has profoundly reshaped how American food is produced, marketed, and consumed. The book explores fast food’s exploitative marketing and labor practices, destruction of the nation’s independent farmers, responsibility for the spread of deadly foodborne pathogens like E. coli, and creation of a national obesity epidemic. Fast Food Nation shows us how fast food has exerted a decidedly negative influence on American life.

If you’re asked who the greatest CEO of the last century was, one name might naturally come to mind: Jack Welch. Sure, he achieved great financial return and is trumpeted by the press. But is Jack Welch really the greatest CEO of the century? According to the author of The Outsiders, no—not even close. There are CEOs who performed better during worse economic periods.

Studying companies broadly, the author ended with eight CEOs and companies with standout performance during the 20th century. Looking deeper into their management practices, he found virtually identical patterns to their management style and capital allocation decisions. These strategies were unorthodox but directly caused their outsized results. These CEOs and their management practices are the subject of The Outsiders.

All business methods, technologies, and consumer products grow obsolete and are replaced by something new. Innovation is the process of discovering those new ways of living, working, and doing business, and entrepreneurs are the people who work to bring the future into being. In Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Peter F. Drucker describes innovation as a methodical process to find ways to improve every aspect of business and life.

Drucker is widely regarded as one of the most influential thinkers in the field of modern management. In this guide, we’ll describe Drucker’s template for structuring an entrepreneurial organization and how to explore innovative opportunities. We'll go over strategies for bringing innovations to the market and discuss how to manage entrepreneurial startups. We’ll also examine how Drucker’s ideas carry forward into the 21st century, and we’ll compare how Drucker’s thoughts on innovation compare to those of business leaders today.

Charlie Munger is Warren Buffett’s long-time partner at Berkshire Hathaway. Content to being the lesser known of the two, Munger is no less impressive. Bill Gates says that Charlie Munger “is truly the broadest thinker I have ever encountered,” and Buffett calls him the ideal partner who is “both smarter and wiser.”

Poor Charlie’s Almanack is a collection of Charlie Munger’s best advice given over 30 years, in the form of 11 speeches given as commencement addresses and roundtable talks. He covers a wide range of topics, including rationality and decision making, investing, and how to live a good life. You’ll learn why Charlie considers multidisciplinary learning vital to success, his checklist for investment criteria, and how to build a trillion dollar company from scratch.

In This Is Marketing, entrepreneur and marketing expert Seth Godin challenges conventional marketing strategies. He argues that in today's media-saturated world, traditional marketing techniques are no longer effective. Instead, Godin emphasizes the importance of building strong relationships with customers based on trust, authenticity, and empathy. Effective marketing, according to Godin, goes beyond mere sales and aims to bring about positive changes in people's lives.

In this guide, we’ll explain why Godin says old marketing techniques are no longer effective and outline his guiding principles for successful marketing in the modern age. We complement his suggestions with insights from his other books as well as those of other marketing experts such as Ryan Holiday (Perennial Seller), Byron Sharp (How Brands Grow), and Pat Flynn (Superfans).

Marketing seems like a simple task: Have a great product, tell people about it, and they’ll buy it. But it’s not that straightforward. In fact, the success of your business depends less on the quality of your product than on consumers’ perception of your product—and that’s where skillful marketing comes in. In The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, advertising experts Al Ries and Jack Trout explain the universal laws that govern what works and what doesn’t in marketing. Ries and Trout spent more than 25 years studying the successes and failures of countless well-known and little-known brands, and they boiled their findings down to these 22 principles.

In this summary, you’ll learn:

• Why it’s better to own up to your shortcomings than to gloss over them.
• How Marlboro sold more cigarettes to women by marketing to cowboys.
• Why trying to be everything to everyone will sink your sales.

What if everything you knew about marketing was wrong? In How Brands Grow, marketing professor Byron Sharp argues that many of the marketing principles commonly taught in business schools are unsubstantiated myths. By examining the real-world data that indicates which marketing techniques succeed and which fail, Sharp claims to have discovered a new set of empirical rules that directly contradict the widely-held “common sense” principles of marketing.

In this guide, we’ll explore what Sharp believes most marketers get wrong about where a brand’s profits come from and the psychology behind consumers’ purchasing decisions. Furthermore, we’ll define what Sharp believes to be the optimal strategy to market any brand. In addition, we’ll contrast Sharp’s theories with those of marketing experts who argue against his contrarian stance, such as Al Ries and Jack Trout (Positioning) and Seth Godin (Purple Cow). Finally, we’ll update Sharp’s theories in light of the most recent marketing developments and trends, including personalized advertising, social media engagement, and the renaissance of the subscription business model.

Charlie Munger is Warren Buffett’s long-time partner at Berkshire Hathaway. Content to being the lesser known of the two, Munger is no less impressive. Bill Gates says that Charlie Munger “is truly the broadest thinker I have ever encountered,” and Buffett calls him the ideal partner who is “both smarter and wiser.”

Poor Charlie’s Almanack is a collection of Charlie Munger’s best advice given over 30 years, in the form of 11 speeches given as commencement addresses and roundtable talks. He covers a wide range of topics, including rationality and decision making, investing, and how to live a good life. You’ll learn why Charlie considers multidisciplinary learning vital to success, his checklist for investment criteria, and how to build a trillion dollar company from scratch.

The leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco in 1988 garnered the attention of the press, not only because at $25 billion it was the largest buyout in history up to that point, but the transaction was also surrounded by an unusual amount of drama and intrigue. In Barbarians at the Gate, Wall Street Journal reporters Bryan Burrough and John Helyar present a detailed history of the buyout proceedings, with inside information on many of the people and companies involved.

In this guide, we’ve distilled the narrative into a concise chronology and covered the authors’ discussion of the mechanics of leveraged buyouts and junk bonds. Along the way, we’ll show how the events that Burrough and Helyar recount illustrate principles found in other books, ranging from The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout to The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

If you’re asked who the greatest CEO of the last century was, one name might naturally come to mind: Jack Welch. Sure, he achieved great financial return and is trumpeted by the press. But is Jack Welch really the greatest CEO of the century? According to the author of The Outsiders, no—not even close. There are CEOs who performed better during worse economic periods.

Studying companies broadly, the author ended with eight CEOs and companies with standout performance during the 20th century. Looking deeper into their management practices, he found virtually identical patterns to their management style and capital allocation decisions. These strategies were unorthodox but directly caused their outsized results. These CEOs and their management practices are the subject of The Outsiders.

The leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco in 1988 garnered the attention of the press, not only because at $25 billion it was the largest buyout in history up to that point, but the transaction was also surrounded by an unusual amount of drama and intrigue. In Barbarians at the Gate, Wall Street Journal reporters Bryan Burrough and John Helyar present a detailed history of the buyout proceedings, with inside information on many of the people and companies involved.

In this guide, we’ve distilled the narrative into a concise chronology and covered the authors’ discussion of the mechanics of leveraged buyouts and junk bonds. Along the way, we’ll show how the events that Burrough and Helyar recount illustrate principles found in other books, ranging from The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout to The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

During the 2007-2008 financial crisis, even successful companies such as Starbucks struggled to stay afloat. The company's former CEO, Howard Schultz, recognized the decline and took charge once again in January 2008, determined to steer it back on track. In Onward (2012), Schultz highlights the obstacles he faced at a time of worldwide instability and explains how he managed to save the company while preserving its unique value.

In our summary, we’ll provide background on Starbucks' rise to the top of the global coffeehouse industry and the troubles it experienced leading up to the crisis in 2007. Then, we’ll explain the reasons Schultz came back as CEO and his strategies to make the transition as smooth as possible. Finally, we’ll discuss how Schultz revived the company by altering its corporate culture, improving the coffeehouse experience, and reinstating Starbucks’ commitment to uplifting humanity. In our commentary, we’ll delve into the financial crisis, provide context regarding the coffee industry, and offer insights on leadership and business management from various experts.

Charlie Munger is Warren Buffett’s long-time partner at Berkshire Hathaway. Content to being the lesser known of the two, Munger is no less impressive. Bill Gates says that Charlie Munger “is truly the broadest thinker I have ever encountered,” and Buffett calls him the ideal partner who is “both smarter and wiser.”

Poor Charlie’s Almanack is a collection of Charlie Munger’s best advice given over 30 years, in the form of 11 speeches given as commencement addresses and roundtable talks. He covers a wide range of topics, including rationality and decision making, investing, and how to live a good life. You’ll learn why Charlie considers multidisciplinary learning vital to success, his checklist for investment criteria, and how to build a trillion dollar company from scratch.