Joan Magretta is a management consultant and writer. This article was published in the May 2002 issue of the Harvard Business Review, where she was editor for several years.

The term "business model" was used to glorify half-baked plans in the dot-com boom. But according to the author, "a good business model answers Peter Drucker's age-old questions: Who is the customer? And what does the customer value? It also answers the fundamental questions every manager must ask: How do we make money in this business? What is the underlying economic logic that explains how we can deliver value to customers at an appropriate cost?" She continues that the creation of a business model is much like writing a new story, which are all variations on the generic value chain underlying all businesses. This chain has two parts: The first one is associated with making something, the second one is associated with selling something. And with the introduction of the personal computer and the spreadsheet it was possible to model the behavior of a business, which can be revised when necessary. Magretta claims that business models need to pass two critical tests: "the narrative test (the story doesn't make sense) or the numbers test (the profit & loss doesn't add up)." But a business model is not the same as strategy. Business models describe a system, but they do not factor in competition. Magretta follows Michael Porter's ideas: Dealing with competition is a strategy's job and "explains how you will do better than your rivals. And doing better, by definition, means being different." And ultimately, both a good business model and effective strategy are required for success. The authors uses the invention of the traveler's check, the re-thinking of EuroDisney, the rapid fall and rise Priceline.com, the growth of Wal-Mart, and the strategy of Dell Computer as examples.

Yes, I do like this article. It defines the term "business model" and explains its relationship with strategy. The article is based on Joan Magretta's book 'What Management Is' (2002) and is written in very simple business US-English. I believe this article is an extremely good addition to Michael Porter's article 'What is Strategy?' (1996).

This is a truly amazing and wonderful book! Rubin-Deutsch writes that "you can be the person YOU choose to be . . ." and offers a step-by-step guide to discovery and realization. She makes it easy to grasp the often unconscious patterns we form as children in response to our parents and families by using the idea of contracts-and then shows how to "re-write" these contracts from a healthy and adult point of view. The book contains clear explanations of the concepts, with examples, and is also a workbook with exercises to complete. It is definitely not something to rush through, but requires some serious thought in order to really achieve personal growth. The book is very well organized and each chapter builds upon the work in the previous chapter so that you can really see and feel progress. I especially liked the guided meditations which are used as a tool for relaxation, coping, discovery and reinforcement--and continue to use them. Reading this book and doing the work felt very much like working with a therapist-it almost seemed like I could hear her! She must be fantastic to work with in person! Anyone who wants to unhook themselves from the damaging thoughts, feelings and behaviors that stem from childhood "contracts" will appreciate the supportive, affirming and positive voice of the author. But I also think that just about everyone can benefit from the self-exploration that flows from the exercises Rubin-Deutsch outlines.

This has all the elements of a top notch Joan Wolf romance, with the classic romantic cliches we love told in a way that makes them new. Rich heroine, beautiful but sensitive, loves horses; and the poor, proud and handsome object of her love, who wants to raise horses. He rejects her nobly, then regrets it. But those are fancy prices they are charging here!

In 1876 Sheriff Davis of Deadwood, South Dakota, mistakes easterner Kathleen Callahan for the outlaw Squirrel Tooth. The pint sized Bostonian came west seeking to pounce on her spouse who abandoned her not long after the wedding, but now she is handcuffed to the ferocious giant outlaw Sage Duross. As the two escape jail, he worries about his own safety from the feisty petite fireball whose wrist shares handcuffs even though he knows the sheriff is wrong in his accusation of his companion.

Sage seeks vengeance and having the fiery female attached to his hip is not only difficult in terms of eluding the law and defeating his enemy but his libido is acting up big time as she is gorgeous. As their respective agendas clash, they begin to fall in love, which both agree is more dangerous than the law or outlaws could ever be.

THE WILD IRISH WEST is an amusing western romantic frolic that will remind readers of the James Garner movies Support Your Local Sheriff and Support Your Local Gunfighter. The story line is fun to follow as the lead couple argue, fuss, and fall in love. Readers will enjoy observing Kathleen land she and her wrist buddy into one problem after another until Sage feels he must protect his beloved "Squirrel Tooth" from herself. Fans of humorous Americana tales will appreciate Joan Avery's jocose romp.

Harriet Klausner

I read this to my grandchild and we both found it to be a wonderful and warm story.

In Young Americans: Colonial Williamsburg, twelve-year-old Will's father works for the city of Willliamsburg and Will still feels uncomfortable with the prisoners they are housing beneath his family's living quarters. His friendship with a runaway slave leads to a dangerous involvement in this moving story of responsibility in early American life.

What and extraordinary work! An excellent choice for recitals and competitions, Joan Tower's 'Wings' is a carefully constructed work suited to advanced players: exhilirating to perform!

Joan Throckmorton is a giant of the direct response/direct marketing industry -- especially on the "creative" side of copywriting, art, and creative direction. And while much of the expertise that breeds success comes only through experience, reading this classic guide can help you build a solid foundation.

Throckmorton lays out the essential qualities for a successful direct marketer, a person who is, she argues, a combination of technician, artist, salesperson, writer, and actor. These depend on deep and powerful reserves of curiosity, imagination, and a willingness to learn. She then walks the reader through the basics of isolating an offer, developing creative concepts, executing those concepts in copy and art, and measuring results. Though much of her focus is on direct mail, she also discusses direct-response space and broadcast ads (because of the age of this title, there's nothing in here about online marketing, though of course many of the principles are the same).

I strongly recommend that any direct-response creative or client-services person keep this book handy ... and that it also be read by anyone on the client side who is, or might ever be, using direct-response marketing in their business. It's easy to do DM badly. Doing it well -- and recognizing *why* good DM is good -- is much more complex. Joan Throckmorton is an excellent guide.

Having assisted her husband, Erik Erikson, in the research leading up to the classic psychosocial development conceptual framework, Joan Mowat Erikson assumed she understood its significance. Later, when she invited a weaver to represent the same information using 9 carefully chosen colors -- one for each of the eight stages plus gray for the occasional negative events which occur in each person's life -- she was able to clarify the tension between each crisis's polar outcomes.

Having introduced numerous students through the years to Erikson's theory of psychosocial development, I was excited to meet this author in print and thrilled to see various weavings in color, helping me to understand in greater depth than before.

*Without Vodka is not an ordinary memoir of the horrors and deprivations of Russian concentration camps during the Second World War. What makes this tale different, what compels the reader from start to finish is the voice of the young author... a voice of such fresh-ness, such alert and hopeful spirit, that this "three year odyssey through the land of Red Misery" becomes a tale of adventure, of humour and compassion, mischief and amazement, faith and the mysterious, miraculous workings of luck. Little escapes the ear or the eye of the young Aleks as he relives intense experiences, reconnects with disparate characters who touched him - hounded, betrayed, loved, saved him - during those cataclysmic years. We are there in what feels like the total recall of yesterday, not half a century ago. It is a masterful achievement, a saga of survival that leaves one with a smile in the midst of tears.