We all know that the rules by which business is conducted have changed. But by how much? The dot.commers who threw out the playbook and tried to reinvent everything crashed and burned. "Back-to-basics" and "execution" are refrains reverberating down corporate hallways. And yet there is still a sense of unease. Jonas Ridderstrale and Kjell Nordstrom, the outspoken authors of the international bestseller, Funky Business, present a provocative analysis of the social and cultural forces that are defining the business landscape--in particular, the fundamental relationships between employers and employees and between companies and customers. Covering a huge terrain--from the impact of high tech to the ever-widening gaps between the haves and the have-nots, and with references from Adam Smith to Janis Joplin--the authors bring into focus the challenges of business leadership in a world increasingly defined by individualism. "Karaoke" capitalism refers to the philosophy of imitation, engrained into the corporate mindset by such popular concepts as benchmarking and best practice. For Ridderstrale and Nordstrom, the only way to survive is to chuck convention, to embrace your company's individual personality and promote it through everything you do, constantly honing what works and abandoning what doesn't. Ultimately, the authors argue that armed with imagination it is possible to sustain profitable businesses while contributing to the well-being of customers, communities, and the society at large. Visit the authors' Web sites at www.karaokecapitalism.com and www.funkybusiness.com.

Ridderstrale (leadership) and Nordström (international business)--both are with the Stockholm School of Economics and both are business consultants and board member directors of several companies--argue that succeeding in business requires doing something different from what all the big players already have locked down. They offer their ideas in a hip, conversational style, with plenty of references to contemporary popular culture to help get their points across. Coverage includes various aspects of how people work together, innovate, cooperate, and find new ways to imagine their products, markets, and competition--as well as what happens when they don't. This is a translation of a work first published is Swedish by BookHouse Publishing, Stockholm, Sweden. It is not indexed.
Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Excellent, entertaining reading with a serious business purpose, especially for technology entrepreneurs and seed venture capitalists. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections.Choice

An irreverent, eye-opening, and incisive guide to the social and cultural forces affecting business today--and how to navigate them successfully.

Preface

Endless Solos

Freed by Robots

Changing the Rules

Material Boys and Girls

The Age of Abnormality

Talent Takes Over

Customer in Charge

Capitalists Are Crying

Webs of Wisdom

Innovation Inc

The Holy Grail of Business

Models with Minds

Moods that Matter

Managing Moody Models

Breaking Free from Karaoke

Notes Photo Credits