Synopses & Reviews
The New Pioneers introduces the entrepreneurs who are revolutionizing the way America does business -- from bankers to bakers, weavers to Web designers, manufacturers to medical researchers. In dozens of entertaining case histories and personal profiles, Thomas Petzinger shows that old-fashioned corporations are losing out to innovators engaged in creating collaborative workplaces, a value-added marketplace, and an economy overflowing with opportunity. Through compelling storytelling and incisive analysis, he illuminates how and why:
- Technology is replacing economies of scale with economies of scope and locality
- Today's entrepreneurs are redefining the meaning of "niche"
- Radical compensation and motivation strategies are establishing a new kind of workforce
- The family firm can serve as a model for all business
- The new business ethos signals a return to fundamental values
Review
Phil Condit chairman and CEO, The Boeing Company For those would-be pioneers who are considering a venture into the tumultuous world of small-business ownership, Thomas Petzinger's book should be required reading.
Review
Adam Brandenburger coauthor of Co-opetiton and Harvard Business School professor Petzinger has written a passionate account of the "new order" in business -- an order in which exciting technology goes hand-in-hand with a culture of compassion.
Review
Robert Shapiro chairman and CEO, Monsanto Company Tom Petzinger understands everything important in business -- how technology changes the world, how adaptive organizations work, how people do heroic things. And instead of preaching about it, he tells stories that are instantly understandable and unforgettable.
Review
John Naisbitt author of Megatrends Thomas Petzinger is our navigator, the storyteller of the new opportunity economy. The New Pioneers is a brilliant and energizing tour de force.
Synopsis
One of the nation's most respected business columnists takes an eye-opening journey through a business world in which small and medium-sized companies are setting the pace for the new economy and leaving "corporate dinosaurs" in the dust.
Synopsis
The New Pioneers introduces the entrepreneurs who are revolutionizing the way America does business -- from bankers to bakers, weavers to Web designers, manufacturers to medical researchers. In dozens of entertaining case histories and personal profiles, Thomas Petzinger shows that old-fashioned corporations are losing out to innovators engaged in creating collaborative workplaces, a value-added marketplace, and an economy overflowing with opportunity. Through compelling storytelling and incisive analysis, he illuminates how and why:
- Technology is replacing economies of scale with economies of scope and locality
- Today's entrepreneurs are redefining the meaning of "niche"
- Radical compensation and motivation strategies are establishing a new kind of workforce
- The family firm can serve as a model for all business
- The new business ethos signals a return to fundamental values
About the Author
Thomas Petzinger, Jr., spent twenty years at The Wall Street Journal, working as a beat reporter, investigative reporter, bureau chief, Washington economics editor, and author of the weekly column "The Front Lines." The author of Hard Landing and Oil & Honor, he lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Table of Contents
ContentsIntroduction: The Age of Adaptation
1. Being in Business
Trade and technology are fundamentally human.
2. Everyone a Middleman
Why the new rules favor the small and connected.
3. "Have It Your Way"
The customer is the common denominator.
4. What Am I Bid?
A revolutionary economy demands radical pricing.
5. From Planning to Playing
How agility and identity nurture innovation and trust.
6. Nobody's as Smart as Everybody
Knowledge and self-organization flourish at the edge of chaos.
7. All Together Now
How common purpose comes to life.
8. Money and Motivation
Where people yearn to perform.
9. At Home in the Economy
The reunion of family and work.
10. "All My Sons"
Will business save society?
Notes
Annotated Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index