Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

John Kay has been described as the `most important business analyst in Britain bar none', and this book shows why. Here he combines common sense and rigorous economic thinking in a number of essays on business and economic issues---the competitiveness of UK plc, the stakeholder economy, business strategy, and corporate personality. Kay is well known for his incisive and entertaining columns in the Financial Times (some of which are included here), his regular audio and TV broadcasts, and is much in demand as a speaker and consultant. In The Business of Economics he shares his analysis, thoughts and insights on a range of urgent and important issues facing the country and individual firms. His clear and direct writing style will inform, challenge, and entertain; his rigorous and clever analysis of the corporate world will offer insights into the business problems and decisions faced by executives and managers every day. The book confirms the judgement of the Economist - `that John Kay is well on the way to turning himself into a European Michael Porter.'

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface (p. v)
• I Economics in Business (p. 1)
• Chapter 1 Economics and Business (p. 3)
• Chapter 2 The Failures of Forecasting (p. 9)
• Chapter 3 Economic Models (p. 14)
• Chapter 4 Uses and Abuses of Economics (p. 20)
• Chapter 5 Can There Be a Science of Business? (p. 26)
• Ii Competitive Advantage (p. 33)
• Chapter 6 The Structure of Strategy (p. 35)
• Chapter 7 Competitive Advantage (p. 50)
• Chapter 8 Adding Value (p. 57)
• Chapter 9 No Free Lunches (p. 64)
• Chapter 10 The Competitive Advantage of Nations (p. 69)
• Iii Corporate Personality Shareholders And Stakeholders (p. 81)
• Chapter 11 Relationships and Commitments (p. 83)
• Chapter 12 Contracts or Relationships (p. 89)
• Chapter 13 Corporate Governance (p. 105)
• Chapter 14 The Customer Corporation (p. 122)
• Chapter 15 Inclusive Economies (p. 137)
• IV Using Economics (p. 149)
• Chapter 16 Applying Economics (p. 151)
• Chapter 17 The Strategic Audit (p. 163)
• Chapter 18 Pricing the Tunnel (p. 175)
• Chapter 19 The Media Revolution (p. 188)
• Chapter 20 Firms and Industries (p. 193)
• References (p. 207)
• Index (p. 211)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Kay, noted columnist for the Financial Times, applies microeconomic analysis to contemporary business and economic issues in a thought-provoking collection of his essays, articles, and lectures. Divided into four sections ("Economics in Business," "Competitive Advantage," "Corporate Personality: Shareholders and Stakeholders," and "Using Economics"), the work provides important insight and historical perspective on corporate strategic decision theory. The chapters, without the traditional graphics or mathematical computations associated with econometrics, solidify the validity and importance of traditional economic thought to organizational success. The writing style is succinct. Minimal familiarity with economics, marketing, and finance is necessary to understand the subtlety of the discussion. The author makes excellent use of current examples and provides reference notes. Required reading for all upper-division undergraduate and graduate business students. Recommended for academic and professional collections. S. R. Kahn; University of Cincinnati

Booklist Review

Kay seemingly only offers the scholarly proposition that scientific economic principles can and should be applied to management, but this book will attract a wider audience because of who the author is and his unabashedly provocative arguments. Besides running a well-regarded consulting firm, Kay left the London School of Economics to bring management studies to staid Oxford University, where business is not universally considered to be an appropriate pursuit. To complicate the issue, Kay has agreed to accept a $31 million donation from a Syrian-born arms dealer for the construction of a building for the school, and he is a major adviser to Tony Blair, Britain's opposition Labor Party head. This book is a collection of his newspaper columns as well as essays, lectures, and more scholarly articles. These individual pieces have been combined to make a rather coherent argument, one that suggests that microeconomics ("the study of markets, industries, and firms") should take priority over macroeconomics ("the analysis of monetary and fiscal policies") in the study of management. --David Rouse

Author notes provided by Syndetics

John Kay is Director of the School of Management Studies at Oxford University, and Chairman of the consultancy London Economics. He is the author of numerous books, including the bestselling Foundations of Corporate Success.