Showing posts with label decision making. Show all posts
Showing posts with label decision making. Show all posts

Data Mining and Market Intelligence for Optimal Marketing Returns Review

Data Mining and Market Intelligence for Optimal Marketing Returns
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Data Mining and Market Intelligence for Optimal Marketing Returns ReviewThis is the best market analytics book I have ever read. It provides a very complete, detailed, thorough and practical way to apply quantitative modelling, techniques, and methods to solve everyday problems in marketing, whether that is market planning, market investment, marketing design or implementation. High recommended!!!Data Mining and Market Intelligence for Optimal Marketing Returns OverviewThe authors present a practical and highly informative perspective on the elements that are crucial to the success of a marketing campaign. Unlike books that are either too theoretical to be of practical use to practitioners, or too soft to serve as solid and measurable implementation guidelines, this book focuses on the integration of established quantitative techniques into real life case studies that are immediately relevant to marketing practitioners.* Provides a dual treatment of market research and data mining * Uses a how-to approach for professionals with illustrative case studies in addition to theory * Includes practical tips on how to create executive reports, dashboards, and a market intelligence infrastructure

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Project Decisions: The Art and Science Review

Project Decisions: The Art and Science
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Project Decisions: The Art and Science ReviewThe main problem with many decision analysis books is that they are too academic and are intended for people with some operations research and management science background. "Project Decisions" is written for much broader audience. There is very little math in this book. Instead, the book is full of real-life project examples (e.g., NASA's X-33 single stage to orbit launch system and New Horizon mission to Pluto, ITER thermonuclear reactor, Toyota Prius hybrid car, new Bay bridge design and construction in San Francisco) and stories based on popular movies (e.g., Home Alone, Ocean's 11, Armageddon). As an interesting and entertaining introduction to the whole topic, the book starts off with a simple judgment test to help you assess you decision making skills.
"Project Decisions: The Art and Science" is not an ordinary decision analysis book. It is a book for project managers who don't use decision analysis because they are unaware of decision analysis techniques and tools. Each part of the book describes a phase of the decision analysis process: decision framing, modeling, quantitative decision analysis, implementation monitoring and reviews.
The book pays significant attention to risk management and risk analysis tools and techniques. Both quantitative and qualitative risk analysis techniques are described. The book includes separate chapters on sensitivity analysis, decision tree and value of information analysis, Monte Carlo simulations, and Event chain methodology.
One of the most important and often overlooked areas of project management is related to psychology or judgment and decision-making. The authors introduce the basic principles of behavioral branch of the decision analysis theory. They dedicate separate chapters to decision-making in groups, reviews and evaluation of decisions, multi-criteria decision-making and other important aspects of decision analysis.
Project Decisions: The Art and Science OverviewProject management is the art of making the right decisions. To be effective as a project manager, you must know how to make rational choices in project management, what processes can help you to improve these choices, and what tools are available to help you through the decision-making process. Project Decisions: The Art and Science is an entertaining and easy-to-read guide to a structured project decision analysis process. This valuable text presents the basics of cognitive psychology and quantitative analysis methods to help project managers make better decisions. Examples that portray different projects, real-life stories, and popular culture will help readers acquire the essential knowledge and skills required for effective project decision-making. Readers will be able to: -Understand psychological pitfalls related to project management -Establish a creative business environment in their organization -Identify project risks and uncertainties -Develop estimates of project time and cost based on an understanding of human psychology -Perform basic quantitative and qualitative risk and decision analysis -Use event chain methodology in managing projects -Communicate the results of decision analysis to decision-makers -Review project decisions and perform adaptive project management -Establish a project decision analysis process in their organization PLUS Test your own judgment through a quiz that examines your intuition!

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The Deciding Factor: The Power of Analytics to Make Every Decision a Winner Review

The Deciding Factor: The Power of Analytics to Make Every Decision a Winner
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The Deciding Factor: The Power of Analytics to Make Every Decision a Winner ReviewThis is a great book if you have a need to sell executive leadership on the usefulness of extracting additional value out of organizational data.
I bought this book with great anticipation as I have been on the search for books that describe how to leverage data analytics within business...I kept waiting for the punchline. There were many references as to how decision analytics can drive efficiency gains and revenue, yet no noticeable mention of how to go about doing it. It read like a subtle sales pitch as to why you should hire Fair Issac to help you get there. There was barely enough technical jargon included to even go start researching descriptive and predictive analytics models. I found myself going to wikipedia and reading about this subject, then going back to the book, waiting..In protest, I refused to read the last 5 pages.
There's value in the book for those business leaders that have absolutely no knowledge of the topic, which is why I gave it 3 stars. Just don't go thinking that it provides any insight as to how to start extracting that value.The Deciding Factor: The Power of Analytics to Make Every Decision a Winner Overview
Praise for The Deciding Factor

"Both companies and governments have made some poor decisions recently, and almost all would benefit from more fact-based and analytical approaches. This book provides clear methods and extensive examples for organizations that want to make better, faster, and more consistent decisions."-Thomas H. Davenport, author, Competing on Analytics, and President's Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management, Babson College
"The secrets of the decision-making processes employed by the most successful corporations of the world are revealed in The Deciding Factor. Both corporate decision makers as well as analysts will gain invaluable insights from this treasure trove of case studies and expert guidelines." -Robert Heller, former president and CEO of VISA U.S.A., and former governor, Federal Reserve Board
"Information, used correctly and creatively, can be a source of tremendous customer value, competitive advantage, and company profitability. The Deciding Factor will help you understand if you have this opportunity, and how you might seize it."-Nigel Morris, co-founder, Capital One Financial Services
"There has never been a more important time in business history to truly understand both the technical strengths and conceptual weaknesses of decision analytics. If you're prepared to be serious, The Deciding Factor offers the insider's insights that matter when managing innovation risk."-Michael Schrage, author, Serious Play, and research associate, MIT Sloan School of Management

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How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of "Intangibles" in Business Review

How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business
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How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of "Intangibles" in Business ReviewHubbard explains how to "find the value of intangibles in business." An excellent book and one which should be on every manager's book shelf.
Hubbard has made what can be a deadly dull subject interesting and accessible. I found several examples for measuring exactly what I needed and always felt I could not measure. This book is a must read for leaders including the Master Six Sigma Blackbelt on your staff. Finding the value of intangibles in business has always been a challenge. How to Measure Anything is full of practical ideas for getting to a measurement.
Measurement: reducing the uncertainty. As long as we are not willing to accept a best guess, or educated estimate, or range of possibilities for a difficult to measure item we will not move forward. Our decisions will be flawed. Hubbard put forth these four assumptions which I found to be most useful when thinking about measuring:
1.Your problem is not as unique as you think
2.You have more data than you think
3.You need less data than you think
4.There is a useful measurement that is much simpler than you think.

Numbers can be used to confuse people; especially the gullible ones lacking basic skills with numbers. Therefore we, as leaders, must be committed to making sure the whole organization is data driven and understands the way we can reduce uncertainty through the straight forward techniques Hubbard explains. As he states, "The fact is that the preference for ignorance over even marginal reductions in ignorance is never the moral high ground."
Hubbard gives us a very useful check list for a Universal Approach to Measurement:
1.What are you trying to measure? What is the real meaning of the alleged "intangible?"
2.Why do you care -- what's the decision and where is the "threshold?"
3.How much do you know now -- what ranges or probabilities represent your uncertainty about this?
4.What is the value of the information? What are the consequences of being wrong and the chance of being wrong, and what, if any, measurement effort would be justified?
5.Within a cost justified by the information value, which observations would confirm or eliminate different possibilities? For each possible scenario, what is the simplest thing we should see if that scenario were true?
6.How do you conduct the measurement that accounts for various types of avoidable errors (again, where the cost is less than the value of the information)?
I especially enjoy the approach Hubbard takes to quantify the cost of making measurement based on the value of the information obtained. Too often, I have seen projects founder on either inaction to get data which would be of great value and little cost or, perhaps, the exact opposite -- spending great amounts of time and money to obtain relatively useless information.
To emphasize: After reading Hubbard's excellent book on `How to Measure Anything,' I was able to immediately solve several measurement challenges for my CEO and Business Owner colleagues. This book makes accessible measurement techniques that have eluded many of my colleagues. It should be on every manager's desk. - Dave Kinnear, CEO dbkAssociates, Inc. and Vistage Chair.How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of "Intangibles" in Business OverviewPraise for How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business"I love this book. Douglas Hubbard helps us create a path to know the answer to almost any question in business, in science, or in life . . . Hubbard helps us by showing us that when we seek metrics to solve problems, we are really trying to know something better than we know it now. How to Measure Anything provides just the tools most of us need to measure anything better, to gain that insight, to make progress, and to succeed."-Peter Tippett, PhD, M.D.Chief Technology Officer at CyberTrustand inventor of the first antivirus software"Doug Hubbard has provided an easy-to-read, demystifying explanation of how managers can inform themselves to make less risky, more profitable business decisions. We encourage our clients to try his powerful, practical techniques."-Peter SchayEVP and COO ofThe Advisory Council"As a reader you soon realize that actually everything can be measured while learning how to measure only what matters. This book cuts through conventional clich?s and business rhetoric and offers practical steps to using measurements as a tool for better decision making. Hubbard bridges the gaps to make college statistics relevant and valuable for business decisions."-Ray GilbertEVP Lucent"This book is remarkable in its range of measurement applications and its clarity of style. A must-read for every professional who has ever exclaimed, 'Sure, that concept is important, but can we measure it?'"-Dr. Jack StennerCofounder and CEO of MetraMetrics, Inc.

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Hardcore Inventing: Invent, Protect, Promote, and Profit From Your Inventions Review

Hardcore Inventing: Invent, Protect, Promote, and Profit From Your Inventions
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Hardcore Inventing: Invent, Protect, Promote, and Profit From Your Inventions Review
When I cruise through B&N and spot a book that might be helpful to my SCORE-dot-org clients I usually take the necessary steps to write a book review for it. These days I am being a little more particular as to what I will review since I am tiring of the activity. But I could not let this book slide by. In my humbe opinion it is a great companion book to Invent Yourself Rich: 16 Secrets for Creating Million-Dollar Inventions which I read and wrote a review for a few years back.
The instant book has five parts broken into twenty chapters and three appendices as follows:
I. Invent (1-8)
II. Protect (9-11)
III. Promote (12-14)
IV. Profit (15-20)
V. Appendices (A-C)
0. Introduction
1. Success story - The Rescue Streamer Technology
2. Identifying & solving the problem
3. How nature inspired my inventions
4. Scour your brain
5. Making your idea a reality: Inventor's logs, prototypes, & marketing evaluations
6. Build a show prototype
7. Name your invention
8. Checklist - Is your idea feasible, marketable & financially viable?
9. Safeguard your intellectual property - Paranoia can be good
10. Step-by-step guide from disclosure to patent - Etch it in stone
11. Alernatives to utility patents
12. Get your invention out there
13. Find investors: Targeted strikes & mobilizing the troops
14. Protect yourself from fraudulent promotion companies
15. Licening
16. Manufacturing
17. Marketing
18. The home entrepreneur - Bottom-feeding
19. Venture Capitalists & angel investors
20. Critical crossroads
A. Useful Web sites
B. Suggested reading
C. Sample agreements & letters
The book is not written by an attorney nor a business consultant. It's written by an inventor who wants to share his experiences in getting his invention (Rescue Streamer Technology) patented and profitable. He's also probably written it as a marketing tool for his invention. If I had not read the book, then I would never have heard of his invention.
This book is probably more detailed and a little bit more informative than the book I read a few years back. It gives another perspective - so I highly recommend anyone interested in the subject get both books and become very informed on the topic. 5 stars!Hardcore Inventing: Invent, Protect, Promote, and Profit From Your Inventions OverviewBased on the author's experience in the world of inventing and promotion, HardcoreInventing offers the kind of advice you can only learn from experience: how to develop an idea into an invention, how to build a prototype for show, how to safeguard intellectual property, how to market both strategically and in "guerilla" mode, how to find investors, and much more. And all of that is based on his IP 3"Tactical Method" which breaks everything down to Invent, Protect, Promote, and Profit.

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The Wisdom of Crowds Review

The Wisdom of Crowds
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The Wisdom of Crowds ReviewThe Wisdom of Crowds : Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business,Economies, Societies and Nations by James Surowiecki is, essentially, a thoroughly accessible and readable tome on applied behavioral economics and game theory.
I know that doesn't sound too exciting, but this actually is a fascinating book that is something of a page turner if you have even the most vestigial interest in the topic.
The premise isn't new-those who are denizens of Wall Street and know Robert Prechter's oft cited work with Elliott Wave Theory will know something of the underlying premises of the book. However, Surowiecki takes this notion and moves well beyond the confined world if inventing (though he covers that as well) to apply the principles he delineates to life in general-behavior in traffic, tracking and responding to disease, navigating the internet and so on.
The strength of the boom is Surowiecki's ability to render the underpinnings of his theoretical paradigm in easily understandable terms and examples. Additionally, the book features an excellent opening that provides a wonderful foundation as regards applied behavioral economics and game theory in general.
On the other hand, Surowiecki tends to play both sides of the street. He uses his "expert" position on the subject to configure his arguments and analysis to tilt the weight of evidence behind his theory in many cases. In other words, his familiarity with where he wants this to go influences his choices of examples. Moreover, he relies on too few examples in too many cases. For example, the world of wall Street should have provided a wealth of examples as to the validity-and the errors-inherent in his theory. His choices seem to be crafted to provide maximum support while eliminating any element of contraindication whatsoever.
So, in the end, despite the fact that Surowiecki has written a wonderfully readable book, and posited some fascinating theoretical axioms, the book feels a bit to tilted to be thoroughly honest with the subject matter in an applied arena. Surowiecki gives us much food for thought but also leaves us with reasons to doubt somewhat his objectivity and intellectual honesty. That fact detracts frm the value of the book, and that's a shame.The Wisdom of Crowds Overview

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Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-By-Numbers is the New Way To Be Smart Review

Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-By-Numbers is the New Way To Be Smart
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Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-By-Numbers is the New Way To Be Smart ReviewIs it a new brand of cereal? Or maybe it's a granola bar, or a chunky peanut butter spread? Then again, could it be the latest infomercial exercise device designed to give you the six pack abs you've always dreamed of but know in your heart of hearts you'll never achieve? Actually, it's a book - the title a product of the very methods the book describes. Here's what SUPER CRUNCHERS says.
(1) Mathematical regression models generated from large datasets often generate better predictions than human experts, and they provide supporting information on the predictive weight and reliability of each explanatory variable.
(2) Well-crafted experiments using randomized trials and control groups provide good market research and behavioral analysis results.
(3) Technological advances - the Internet, massive data storage devices, rapid computation, broadband telecommunication - are making it possible to share more sources of information and create ever-larger databases for analysis.
(4) Today's companies engage in multiple forms of market research by creating and using large databases and large-scale randomized trials.
(5) Many phenomena conform to normal distributions in which 95% of the population will be found within two standard deviations of the mean, the5% balance generally divided evenly in the two tails.
That's it. I just saved you $25.00 U.S. and a half-dozen or more hours learning how a guy from Yale named Ian Ayres collected a bit of information about applied mathematical techniques that have been in practical use for decades, packaged them up, palmed them off as something new, and cooked up the ridiculous name Super Crunching to describe an ostensibly new technological development. Yet "Super Crunching" is nothing more than the author's marketing hype for a couple of standard mathematical methodologies, a creation of nothing from something. There's no new breakthrough here, no new paradigm.
Yes, the anecdotal information about the future prices of wine vintages, Capital One's teaser offerings, and evidence-based medical diagnosis are interesting (hence the two stars rating). The rest, however, is neither prescriptive nor sufficiently critically analytical. Should we go out shopping for a Super Cruncher tomorrow? Should we delight in the increased accuracy of data-driven modeling and prediction, or should we fear the implied manipulation of our desires and the incessant, single-minded drive toward maximum profit at the expense of creativity? Do we really want movies and books to be developed from mathematical models like Epagogix? Do we really want our every keystroke on the Internet to be fodder for market research that manipulates us in response? John Kenneth Galbraith, among others, warned of exogenous, manufactured demand decades ago.
SUPER CRUNCHERS is part business tome, part econometric paean, and part sociology book, but not fully any of the three. No matter how many time the author uses words like "cool" and "humongous" and "amazing," it's still regrettably a "No Sale" even for someone like me who enjoys reading about applied mathematics.
Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-By-Numbers is the New Way To Be Smart Overview

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