Entrepreneurs Inside: Accelerating Business Growth with Corporate Entrepreneurs was inspired by an extraordinary group of individuals who stepped up to the challenge of building new growth businesses in their organizations. Building a new business inside an existing organization is a daunting task. It takes a unique combination of competencies to lead these initiatives. The book describes the competencies of successful corporate entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial leaders. It also reveals the obstacles and hidden barriers these executives encountered as they created the entrepreneurial culture necessary for success. Most valuably, the book offers a practical look at corporate entrepreneurship, innovation, and execution.

This memoir provides a glimpse into the well-known and long-standing local Bedford company of W. & H. Peacock during the years 1902-1988. This memoir provides a glimpse into the well-known and long-standing local Bedford company of W. & H. Peacock during the years 1902-1988. The author draws on a wide variety of sources, many from his own collection, including property instruction books, business ephemera and auctioneers' handbooks and also from the recollections of his colleagues. The memoir includes information about other well-known firms of auctioneers and estate agents in the area and is the first to tell a story of auctioneering and estate agency in Bedfordshire. Of lasting value to local, family and social historians is the appendix of all known property auctions undertaken by Peacocks. Transcribed from the original auctioneers' handbooks (now lost), the list has been supplemented with references to newspaper advertisements and auction catalogues in the Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service. The auction records give, where possible, the date and venue of the auction, a description of the property and the auction price. Some additional information is provided if known, such as the name of the person instructing Peacocks, the names of tenants and the rental value of the property. The introduction by Richard Moore-Colyer explores the history of auctioneering in England from the seventeenth century, when auctions were conducted very differently.

What can you learn from one of the most successful companies in the world? The Spanx Story will help you understand and adopt the competitive strategies, workplace culture, and daily business practices that enabled entrepreneur Sara Blakely to dominate the shapewear industry and become a billionaire. Sara Blakely had a problem. She had a beautiful pair of white designer pants hanging in her closet just calling out to her to wear them, even though they accented her least favorite feature: cellulite. After searching high and low for a solution and coming up empty, an idea was born: Spanx. The Spanx Story chronicles Sara's journey from long nights researching patent and trademark law, to years of cold shoulders she received from the titans of the pantyhose industry, to the cold call that led to the shelves of Nieman Marcus. It was a long road of incredible hard work and determination that led Spanx to become the iconic brand it is today. Through Sara's story, you will learn: How to develop an idea and turn it into a business. How to start a company with very little capital by thinking outside of the box and dedicating every spare moment to your goal. How to recognize when it's better to hire a CEO than to be the CEO. How to stay the course and continue to believe in your idea, despite naysayers and going against an industry resistant to innovation. The Spanx Story educates and inspires entrepreneurs and innovators to find the problem for their solutions and persevere through the hard work that goes into building a billion-dollar company.

The story of Oxford University Press spans five centuries of printing and publishing. Beginning with the first presses set up in Oxford in the fifteenth century and the later establishment of a university printing house, it leads through the publication of bibles, scholarly works, and the Oxford English Dictionary, to a twentieth-century expansion that created the largest university press in the world, playing a part in research, education, and language learning in more than 50 countries. With access to extensive archives, The History of OUP traces the impact of long-term changes in printing technology and the business of publishing. It also considers the effects of wider trends in education, reading, and scholarship, in international trade and the spreading influence of the English language, and in cultural and social history - both in Oxford and through its presence around the world. This first volume begins with the successive attempts to establish printing at Oxford from 1478 onwards. Ian Gadd and sixteen expert contributors chart the activities of individual university printers, the eventual establishment of a university printing house, its relationship with the University, and influential developments in printing under Archbishop Laud, John Fell, and William Blackstone. They explore the range of scholarly and religious works produced, together with the growing influence of the University Press on the city of Oxford, and its place in the book trade in general.

What can you learn from the world's most successful companies? Marvel characters have been shaping pop culture for decades and when comic books were no longer keeping the company afloat, Marvel Studios was born. Marvel Studios is the multibillion-dollar home to iconic franchises. They are known for creating brilliant multilayered worlds and storylines that allow their audiences to escape into a fantasy and inspire the creative side of every viewer. But, behind those visionaries is a well-oiled storytelling machine dedicated to getting the Hulk's smash fists in the hands of every child and a sea of Spiderman costumes deployed every Halloween. The Marvel Studios Story educates you on how one of the largest creative companies in the planetary universe runs their business and keeps their fans and their parent company, Disney, counting the profits. Through the story of Marvel Studios, you'll learn: How to recognize and pursue additional revenue streams. How a company can successfully balance the creative with business to appease investors and fans alike. And how to keep a decades-old superhero franchise new and exciting without losing sight of its roots. The Marvel Studios Story will help you understand and adopt the competitive strategies, workplace culture, and daily business practices that enabled a struggling comic book publisher to parlay the power of myth and storytelling to become one of history's most successful movie studios.

Founded in 1987 by a former engineer in China's People's Liberation Army (Ren Zhengfei), Huawei Technologies is the world's largest telecoms equipment manufacturer and second only to Apple in smartphones. Its emergence into a multinational with over 175,000 employees all around the world is nothing short of extraordinary. This book delves into the financial workings and systems within Huawei - and the individuals whose craftsmanship and excellence enabled Huawei to expand globally in such impressive terms. Their personal stories tell us about the extraordinary vision, dedication, and perseverance required for companies to establish a robust financial system that supports the growth of a world-class company. Huawei's goal is not just to have profitable income and healthy cash flow. More important is that operating results are sustainable.

The Pyramid of Lies by international financial journalist Duncan Mavin, is the true story of Lex Greensill, the Australian farmer who became a hi-flying billionaire banker before crashing back down to earth, exposing a tangled network of flawed financiers, politicians and industrialists. Lex Greensill had a simple, billion-dollar idea - democratising supply chain finance. Suppliers want to get their invoices paid as soon as possible. Companies want to hold off as long as they can. Greensill bridged the two, it's mundane, boring even, but he saw an opportunity to profit. However, margins are thin and Lex, ever the risk taker, made lucrative loans with other people's money: to a Russian cargo plane linked to Vladmir Putin, to former Special Forces who ran a private army, and crucially to companies that were fraudulent or had no revenue. When the company finally collapsed it exposed the revolving door between Westminster and big business and how David Cameron was allowed to lobby ministers for cash that would save Greensill's doomed business. Instead, Credit Suisse and Japan's SoftBank are nursing billions of dollars in losses, a German bank is under criminal investigation, and thousands of jobs are at risk. What Bad Blood did for Silicon Valley and The Smartest Guys in the Room did for Wall Street, The Pyramid of Lies will do for the world of shadow banking and supply chain finance. It is a world populated with some of the most outlandish characters in business and some of the most outrageous examples of excess. It is a story of greed and ambition that shines a light on the murky intersection between politics and business, where lavish fortunes can be made and lost.