In Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, veteran technology journalist Ashlee Vance provides the first inside look into the extraordinary life and times of Silicon Valley's most audacious entrepreneur.

Written with exclusive access to Musk, his family and friends, the book traces the entrepreneur's journey from a rough upbringing in South Africa to the pinnacle of the global business world. Vance spent over 50 hours in conversation with Musk and interviewed close to 300 people to tell the tumultuous stories of Musk's world-changing companies: PayPal, Tesla Motors, SpaceX and SolarCity, and to characterize a man who has renewed American industry and sparked new levels of innovation while making plenty of enemies along the way.

Vance uses Musk's story to explore one of the pressing questions of our time: can the nation of inventors and creators which led the modern world for a century still compete in an age of fierce global competition? He argues that Musk--one of the most unusual and striking figures in American business history--is a contemporary amalgam of legendary inventors and industrialists like Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, and Steve Jobs. More than any other entrepreneur today, Musk has dedicated his energies and his own vast fortune to inventing a future that is as rich and far-reaching as the visionaries of the golden age of science-fiction fantasy.

The 1980s was the era when affordable computers came to UK homes. They were known as microcomputers as their 'brain' was a microprocessor chip. Before then, computers were either found in the IT centres of big companies, taking up a whole room, or were large desktop machines with a price tag that put them out of reach for most people. But in February 1980, a company called Sinclair Computers launched their first home computer costing less than GBP100 - the ZX80. It began a very exciting time for all those with an interest in technology, and the UK home computer market was born. The first Sinclair ZX80s were soon joined by a host of competition in the early years of the 1980s as machines were released from companies such as Acorn, Dragon, Tangerine and Commodore. They all wanted a share of a market that would soon be worth millions of pounds. This book explores the history of these companies and the entrepreneurs behind them such as Sir Clive Sinclair of Sinclair Computers and Chris Curry of Acorn Computers. The innovative machines they produced inspired a generation.

Imagine if you could be a fly on the wall as a family enterprise becomes one of the most successful companies in the world. The Target Story will help you understand and adopt the competitive strategies, workplace culture, and daily business practices that enabled the big box store to become the retail giant it is today. In an industry that has seen constant disruption over the last two decades, Target has experienced tremendous growth. Establishing a strong eCommerce business and cultivating a sought-after in-store experience has kept this iconic brand at the top of the retail game. From same-day fulfillment to brand partnerships, Target has successfully fought the domination of online marketplaces by thinking outside the big box. The growth, prosperity, and expansion strategies that can be gleaned from the history of the Target Corporation amounts to a masterclass in business. Yet, the Target story has never been adequately presented. Until now. Through the story of Target, you'll learn: How to remain nimble in times of tremendous change. How to reinvent a six-decade-old iconic brand. How to know when to build it yourself or bring in the experts. When to change the entire way you do business. And much, much more.

Proven principles for sustainable success, with new leadership insight PEAK is the popular, transformative guide to doing business better, written by a seasoned entrepreneur/CEO who has disrupted his favorite industry not once, but twice. Author Chip Conley, founder and former CEO of one of the world's largest boutique hotel companies, turned to psychologist Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs at a time when his company was in dire need. And years later, when the young founders of Airbnb asked him to help turn their start-up home sharing company into a world-class hospitality giant, Conley once again used the principles he'd developed in PEAK. In the decade since this book's first edition, Conley's PEAK strategy has been developed on six continents in organizations in virtually every industry. The author's foundational premise is that great leaders become amateur psychologists by understanding the unique needs of three key relationships--with employees, customers, and investors--and this message has resonated with every kind of leader and company including some of the world's best-known, from Apple to Facebook. Avid users of PEAK have found that the principles create greater loyalty and differentiation with their key stakeholders. This new second edition includes in-depth examples of real-world PEAK companies, including the author's own at Airbnb, and exclusive PEAK leadership practices that will take you--and your company's performance--to new heights. Whether you're at a startup or a Fortune 500 company, at a for-profit, nonprofit, or governmental organization, this book can help you and your people reach potential you never realized you had. Understand how Maslow's hierarchy makes for winning business practices Learn how PEAK drove some of today's top businesses to success Help employees reach their full potential--and beyond Transform the customer experience and keep investors happy The PEAK framework succeeds because it elevates the business from the inside out. These same principles apply in the boardroom, the breakroom, and your living room at home, and have proven to be the foundation of healthy, fulfilled lives. Even if you think you're doing great, you could always be doing better--and PEAK gives you a roadmap to the next level.

As consumers, our access to-and appetite for-information about what and how we buy continues to grow. Powered by social media, increasingly we look at the companies behind the products and are disappointed when their actions do not meet our expectations. With engaged citizens acting as 24/7 auditors of corporate behavior, one formerly trusted company after another has had their business disrupted with astonishing velocity in the wake of what, in the past, might have been written off as a bad media cycle. Gone are the days when a company could hide behind "socially responsible" branding or when marketing controlled the corporate narrative. That control has shifted to engaged stakeholders in the new social landscape, requiring a more radical change to company practices. James Rubin and Barie Carmichael provide a strategic roadmap for businesses to navigate the new era, rebuild trust, and find their voice. Reset traces the global decline of trust in business at the same time that the public's expectations for business's role in society is increasing. Today, businesses must bridge this widening gap at a time when online stakeholders are committed to holding business accountable for its behavior, with unprecedented internal and external scrutiny. This requires strategic solutions anchored in a critical outside-in understanding of the stakeholder footprint of the business model. Reset offers case studies of reputations lost and found, suggesting fundamental strategies to mitigate risk and build the corporate brand. In this new era of instant transparency, corporate behavior has become the proof of corporate character for recruiting and retaining both customers and the next generation of talent. Offering essential advice for managing brand, reputation, and risk, this book is a guide to navigating the pitfalls and taking advantage of the opportunities of the reset.

This book focuses on the business story of Walt Disney and the company he built. Combining a unique blend of entrepreneurship, creativity, innovation, and a relentless drive to bring out the best in his teams, Walt Disney created one of the most successful ventures in business history. Outlining the specific processes of the company, Goldsby and Mathews provide the reader with the tools they need to embrace their own entrepreneurial leadership style, to lead effectively, to be more innovative, and to build a successful organization. Through the lens of Disney, the reader learns the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership. Beginning with a general introduction to the concepts relevant to the entrepreneurial organization today, the book examines how Disney built his empire and how the company remains an industry leader. The book also provides the opportunity to take the Entrepreneurial Leadership Instrument, which measures one's style in leading entrepreneurial ventures. The book is divided into two parts: * Part I provides an overview of Disney's entrepreneurial journey, including the topics of vision, risk-taking, financing, and human resource management; * Part II examines the company's transition from a family business into a global operation, including topics such as succession planning and strategy. Part II also explores Disney Parks and Resorts, the part of the company that interacts directly with customers, including topics such as culture, employee engagement, customer service, and customer experience. Entrepreneurship the Disney Way brings entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership to life through the compelling story of one of the most recognizable businessmen and companies of our time. The authors' interviews with high-level executives provides the reader with a rare inside look into the way his company functions. Disney fans, executives, and students of entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership will find it a delightful and informing read.

Smiths Group (formerly Smiths Industries), part of the UK FTSE 100 index, is a global engineering company with a market capitalisation over GBP5bn. Evolving from beginnings in the Victorian jewellery trade, to significant market presences in the twentieth century motor accessory, clock and watch industries, it has reinvented itself again as a diversified international company, operating in the medical, communications, security and engineered components sectors. Its narrative history, illuminating the reasons for its survival and adaptability, offers useful data and information to aid wider research into questions such as the legitimacy of conglomerates as a business model, the creation and maintenance of corporate culture, issues of succession, the effects of mergers and the questionable value placed upon targeted synergies-even the role of serendipity. The story begins with several generations of the Smith family amassing a fortune in retail, and then, following a 1914 stock-market flotation, describes the transition from family run business to the development of a professionally-run managerial enterprise. Since the 1970s it has had to face the decline of major markets and competitive pressures, leading to the adoption of new business lines, globalisation, and the internationalisation of its workforce. It now has 23,000 employees across more than 50 countries-along the way shocking the markets by abandoning core businesses and undergoing a controversial merger. Unfettered access to company records, and interviews with former staff members, provide insights into the strategy and management of the firm, illuminating the rich culture of Smiths, characterised by the frequent fostering of technical brilliance and a cast of larger than life characters.

By examining "the real thing" ingredient by ingredient, this brilliant history shows how Coke used a strategy of outsourcing and leveraged free public resources, market muscle, and lobbying power to build a global empire on the sale of sugary water. Coke became a giant in a world of abundance but is now embattled in a world of scarcity, its products straining global resources and fueling crises in public health.

Chosen as one of the Daily Mail's Memoirs of the Year Tim Waterstone is one of Britain's most successful businessmen, having built the Waterstone's empire that started with one small bookshop in 1982. In this charming and evocative memoir, he recalls the childhood experiences that led him to become an entrepreneur and outlines the business philosophy that allowed Waterstone's to dominate the bookselling business throughout the country. Tim explores his formative years in a small town in rural England at the end of the Second World War, and the troubled relationship he had with his father, before moving on to the epiphany he had while studying at Cambridge, which set him on the road to Waterstone's and gave birth to the creative strategy that made him a high street name.

Traidcraft was a true pioneer of the Fair Trade movement and has played a major role in changing the landscape of ethical shopping. This book charts the history of Traidcraft from its birth in 1979 up until its 40th anniversary in 2019. The story is told through the eyes of one of its longest serving members, Joe Osman, who joined Traidcraft in its early days. The book features stories and anecdotes covering his extensive experience of travelling and putting fair trade into practice. Traidcraft was always an initiative rooted in the Christian faith and those origins are explored, as are the challenges of putting faith into action through a different way of doing business. Including contributions from many ex-members of staff, including its founder, as well as external collaborators and producers, this is a fascinating history of a truly revolutionary company.

What gave rise to our modern conceptions of professional status, and how did particular professions gain their privileged status? Magali Sarfatti Larson shows how our present conception and acceptance of profession was shaped in the liberal phase of capitalism.

Larson argues that professionalization was both a response to the extension of market relations and a movement for the conquest of collective social status by sectors of the bourgeoisie. By comparing the development of various professions in England and the United States during the first part of the nineteenth century, the author gives concrete historical illustration to the multiple relations professions form within their society.

Larson examines the new conditions of professionalization in the phase of corporate capitalism, drawing on a number of historical and sociological sources. While professions began as a mode of autonomous work organization, many credentialed occupations aspire to professionalize in order to shelter the labor markets in which they work. Larson argues that the idea of profession can function as a form of ideological control and concludes that today professionalism works against many of the values that had been historically vested in it. This classic book, complete with a new introduction that brings the work into the twenty-first century, is timely and should be read by all interested in the history and development of organizational life.

'Big Vape is a dazzling story that crackles with the energy of a nicotine buzz, mixing tales of ground-breaking innovation with those of corporate greed and government dysfunction' Christopher Leonard, author of the New York Times bestseller, Kochland It began with a smoke break. __________ THIS IS A STORY OF AMBITION AND GREED James Monsees and Adam Bowen were two ambitious graduate students at Stanford, and in between puffs after class they dreamed of a way to quit smoking. Their solution became the Juul, a sleek, modern device that could vaporize nicotine into a conveniently potent dose. THIS IS A STORY OF BOOM AND BUST The business they built around that device, Juul Labs, would go on to become a $38 billion company and draw blame for addicting a whole new generation of underage tobacco users. THIS IS A STORY OF OUR TIME With rigorous reporting and piercing insight into a Silicon Valley startup, Big Vape uses the dramatic rise of Juul to tell a larger story of big business, Big Tobacco, and the high cost of a product that was too good to be true. __________ A propulsive, eye-opening work of reporting, chronicling the rise of Juul and the birth of a new addiction 'The rise and fall of Juul is an instructive tale and Jamie Ducharme does an excellent job detailing how one bad decision after another led the company astray in this deft rendition of grand start-up dreams gone up in smoke.' Reeves Wiedeman, author of Billion Dollar Loser 'Big Vape is more than just brilliantly reported and elegantly written. It is also a richly populated book - filled not just with human characters but with matters of science, finance, invention, ambition, ethics, hubris, and blazing ingenuity.' Jeffrey Kluger, bestselling co-author of Apollo 13

The first book about the Albatross Press, a Penguin precursor that entered into an uneasy relationship with the Nazi regime to keep Anglo-American literature alive under fascism The Albatross Press was, from its beginnings in 1932, a "strange bird": a cultural outsider to the Third Reich but an economic insider. It was funded by British-Jewish interests. Its director was rumored to work for British intelligence. A precursor to Penguin, it distributed both middlebrow fiction and works by edgier modernist authors such as D. H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and Ernest Hemingway to eager continental readers. Yet Albatross printed and sold its paperbacks in English from the heart of Hitler's Reich. In her original and skillfully researched history, Michele K. Troy reveals how the Nazi regime tolerated Albatross-for both economic and propaganda gains-and how Albatross exploited its insider position to keep Anglo-American books alive under fascism. In so doing, Troy exposes the contradictions in Nazi censorship while offering an engaging detective story, a history, a nuanced analysis of men and motives, and a cautionary tale.

From the bestselling, prize-winning author of THE LAST TYCOONS and HOUSE OF CARDS, a revelatory history of Goldman Sachs, the most dominant, feared, and controversial investment bank in the world
For much of its storied 142-year history, Goldman Sachs has projected an image of being better than its competitors--smarter, more collegial, more ethical, and far more profitable. The firm--buttressed by the most aggressive and sophisticated p.r. machine in the financial industry--often boasts of "The Goldman Way," a business model predicated on hiring the most talented people, indoctrinating them in a corporate culture where partners stifle their egos for the greater good, and honoring the "14 Principles," the first of which is "Our clients' interests always come first."
But there is another way of viewing Goldman--a secretive money-making machine that has straddled the line between conflict-of-interest and legitimate deal-making for decades; a firm that has exerted undue influence over government since the early part of the 20th century; a company composed of "cyborgs" who are kept in line by an internal "reputational risk department" staffed by former CIA operatives and private investigators; a workplace rife with brutal power struggles; a Wall Street titan whose clever bet against the mortgage market in 2007--a bet not revealed to its clients--may have made the financial ruin of the Great Recession worse.
As William D. Cohan shows in his riveting chronicle of Goldman's rise to the summit of world capitalism, the firm has shown a remarkable ability to weather financial crises, congressional, federal and SEC investigations, and numerous lawsuits, all with its reputation and its enormous profits intact. By reading thousands of pages of government documents, court cases, SEC filings, Freedom of Information Act papers and other sources, and conducting over 100 interviews, including interviews with clients, competitors, regulators, current and former Goldman employees (including the six living men who have run Goldman), Cohan has constructed a vivid narrative that looks behind the veil of secrecy to reveal "how "Goldman has become so profitable, and so powerful.
Part of the answer is the firm's assiduous cultivation of people in power--dating back to 1913, when Henry Goldman advised the government on how the new Federal Reserve, designed to oversee Wall Street, should be constituted. Sidney Weinberg, who ran the firm for four decades, advised presidents from Roosevelt to Kennedy and was nicknamed "The Politician" for his behind-the-scenes friendships with government officials. Goldman executives ran fundraising efforts for Nixon, Reagan, Clinton and George W. Bush. The firm showered lucrative consulting or speaking fees on figures like Henry Kissinger and Lawrence Summers. Famously, and fatefully, two Goldman leaders-- Robert Rubin and Henry Paulson--became Secretaries of the Treasury, where their actions both before and during the financial crisis of 2008 became the stuff of controversy and conspiracy theories.
Another major strand in the firm's DNA is its eagerness to deal on both sides of a transaction, eliding questions of conflict of interest by the mere assertion of their innate honesty and nobility, a refrain repeated many times in its history, most notoriously by current Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein's jesting assertion that he was doing "God's work."
As Michiko Kakutani's "New York Times "review of HOUSE OF CARDS said, "Cohan writes with an insider's knowledge of the workings of Wall Street, a reporter's investigative instincts and a natural storyteller's narrative command." In MONEY & POWER, Cohan has marshaled all these gifts in a powerful and definitive account of an institution whose public claims of virtue look very much like ruthlessness when exposed to the light of day.

"From the Hardcover edition."

The 2008 financial collapse, the expansion of corporate and private wealth, the influence of money in politics-many of Wall Street's contemporary trends can be traced back to the work of fourteen critical figures who wrote, and occasionally broke, the rules of American finance. Edward Morris plots in absorbing detail Wall Street's transformation from a clubby enclave of financiers to a symbol of vast economic power. His book begins with J. Pierpont Morgan, who ruled the American banking system at the turn of the twentieth century, and ends with Sandy Weill, whose collapsing Citigroup required the largest taxpayer bailout in history. In between, Wall Streeters relates the triumphs and missteps of twelve other financial visionaries. From Charles Merrill, who founded Merrill Lynch and introduced the small investor to the American stock market; to Michael Milken, the so-called junk bond king; to Jack Bogle, whose index funds redefined the mutual fund business; to Myron Scholes, who laid the groundwork for derivative securities; and to Benjamin Graham, who wrote the book on securities analysis. Anyone interested in the modern institution of American finance will devour this history of some of its most important players.

This open access book reconstructs and examines a crucial episode of Anglo-Iberian diplomatic rivalry: the clash between the Portuguese-sponsored Jesuit missionaries and the English East India Company (EIC) at the Mughal court between 1580 and 1615. This 35-year period includes the launch of the first Jesuit mission to Akbar's court in 1580 and the preparation of the royal embassy led by Sir Thomas Roe to negotiate the concession of trading privileges to the EIC, and encompasses not only the extension of the conflict between the Iberian crowns and England into Asia, but also the consolidation of the Mughal Empire. The book examines the proselytizing and diplomatic activities of the Jesuit missionaries, the evolution of English diplomatic strategies concerning the Mughal Empire, and how the Mughal authorities instigated and exploited Anglo-Iberian rivalry in the pursuit of specific commercial, geopolitical, and ideological agendas.

Entrepreneurs develop based on their surroundings. It is easy to understand US entrepreneurs, with the wealth of information available about their development, but how does working in Mexico influence entrepreneurship, and emerging entrepreneurs? Exploring the history of Mexico's entrepreneurs, expert authors Araceli Almaraz Alvarado and Oscar Javier Montiel Mendez delve into the empirical and theoretical opportunities that emerge from this historical analysis. Current literature on Mexican entrepreneurship points out the importance of contextualising entrepreneurial lives, and asks us to look across agents, sectors and regions, to reach a better understanding of the trajectories of entrepreneurship in Mexico. Including chapters across different businesses in Mexico, the editors and contributors seek to expose the convergence between theory and practice. For students of business and international development, this is an unmissable text containing the most current research on Mexican entrepreneurship.

Imagine if you could be a fly on the wall as a family enterprise becomes one of the most successful companies in the world. The Target Story will help you understand and adopt the competitive strategies, workplace culture, and daily business practices that enabled the big box store to become the retail giant it is today. In an industry that has seen constant disruption over the last two decades, Target has experienced tremendous growth. Establishing a strong eCommerce business and cultivating a sought-after in-store experience has kept this iconic brand at the top of the retail game. From same-day fulfillment to brand partnerships, Target has successfully fought the domination of online marketplaces by thinking outside the big box. The growth, prosperity, and expansion strategies that can be gleaned from the history of the Target Corporation amounts to a masterclass in business. Yet, the Target story has never been adequately presented. Until now. Through the story of Target, you'll learn: How to remain nimble in times of tremendous change. How to reinvent a six-decade-old iconic brand. How to know when to build it yourself or bring in the experts. When to change the entire way you do business. And much, much more.

In Normalized Financial Wrongdoing, Harland Prechel examines how social structural arrangements that extended corporate property rights and increased managerial control opened the door for misconduct and, ultimately, the 2008 financial crisis. Beginning his analysis with the financialization of the home-mortgage market in the 1930s, Prechel shows how pervasive these arrangements had become by the end of the century, when the bank and energy sectors developed political strategies to participate in financial markets. His account adopts a multilevel approach that considers the political and legal landscapes in which corporations are embedded to answer two questions: how did banks and financial firms transition from being providers of capital to financial market actors? Second, how did new organizational structures cause market participants to engage in high-risk activities? After careful historical analysis, Prechel examines how organizational and political-legal arrangements contribute to current record-high income and wealth inequality, and considers societal preconditions for change.

IFRS do not specify how to account for business combinations under common control (BCUCC). This study examines the practice, determinants, and earnings quality of different accounting methods used for BCUCC. A descriptive analysis presents the accounting and disclosure practice. Based on the identified accounting methods (acquisition method and book value method), an empirical analysis sheds light on determinants that drive the accounting method choice. Moreover, the consequences of the accounting method choices are investigated with respect to the extent to which companies can manage or even manipulate earnings. Findings of this study have important implications for the IASB's research project on BCUCC, users and preparers of financial statements, auditors, and enforcement institutions.

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 provides a unique look into Huawei's consumer electronics business (ranging from mobile phones to laptops, tablets, cameras and other smart devices) - in particular, the individuals ('adventurers') whose excellence and invention enabled Huawei to expand globally in such impressive terms. Their personal stories tell us about the extraordinary vision, dedication and perserverance required for companies to succeed in the highly competitive and uncertain world of consumer electronics. In all of this, the company's mission is to make Huawei the first choice and most trusted smart device brand in the world.