Books

Forget market shareNot entirely - just for a minute - and remember that, in the end, the point of a business is to make money. That, more or less, is the message of Manage for Profit, Not for Market Share: For too long, companies have focused on building and preserving market share, and failed to notice that that no longer automatically yields greater profits. The book's solution lies largely in re-orienting your marketing mix, segmenting customers based on their willingness to pay, learning how to strategically raise prices, and encouraging everyone from sales to marketing to focus directly on turning a profit.

Price: $35.

Harvard Business School Press

www.hbspress.org

'CFO Insights'

Everyone talks about how the role of the chief financial officer is changing, but few have delved as deeply into it as consulting firm Accenture in its CFO Insights series from John Wiley. In the latest two books in the series, the firm's consultants relay the results of their experience and research on two different aspects of this evolution: CFO Insights: Delivering High Performance explores high-performance companies to find the characteristics that set their finance functions apart, and CFO Insights: Enabling High Performance through Leading Practices for Finance ERP offers the most successful approaches to enterprise resource planning.

Price: $65 each.

John Wiley & Sons

www.wiley.com

(800) 762-2974

Rainmaking

"Rainmaking" is a euphemism, used to make you think that bringing in sales is as easy and fun as doing a little ritual dance, when, in fact, it's hard work that many accountants don't like doing. For Creating Rainmakers: The Manager's Guide to Training Professionals to Attract New Clients, consultant Ford Harding interviewed over 100 rainmakers to learn their secrets - and help you and your staff become expert at this difficult, but essential, task.

Price: $45.

John Wiley & Sons

www.wiley.com

(800) 762-2974

Viva la revolucion!

Just as the Industrial Revolution wasn't just about mechanized looms and giant steel mills, but also about the thousands of major and minor changes these wrought on individuals, businesses and societies, so too the Information Revolution isn't just about having a PC on your desk or a BlackBerry on your belt. With such a world-changing event going on, books like Information Revolution come in very handy. Rather than focusing on the unpredictable future of specific information technologies, the book focuses on how to make sure that your company is ready to embrace and take advantage of whatever the revolution brings. It lays out a framework for a new information management infrastructure that puts information optimization and innovation at the heart of your business, so that when the revolution plays out, you'll still be standing.

Price: $29.95.

John Wiley & Sons

www.wiley.com

(800) 762-2974

Only connect

While it may seem as if everyone but you is crazy, or at least impossible to talk to, the current staffing woes of the accounting profession make it crucial that you be able to communicate and built a rapport with an ever-wider variety of people. The Art of Connecting is a primer on building your people skills, with the hopeful message that not only is it possible to reach just about everyone - it's often well worth your while.

Price: $24.95.

Amacom

www.amacombooks.org

(800) 714-6395

Also in print

The Small Business Start-Up Kit (Nolo, $24.99) ... Case Studies in Performance Management (Wiley, $45) ... Selling Your IT Business (Wiley, $45).

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