Business Miscellany

Business Miscellany has two potential users: 1. Those who are new to business and economics and want a convenient guide to high and low points in history 2. People who want to pick up some miscellaneous "gee, I didn't know that" facts that they can dine out on during business meetings. Undoubtedly, this book will be a popular Father's Day present (but at least it's more useful than most of those ties that fathers usually receive). Here are some of the sections I enjoyed: 1. When firms started (Did you know that Kongo Gumi, a Japanese construction firm, began in 578?) 2. Behind the corporate name (Adobe is named after the creek that ran past the homes of the company's founders) 3. Business blunders (Sors Hariezon sold his South African gold claim for $20, and that claim produced over 1000 tonnes of gold a year for over a hundred years) 4. Games directors play (Divide and rule is when directors pit each other against one another for personal gain) 5. Days and procedures to start a business by country (in Brazil there are 17 procedures and they each take 152 days) 6. Business perceptions of corruption by country in 2004 (Bangladesh and Haiti are tied at the bottom and Finland is the least corrupt) 7. Changes in working hours by country from 1950 to 2003 (Ireland dropped by more than 600 hours a year) 8. Labor union strength by country (Iceland is highly unionized) 9. International pay comparisons in 2003 10. Women in business and entertainment who are powerful 11. Tall buildings (Taipei 101 led in 2004) 12. Big shopping malls (South Coast Plaza leads) 13. Some advertising triumphs (Stella's "reassuringly expensive tag line") 14. Bad boys and one bad girl (villains and crooks) 15. Behind the currency name (Dinar means "containing ten") 16. More money superlatives (a 1933 gold double eagle coin sold for $7.59 million) 17. Trade dependency by country (89.3% of Liberia's economy was either an import or an export in 2003) 18. What's in a word? (origins of common expressions like "red tape") 19. Latin that lawyers like to use (Ignorantia legis non excusat) 20. Acronyms (WEEE - waste electrical and electronic equipment) 21. Business laws and principles (Do you know Reilly's law?) 22. Pedal power (bicycle statistics and facts) 23. Business etiquette tips (don't leave your chopsticks standing upright in a bowl of rice in Japan) The book's main drawback is that much of the content is now or will soon be obsolete. But enough of the history is interesting to make this book a good choice. Have a ball!

This is a somewhat unusual sort of book, but very attractive. It even has a ribbon sewn into the binding for keeping your place. It is filled with miscellaneous information that should prove of interest to business people, put together by one of the world's top business authorities, The Economist. What I think the people at The Economist had in mind for this little red volume is something that the business traveler might take with him or her to read on the plane. Consequently this might make a nice gift for the business person in your life, even if that person is yourself. Which country in the world spends the most on per capita advertising? Well, the US at $517 a year per person, but would you believe that Norway is next? I don't know what it means, but India is dead last at a mere two bucks. Japan still has the highest average wage at $33,843 with the US second at $32,360. The most valuable brand in the world is still Coca-Cola but Microsoft is second. I don't know how they determine these things, but the brand that has moved up the most in recent years is Toyota. Gotta love that Prius. The US has 719.9 billion dollars worth of paper money in circulation and $34.9-billion in coins. That is one heck of a pocketful of change. In Angola, Mr. Businessman, it takes 14 procedures, each averaging 146 days to start up a business. In Haiti it's a little worse: 12 procedures, 203 days each. In the US it's five procedures and about five days each. I don't know what these procedures are, but I suspect that things speed up a bit when the right palms are greased. Speaking of corruption, the most corrupt country in the world according to Transparency International is Bangladesh, and the least Finland. Most of the least corrupt countries are European with the US raking just ahead of Ireland and would you believe just behind Hong Kong. There is also some info on the Best and Worst Times in the stock markets worldwide. The best day and the worst day percentage-wise both occurred in October 1987. There are a few pages on bursting bubbles, including tulipmania and the dotcom meltdown. For those impressionable, newly minted MBAs in your life who like to read about business moguls the way some people like to read about sports stars and Hollywood celebs, there a section on "business GIANTS of the past." All in all this is a pleasant, diverting, and handy suitcoat-sized hardcover that is easy to lug around. It comes dressed in a very noticeable red jacket which makes it, I suppose, hard to leave behind in the hotel room. Bottom line: buy two and give one to your boss.