Competitive Solutions: The Strategist's Toolkit

Bits of this are dated - the publishers date now is 2005 but I think it is really closer to 2000 or so - the opening sentence is "AOL is the largest internet company" etc. Uh, google? But regardless, the book is like a compact encyclopedia of strategy and includes a fair bit of economics and even (fairly straightforward) formulas. If you need the formula for the (theoretic) ideal price of a monopoly product, you can find it here in five seconds.

McAfee presents the issues facing modern businesses with subtleties and explanations that are essential for maneuvering intelligently in a complex competitive environment. Instead of merely dumbing down the ideas to simplistic charts, the book lucidly explains the best modern thinking from economics and how it relates to real business situations. The author, one of the leading American experts in business economics, is well-suited to the task, since he is co-edited the top journal in the discipline for a decade. Nevertheless, he never loses sight of the practical issues and the text is packed with (a seemingly endless array) of fascinating practical examples. The writing is clear, punchy, and often funny. If you want to get an accessible, useful view of business economics that is much deeper than what is offered to the typical MBA, this book is a must.

The best description I can come up with is "MBA in a book." However I think that title has been applied to many books of much less quality so I need something better.McAffee provides an "in-depth introduction" to business economics, including competition (as the name implies), pricing strategy, statistics, industry analysis, organizational design, incentives, and more. For anyone looking to get their feet wet in business, or just to understand what the marketing and business guys are talking about (or think they're talking about), this book is excellent!If you're looking for a fluffly book with executive summaries, this is not the book for you. If you want a book packed with content that will improve your nascent business acumen, this is it.

This is a terrific book which provides a wide range of strategies relating to business today. The best way to describe this book is as a sort of Art of War for business strategists (although Professor McAfee is quick to point out that war in business as in other areas should be engaged in sparingly if at all). Perhaps most impressive about the book is that McAfee is able to present several solutions to one problem and present to the reader how these solutions would play out in the real world: take for example his discussion of the variety of auction formats available for businesses or the bargaining solutions available for negotiations between a union and a large corporation. This book is also loaded with poignant examples from business throughout this century. Particularly useful in this book is McAfee's discussion about industrial analysis: this chapter would be useful for any manager who wants to know what forces (new entrants, buyer bargaining power, supplier bargaining power, substitute products, rivalry, and complements) should be kept in mind when making business decisions. McAfee has written a terrific book and has every reason to believe his book indeed fulfills a niche before neglected by writers.