eBook Beyond I. B. M. (Business Library) epub

Eventually, what was once educational becomes historical. But that does not mean that it ceases to be educational. “Beyond IBM,” by Lou Mobley and Kate McKeown, is a late 1980’s prospectus of management tools for the 21st century. The story starts with IBM’s ascendancy as a value-adding commercial enterprise in the mid-20th century, and the novel executive skills that made it happen. Next, we see a foreshadowing of marketing in the Information Age, perceived from a time at which the flow of information was transforming from trickle to torrent. In the final chapters, we are introduced to the need to compare values on financial statements over time (derivatives in the mathematical, rather than the investment banking, sense) and the ability to manipulate corporate performance on the basis of the results. The Mobley Matrix, which integrated the balance sheet, the income statement and the cash statement, was a novel compilation in 1985 (and it took half a grand to implement it on a DOS-based computer), but a number of its features have now been incorporated into generally accepted accounting principles.

From the second decade of the twenty-first century, it is difficult to envision an era in which the information needed to restructure, or take over, a company was not widely available. But if you want how, or why, these things began to happen on an informed basis, Mobley and McKeown provide a fascinating historical viewpoint. And, there’s a love story in the book, if you know where to look.

I purchased this book after reading "Managing by the Numbers" by Kremer, Rizzuto, and Case. What caught my attention was the Mobley Matrix. This Matrix is used to understand ones financial statements by putting them together and reading the lines horizontally and vertically. The Matrix is explained thoroughly in chapter 10, Financial Strategy.

I am surprised this book is not more widely used in business classes and other training as the author, Lou Mobley headed up a lot of training at IBM Executive Management classes. This type of training is known to be world class and the author takes the reader through key elements of Marketing, Finance, Management, Open and closed systems, Economic Theory. The top chapters for me were the Total Financial System and Financial Strategy. Next would the chapter on Mangers and Executives.

One of the key thoughts was "don't copy IBM, build on it." Don't get too entrenched in your corporate culture where the company or group becomes stagnant.

Another reminder is to carve out your own niche. "In this fast-paced environment, we make order out of chaos. When there is confusion we make the most money. We make our money on new products, when people need lots of help. We add value, knowledge, service and support."

The book is forward thinking talking about the knowledge economy and quickly moving away from the industrial economy. Mobley points out that profit will not pay the bills, cash will (sound familiar?). He points this out in an era when Wall Street clamors for profit, growth, and strong ratios. A business can only get money in three ways - operations, debt, and equity. Going outside for money can be tricky as you have to convince the lender you can pay back interest plus principal. The real bottom line is run out of cash, and you are out of business.

In sum, the foreward is great along with several key chapters. The chapters on finance by far is worth the price of the book alone (today I paid $0.01 for the book plus shipping). Finally, the Appendix has some key tooks as well. Enjoy, this is really a special book about business and to me one of the best written even though it is 20+ years old. HIGHLY recommended for entrepreneurs!!

This book was published two decades ago, but its lessons are highly useful to today.

The authors are two of the long time faculty at the IBM Executive Management training school. This is a superior business management book, covering leadership, marketing, and finance in highly lucid, insightful, and quotable form. It extracts the salient business management principles taught in IBM Executive Management courses extracted from lessons gained from the creation of IBM that were taught to develop and guide IBM managers over several generations. This is a peek under the hood of the thinking behind the principles that build an eduring company whose motto is "Think."

Just one example. Chapter 10 is worth the price of the book alone. The Mobley Matrix, a financial analysis and planning tool that should be part of every business leader's education. You don jot need to be an accountant; you just need to have a desire to understand the dynamics of the factors that cause the changes in your assets, liabilities, and net equity. The matrix links data on the balance sheets from any two periods with the intervening income statement to produce a list of the specific factors that accounted for the changes in the business during that period and provides a tutorial on how to use the fruits of this analysis to plan to achieve financial goals in future periods. It is a very simple, but powerful process.

There is much more. Many of the "forward looking" ideas in this book are just now beginning to be visible and some are still at the "leading edge of applied management practice."

This is old wine. Savor it and learn.