Business & Society

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Post-Capitalist Society by Peter F. Drucker. HarperBusiness, 232 pages, $25.

A Soundview classic. Our society is post-capitalist, says the Master, because knowledge -- not land, labor, or capital -- is now the only meaningful factor of production. Drucker outlines pitfalls and opportunities for society, and how smart managers can put knowledge to effective use. Best Business Books, 1995

Global Issues 98/99, Annual Editions

Global Issues 00/01, Annual Editions

Dushkin Publishing Group, Connecticut.

Summary of key issues that are affecting business and management and will do so in the future as well.

The Age of Unreason by Charles Handy

Conservation : Replacing Quantity With Quality As a Goal for Global Management

Carl F. Jordan / Hardcover / Published 1995 / Amazon.com: $73.95

The Soul of the Firm by C. William Pollard.

HarperBusiness/Zondervan, 176 pages, $18. Pollard, head of The ServiceMaster Company and a devout Christian, offers a glimpse at how ServiceMaster has grown into a $3 billion firm. The secret: Treating employees with respect and helping them grow. You don't need to be a Christian or even religious to put his method to work. But you do have to believe in the value of every individual. The best book yet on the "socially responsible" company -- because of the author's immense credibility. Best Business Books, 1996

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Future Studies

1984 by George Orwell

New Science, New World

Denise Albanese, Duke University Press, 1996.

Art of Anticipation: Values and Methods in Forecasting.

Future Edge by Joel Barker

Subtitled: "Discovering the New Paradigms of Success", this book is highly rated by many American executives and was recommended by BDA members. The book develops the ideas of paradigm awareness which provides a very powerful insight into change and, in particular, gives the reader an edge in understanding and optimising the future. 240pp 1992

ISBN 0 688 10936 5 ; Ref.No. B78 £18.00 HB Reading Class C

Beyond Workplace 2000 by Boyett, Joseph H. with Jimmie T. Boyett.

New York: Plume/Penguin, 1995. (0-452-27195-6)

"Essential strategies for the New American Corporation." Put aside yesterday's models and take a look inside - at the future.

Technotrends by Burrus, Daniel with Roger Gittines

New York: HarperBusiness, HarperCollins Trade, 1993. / ISBN: 0-88730-700-0.

Interesting look at how technology affects today -- and will affect your future.

Coming of Post-Industrial Society: A Venture in Social Forecasting.

The Study of the Future

Edward Cornish. Bethesda, Md.: World Future Society, 1977.

The 1990s and Beyond

Edward Cornish (ed.). Bethesda, Md.: World Future Society, 1990.

Lessons from the Future: Making Sense of a Blurred World from the World's Leading Futurist. (ISBN:1841120707)

Stan Davis,  Stanley M. Davis. Capstone Publishing: 2001. $19.96 (bn.com)

New Economics for Industry, Government, Education

Dr. W. Edwards Deming.1993.

Out of the Crisis by Dr. W. Edwards Deming.

The Future: Opportunity, Not Destiny

Howard F. Didsbury, Jr. (ed.). Bethesda, Md.: World Future Society, 1989.

Management Challenges for the 21st Century by Peter Drucker. $22 (bn.com)

Managing for the Future: The 1990s and Beyond by Peter Drucker. 1992.

Managing in Turbulent Times by Peter F. Drucker. 1980,

Harper Business Edition, 1993.

Learning from the Future : Competitive Foresight Scenarios

Liam Fahey (Contributor), Robert M. Randall (Editor) / Hardcover / Published 1997 / Amazon.com: $34.95

Microcosm by George Gilder. Touchstone Book, 1989.

The Empty Raincoat by Charles Handy

Subtitled: "Making Sense of the Future", this fascinating book deals with the premise that if economic progress means that we become anonymous cogs in some great machine, then progress itself is an empty promise. The challenge must be to show how the paradox can be managed. The author sees the empty raincoat as the symbol for our most pressing paradox. 179pp 1994

ISBN 0 09 178022 5 ; Ref.No. B85 £13.00 HB Reading Class C

Reinventing the Business by Roy L. Harmon. The Free Press, 412 pages, $35.

Harmon, one of the most original thinkers in business, pulls back the curtain on the future and shows us how we'll conduct business, manufacture products, shop, spend leisure hours, and more. Many of the case studies come from the files of Andersen Consulting, which uses these practices of the future today.

Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution (0-316-35300-0)

Paul Hawken,  Amory Lovins  L. Hunter Lovins. Little, Brown & Company: 2000. 316 pp. $16.15 (bn.com)

The Leader of the Future

Frances Hesselbein et al. (eds). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,1996.

Competing in the Third Wave

Jeremy Hope and Tony Hope. Harvard Business School Press, 320 pages, $27.95.

The third wave, the information age, has barely begun. Prepare for it by understanding the ten management issues these authors say will be changed by it. Your success in that age demands that you understand what the future will bring. Best Business Books, 1998

Jumping the Curve , Imparato, Nicholas and Oren Harari,

Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, 1996, paperback, 0-7879-0183-3

Visions: How Science will Revolutionize the 21st Century by Michio Kaku. $12.60 (bn.com)

Medicine at the Crossroads, Melvin Konner, M.D., Vintage Books, 1994.

Futurecasting: Charting a Way to the Future

Joel A. Kurtzman. Palm Springs, CA.: ETC Publications, 1974.

Breakpoint & Beyond by Land / ISBN: 0-88730-604-7.

Difficult to find and reportedly out of print, but well worth a read if you can find it.

The World in 2020 by Hamish McRae / Harper Collins, 1994

ISBN: 0-00-638382-3. / Excellent. Change your mind about the future.

Forecasting, Planning and Strategy for the 21st Century

Spyros G. Makridakis. Free Press, 1990.

Management Systems: A Global Perspective, 1993.

Managing Planet Earth. New York: W. H. Freeman, 1990.

The Future is Ours: Foreseeing, Managing and Creating the Future

May, Graham H. Greenwood: 1996. $23.95 (bn.com)

Megamedia Shakeout by Kevin Maney. John Wiley & Sons, 352 pages, $24.95.

Maney, a USA Today media reporter, analyzes who might win big and who might lose as the telephone, cable, computer, software, entertainment, and TV industries converge. Not just a gee-whiz look at the future, this book will give product innovators and investors plenty of ideas. Best Business Books, 1995

Cybercorp by James Martin. AMACOM, 320 pages, $27.95.

Prolific author and consultant Martin describes the next giant step in the evolution of corporations. Fully wired with information technology, these companies will be agile, virtual, global, and "cybernetic" - cybercorps for short. They will use "cybercorp mechanisms" for control and communication, mechanisms that include teams organized around value streams; electronic networks; automation; virtual operations, and more. Martin believes the Cybercorp Revolution will bring changes far greater than those of the Industrial Revolution. After reading this book, you may agree. Best Business Books, 1996

Mega-Trends by John Naisbitt (1982).

Mega-Trends 2000 by John Naisbitt and Patricia Aburdene, Pan Books, 1990.

Match crystal balls. More to the point, explore how you can develop your own trend-spotting skills. Can you relate to the age of biology, the rise of the Pacific Rim, the religious revival that is in the wind?

Mega-Trends for Women by John Naisbitt and Patricia Aburdene, (1992?)

John and Patricia have other books on trend analysis (Mega-Trends Asia for example) and any of them will be helpful. Read more than one if possible, the more current the better.

Clicking by Faith Popcorn and Lys Marigold. HarperCollins, 498 pages, $26.

These noted trend watchers offer twenty-two trends -- remember "cocooning"? -- that will aid you immeasurably in deciding which markets to enter, which products to introduce, and what services will most please today's consumers. Best Business Books, 1996

The Popcorn Report

Faith Popcorn, Currency-Doubleday Book, 1991 (or later edition).

Does everything come back to marketing? Surely not. But in the US, the consumer pays the piper and calls the tune. Look at Faith's method. It is eminently duplicable especially by those of us on the Internet. BrainReserve or BrainTrust or ThoughtsOnLine call it what you will - you and I can use the same concept to improve our view of the future. You cannot plan for a future you cannot envision. Don't skip the Popcorn.

Technopoly by Neil Postman. Vintage Books, 1992.

Scenario Planning : Managing for the Future

Gill Ringland / Hardcover / Published 1998 / Amazon.com: $20.97

The Art of the Long View: Planning for the Future in an Uncertain World

Schwartz, Peter. Doubleday & Co: 1996. $15.25 (bn.com)

The Future of Capitalism by Lester C. Thurow. Wm. Morrow/Nicholas Brealey Publishing, $25.

MIT's Thurow shows that while capitalism has prevailed over other economic systems, the future isn't necessarily all rosy. He looks at how the global economy, demographics, and today's prime resource -- knowledge -- are changing your world, and what we need to do to ensure a prosperous future. Best Business Books, 1996

Head to Head: The Coming Economic Battle Among Japan, Europe & America

Lester Thurow, Warner Books, 1993.

Future Shock by Alvin Toffler. A classic.

The Third Wave by Alvin Toffler. William Morrow & Co., 1980.

A Scientist in the City by James Trefil. Anchor Books, 1994.

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