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Best General Management Books!

This list of books represent the set of general management and business books to be read by every aspiring manager/student of MBA. Whereas there is no standard sequence of reading, the comments are based on my experience as a student, faculty and industry thereafter. While it can be understood that it may not be possible for a student to read all these books in two years of MBA, s/he should strive to read as many as possible. This list is not exhaustive and will keep on growing with new advances in management and new publications. It is advisable for students to  write brief chapterwise summaries after reading each chapter/book. This not only internalises the book but also gives a way to share the essence with peers.

# NAME OF BOOK AUTHOR (S) COMMENTS
1. Made in Japan Akio Morita Sony's inception and growth in post war Japan. Moritas autobiography.
2. Made in America: My Story Sam Walton, John Huey  
3. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind Al Ries, Jack Trout  
4. Only the Paranoid Survive Andrew S. Grove  
5. In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies Thomas Peters, Robert H. Waterman (Harper&Row,1982)  
6. NUTS! Kevin Freiberg, Jackie Freiberg (Broadway, 1998)  
7. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change Stephen R. Covey            (Simon & Schuster, 1990)  
8. Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution Michael Hammer, James A. Champy (HarperCollins, 1993)  
9. Competitive Strategy Michael E. Porter (  
10. Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance Michael E. Porter               (Free Press, 1998)  
11. Competing for the Future Gary Hamel, C.K. Prahalad (HBS Press, 1994)  
12. Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies James C. Collins, Jerry I. Porras (HarperCollins,1994)  
13. Good to Great James C. Collins (Harpercollins, 2002)  
14. Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Technology Products to Mainstream Customers Geoffrey A. Moore, Regis McKenna                             (Harper Business, 1999)  
15. Who Says Elephants Can't Dance Louis Gerstner IBM CEO on how he turned IBM around
16. The Goal Eliyahu Goldratt  
17. Managing Radical Change Sumantra Ghosal, Christopher Bartlett, Gita Piramal  
18. Managing Across Borders Sumantra Ghosal, Christopher Bartlett  
19. The Individualized Corporation Sumantra Ghosal, Christopher Bartlett  
20. My Years with General Motors Alfred P. Sloan  
21. The Practice of Management Peter F. Drucker  
22. The Essential Drucker Peter F. Drucker (Harper Business, 2001)  
23. The Buffett Way: Investment Strategies of the World's Greatest Investor Robert G. Hagstrom           (John Wiley & Sons, 1991) Investments and general management.
24. Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco Bryan Burrough, John Helyar (Harpercollins, 1990)  
25. Every Business is a Growth Business Ram Charan and Noel M. Tichy (Times Books, 2002)  
26. The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail Clayton M. Christensen   (HBS Press, 1997) An insightful analysis of the impact of technology on industries and organizations, and a convincing argument for why thinking outside the box is so critical
27. Jack: Straight from the Gut Jack Welch, John A. Byrne (Warner, 2001) Auto-biographical sketch on Jack Welch, his management style in GE, leadership.
28. Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan (Crown, 2002)  
29. The Six Sigma Way Pete et al, Robert P. Neuman, Roland R. Cavanagh (Mcgraw Hill, 2000)  
30. The House of Morgan Ron Chernow (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1998)  
31. Competing on Internet Time Michael A. Cusumano, David B. Yoffe  
32. Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman  
33. The Effective Executive Peter F. Drucker  
34. An Autobiography Lee Iacocca  
35. The Borderless World Kenichi Ohmae  
36. Innovation and Entrepreneurship Peter F. Drucker  
37. When Giants Learn to Dance: Mastering the Challenges of Strategy, Management and Careers in the 1990s Rosabeth Moss Kanter     (Simon & Schuster, 1989)  
38. Liars' Poker Michael Lewis (Penguin Paperbacks , 2001) An engaging read that depicts the system and plunder mentality of Wall Street traders
39. Art of War Sun Tzu Treatise from chinese general written 2500 years back. Now adapted to business strategy.
40.      

Sourced from Forbes, Businessweek, Fortune, CIO, personal and collective experience of business faculty members & practitioners.

 

 

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