Partnering in Action: A Guide for Building Successful Collaboration Across Organizational Boundaries

240 Pages·2001·1.87 MB·English

by  Diane K. Fasel

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Against the Grain
How to Succeed in Business
by Peddling Heresy
Joel M. Stern
with Irwin Ross
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Against the Grain
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Against the Grain
How to Succeed in Business
by Peddling Heresy
Joel M. Stern
with Irwin Ross
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Copyright © 2003 by Joel M. Stern. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or oth-
erwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright
Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through
payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rose-
wood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax [phone], or on the web at
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missions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-
748-6011, fax [phone], e-mail: [email protected].
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best
efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the
accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied
warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be cre-
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Stern, Joel M.
Against the grain : how to succeed in business by peddling heresy /
Joel M. Stern with Irwin Ross.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-471-21600-3 (cloth)
1. Economic value added. 2. Corporations—Valuation. 3. Capital
investments—Decision making. 4. Managerial economics. I. Ross, Irwin.
II. Title.
HG4028.V3S828 2003
338.6'041'092—dc21
2003010884
Printed in the United States of America.
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To my son, Erik Daniel, who has shown us the real meaning of
beautiful feelings on the inside accompanied by a desire to
innovate and inspire us. This is leadership in all of its aspects.
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Contents
Foreword by John S. Shiely ix
Chapter 1 The Great Break 1
Chapter 2 Beginnings 9
Chapter 3 Rebel Banker 23
Chapter 4 A Letter from Oppenheimer 49
Chapter 5 On Our Own 63
Chapter 6 How We Grew 77
Chapter 7 The Key Role of Incentives 91
Chapter 8 The Missionary Way of Life 99
Chapter 9 Dispatches from the Sales Front 123
Chapter 10 As for the Future 133
Chapter 11 The Credo of a Radical Free Marketeer 143
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AGAINST THE GRAIN
Appendix Heresies That Have Stood the Test of Time 169
Let’s Abandon Earnings per Share 171
Some Thinking to Do 178
What if Capital Markets Are “Efficient”? 181
Fewer Analysts, Please: Why People
Believe Capital Markets Are “Inefficient”! 184
Are “Technicians” an Endangered Species? 187
Are “Fundamental” Security Analysts
Necessary? 192
Companies Should Avoid Sharp Swings
in Dividends 197
Why Dividends Do Not Matter 201
Risk Matters 204
Acknowledgments 207
Index 211
Photographs appear after page 110.
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