Take No Prisoners: A No-Holds-Barred Approach to Corporate Excellence

by Marvin A. Davis

Now more than ever, American companies are experiencing a nagging feeling that they could be doing much better. Globalization, digitization, and the development of cellular technology have increased... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814480608
• ISBN13: 9780814480601
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: AMACOM/American Management Association
• Length: 230 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 17 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

A Must Read

You are a prisoner until you read this book. It is phenomenal! An excellent guide for corporate excellence. If I had no other resource, this book would be enough for survival in the business world. Definitely worth the investment.

Buy it. You'll like it.

I bought it, read it & really liked it. This guy knows his stuff!

A must needed addition to any SME business library.

This book covers all the way from the front office to the back office and what can and should be done in the various operational areas of a company. It portrays practical and easy to understand examples that can be utilized for various difficult and most common business scenarios. Solid advice to how to proactively seek out and fix issues before they become fully grown problems that takes up a lot of energy and resources to tackle. It also covers points about the revenue side as well as the cost cutting side. This book will instigate various ideas among the business leaders which they can apply for quick results. Great job Marvin, for the wonderful book, very well written, well thought out and great examples.

Take No Prisoners is a Must Read!

I would submit the following advice to all C-Level executives: (1) Read Marvin Davis's book, Take No Prisoners! (2) Make such required reading for all of your division and department heads. (3) Implement the book's blueprint for excellence across your enterprise. In this age where businesses are feeling the pinch of uncertain economic times and cut-throat global competition, companies of all sizes must continually re-examine and improve all facets of their operations to (a) survive, (b) garner optimal sales and profit growth, and then (c) ensure long term sustainability. To not embrace this wholesale re-examination process is to accept mediocrity and ultimately, defeat in the global economy. Davis makes this case very well and he does it with very matter of fact language and scores of business examples--companies that he's helped turnaround in his impressive career. His very practical and action oriented counsel steers business leaders through all of the vital aspects of company operations from marketing strategy and customer profitability analysis, pricing strategy, human reource/staff motivation programs, all facets of finance and cash controls including best practices for managing your outside banking relationship, to name just a few. There is a even great chapter covering how to best take advantage of the global labor supply system--critical knowledge for any business operator in the "flat world". I only wish that I absorbed the wisdom of Take No Prisoners sooner! But I'm grateful that I have this book as a resource now as I'm leveraging the author's advice in my firm on a daily basis. Thanks and great job to Marvin Davis.

A must read for all small to mid-size business owners

Take No Prisoners by Marvin Davis is a step-by-step guide for turning around a business. This book is unique among business books in that every chapter is filled with actionable advice. As the editor of a publication geared exclusively for CEO's, I see 5 or 6 new business books land on my desk each week. 95% of these books are either pep-talk books, theoretical discussions, biographies of business leaders, or the "this is how I made a fortune" book that promises but never delivers similar results for the reader. Davis's book rises above the average business title simply because it presents concrete solutions for what a business owner can do right now to turn their company around. The basic premise of the book is that companies shouldn't wait until they are in dire straits to make changes; they can avoid many problems if they act now and contingency plan or meet certain issues head-on. Davis details what problems businesses might face, and how business owners can take steps to avoid those problems. If the business is already suffering from the financial problems, Davis lays out plans for what they can do now to contain and resolve the problem. Davis writes clearly and economically. In terms of content and delivery, I give this book my highest recommendation. Here is a sample passage from the book (most of the book contains this kind of "how-to" and actionable advice). This passage comes from the chapter 17: Banking. THE BANKING RELATIONSHIP AND HOW TO MANAGE IT There are several keys to taking control of your banking relationship and optimizing the conditions under which you borrow money. They are: * Get to know your banker and let him or her know the key personnel in the company (e.g., the chief financial officer). * Regularly review the operations of your company and your business plan with your banker. * Never lie to your banker. * Keep your banker informed of both favorable and unfavorable events in the business--no surprises. * Always have an alternative banking source available. The last of these items is especially important. I stated at the beginning of this chapter that you should realize that your banker is a vendor like others. It would be foolish to have only one source for a key component of your product. Likewise it would be foolish to have a single potential lender. This means that the development of a relationship with a second bank does several things: * It keeps your current lender honest and competitive with regard to rates and conditions of your loan. * It gives you a place to go quickly if your current lending arrangement is compromised in any way. * It gives you negotiating power. The second bank relationship may involve occasional meetings with officers of the second institution or the presence of a minor account at the second bank.