Cost containment, along with quality is the greatest challenge facing North American companies today -- not as a crisis management tool, but as a strategic, on-going part of corporate activity. Now, rejecting the traditional "cost-accounting" mind-set, Peter Richardson shows for the first time how cost containment can actually create a wealth of new business opportunities. This approach has been used by the Japanese as a major part of their success. Using examples drawn from actual industrial experience, Richardson reveals: 
 * How corporations that manage costs effectively are lean and keen, rather than lean and mean * How to implement and build commitment to an effective corporate-wide cost containment strategy * How employees at Herman Miller, a major furniture manufacturer, led the way in cutting $12 million in costs -- and earned themselves $4.9 million in bonuses * That tough, no-nonsense cost reduction activities have to be the start of a longer term strategy to ensure continued cost competitiveness * How one of North America's major mining corporations uses cost management as the key competitive weapon in a growth strategy that tripled its market value during a five-year period of depressed prices * What strategies can turn capital intensive activities (i.e., building the factory of the future) into successes and not cash traps like G.M.'s Saturn Division * How executives provide leadership in corporations that have cost containment as a key element of their overall strategy 
 Richardson demonstrates that traditional "lean and mean" approaches such as one-time cost purges and massive layoffs may provide quick-fix solutions, but fail to drive down long-run costs. He documents how "nickel and dime" measures, such as rationing office supplies, cutting travel costs, and skimping on market development end up increasing overall expenses while fostering dangerous demoralization among employees. Most importantly, he shows what does work: on-going strategies that make a business "lean and keen" -- a low cost competitor in today's tough world markets. 
 A "lean and keen" approach stresses the need for top-down directed cost-reduction and the building of a shared employee culture in which cost reduction is viewed as an important, challenging, and rewarding activity. Richardson investigates the nontraditional areas of cost-cutting, the real meaning of no-frills management, and the importance of involving employees in a company-wide program that includes purchasing, marketing, distribution, overhead, improved employee safety and decreasing absenteeism, debt reduction, divestiture, and technological innovations. 
 Richardson outlines a four month start-up plan and step-by-step actions for implementing a comprehensive cost reduction strategy that is applicable to a wide variety of service and manufacturing industries. Immediate savings are shown to be an important element contributing to success. He also describes successful cost-management activities in dozens of corporations, including American Express, Sikorski Aircraft, Herman Miller, Inc., and Britain's Marks and Spencer. The result is a work that gives today's manager a true "secret" weapon for survival and steadily increasing profits even in today's sluggish economy.

COST CONTAINMENT

Business & Money

Richmond, Peter

Management & Leadership

Free Press

“Frank Gifford brings the contest so alive that you find yourself almost wondering, 50 years later, how it will turn out in the end.” —New York Times Book Review
The Glory Game recreates in breathtaking detail the 1958 National Football League Championship Game between the New York Giants and the Baltimore Colts, which many football fans feel was “The Greatest Game Ever Played.” This first-hand, field level, “behind-the-helmet” account by ex-Giant Hall of Famer and longtime “Monday Night Football” broadcaster Frank Gifford brings back to life all the sights and sounds of the momentous contest that changed football forever, and offers vivid, indelible portraits of the legendary players—including Sam Huff, Andy Robustelli, Art Donovan, Lenny Moore, and Raymond Berry. The Giants-Colts clash of ’58 was truly The Glory Game—and now readers can relive it in all its glory.

The Glory Game: How the 1958 NFL Championship Changed Football Forever

Biographies & Memoirs

Gifford, Frank

Leaders & Notable People

Harper

A book that explores the enduring legends of Snake, Foo, Dr. Death, and John Madden’s Oakland Raiders, Badasses is the definitive biography of arguably the last team to play old-fashioned tough-guy football. Peter Richmond, co-author of the New York Times bestseller The Glory Game, offers a fascinating look at the 1970s Oakland Raiders, led by colorful greats from another era: Ken Stabler, Willie Brown, Gene Upshaw, Jim Otto, Art Shell, head coach John Madden, and owner Al Davis. In the bestselling vein of Boys Will Be Boys, Badasses chronicles the bar-room exploits, practice-field pranks, and Super Bowl glories of the team’s many misfits, cast-offs, psychos, and geniuses of the game.

Badasses: The Legend of Snake, Foo, Dr. Death, and John Madden's Oakland Raiders

Harper Paperbacks

An “in-depth and entertaining” unauthorized biography from the New York Times best-selling author of Badasses. (Publisher’s Weekly) Phil Jackson is widely considered to be one of the greatest coaches in the history of basketball. As head coach of the Chicago Bulls from 1989 to 1998, he led Michael Jordan to six championships. In 1999, Jackson switched allegiances and moved to the Los Angeles Lakers, racking up five titles in ten years. All told, he has eleven championship rings—more titles than any other NBA coach in history. Jackson has written several candid books about his life and career, but now New York Times-bestselling author Peter Richmond turns an unprecedented light on Jackson’s whole life. Phil Jackson: Lord of the Rings is the personal, definitive, and revealing biography of an unrivalled sports genius.

Phil Jackson: Lord of the Rings

Plume

Econophysics and Physical Economics

Mimkes, Jürgen

Hutzler, Stefan

OUP Oxford

An understanding of the behaviour of financial assets and the evolution of economies has never been as important as today. This book looks at these complex systems from the perspective of the physicist. So called 'econophysics' and its application to finance has made great strides in recent years. Less emphasis has been placed on the broader subject of macroeconomics and many economics students are still taught traditional neo-classical economics. The reader is given a general primer in statistical physics, probability theory, and use of correlation functions. Much of the mathematics that is developed is frequently no longer included in undergraduate physics courses. The statistical physics of Boltzmann and Gibbs is one of the oldest disciplines within physics and it can be argued that it was first applied to ensembles of molecules as opposed to being applied to social agents only by way of historical accident. The authors argue by analogy that the theory can be applied directly to economic systems comprising assemblies of interacting agents. The necessary tools and mathematics are developed in a clear and concise manner. The body of work, now termed econophysics, is then developed. The authors show where traditional methods break down and show how the probability distributions and correlation functions can be properly understood using high frequency data. Recent work by the physics community on risk and market crashes are discussed together with new work on betting markets as well as studies of speculative peaks that occur in housing markets. The second half of the book continues the empirical approach showing how by analogy with thermodynamics, a self-consistent attack can be made on macroeconomics. This leads naturally to economic production functions being equated to entropy functions - a new concept for economists. Issues relating to non-equilibrium naturally arise during the development and application of this approach to economics. These are discussed in the context of superstatistics and adiabatic processes. As a result it does seem ultimately possible to reconcile the approach with non-equilibrium systems, and the ideas are applied to study income and wealth distributions, which with their power law distribution functions have puzzled many researchers ever since Pareto discovered them over 100 years ago. This book takes a pedagogical approach to these topics and is aimed at final year undergraduate and beginning gradaute or post-graduate students in physics, economics, and business. However, the experienced researcher and quant should also find much of interest.

Science & Math

Mathematics

Oxford University Press

"I learned courage from Buddha, Jesus, Lincoln, and Mr. Cary Grant." So said Miss Peggy Lee. Albert Einstein adored her; Duke Ellington dubbed her "the Queen." With her platinum cool and inimitable whisper, Peggy Lee sold twenty million records, made more money than Mickey Mantle, and presided over music's greatest generation alongside pals Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby.
Drawing on exclusive interviews and never-before-seen information, Peter Richmond delivers a complex, compelling portrait of an artist that begins with a girl plagued by loss, her father's alcoholism, and her stepmother's abuse. One day she boards a train, following her muse and hoping her music will lead her someplace better. And it does: to the pantheon of great American singers.

Fever: The Life and Music of Miss Peggy Lee

Humor & Entertainment

Picador

With eleven championship rings to his name, Phil Jackson is internationally recognized as one of the greatest coaches in the history of the NBA. Known as a defensive disrupter and a master fouler during his early days as a New York Knick and later celebrated as the “Zen Master” for his inspirational tactics as a leader, Jackson has had a long and storied career marked by constant self-reflection and reinvention. This is the man who led Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls to six championships, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers to five; who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame; and who retired in 2011, an official legend—and the most sought-after free-agent coach in history. As befits a legend, Jackson has written several candid, insightful books about his life and career, but now one of America’s most respected sportswriters turns an unvarnished light on Jackson’s strange and remarkable journey, from his sheltered childhood and adolescence in Montana and North Dakota, through his years playing at Madison Square Garden, to his experiences coaching Jordan, Bryant, and more of the greatest players of our time. New York Times-bestselling author Peter Richmond has written a personal, definitive, revealing biography of a veritable sports genius, and an American classic.

Blue Rider Press

A ripped-from-the-headlines story about teens and steroids. From a New York Times bestselling sports writer comes the story of one boy's quest to stay true to himself without letting down his team. Jack and his father have never seen eye to eye…until Jack’s dad gives him the chance to transfer to Oakhurst his junior year. His dad sees it as a way for Jack to get into a good college; Jack sees it as refuge from his dad. Oakhurst is more than an escape—it's a chance for Jack to do something new, to try out for the football team. Once Jack makes the team, he’s thrust into a foreign world—one of intense hazing, vitamin supplements, monkey hormones and steroids. Jack has to decide how far he's willing to go to fit in—and how much he's willing to compromise himself to be the man his team wants him to be. Perfect for fans of Mike Lupica and Tim Green. Praise for ALWAYS A CATCH: "Richmond has written an above-average story that will appeal to fans of the genre and authors, such as Mike Lupica and Tim Green."--School Library Journal "A dynamic but thoughtful novel of self-discovery."--Kirkus Reviews "Richmond skillfully delivers scene after scene of gridiron grit while maintaining Jack's wit and charm, and pulling off a winning story, on and off the field. Readers can only hope that this isn't Richmond's last young adult novel."--Publishers Weekly "This is a quick and easy read that leaves the reader with hope for Jack’s future."--Library Media Connection

Always a Catch

Children's Books

Philomel Books

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Richmond, Peter. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Richmond, Peter

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Richmond, Peter. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

COST CONTAINMENT

The Glory Game: How the 1958 NFL Championship Changed Football Forever

Badasses: The Legend of Snake, Foo, Dr. Death, and John Madden's Oakland Raiders

Badasses: The Legend of Snake, Foo, Dr. Death, and John Madden's Oakland Raiders

Phil Jackson: Lord of the Rings

Econophysics and Physical Economics

Econophysics and Physical Economics

Fever: The Life and Music of Miss Peggy Lee

Phil Jackson: Lord of the Rings

Always a Catch