While this book is directly useful to the business leaders in the C-suite, accountable for boosting the value of the businesses they manage, other managers coming up in the organization will want to see the business through the eyes of the CEO. In painting this view, rising managers are both positioned to enter the C-suite, as well as equipped to take up the needed and unique responsibilities.
In addition, the rise of Private Equity (“PE”) in recent years has brought large numbers of businesses into private ownership – ownership that is inherently focused on driving value growth. In tandem with this however, the increase in business acquisitions has resulted in an increase in acquisition prices, which, in turn, puts pressure on PE investment firms to increase the value growth of businesses they acquire. Going forward, PE firms will have to extend beyond parachuting in big-name managers and using financial engineering to achieve value growth; systematically adopting the sorts of technique outlined in this book will be a useful addition to their tool set.
Other external stakeholders, such as public company shareholders, debt-holders and board members, will find the insights on value creation useful as they guide business leaders and conduct their oversight responsibilities. It will also tune in and focus their demands for business information.
Furthermore, regulators and policy makers interested in upgrading financial reporting standards will find this book useful in setting out what is needed by business leaders. Similarly, information systems vendors, particularly ERP and individual business process software providers, will find greater insight into specific information needs of C-level business leaders, so they are able to enhance the utility of their offerings.
Other professionals will find the prioritized view of business management set out in this book a useful additional arrow in their quiver, and helpful in the design their services. Finally, business management educators will find the Profit Pool approach pulls together key business management topics in a highly useful and refreshingly prioritized way. Generally, shareholder value texts are heavy reads and somewhat theoretical, oriented to the needs of finance practitioners. In contrast, this book is pragmatic, and oriented to deliver rapid results to the highest of business objectives – boosting value.
|