What Works: Success in Stressful Times

Using examples ranging from Ikea to the slums of Mumbai, leading economic expert Hamish McRae studies which businesses, organisations and initiatives have what it takes to succeed, and what it is that distinguishes them in an increasingly competitive global marketplace. Calling on years of experience as an award-winning financial journalist and international public speaker, the author brings a fresh perspective to the question of success, differentiating the few 'big ideas' that have transformed the marketplace from passing trends and over-hyped blind alleys. Through an extraordinary range of case studies and an authoritative grasp of his material, the author demonstrates that although there is no surefire recipe for success, there are several key ingredients – such as sense of mission and market sensitivity – which ambitious readers can apply to their own business practices. This is a book of very real successes rather than overblown ideologies: each case study is based around an on-site visit by an author and interviews with the people in charge. Bearing in mind the role of fashion, scale and other less predictable factors, ‘What Works’ ultimately offers the general reader the chance to learn from some of the grandest economic successes and unexpected failures in the world today, through a series of imaginative, unusual and insightful examples.

About the Author :
Hamish McRae is a London-based economic journalist. He is author of the acclaimed work on the future “The World in 2020”, first published in 1994 and since translated into more than a dozen languages. The principle economic commentator and associate editor of the Independent, he broadcasts regularly on the BBC and is in demand as a worldwide speaker. His other books include “Capital City: London as a Financial Centre”, co-authored with Frances Cairncrosse, and “Wake-up Japan”, co-authored with Tadashi Nakamae. Awards include Financial Journalist of the Year in 1979, Columnist of the Year in the Periodical Publishers Awards 1996 and the David Watt Prize for outstanding political journalism in 2005. He was named Business and Finance Journalist of the Year in 2006 at the British Press Awards and is a visiting professor at the School of Management at Lancaster University, as well as a council member of the Royal Economic Society. He was educated at Fettes College and has an MA in Economics and Political Science from Trinity College, Dublin. He was deputy editor of The Banker and editor of Euromoney before becoming financial editor of the Guardian in 1975. He moved to the Independent in 1989.

Review :
‘Hamish McRae’s study of winning organisations around the world is very much not in the dogmatic style of tomes by American management gurus…McRae’s approach is altogether more whimsical — and this makes his little sermons on the nature of success much more of a pleasure to read.…The BBC does not qualify for entrance into McRae’s hall of fame, but I insist that our national broadcasting monolith immediately commission McRae to do a series based on this bracingly upbeat…book… We could all do with cheering up; and it would be nice, for a change, to have an economist on our screens with a smile on his face.’ Dominic Lawson, Sunday Times ‘Each case study is lean and precisely crafted…McRae deserves credit for writing a can-do anthology in defeatist times.’ Observer ‘[McRae] has picked a difficult subject…withholding deep analysis in return for making What Works broad, accessible and colourful…seeing the markers of success as far more than balance sheets and statistics. It’s good to have a book that shows faith in people.’ Independent on Sunday ‘Optimistic yet realistic, humane yet incisive, Hamish McRae’s inspiring and wide-ranging book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand what works, what doesn’t, and why.’ Tim Harford, author of ‘The Undercover Economist’