The Next Economic Crash

The full title of this book by Paul Harris is

The Covid Comeback Plan: Relaunching Your Business Once The Air Clears

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book a 3 Stars rating. This means it is Worth Reading.

Here is my book review.

Short, practical guide for these difficult times [continue reading…]

A month ago, I wrote about how the Covid-19 crisis is making constraints blindingly obvious. These constraints limit the performance of a business but even when the crisis quietens down, constraints in your business will still exist. They will just go back into the shadows.

For 30 years I’ve believed that the Theory of Constraints (TOC) processes are very effective ways for a business to make substantial improvements.

So what does TOC have to say about the Covid-19 crisis?

I’d been planning to expand on this myself but then I found these videos on YouTube on the TOCExperts channel. I should warn you that they are all over an hour long but you have the opportunity to start learning how to apply TOC thinking to your business.

Video 1

This is what’s covered

Video 2 – Thinking About The Future

There are a few technical issues at the start of this video so you might want to jump to the 4 minute mark.

Video 3 – Post Covid-19 Scenarios and What You Can Learn From Them

I hope you find these helpful.

Books On The Theory of Constraints

If you’d like to know more about the Theory of Constraints, I recommend the following books as good places to start.

The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt and Jeff Cox – This brilliant novel is where it all about as TOC is applied to a struggling manufacturing business.Goldratt has written other business novels that look at the TOC Thinking Processes (It’s Not Luck), project management (Critical Chain) and the retail industry (Isn’t It Obvious) but I feel The Goal is the place to start.

Forget the Urgent! by Matías Birrell and Javier Arévalo –

Absolute Certainty by John Haylock – This time the business novel is applied to an accountancy practice after learning TOC ideas from a web designer client.

The full title of this book by Jason Schenker is “Recession-Proof: How to Survive and Thrive in an Economic Downturn“.

In my review at Amazon.co.uk. I gave it Four Stars. This means I consider it to be good to very good.

Here is my review.

A personal guide to surviving a recession

I was attracted by the title of the book and assumed it was targeted at small business owners but I was wrong. It’s a personal guide for individuals – people in work, students and parents.

It presents six strategies: [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Lee Freeman-Shor is

“The Art of Execution: How the world’s best investors get it wrong and still make millions in the markets“.

In my review on Amazon.co.uk, I rated this book at the Five Stars level. This means I think it is Excellent.

Here is my book review.

This will change the way you invest (if you’re sensible)

This is a must read book for anyone who invests in the stock exchange by buying individual shares.

Based on the experience of running a Best Ideas unit trust where well known investors were given a large amount of money to invest in a small number of companies. He saw some live up to their big reputations but others stumbled badly so he started to investigate why by looking at their investments and their trading habits. [continue reading…]

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave this book,

Guerrilla Marketing During Tough Times,

a rating of Four Stars. This means I think it is Good and Well Worth Reading.

Here is my book review.

A book you need when things are tough for your business

It makes sense to consult a man who has been advising small businesses on how to use low and no cost marketing weapons since the mid 1980s when times are tough.

The essence of Guerrilla Marketing is to use time, effort and imagination to replace money in the marketing of a business. I particularly like “imagination” since time and effort both have their downsides. [continue reading…]

The Primary Deficit Sustainability Framework or PDS Framework is a way to monitor public finances and to see whether they are heading into or away from trouble and adverse bond market reaction.

I was reminded about it in James Rickards book, “The Death Of Money”.

The Key Factors In The PDS Framework

The key factors are: [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Thierry Malleret is

“Disequilibrium: A World Out Of Kilter“.

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Five Stars. This means it is Excellent and Very Highly Recommended.

Here is my book review.

Fascinating pulling together of thoughts

If you have lots of seemingly unconnected thoughts about the future (your own, your country’s or the world’s) and most of them have more downside than upside, this is an excellent short book to read.

It takes a good look at complexity theory in a world full of uncertainty from a high level approach. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Richard Heinberg is

“The End Of Growth: Adapting To Our New Economic Realities“.

In my review posted to Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Five Stars. This means it is Excellent and Very Highly Recommended.

Here is my book review.

Essential reading

This book is a real eye-opener and shows that the common assumption that we can continue to grow the economy at 2% to 3% per year is invalid.

In fact it is complete nonsense. [continue reading…]

Problems appeared in the world finance systems in 2007 related all the way back to mortgages given to poor people in America who were unlikely to be able to repay the loans. These mortgages were packed up, divided and sold into the finance markets across the world.

My intent is not to give a big explanation of what happened and why. If you want more details, I have provided links to Wikipedia. My objective is to help you to think about the future but you may benefit from reminding yourself about the recent past.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_mortgage_crisis

In September 2008 after some difficult months problems exploded in America with the saving of Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and Freddice Mac and the collapse of Lehmans Brothers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy_of_Lehman_Brothers

This led to the Great Recession.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Recession

I mentioned the efficient market hypothesis earlier. Too much faith in how well it works by policy makers and regulators has been blamed for the build up of the bubbles that caused the crash. [continue reading…]