Self-learning is an important element of growing as a human being and reading books is not only entertaining but offers a great way to learn. Must read books can help students to absorb groundbreaking innovations, new concepts and teach them more about management practices.
They will understand more about improving processes and learn some techniques and tools they can employ in their future careers. The following five must read books, including one novel, are a good place to start on their self-improvement journey.
1. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement
Authors Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox convey lessons in improving processes and operational excellence through a story about a small-town factory that’s heading for disaster. Alex Rogo, the plant manager, is desperately trying to save the factory.
After a chance meeting with a colleague from his college days, he realizes he has to break out of his conventional ways of thinking and knows what he has to do. Written in the style of a fast-paced thriller, the book makes compulsive reading as it explains the underlying ideas of the Theory of Constraints.
2. The Machine that Changed the World
Danial Roos, Danial T. Jones and James P. Womack are the authors of this book that was published in 1990. It is about a research study undertaken by MIT students over a period of five years on the concept of lean production in the automobile industry, using Toyota as an example.
Toyota overtook General Motors, the largest automaker in the world, twenty years after the book was published. The authors document the advantages of lean production over mass production and offer guidance to leaders in every industry wanting to transform traditional enterprises with lean production.
3. The Fear Index
Author Robert Harris addresses the human paranoia that machines will become conscious in a smart novel full of tension and suspense. Research physicist Dr. Alex Hoffman creates VIXAL-4, a machine that monitors investments and trades instinctively after analyzing news stories and market trends.
The computer feeds on fear and anticipates people fleeing the stock markets before human traders. As his partner tries to find investors, a series of incidents make Hoffman increasingly irrational as his own fear index rises. VIXAL-4 makes some financial decisions that raise the question of whether it has moved beyond human control.
Students getting an education at college often have to write review papers. For example, they may have to write a review paper about The Fear Index. It will be helpful for them to read essays about fear on Prepap for free when faced with an assignment like this. When writing an essay, it is always helpful to study examples written by professional writers and to get writing help. This is the best way to go through a quick learning curve.
4. The Strategy-Driven Supply Chain
Dr. Bram deSmet, a CEO with years of experience in supply chain management, is the author of this recently published book about integrating finance, strategy and the supply chain. He puts the supply chain at the heart of the relationship between costs, service and cash to offer a competitive edge.
He sees all the parts of a business as being connected, from purchasing and HR to sales and marketing. Various supply chain topics, such as financial metric analysis and strategy-driven scorecards, are covered using real real-life examples and case studies serve to illustrate how strategies affect the supply chain and financial performance. Students can learn how to take a comprehensive approach to business that integrates processes and people in supply chain strategies.
5. Supply Chain Management for Dummies
Author Daniel Stanton explains the importance of many different supply chain functions, including human resources, information technology, metrics, purchasing and operations. He discusses the Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) that allows professionals to cope with work demand and align the supply chain system around the needs of suppliers, customers, and shareholders.
This go-to-resource will help supply chain management students to see a business as a system, no matter what department they work in, and will help them to make decisions that have positive effects in other business areas.
Conclusion
One of the above must read books, The Machine that Changed the World, was written in the 1990s, while The Strategy-Driven Supply Chain was published recently. The Fear Index is a gripping thriller novel, while The Goal reads like a thriller novel and conveys lessons through a story. What all these books do is to provide more enlightenment about business, the economy, the supply chain and how to manage it efficiently.
Author Bio:
Ian Smith is a freelance academic writer known for his deep-researched, unique and highly accurate essay writing. He’s one of the best writers on an academic writing site and his reputation gets him regular work. His hobbies include reading literary fiction, watching stand-up comedy videos and fly fishing.