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From the best-selling author of Death
of Economics and Butterfly Economics, a ground-breaking
look at a truth all too seldom acknowledged: most commercial
and public policy ventures will not succeed.
WorldCom, Enron, Yamaichi, Equitable Life,
Andersen, Parmalat, Shell... Around the world, corporate
scandal -- and full-scale collapse -- has caught the headlines
in a spectacular way, and investors avidly search for scapegoats.
We all express surprise at such catastrophes -- yet extinction
is an inherent fact of life, and failure comes calling at
the door of companies both gigantic and small.
Over 17,000 companies will go bust this
year in the UK alone. But is this a bad thing? And if so
why does the US, with its hugely dynamic economy, see more
than 10 percent of companies disappear each year?
In his inimitable fashion, Paul Ormerod
draws upon recent advances in biology to help us understand
the surprising consequences of the Iron Law of Failure.
And he shows what strategies corporations, businesses and
governments will need to adopt to stand a chance of prospering
in a world where only one thing is certain.
Paul Ormerod was for several years Head
of the Economic Assessment Unit at The Economist.
He was Director of Economics at the Henley Centre for Forecasting
from 1982 to 1992, and has been a visiting Professor of
Economics at London and Manchester. He has published widely
in academic journals, lectures around the world, and is
currently a director of Volterra Consulting. He is the author
of Butterfly Economics and The Death of Economics.
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