Product Description

He's been dubbed "Chainsaw Al" and "Rambo in Pinstripes." He has also been hailed by Barrons as "America's premier turnaround artist." Now, Al Dunlap, who transformed the once-ailing Scott Paper into a Wall Street success story, shares his battle-tested strategies for revitalizing sluggish companies in Mean Business. Here is the inside story of Dunlap's quest to make Scott once again a world-class competitor. Along the way, Dunlap provides invaluable, must-read lessons for everyone struggling to meet the tough, competitive challenges of today's business world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #425299 in Books
• Published on: 1997-10-28
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Amazon.com
Al Dunlap, whose corporate behavior has earned him nicknames like The Shredder, took over as CEO of Scott Paper when the venerable paper goods manufacturer was on the brink of death. His ultimately successful efforts at corporate resuscitation are recounted in his typically colorful and exhilarating manner in Mean Business: How I Save Bad Companies and Make Good Companies Great, written with Bob Andelman.

From Publishers Weekly
Company turnaround specialist Dunlap is termed by his critics "Rambo in Pinstripes" or "Chainsaw Al." Most recently notable for a 16-month stint at Scott Paper during which company stock rose 163% (Dunlop sold off non-core businesses and cut executive perks), he now heads the appliance maker Sunbeam. Dunlap scorns trendy management theories and considers downsizing not a bandwagon action but a response to a company's fundamental weaknesses. His formula appears deceptively simple: pick a good (and small) team, figure out what business you are in, concentrate only on that, cut costs and market your product well. He approaches boards in a similar fashion, arguing that all directors should buy stock when they join, be paid only in stock, serve no more than five years and never forget they work for the stockholders. Much of Dunlap's argument makes sense, and he is probably right when he says that he would not be hired if managers had done their jobs right. But, having made his reputation now, he'd do well to take the chip off his shoulder and stop positioning himself as "A Nothing Kid from Hoboken" who takes cheap shots at Harvard M.B.A.s. Author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Dunlap gives his formula for turning around companies on the brink of collapse. His tough, no-nonsense story of how he earned his reputation as Wall Street's most renowned turnaround king is delivered with sincerity, conviction and no small measure of conceit. Dunlap's light working-class New Jersey accent lends credibility to the telling of his rise from blue-collar origins to one of America's most successful CEOs. And unlike many CEOs, he understands the power of strong verbal communication. He knows where and when to put emphasis in the text. Consequently, he keeps the listener engaged with a fascinating tale of a real-life American success story. L.L. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

This is the mentality that has destroyed our economy
It is good reading because it helps you to see why millions of jobs have either been eliminated or sent out the country, who our economy is in a shambles. It is the hateful greedy sadistic mindset of people like Mr Dunlap that has been embraced by enough CEOs to do the damage we are all suffering through now. Employees are expendable machine parts who should be changed like light bulbs, the dollar is everything. I think people should read this book, to see what an evil satanic beast Mr Dunlap is. It might help you to understand what is happening now.

Buyer beware!
Here's the postscript to the wonderful *cough* career of the esteemed *cough* Mr. Dunlap....

....By firing thousands of employees at once and closing plants and factories, [Dunlap] drastically altered the economic status of such corporations as Scott Paper and Crown-Zellerbach; however, when he attempted to use his methods to increase the share price of the Sunbeam-Oster Corporation, this backfired dramatically, as Sunbeam's stock rose from $12 a share to $53, and then within four months plummeted to $11 1/4.

Industry insiders revealed that Sunbeam's revenues had been padded because Dunlap had strong-armed retailers into buying far more merchandise than they could handle. With the stores hopelessly overstocked, unsold inventory piled up in Sunbeam's warehouses. Investors grew edgy, then panicky, and Dunlap himself was fired. He agreed to pay $15 million to settle a shareholder lawsuit.....

Hype at its essentials. An assortment of over-simplified views on business management.
I read selective chapters of this book in advising a student's translation project. I'm not an expert in the business field but I found this book (at least the chapters I read) filled with over-simplified views on business activities.

Dunlap was laureated as the "Company turnaround specialist" by admirers. He described his experience of saving companies from bankrupting and making their stock prices climb. Here's my few thoughts about the ideas preached in this book:

1) Dunlap's ideas are nothing original. For example, he repeatedly emphasize in the book that the vital method of running a business is to "cut unnecessary cost" and "maximize efficiency" of the management team. One can find "insights" like these in any college business management textbook. Members of the former management team would look dumb if the their total efforts and wisdom added together didn't outweigh Dunlap's. Is it possible?

2) People are considered nothing more than "human resources" (resources basically, just happened to be human) utilized by the firm in profit-generation. That's Tenet One in Capitalist Management Ideology and I don't wanna challenge its moral basis. "Driving people to achieve their best through pushing and rewarding" is no discovery of New Continent to any CEO (or college kid). I was surprised when I read Dunlap, filled with self-complacency, described how he acted according to the above "insights" in carrying out "corporate resuscitation". But then, what couldn't be done if people are not treated as distinct humans but corporate consumables? In the eyes of people like Dunlap (people in sympathy with his views are everywhere), stock price or accumulation of capital rather than people in the first place are viewed as the primary goals. I beg to differ with this mentality.

3) The idea of Dunlap, whether flattered by the superficial media or explicitly self-boosting, as the savior of failing companies is strongly in doubt. The climbing up of a company's stock price after Dunlap took charge might not be simply the result of his "insightful leadership". Stock price is a multiple-factors controlled variable. It could reflect the actual value or the "perceived" value of a company. The latter could be hugely influential. Dunlap has become a brand-name, a commodity in itself. The association of a company with the brand-name would affect the expectations of speculators, and might boost its stock price. This phenomenon is not restricted in business. Any hype concerning celebrity, advertising or fake-medicine behaves similarly.

The public needs a hero and they make one for themselves, which makes failure easier to explain and more palatable. Mechanism of Hype production.

Save your time for things more meaningful. Life is too brief for wasting on books and ideas like that. Not recommended. I would rate it zero star if I can.