19 January 2004
In Search of Stupidity: Over 20 years of high-tech marketing disasters by Merril Chapman
(Apress, $59.95)
In 1982, In Search of Excellence, a book profiling a dozen or so successful (at the time) American companies, hit the book shelves. It's taken 20 years, but Merrill Chapman, a former programmer and IT salesman, took inspiration from In Search of Excellence to write its antithesis for the world of IT. The book draws on Chapman's dual technical and sales background and looks at a dozen or so companies where miscued marketing or conflicts between technical staff, sales/marketing and management lost them serious money and market share...