ADMINISTERING THE GOING CONCERN.
By L. L. Waters, Wayne G.Broehl Jr., Charles H. Spencer and RayM. Powell. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1962. 702 pp. $8.95.
By focusing on the time element, which they call the life-cycle of a company, the authors have contributed a useful new dimension to the usual case book in general business management. Cases are arranged in a "life-of-the-firm" sequence: initial organization, growth, consolidation, adaptations to the future (e.g., issues of diversification, retrenchment, dissolution and disposal, and long-run planning).
The authors wisely do not overstate the analogy to the stages of man's life with the inevitability of death. They note, though, that identification of and response to needs of the firm are necessary in the several stages of growth if dissolution or "wasting away" is to be avoided. This emphasis on clear identification of a company's present position gives a useful base for determining future actions.
In keeping with the dynamic quality of the format, the student is forced to assume active participation in the role of general manager with three types of case situations. First, the fully-developed case descriptions, requiring substantial factual analysis, are useful for developing detailed and integrated company programs. Second, the "incident process" cases emphasize systematic development of a full-length case report from a thumbnail sketch of an event. In class discussion, students ask questions of the discussion leader who discloses additional facts only in response to specific questions. Third, the "in-basket" cases confront the student with materials - letters, memoranda, notices prepared to resemble a realistic operating situation in which he must take action. The materials - are an attempt to build into the book explicit appreciation of the frustrations and personal pressures operating upon the executive, more than is usual in case books.
The book is noteworthy for the inclusion of a section on one of management's leastused assets: the board of directors. Here case material challenges the reader to question in depth the often-heard charge that the board is little more than a legal fiction. In a number of instances the knotty issue is raised as to whether the chief operating executive wants or needs a strong and independent board. Disturbing issues are raised about the self-perpetuating nature of top management and about the problems, of corporate review. Future managers are asked to think hard about who is to perform these functions if the board does not and stockholders cannot.
This is a case book which demands rigorous analysis and the reader's participation in group discussion. As such it is well developed for use in general management or business policy courses.
