Business books of the year

The minimum wealth required to enter the immortal list is over £2.5bn in today’s money. The richest Briton of all time is Alan Rufus, who died in 1093 and was the most senior Breton in England at the time. A vicious warrior, his land was worth £11,000, a massive 7.33% of net national income and £81.3bn in today’s money. The list is dominated by early and medieval figures such as Rufus, William of Warenne, Robert of Mortain and the like. Lashki Mittal, the richest man alive today in Britain with £19.2bn, ranks just 20th. Only 18 current billionaires make it to the top 250. The book’s easy style and lucid prose make it perfect Christmas reading.

One to impress your colleagues
The Growing Business Handbook (10th edition)
Edited by Adam Jolly
Kogan Page, £25

Jon Ashworth

Did you know that there are over 160 cities in China with a population of more than 1m? Or that the Bentley franchise in Beijing has sold more stretch limos priced at $1.2m than any other car dealership in the world? Or that the number of dollar billionaires in China rose from four in 2005 to 15 in 2006?

Given China’s rampant ascendancy, none of this may come as a particular surprise. More intriguing is to find “doing business in China” given its own section in a book aimed at small British companies. Even multinationals on the scale of Unilever struggle with China’s red tape; Adam Jolly, editor of The Growing Business Handbook, does not see this as an obstacle to aspirational British entrepreneurs.

Advice on business dealings in China – covering the usual traps around cultural sensitivity and local partners – is provided by the China managing director of Mazars, the accountancy firm. This is the template for the book: each chapter is outsourced to a specialist with something to sell. Along with the profusion of full-page advertisements for banks and institutes, this gives the book a slightly odd feel.

Yet with an endorsement from the Institute of Directors, The Growing Business Handbook clearly has value. Advice on using the internet to grow sales, on managing staff and on improving cashflow will serve as a useful refresher for company directors, even if much of it states the obvious. More importantly for some, this large, hardback book will look good on the shelf in your office.

Snippets that hold little substance
Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Today’s Big Changes
By Mark Penn
Allen Lane, £20

Mark Leftly

The press release that accompanies Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Today’s Big Changes quotes praise of the author by no less a figure than Bill Clinton: “Mark Penn has a remarkable gift for detecting patterns and identifying trends.”