strategy + business Best Books of 2008

Always anticipated, strategy + business has published their Best Business Books 2008. What makes this list special is that they assign each category to an expert in that field for review, and each reviewer delivers a lengthy and in depth essay on the books chosen. I've linked each category to it's reviewer's essay at the top of each section. The books starred are those selected as the category's best, what is referred to as s+b's top shelf. Strategy: Fast Competition and Flat Denial by Phil Rosenzweig

• *The Red Queen among Organizations: How Competitiveness Evolves by William P. Barnett, Princeton University Press
• Sony vs. Samsung: The Inside Story of the Electronics Giants' Battle for Global Supremacy by Sea-Jin Chang, Wile
• Redefining Global Strategy: Crossing Borders in a World Where Differences Still Matter by Pankaj Ghemawat, Harvard Business School Press

Life Stories: A Masterclass in Leadership by Nell Minow

• Taking on the Trust: The Epic Battle of Ida Tarbell and John D. Rockefeller by Steve Weinberg, W.W. Norton
• *Basic Brown: My Life and Our Times by Willie Brown, Simon & Schuster
• The Bush Tragedy by Jacob Weisberg, Random House
• Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History by Ted Sorensen, HarperCollins

Marketing: The Brand's New World by Catharine P. Taylor

• *Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, Harvard Business Press
• Always On: Advertising, Marketing, and Media in an Era of Consumer Control by Christopher Vollmer, with Geoffrey Precourt, McGraw-Hill
• Obsessive Branding Disorder: The Illusion of Business and the Business of Illusion by Lucas Conley, PublicAffairs

Rhetoric: The Art of Influence by Michael Schrage

• *White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters` by Robert Schlesinger, Simon & Schuster
• Jacked Up: The Inside Story of How Jack Welch Talked GE into Becoming the World's Greatest Company by Bill Lane, McGraw-Hill

Innovation: Chasing Breakthroughs by Jon Gertner

• Grabbing Lightning: Building a Capability for Breakthrough Innovation by Gina C. O'Connor, Richard Leifer, Albert S. Paulson & Lois S. Peters, Jossey-Bass
• Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything (Updated & Expanded) by Don Tapscott & Anthony D. Williams, Portfolio
• Patent Failure: How Judges, Bureaucrats, and Lawyers Put Innovators at Risk by James Bessen & Michael J. Meurer, Princeton University Press
• *Innovation Nation: How America Is Losing Its Innovation Edge, Why It Matters, and What We Can Do to Get It Back by John Kao, Free Press

Globalization: Asia As It Is by Marc Levinson

• *The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East by Kishore Mahbubani, PublicAffairs
• Operation China: From Strategy to Execution by Jimmy Hexter & Jonathan Woetzel, Harvard Business School Press
• The China Price: The True Cost of Chinese Competitive Advantage by Alexandra Harney, Penguin Press (Jack Covert Selects)
• A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World by William J. Bernstein, Atlantic Monthly Press

Human Capital: Talent Unleashed by Sally Helgesen

• Talent on Demand: Managing Talent in an Age of Uncertainty by Peter Cappelli, Harvard Business Press
• Talent: Making People Your Competitive Advantage by Edward E. Lawler III, Jossey-Bass
• *Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns by Clayton M. Christensen, McGraw-Hill
• Punching In: The Unauthorized Adventures of a Front-line Employee by Alex Frankel, HarperCollins

Capitalism and Community: In Search of Entrepreneurial Spirit by Margaret Wheatley & Carole Schwinn

• The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World by John Elkington & Pamela Hartigan, Harvard Business Press
• The Dismal Science: How Thinking Like an Economist Undermines Community by Stephen A. Marglin, Harvard University Press
• *Creating a World without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism by Muhammad Yunus, PublicAffairs (Jack Covert Selects)
• Community: The Structure of Belonging by Peter Block, Berrett-Koehler

Management: Narratives and Paradigms by David K. Hurst

• Big Brown: The Untold Story of UPS by Greg Niemann, Wiley
• The Turnaround Kid: What I Learned Rescuing America's Most Troubled Companies by Steve Miller, Collins
• Doing What Matters: How to Get Results That Make a Difference--The Revolutionary Old-school Approach by James M. Kilts, with John F. Manfredi & Robert L. Lorber, Crown Business
• *Family Wars: Classic Conflicts in Family Business and How to Deal with Them by Grant Gordon and Nigel Nicholson, Kogan Page

Miscellany: Uncategorical Insight by James O'Toole

• *Myself and Other More Important Matters by Charles Handy, AMACOM (Jack Covert Selects)
• The Craftsman by Richard Sennett, Yale University Press
• From Higher Aims to Hired Hands: The Social Transformation of American Business Schools and the Unfulfilled Promise of Management as a Profession by Rakesh Khurana, Princeton University Press
• Minding the Store: Great Writing about Business from Tolstoy to Now edited by Robert Coles & Albert LaFarge, The New Press

We've been following this list since 2003. The previous years' lists are below. 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007