8 Books That Make a Big Difference for Your Small Business

This article gives 8 brief reviews of books that certainly builds the intellectual capital of your Catholic small business.

For a Catholic family business or small business enterprise to survive, thrive and be successful in today's information age, it is important always to build the intellectual capital of the business. This need not be big investments and entail much expenditure. Books and magazines are inexpensive, especially when they are bought on sale, or are reduced in prices. In today's highly competitive small business environment, we need to truly and solidly build the intellectual capital of our Catholic family business, in order for it to not only thrive, but to also excel in its rankings. Below are 8 brief reviews of books that will certainly enhance, grow, and help your Catholic family business rank well and succeed together with others of its genre.

The Catholic Church teaches us that we are called to integrate the message of salvation into the "new culture". This "new culture" she speaks of, is the internet and its information and business services. One way of inculturating the Catholic faith into this "new culture" is through our Catholic family business web site or blog. The Church teaches that the responsible use of the internet involves giving religious information, catechesis and evangelization, formation of pastoral workers, and the education to a mature responsibility of its users. Although we are restrained by the limitations of our authority, and cannot encompass all four means, our Catholic family business blog or small business web site can therefore integrate one or two of the four means, in order to do our part as Catholics who use the internet.

John C. Haughey is a Jesuit priest who ministers to people in the business world. In his ministry, he has discovered how to inculturate the Catholic faith in the world of business. This book gives many scriptural references by which anybody in the Catholic family business sector can find spiritual answers and solutions to the dilemmas and problems they encounter in their financial life. In the book, Haughey simply summarizes the solution to our financial woes as the placing of our trust on God and the sharing of goods as in the early Pentecost community. For those who wish to find Christian solutions to their financial woes, the Catholic perspective given by John C. Haughey in this book is well-presented and can be understood well not only by those who have attained high education in religion or business, but by anyone in the family business community, most of all to us, who venture into a Catholic family business.

This book is what anyone needs if they want to "tip" their Catholic family business to growth. The book is not only an international bestseller good for corporations, but also for us, as it can have a very positive impact on how we chart the direction of our small business enterprise. Gladwell uses the "tipping point" phenomenon of epidemics as a reference point to help anyone who has an idea or a business. He mentions three means by which they can "tip" their business into a social phenomenon with 'epidemic' proportions. These three means are: the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context. These ideas are truly effective. When we especially use them for our Catholic family business network on the internet, we truly will get remarkable results and great successes in growth.

It is not easy maintaining a Catholic family business online. There is a great need to survive, thrive and be successful if we want our small business venture to endure for the long term. This book gives great suggestions on how we can do this. What is great about the 11 ideas in this book is that it has its roots in customer service. It takes note of the difficulties of being a small business in a hypercompetitive environment such as the Net, and it also helps root our strategies in excellent customer services, that can make our Catholic family business be the best it can be in the internet mainstream. Though the situations given in the book are quite dated, as late as 1999, the strategies are still applicable up to this day. Given the 11 strategies listed in the book, we can customize our own, and take our Catholic family business to heights we never have thought possible.

There are 13 authors in this book; business leaders who write about customer relationship management from their years of experience in established corporations. For our Catholic family business to really gain headway in its progress, this book will surely give the proper attitude when it comes to acquiring and retaining customers and clients. All the means and strategies the writers of the book present, as the "blue ribbon" of customer success is: customer loyalty - an important factor in the building of our intellectual capital. The basic and underlying cornerstone for all their teaching is the goal of pursuing profitable customer relationships: a win-win situation where both sides of the business relationship profit from the relationship and all the transactions thereafter.

This is perhaps one book that will revolutionize our way of thinking in doing business in the information age. It is truly a book which will make us aware that the trend of business today is to depart from "brick and mortar" businesses [businesses that rely much on buildings and tangible assets], and to enter into businesses that invest heavily on intellectual capital. In this book, Annie Brooking defines intellectual capital as the intangible side of business that includes: customer loyalty, good business to business relationships, intellectual property, electronic infrastructure, and innovative know-how. The book is very educational and can give us many ideas on how we can manage and build the intellectual capital of our own Catholic family business. For us in the information age and who venture into the media of the internet, this book is very vital to our business thinking and operations.

The internet is such a global communications medium that we encounter so many cultures who can communicate with us in English. However, each culture and each country often have different forms and standards of addresses and contact information. The book gives ways of addressing people from 47 countries. Also, it helps in making our English more understandable to people who use English only as a second language. This is a very practical book which will surely be needed whenever we are called to communicate in a understandable way with business contacts in the 47 countries listed in the Guide.

One good technology magazine to buy in order for us to update on what is current in the internet is Windows IT Pro magazine. Their November 2005 issue is very good because it tells us about the four main browsers that we can use for our Catholic family business: Opera, Firefox, Netscape, and Internet Explorer. For those of us who have already gone quite far in using the internet, we know that depending on only one browser is not enough. It is to our advantage that we can use other browsers to help us in our Catholic business. Those who do not yet know of the other broswers available in the internet market will also find in this issue the latest features provided by the four browsers reviewed. This particular issue of Windows IT Pro details the excellent features of each browser and reviews what makes them very popular.

One, more, or all of the 8 books above can really help your Catholic family business get well grounded in information, that will build the intellectual capital needed, to boost the enterprise towards growth and success. It is indeed difficult and hard to find the right books, and the proper combination of excellent material, that will provide us with means and ways to make our business succeed. Instead of searching and searching for the right combination of books that you need to develop, grow and achieve success for your Catholic family business, the abovementioned list of reviews is given to you here for your convenience. If really interested in the books, you can search for them at Google, Google Books Search, Google Scholar Search, and at our Amazon.com and Ignatius Press affiliate programs in the home page. If you want us to help you search for the book online, you can inform us at help-book@pcentral-online.net or use the general email form below. Other related articles:

This Catholic family business series of articles are published to help start or develop your own small business enterprise. If you want help, assistance, or need additional information with regard to this, or any matter specifically that you may want for your business, you can write your concern below: