Why do some companies perform beyond expectation year after year while others start out strong but quickly fizzle? The answer lies in their ability to create long-term value. In this book, a leading professor at the top-ranked University of Michigan Business School presents five keys to creating value by incorporating the efforts of marketing, manufacturing, human resources, and finance in a strategy for continuing bottom-line success. His fresh look at what makes companies work shows managers how they can identify the factors that create value and use them to benefit their organizations and their own careers.

"Businesses across all industries are facing the challenge of the Internet disaggregating their value chains. In this context, Anjan Thakor provides managers with initial insight as to the drivers that create and destroy value." --Tom Glocer, CEO, Reuters America Inc.

Today's companies don't need better managers. They need better valuecreators--individuals who understand not only the organizational process but the organizational dynamics that ensure continuing profits for a company and its shareholders. In this book, respected business educator Anjan Thakor presents managers with a pragmatic guide to creating value and boosting the success of their companies?while enhancing their own careers.Creating value is about more than making money in the short term. It's about incorporating the efforts of every employee into a business strategy that will support performance and profits over the long haul. It requires each member of a team to take ownership of the organizational assets he or she manages and translate organizational strategy into a personal plan of action.In separate chapters, Thakor gives individual managers of marketing, manufacturing, human resources, and finance specific guidelines for drafting that plan and overcoming the forces that can sabotage value. Using examples from all four of those business areas, as well as insights from leading value-creating companies, he presents five secrets that anyone can use to become a better value creator.The University of Michigan Business School Management Series is dedicated to providing managers with the practical tools they need to build their companies and their careers. Becoming a Better Value Creator tackles one of the biggest issues managers face today. By learning to recognize the factors critical to the ongoing success of their organizations, managers can go beyond maximizing short-term profits to serve the long-term interest of all the company's stakeholders while ensuring their own personal and professional fulfillment.

Today's companies don't need better managers. They need better value creators--individuals who understand not only the organizational process but the organizational dynamics that ensure continuing profits for a company and its shareholders. In this book, respected business educator Anjan Thakor presents managers with a pragmatic guide to creating value and boosting the success of their companies...while enhancing their own careers.
Creating value is about more than making money in the short term. It's about incorporating the efforts of every employee into a business strategy that will support performance and profits over the long haul. It requires each member of a team to take ownership of the organizational assets he or she manages and translate organizational strategy into a personal plan of action.
In separate chapters, Thakor gives individual managers of marketing, manufacturing, human resources, and finance specific guidelines for drafting that plan and overcoming the forces that can sabotage value. Using examples from all four of those business areas, as well as insights from leading value-creating companies, he presents five secrets that anyone can use to become a better value creator.
The University of Michigan Business School Management Series is dedicated to providing managers with the practical tools they need to build their companies and their careers. Becoming a Better Value Creator tackles one of the biggest issues managers face today. By learning to recognize the factors critical to the ongoing success of their organizations, managers can go beyond maximizing short-term profits to serve the long-term interest of all the company's stakeholders while ensuring their own personal and professional fulfillment.

ANJAN V. THAKOR is the Edward J. Frey Professor of Banking and Finance at the University of Michigan Business School and the recipient of many distinguished teaching awards.