- Hardcover: 144 pages
- Publisher: Financial Times/ Prentice Hall; 1 edition (17 Feb 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0273642332
- ISBN-13: 978-0273642336
- Product Dimensions: 24.6 x 19.2 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 660,544 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Oh, you can just imagine it. Two creative types, probably on some design agency jaunt, sipping absinthe on Paris's left bank and impressing each other with their crazy ideas about life and work. Paul Dickinson and Neil Svensen believe that beauty can apply to more than just poems and sunsets--corporations can be beautiful too, they suggest. These creative types love to dream. But what if they could also demonstrate that "beautiful corporations" could increase profits with a combination of image and message? Not so crazy now, these young aesthetes.
Beautiful Corporations is not your average business book. To be completely superficial, it looks amazing--but then it would have to, really, the medium is definitely the message. But it's not all style over substance. Dickinson's ideas (he wrote the text, Svensen handled the design) are grounded firmly in reality and stem from the intangible but acknowledged fact that a strong sense of identity and purpose can be the difference between success and anonymity. "In business, attraction fuels transactions and profits", he claims. Beautiful Corporations is crafted with real vision and a wonderful understanding of design and popular culture but the concepts are underpinned by solid case studies and reference to "real life". Kwik Fit will probably never appear in the same book as Kate Moss again. Other examples include B&Q, Tesco, M&S, BT, Lloyds TSB as well as the Nikes and Calvin Kleins of this world. Dickinson argues convincingly for the link between "beauty" and profits. He handles aspects of corporate style, the impact of design and suggest ways for businesses to get in shape for the future. Ultimately, Beautiful Corporations avoids shallow image-mongering by focusing on customer trust and introducing a wider definition of beauty that encompasses sustainability and social responsibility. Looks are important but it's personality that counts.
Beautiful Corporations is a brave book on a complex and hazy subject. Ambitious organizations should be queuing up to ask, "Does my bottom line look big in this?". --Iain Campbell
Review
"Paul Dickinson rightly points out that business has overtaken politics as the primary force in society, which means consumers are 'voting' every time they flex their spending muscle, and that in turn makes the vigilante consumer into a powerful organism, capable, as we have seen, of humbling even the likes of Shell and Monsanto." Anita Roddick, Chairperson, The Body Shop International plc. "This book brings together ideas associated with aesthetics, sustainability, social justice and the business bottom line, to tell a new story of the emerging role of corporations amidst changing world conditions. If part of the task of creating a positive future is to imagine its shape, Dickinson's practical optimism in the face of challenge makes a significant contribution." Gill Coleman, Director, New Academy of Business "The idea of Beautiful Corporations is a critical one. The time is perfect for this book to arrive. The corporation that will dominate tomorrow's business landscape will pursue the social as well as the financial agenda." Sean Blair, Design Director, Design Council
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a book to make you think! It might be too soon for us to divide the world into beautiful and ugly corporations. But we can take what is proposed about taking the brand and its values right to the core of the corporation and how it behaves is right on the mark. This is not just branding, it is strategy.
Beautiful Corporations tells you what needs to be done. The task outlined is without doubt one of the big challenges for management in the coming years.
Reading it will not have you asking why this is important, it will have you asking how can we do it. Alas, the answers are not easy, and no single book could show you how anyway. This does give you the language needed to think about it, and perhaps find the right answers.
Let's hope these guys keep producing this thought provoking stuff!
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a brilliant book. It talks about what makes a company beautiful. The argiment goes that these days business rules the world, so busines has a rsponsibility to the wider world. Beautiful companies are those that combine a sense of purpose, a social conscience and quality design. It is a compelling case and I recommend it to anyone tired of Tom Peters and the like. The book looks beautiful too.
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