Hard Core Management

A guide to turning survival in the workplace into successful management, Hard-core Management features 100 case studies of business myths and management realities and offers practical solutions for bridging the gap.

From the man the Wall Street Journal hailed as "the guru of Revenue Management" comes revolutionary ways to recover from the after effects of downsizing and refocus your business on growth. Whatever happened to growth? In Revenue Management, Robert G. Cross answers this question with his ground-breaking approach to revitalizing businesses: focusing on the revenue side of the ledger instead of the cost side. The antithesis of slash-and-burn methods that left companies with empty profits and dissatisfied stockholders, Revenue Management overturns conventional thinking on marketing strategies and offers the key to initiating and sustaining growth. Using case studies from a variety of industries, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations, Cross describes no-tech, low-tech, and high-tech methods that managers can use to increase revenue without increasing products or promotions; predict consumer behavior; tap into new markets; and deliver products and services to customers effectively and efficiently. His proven tactics will help any business dramatically improve its bottom line by meeting the challenge of matching supply with demand.

Java has quickly become one of the most important languages in programming, particularly for professional and enterprise-level projects. From its infancy as a language primarily used for web applets to its maturity through servlets, Enterprise JavaBeans, and database access, Java has become a complex and robust tool for today's developer.Hardcore Java takes this language and breaks it apart, piece by piece, revealing the important secrets and tricks that will take you from a junior-level programmer to a seasoned and expert developer. You'll fly through the fundamentals and quickly find yourself learning about advanced memory management techniques, optimization and bytecode-level enhancements, and the techniques required to build lightning-fast GUIs. Throughout the book, you'll also master the art of writing and maintaining bulletproof and error-proof code, all while grasping the intricacies of the Java language.Hardcore Java covers: Use of the final keyword to optimize and protect your Java classes. Complete and thorough coverage of all types of nested classes, including how to optimize anonymous and inner classes. Detailed discussion of immutable objects, including unique tips on when to use them (and when not to). Elimination of bugs through exception-handling management. In-depth studies of constants, including their impact on the Java memory model. The most thorough discussion of reflection in print, moving far beyond other books' "Hello World" coverage. Construction and use of dynamic proxies, in both Java Standard and Enterprise editions. Expansive coverage of weak references, including usage patterns and their role in garbage collection and memory management. Hardcore Java is an invaluable addition to every programmer's library, and even the most advanced developers will find themselves moving beyond their own conceptions into truly advanced applications of the language. Thousands of lines of code, heavily commented and easily runnable, illustrate each concept in the book.

Providing guidance on the processes of management and leadership, this work presents particular reference to what managers and aspiring managers need to know about the skills of management and approaches to effective leadership.