by Stanley Bing
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Product Description
The world's first corporate case study, as only the best-selling Stanley Bing could tell it.
A family business prospers through a series of brutal consolidations and rational growth. Then senseless internal conflicts lead to a long line of demented CEOs, monumental expansion, and foolish diversification—at a high cost in shattered lives. In the end, a series of reverse takeovers leaves the once-proud but now overextended and corrupt parent company at the mercy of less-civilized operations that previously cringed at the grandeur of the corporate brand.
Enron? WorldCom? Try Rome, whose rise and fall carry a moral that lingers to this day for the managers, employees, and students of any global enterprise. Stanley Bing—whose satirical business books are as savagely funny as they are insightful—mingles business parable and cautionary tale into an ingenious, often hilarious new telling of the story of the Roman Empire.
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Average Customer Review:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Even The Title Is Historically Inaccurate, 2008-09-16
Perhaps Rome was "the first multinational corporation" Mr. Bing is aware of, but it is not even remotely close to being the first in history. Over a thousand years before Rome we had the Minoans, Trojans, Mycenaeans, etc. who all engaged in corporate-style plunder of natural resources and profited from trade routes, which they competed to control. And what about the Phoenicians (dealt with in chapter 4) who were operating before 1550BCE, 750-years before Rome? Or Plato, who describes in his Timaeus the war between ancient Athens and Atlantis as taking place "9,000-years ago", or approximately 9,400BCE. This was obviously a war to control trade in the Med. by the two biggest kids on the block. We also have profit-driven empires in the Middle East, India, and throughout Asia. The Silk Road was a commercial trade route long before Rome, and I don't think anyone will argue the Egyptians were opposed to profit.
Bing's apparent assumption that the corporate idea began with Rome reveals his lack of knowledge of how we got here today. In his defense, he chose a case study for which there is an abundance of information. However, his continued assertions that this was the beginning becomes exhausting by the 2nd chapter. Further, his writing style is very smug and belittling of the ancient people as if they were these idiots bumbling about the countryside waiting to be saved by the corporate civilization of Rome with no mention of their loss of freedom. They weren't given a choice, just as Walmart and other big companies move into small towns and take over. From the preface, "...and how good a product that was (Roman citizenship), when much of the world lived in mud and died trying to grab a fish by hand out of a rocky stream." And of course, no mention of the mining operation that pollutes that once pristine rocky stream once the Roman corporation takes control of the land. No, this is the same ignorant view many have taken regarding the Native Americans, and it is simply not accurate or complete.
The book randomly fluctuates between business lessons and the poor conveyance of history. A more interesting approach would have been to analyze actual Roman business practices, like their military industrial complex. For example, legions eventually used uniform field equipment. A 25,000 man force required helmets, armor, swords, shields, javelins, sandals, mess kits, tents, clothing, saddles, etc. All of which needed periodic replacing and resupply. This implies factories manufactured these on large scales which further implies raw materials were essential and lucrative contracts were awarded. Raw materials require mining operations which further require transportation (another corporation unto itself) over long distances possibly needing protection (yet another) and or insurance (still another). If the operation is multinational (they were) then the mines in different countries would yield fluctuating costs of production due to many factors. This would likely give rise to speculation in the changes of price (a futures market??). Then we could get into the banking aspects required to finance all this along with potential interest rates, and next we start to wonder if any of these multinationals sold stock in their operations to raise money for expansion, etc. This would have made for a 5-star book, but you won't find it in this one.
Instead, Bing reduces dynamic historical people and events into a form fit for a simpleton. His historical analogies often make no sense. From the Preface: "...we will describe, and then draw lessons from, the first corporate organization in human history. Others may claim that title but they would be wrong." He then brings up Mongols of the 13th century. "Genghis Khan and the Mongol hordes rampaging throughout Asia, killing, maiming, squashing, crunching, gobbling up territory and mutton with equal brutality and gusto? That's not corporate behavior." Really??? Perhaps it is not always so blatant or obvious, but I guess there's no corporations that have ever been responsible for deaths or gobbling up territory? And it wasn't just Asia; how about all of Russia and Europe almost to the border of northern Italy. This is not even the proper time period and he reduces them to backward Barbarian status, failing to mention their phenomenal logistics and control, advanced communication, efficiency, and management of an empire that dwarfed Rome and contained the entire Silk Road. No. If you're going to bring up Mongols then suddenly you are talking about descendants of one of the most ancient peoples, nomads, whose skills and knowledge hail back to before the Ice Age, possessing the longest developmental process in history and who dined on "advanced civilizations" like the Romans for thousands of years before there was a Rome.
Another offending line is on pg110, "Sun Tzu, who in his annoyingly vague ramblings". Not very flattering for someone of his stature, and not exactly how I would describe Sun Tzu. I've wasted enough time on this, but fortunately this kindergarten-level book can be read in an afternoon. I gave it 2-stars because Bing can be humorous and affable at times, but unfortunately he is doing the masses a disservice by delivering an erroneous impression of history, and reducing the people, cultures, and events to a tragically simple form.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Corporation should look at the Roman Empire - Oh Yeah, it is not here any longer!, 2008-06-16
This is a great book. Tells about the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, sure sounds like Corporate America to me. Corruption and Greed, I love it.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
History as comedy as business lesson, 2007-06-16
There are many books on the Roman Empire, but this is the first to treat it as a business enterprise. This short book chronicles the birth of Rome, from its mythical origins in the Aeneid, to its rise as a city state, growth into a Republic, transformation into Empire, its adoption of Christianity, split into East and West, and the West's metamorphosis into the Catholic Church. The book is broken into many small chapters, with each chapter focusing on a couple centuries of history, and the entire story laid out in chronological order. The primary emphasis is on Rome's early days and conquest of Carthage, and the days of Julius Caesar.
There is enough history here for those not familiar with Roman history. For true history buffs, this book serves more as an editorial comedy, and less as a history lesson. The parallels with modern corporations are many, and quite insightful. Overall, a good book and easy to read.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Go Rome, 2007-05-30
This book was so funny while being educative and historical all at the same time. If this guy is running a corporation, sign me up to work with him.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Surprisingly insightful and entertaining, 2006-08-29
A good read with a fair dose of drole wit and surpisingly insightful about the nature of Rome and its people. Sometimes history makes more sense when one uses common sense. For example, the part about the rationale for continual war in Roman culture was right on the mark, as well as the following humorous observations what kind of psychological qualities were required to be a functional senior manager. Also his discussion of the fall of Rome, while truncated, hits it on the head about the importance of the myth of Rome and its unifying power. A little bit of history and a little bit of management and a large bit of flippant humor makes for an enjoyable read
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