The Natural Laws of Business: How to Harness the Power of Evolution, Physics, and Economics to Achieve Business Success

by Richard Koch

Book Overview

The author of The 80/20 Principle reveals the parallels between the laws of nature and the natural laws of business to teach managers and executives how to apply scientific and economic theory to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385501595
• ISBN13: 9780385501590
• Release Date: August 2001
• Publisher: Crown Business
• Length: 275 Pages
• Weight: 1.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

A Landmark Book

Richard Koch has encapsulated the essence of scientific thought, and shows how our best understanding of natural law governs the behavior of businesses and individuals. His insights are remarkable ! All I can say is ..."WOW !". In this book, the transfer of scientific theory into a practical working business philisophy has never been seen expressed in such a concise and readable way. As both a scientist and business person,it rings of truth. It is one of the best books I have read !

A superb insight into principles..

My Profile: 42 to, sales engineer, enterpreneur to-be I bought this book before the 80/20 since I assumed what this principle was all about ( I was so pleased I bought it afterwards). I was very pleasantly surprised by the approach taken not only is observing similar 80/20 patterns in many fields of our natural and man-made world, but also by the pragmatical aspect of viewing evolution, quantum theory and complexity in a way to make it applicable to your own business. This has allow me to train my eyes on a wider vision than those found in traditional books. The author is well resaerched and pragmatical and shares his wisdom generously and in a veru accesible manner. Do not miss this book, I find it incredible that is not availaible as a new edition!

Koch Provides Exciting Material for Teaching

Richard Koch's premise that the knowledge of how pure science works can provide us with the underlying rationale of how business works in fundamental ways is insightful and important. My grad students found The Natural Laws to be challenging and exciting to read and discuss. It is possible to take Koch's discussion on natural selection and combine it with quantum physics to understand the complex movements of markets and competition. The Natural Laws of Business is written with a clarity that belies the complexity of the many scientific theories discussed. Because business is a part of the universe that we are attempting to describe via science, then business ought to behave according to the fundamental laws of science that we have discovered. Koch opens the door to understanding such behavior.

If you can count, get a copy.

For the well educated (ie from a quantitative discipline) that have studied physics, chemistry and mathematics at some time, this book is a gold mine of insights into the way that reality drives outcomes, not wishful thinking.The Laws of the natural world exist and cannot be discounted no matter how inconvenient they are to our assumptions. Knowing how things come together allows us to better see solutions.The best section is the Pareto Optimum - nature is not democratic and 50/50 outcomes are the exception so never expect the law of averages to help you - it does not work that way.A very good read - those with a science background will get the most out of it but that is not critical.

"This book is a winner"

A must read for anyone that is interested in human nature, science, business and the relationship with the rest for the word.I learnt a lot about business, stratergy, human nature ,science and myself.I am 2/3 of the way through the book at the moment and can`t wait for my 2nd and 3rd read of the wealth of information that it contains.My one and only complaint is that so much valuable information was packed into just one volume book. "This book is a winner"