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Undergraduate Reading List

David A. Gautschi's Book Recommendations:

"This is a comprehensive analysis of the confluence of three major factors that promoted widespread prosperity for the first time in modern history." --onThe Birth of Plenty

Why Not? How to Use Everyday Ingenuity to Solve Problems Big and Small by Barry J. Nalebuff and Ian Ayres
This is a terrific guide to thinking about how to innovate -- problems in search of solutions and solutions in search of problems.

The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else by Hernando de Soto
This is a compelling critique of the institutions that those of us in the West simply take for granted, are commonly absent in underdeveloped economies, and that should receive much more attention in business schools that are committed to understanding entrepreneurship.

David Gautschi - Rensselaer Polytechnic

b>The 86% Solution: How to Succeed in The Biggest Market Opportunity of the 21st Century by Vijay Mahajan and Kamini Banga
This book offers a surprisingly counter-intuitive assessment of the size and character of markets in underdeveloped economies and how one could adapt common marketing practices to earn a positive return.

End of The Line -- The Rise and Fall of the Global Corporation by Barry C. Lynn
A gadfly's assessment of globalization, this book has serious criticisms that have a following, even if they are not well-founded. That is all the more reason to understand the arguments and know how to respond to them.

The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World Was Created by William Bernstein
This is a comprehensive analysis of the confluence of three major factors that promoted widespread prosperity for the first time in modern history. Protections of property rights, the advance of scientific discovery and innovation, and the organization of capital markets combined to make the 19th century the launching pad for growth in prosperity.

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond
Retrospective and contemporary in its analysis, this book is a comprehensive treatment of the interaction of decisions that result in societal success and failure.

The Aims of Education by Alfred North Whitehead
This book is a timeless guidepost for the purpose of universities and even business schools.

In Defense of Globalization by Jagdish Bhagwati
This book is a more thoughtful and articulate analysis of the reasons for and the issues surrounding globalization than Friedman delivers in The World Is Flat. There's no surprise: Friedman is a journalist, Bhagwati is university professor at Columbia and senior fellow in international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations.



Biographical info: Gautschi teaches courses that focus on marketing strategy, marketing systems, the economies of retailing, global information, and telecommunications industries, and high-tech product market management. He has published more than 35 articles in marketing, economics, and technology management journals. Gautschi has co-founded three firms. Among them is an international one that has developed marketing decision support systems and industry-specific market simulation models and laboratories with clients from around the globe. As a director he served as one of six leaders of the e-business practice of Deloitte & Touche LLP from 1999 to 2003. He has also served on the faculties of Cornell, Yale, INSEAD, and the University of Washington.