Aaker, David A., Building Strong Brands.
New York, New York: The Free Press.

This is Mr. Aaker's second in a series of books on brand development. It provides a variety of case histories that illustrate brand building strategies.

Aaker, David A. Managing Brand Equity: Capitalizing on the Value of a Brand Name. New York, New York: The Free Press.

This book provides an excellent foundation on the principles of establishing and evaluating brand equity. Mr. Aaker has a unique perspective on brand equity which incorporates brand identity at the same time.

Association of National Advertisers, Inc. How to Develop and Market New Products...Better and Faster. New York, New York: Association of National Advertisers, Inc.

This "How to" book provides helpful methodologies in a simple and direct format.

Clifford, Donald K./Cavanagh, Richard E., The Winning Performance . New York, New York: Bantam, November.

A useful book on developing winning strategies.

Cooper, Robert G. Winning at New Products. Toronto, Ontario: Holt, Rinehart and Winston of Canada, Ltd.

Robert Cooper is a leader in new product development processes. His stage/gate management method is a cornerstone of the new product development process. A must read!

Day, George S. The Market Driven Organization: Understanding, Attracting, and Keeping Valuable Customers. New York, New York: The Free Press.

This book provides a perspective on the type of company that is successful at being a truly customer-centric business.

Day, George S. Market Driven Strategy. New York, New York: The Free Press.

George Day had provided an insightful strategic development framework based on marketplace forces. A very useful read.

Day, George S. Strategic Market Planning. St. Paul, Minnesota: West Publishing Company.

A well written book for developing business development strategies. The strategic tools are very useful and the case histories provide the texture to truly understand the methodologies.

Devine, Marion. Successful Mergers: Getting the People Issues Right. The Economist Press, 2002.

In Western economies, revenue and profit growth via merger or acquisition is a key management tool. Successful Mergers provides useful perspectives in creating value through mergers with a focus on the “people issues”. Examples are drawn from both the consumer goods and services industries.

Drucker, Peter F. Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Practice and Principles. New York, New York: HarperBusiness.

A classic that is worth reading year after year.

Gertz, Dwight L./Baptista/Joao P.A. Grow to be Great: Breaking the Downsizing Cycle. New York, New York: The Free Press.

This book demonstrates that brand growth is possible under all circumstances. It provides useful statistics to support the brand development processes.

Gladwell, Malcolm. Tipping Point. Little Brown & Company, March 2000.

A useful book to provide a better understanding on how small initiatives can have large impacts. “Mavens”, “Connectors” and “Salesmen” will become a part of your vocabulary.

Gladwell, Malcolm. Blink. Little Brown & Company, January 2005.

This book shows that intuition is really a “cognitive” process based on years of experience. However, intuitions works better in seeing patterns in existing contexts than in new ones. Unlike Tipping Point (Gladwell's previous book), the author does not prescribe extensive guidelines for using Blink in your everyday world.

Gruenwald, George. New Product Development-What really Works. Lincolnwood, Illinois: NTC Business Books.

A proven resource in new product development.

Hall, Doug. Jump Start Your Brain. New York, New York: Warner Books.

An iconoclastic primer on innovation and techniques you can use to "jump start your brain" for brand development as well as exciting marketing tactics.This book provides creative approaches for creating new products or building brands.

Hamel, Gary. Leading the Revolution. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press.

This well-written book provides a corporate perspective on creating an innovative company.

Kapferer, Jean-Noel. Strategic Brand Management: New Approaches to Creating and Evaluating Brand Equity. New York, New York: The Free Press.

A well-documented and soundly written book on strategic brand management.

Moore, Geoffrey A. Inside the Tornado: Marketing Strategies from Silicon Valley’s Cutting Edge. New York, New York: HarperBusiness.

With a focus on new economy companies, Geoffrey Moore outlines the problems (and solutions) of emerging companies and chasm they have to cross to become successful mainstream businesses.

Moore, Geoffrey A. Living on the Fault Line: Managing for Shareholder Value in the Age of the Internet. New York, New York: HarperBusiness.

Geoffrey Moore brings innovation management to the internet age – for old and new economy companies.

Myers, James H. Segmentation and Positioning for Strategic Market Decisions. Chicago, Illinois: American Marketing Association.

This book focuses on the use of market segmentation and the resulting positioning strategies.

Patrick, Jeff. How to Develop Successful New Products. Lincolnwood, Illinois: NTC Business Books.

A useful "How to" book on product innovation.

Porter, Michael E. Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors. New York, New York: The Free Press.

This book is is recognized as one of the "cornerstone" books on competitive strategy.

Ray, Michael/Myers, Rochelle. Creativity in Business. New York, New York: Double Day Inc.

This book focuses on the creative process and its role in business management.

Souder, William E. Managing New Product Innovations. Lexington, Massachusetts: Lexington Books.

New product focus along with an innovation perspective makes for an interesting read.

Treacy, Michael/Wiersema, Fred. The Discipline of Market Leaders. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison Wesley.

Provides a strategic focus on the role of marketing and market leadership as a defining strategic criteria.