Headline April 28, 2016/ ''' CHIEF *FICTION* OFFICER '''

''' CHIEF *FICTION* OFFICER '''

THE STUDENTS OF PAKISTAN  -the first conceptual hosts and the present  trustees of the World Students Society-

*Wish to express their gratitude and profound thanks:

To all the Students of the United States of America, Philippines, United Kingdom, India, France, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Norway, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Holland, Morocco, China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Somalia, Germany, Mexico, Spain........

For their understanding and total support for the World Students Society, so lovingly called : !WOW!. 

In due course, the World students Society, will have the honour to thank every country, and every student. the world over.   

SOME GOOD  YEARS AGO, Harvard Business Review [HBR]  posted a fictitious case study by Mr. Joseph Finder on its website.   

The pages of  The Harvard Business Review  [HBR]  -are not usually populated by novelist and  -let's face it-  rare is the author who would choose to promote his latest novel then, by writing a prequel for the HBR.

Readers this time over, also had the chance to comment; the most interesting contributions, as well as the remarks of several corporate grandees, were designed to appear alongside the story.

In the case study Mr. Finder describes a dilemma facing Cheryl Tobin, the newly installed chief executive of a big aerospace firm. 

*She starts to suspect that her colleagues have engaged in massive corruption to win contracts*..

Does she dare initiate an  internal investigation  that could tear the firm apart? 

Mr. Tobin is also a central character in Mr. Finder's new book, ''Power Play'' , which was released just about that time. In the novel her main concern is not corruption but an executive retreat on remote island that goes horribly wrong.

The attraction of using  HBR  to plug the book is simple: Mr. Finder's three most recent novels, all set inside by big companies, have won him a sizeable following in corporate suites. Jeff Immelt, boss of General Electric at the time, is a fan. 

Some of the world's businessmen have helped him with his research, including several former bosses of Fortune 500 companies.

A graduate of both Yale and  Harvard, Mr. Finder took up novel writing after flirting with a career in CIA and taking a stab at journalism.

He had a written a  non-fiction  book about links between American businesses and the Soviet Union but had been unable to use some of the most fascinating material he had picked up. since his sources wanted it to remain off the record. 

So Mr. Finder wove those  tidbits into a political thriller instead. After three more novels on political themes, he decided to set his  next book in the world of business.

''A lot of Intelligence Officers now work as  in-house  security officers for major corporations, ''Mr Finder says,  ''and I'd ask them, ''What could a bad guy do inside a company?''

His recent novels draw in part on their responses. in his first corporate thriller, ''Paranoia'' , which appeared in 2004, an executive at an  IT firm resorts to corporate espionage.

His next book, ''Company Man'', about the boss of a struggling manufacturing firm, was ahead of its time in that it cast a  private-equity investor as the bad guy back in 2005.

Then in 2006, Mr. Finder published  ''Killer Instinct'' , set at a Japanese owned plasma TV manufacturer, in which the control of the company's security system is used-

To advance the protagonist's career and destroy his enemies.

There are many novels set in offices and boardrooms. The appeal of Mr. Finder's lies not in the majesty of the prose  -they are airport novels, not Pulitzer candidates-  

But in the plausibility of their plots and the accuracy of their depictions of corporate life.

  

The Honour and  Serving of the ''Operational Research'' continues. Thank Ya all for reading and see you on the following one.

With respectful dedication to the ''Corporate World''  the world over. See Ya all on the World Students Society and the Ecosystem 2011:

''' Praying For Gain '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless