Beating the Business Cycle

Beating the Business Cycle

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Editorial Reviews

How can you make wise decisions about your company and your personal future when you have no idea where the economy is headed?

The answer is, you can’t. But you can learn how to accurately predict turns in the economy so that you can see the road ahead. And Beating The Business Cycle shows you how.

In Beating the Business Cycle, Lakshman Achuthan and Anirvan Banerji, the directors of the renowned Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI) show how anyone can predict and profit from the inevitable booms and busts of the economy.

Why should we believe them? Because while so many economists and financial gurus have failed to predict recessions in the past, ECRI’s forecasts are known for being uncannily accurate. The institute successfully predicted the U.S. recession of 2001 many months before the economists did; the 1990 recession and later recovery; and most recently, the weak U.S. recovery in 2002. ECRI is in constant demand by corporate America and the media. It is the “secret weapon” of companies from Disney to DuPont, the major fund managers, and many central banks.

Beating the Business Cycle is the first book to reveal how decision makers at all levels—managers, small business owners, and individuals—can see into the economy’s future when making key decisions. Should a large company search out new clients and build new factories or stores, or should it consider cost cutting and layoffs? Is it the right time for you to splurge on that luxury vacation or addition to your house, or would it be more prudent to cut back on big expenditures and save money for a rainy day?

Written in an easy-to-understand, accessible style, Beating the Business Cycle takes the guesswork out of deciding which of the hundreds of economic indicators to trust and which ones to trash. It will give you the tools and confidence you need to make the right decisions at the right times—even when the rest of the investing and business world would persuade you otherwise. Whether you are a corporate manager or the owner of a small business, whether you have your money invested in stocks or in your home, Beating the Business Cycle will give you the edge you need to trump the competition and stay ahead of the crowd.

Customer Reviews

Advertising literature sold as a book.

Reviewed by Shock Writer, 2009-02-18

This is a good book though it repeats itself and does not go very deep. It tells which of their main indicators to watch but does not give away much of the secret to their system. WWW.businesscycle.com is the company that this book promotes.

This book is a commercial

Reviewed by citruschill, 2009-02-15

Agreed that they may have a great record in forecasting business cycles, but when i buy a book that is titled "how to predict and profit from turning points in the business cycle", i expect more in answers than them just telling me to follow their indicators. Outrageous that they make people pay for the book. book is very light on the chest.

What are they doing writing books??

Reviewed by Yours Truly, 2009-02-03


Authors seems to know their subject well and have looked up the concept of Leading Indicators well. Combine that with a good marketing idea. So that you have to buy their book to find out that you need to subscribe to their website to get the information. And even to find out how much the subscription is you'll have to send them an email.
I wonder why their names do not appear next to Warren Buffet's if their snake oil is so good...
They must be sure laughing to their bank off those who are paying up...

How to use our proprietary indicators to beat the business cycle

Reviewed by Neil F. Sambol, 2008-05-05

There is nothing new or interesting in this book that other books will not give you. I agree with other reviewers, this is basically an expensive marketing brochure for their paid ECRI services.

There is almost no meaningful content in this book. Since I do not intend to subscribe to their service, this book is worthless to me.

Anyone want a slightly use copy? I plan to re-sell it on Amazon soon...

No explanation of business cycles

Reviewed by Example: Mark Twain, 2008-02-15

I bought this book assuming I would learn tools and techniques to do my own forecasting, and really hoped it would delve into the details of how individual business sectors fare relative to each other throughout the cycle.

None of the above is included in the book. There's plenty of examples showing how a proprietary ECRI indicator made an accurate call at just the right time. They don't give any details of how that indicator is calculated. Initially this was very frustrating and I kept reading, thinking they'd eventually get to the details. Toward the end of the book I realized the book is actually an advertisement for their subscription forecasting services. I should have read these reviews and I'd have saved time and money by not buying this book.

I must commend them for coming up with this innovative marketing approach of writing a book that's really an advertisement. Their subscription service is very expensive so they can afford to sell the book cheap. Lots of people buy the book becasue it's cheap, and that brings in a few more customers for the real product.