Creating Strategic Value

Through historical example and financial analyses, Joseph Calandro does an excellent job showing executives how to manage corporate value over the long haul. First: how to identify and then control the companies' greatest risks. Second: How and when to pounce on cheap assets offered up by companies not so enlightened. Creating Strategic Value is exactly the guide to read after a decades-long bull market has created amnesia towards financial cyclicality. -- Frederick J. Sheehan, Jr., specializes in asset preservation and is the author of <i>Panderer to Power: The Untold Story of how Alan Greenspan Enriched Wall Street and Left a Legacy of Recession and The Coming Collapse of the Municipal Bond Market</i> This book fills a much needed gap for those in corporate strategy and management. Utilizing sound research and leveraging examples by thought leaders in the field, Joseph Calandro illustrates how to apply the principles of value investing theory for corporate success. Reading it will definitely give you a leg-up on the competition! -- Professor Mark McNeilly, author of <i>Sun Tzu and the Art of Business</i> The lessons of Classic, Mixed, and Contemporary Value investing, as applied, through interviews with accomplished value practitioners, inspiring anecdotes and thought-provoking case studies, leave the reader well equipped to see value creating opportunity and avoid value destroying activity. An invaluable resource for both corporate capital allocators and those who evaluate their effectiveness. Every corporate decision maker will emerge a more intelligent investor as a result of reading this essential book. -- John J. Hughes, President, Quantum Capital Management, LLC Joseph Calandro wastes no words in building the case for applying the precepts of value investing to general corporate management. He illustrates those precepts with portraits of the careers of a host of accomplished practitioners, from old Jay Gould to the immortals Benjamin Graham and Henry Singleton to the contemporary standouts Howard Marks and Seth Klarman. Find your information advantage is the theme of this fine and useful volume-and you can begin your quest in these very pages. -- James Grant, editor, <i>Grant's Interest Rate Observer,</i> and author of <i>The Forgotten Depression: 1921, The Crash That Cured Itself</i> Value Investing is more than a capital allocation strategy. It is a philosophy of business based on the idea that the best way to navigate a volatile marketplace is not with gut, instinct and savvy, but with facts, verifiable data, and a margin of safety. Joseph Calandro's Creating Strategic Value expertly shows how the principles of value investing can be applied to business strategy and management. -- Jeff Gramm, fund manager and author of <i>Dear Chairman: Boardroom Battles and the Rise of Shareholder Activism</i> Joseph Calandro's book about value investing and corporate management is timely: for more than ten years 'value' stocks have underperformed 'growth' stocks. If we assume that we will find value stocks among depressed and neglected sectors of the market, it follows that there is now 'double value' in the stock market; double value arises from unpopular shares and from a completely neglected investment strategy that value investing has become. I highly recommend Calandro's book as we shall move away from passive investment styles to more active management. -- Marc Faber, editor, <i>The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report,</i> and author of <i>Tomorrow's Gold: Asia's age of discovery</i> A riveting blend of skill-sets on strategy and management in the corporate world. Information sharing and analysis at the speed of the internet, animated by the experience of an author whose findings and recommendations are both thoughtfully and practically displayed. -- Lenny DePaul, Chief Inspector/Commander, U. S. Marshals Service (Ret.) I loved this book. Joseph Calandro has written a highly engaging work on an incredibly important, often-overlooked topic: how corporate managers should allocate capital according to the principles of value investment. He draws on theory and practice to deliver a resoundingly persuasive argument. The book is fantastically well written, and a pleasure to read. Every director, officer, and general manager should read it. -- Tobias Carlisle, Principal, Acquirers Funds, LLC; Author of <i>The Acquirer's Multiple</i> and <i>Deep Value;</i> Founder, acquirersmultiple.com Understanding values is the key to corporate success, and Graham and Dodd is the Rosetta Stone of unlocking values. In this book, Joseph Calandro Jr. continues his application of core value investing principles into both strategy and management. A must read for corporate managers and investors alike. -- Mario J. Gabelli, founder, chairman, and CEO of GAMCO Investors, Inc.