Grinding It Out: The Making Of McDonald's,   ISBN:9780312929879

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I highly recommend this book for any business person. It is a very fast read and very inspirational from both a business and a personal perspective. The story behind McDonalds is very interesting and shows that in order to be successful you need to have a deep passion for what you are trying to accomplish, focus on the details, hire the best people and to think outside of the box. I have read scores of business books yet I tend to shy away from the biography end of this genre. This book is an exception. Ray Kroc's personal story really humanizes the McDonalds story. His passion led him to build possibly the greatest example of a turn key business system- as business author Michael Gerber puts it. And that is what makes this book so great. It is an interesting read, but is still able to show the details that went into designing and building the McDonalds system.

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Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R52H0PGPRP6SC Chris Miller's review was made as part of a critical review assignment for the Fall 2008 Economics of Entrepreneurship seminar at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, taught by Art Diamond. (The course syllabus stated that part of the critical review assignment consisted of the making of a video recording of the review, and the posting of the review to Amazon.)

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Ray Kroc's autobiography provides an interesting glimpse of the McDonald's system and it's development. The book is well written and interesting to read. Despite this, I do not recommend the book. It offers no wisdom or lessons learned to take away from the book besides Kroc's greatness. (Kroc never suffered from an excess of humility.) In addition, I found it difficult to like Kroc. He rarely found fault with himself and blamed others for his and his businesses problems. Particularly galling to me was when Kroc had the opportunity to invest in McDonalds and another earlier business opportunity, his wife of 30 years was unconvinced of the plans wisdom. Rather than spend the time to bring her aboard, he tossed her aside continued with his business plans.

Customer Rating: 

It is not often you unearth a business biography that starts your stomach rumbling with hunger while maintaining your attention. No matter what your perception of the fast food hamburger industry, Grinding it Out provides a pleasant look into the origin of franchising and fast food. One will also find some gratification discovering the extent to which Ray Kroc put quality and integrity on an equal basis with profit; something possibly unexpected to those with prior negative perceptions of the mogul due to his abundant wealth.

Anderson provides a wealth of detail outlining the business dealings behind the growth of the McDonalds franchise. This book will be of interest to those with a curiosity towards the making of an industry. I recommend reading this book but suggest doing so with a full stomach.

Customer Rating: 

A very good book, a definite read for anyone looking to learn more about start up business or true entrepreneurship.

Although, I think it's very important to look at the fact that things are much different now of days then when Ray Kroc started up Mcdonalds. It is very inspiring though to find out how old he was when he started this business. Though, it's nice to read of all these young kids starting up business, it's also nice to read about a man in his 50's finally doing a start up that he'd dream t of.