Other titLes of interest.

"You can't sell ice to the Eskimos," marketing guru Philip Kotler has said. His most recent work, Kotler on Marketing (Free Press) is on the best-seller list in Latin America. In the book, Kotler sums up the principles he has espoused in his previous twenty-something works on the subject. The author looks at all the aspects of marketing, stressing the needs and wishes of the consumer, the importance of brand names and the need to maintain long-term, loyal customers. Kotler puts special emphasis on "internal marketing."

Many companies offer worthy products, but fail to serve their customers because they don't know how to motivate and enable their own employees. Kotler, considered to be marketing's number-one intellect, is a guide no manager can do without.

In Business @ the Speed of Thought: Using a Digital Nervous System (Warner Books) Bill Gates, the magnate of Microsoft, reaffirms his conviction that electronic commerce will have a leading role in business. He lists 12 steps that enterprises must follow to succeed in the coming "digital age." Among them: The use of e-mail for communication; the use of digital tools to eliminate simple tasks and do away with middlemen; the need to put in place digital systems to deal with customer complaints, and reduce the reliance on paper. Gates believes that in the next two years, most transactions between businesses will be done through the Internet. Gates, by the way, makes no mention in the book of the U.S. Justice Department's case against Microsoft for alleged monopolistic practices.