Audiobooks by Hans Peter Bech

The Dollar Compass: Supercomputers, Power Politics, and Moral Deception in the Autumn of the Cold War

"John le Carré meets Robert Harris, with this business-and-moral-dilemma dimension of a corporate geopolitical thriller. ★★★★★ “An exciting novel that feels like a genre of its own – entertaining, thought-provoking, and beautifully written. I was hooked from page one.” August 1985. The Cold War is beginning to thaw. But in Moscow, nothing is ever simple. Henrik Bertelsen is a Danish computer salesman, sent behind the Iron Curtain to help secure a deal that could save his struggling American employer. The reward is huge: cutting-edge supercomputers for the Soviet raw materials and energy industries. Under Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika, Moscow wants Western technology to modernise a stagnating superpower. American corporations see a once-in-a-generation opportunity. Intelligence agencies see a nightmare. Henrik eyes adventure and a career-making assignment. But from the moment he arrives in Moscow, he discovers that business is only the surface. His hotel room is searched. Helpful strangers appear at convenient moments. Diplomats offer advice with hidden meanings. Soviet officials speak in riddles. And the KGB is watching—not because Henrik knows secrets, but because one day he might. In a system built on secrecy, hierarchy, fear, and favours, technical superiority is not enough. To win, Henrik must learn how power really moves: through unofficial channels, personal loyalties, quiet threats, and carefully placed money. Each compromise seems manageable. Each one brings him closer to the contract. And each one pulls him further from the values he thought were non-negotiable. Meticulously researched and set against the real tensions of the late Cold War, The Dollar Compass is a gripping political and business novel about ambition, corruption, espionage, and the price of letting money become your guide."

Hans Peter Bech (Author), Rich Keeble (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Danish] - For Ussel Mammon: Supercomputere, storpolitik og moralske gråzoner i den kolde krigs skygge

"For ussel mammon er Hans Peter Bechs anden roman i serien om Henrik Bertelsen og udspiller sig fra sensommeren 1985 til foråret 1986 – en tid præget af koldkrigspolitik, spirende reformtanker i Sovjetunionen og et vestligt erhvervsliv på jagt efter nye markeder i øst. Efter en forfremmelse til underdirektør i det amerikanske teknologiselskab Control Data får Henrik pludselig ansvaret for at åbne det sovjetiske marked for supercomputere. Opgaven er ambitiøs: Projektet skal både redde en kriseramt virksomhed og støtte Gorbachevs forsøg på at trække Sovjetunionen ud af sit økonomiske dødvande. Selv om han er sælger af profession, bringer arbejdet ham ind i et grænseland mellem diplomati og spionage. Salget af ETA-10, Control Datas nyudviklede supercomputer, fører ham ind i et system fuld af kolossale muligheder, men også gennemsyret af mistillid, dobbeltspil og massiv korruption. På overfladen handler projektet om teknologisk udvikling og økonomisk modernisering; under overfladen udspiller der sig et komplekst magtspil mellem sovjetiske ministerier, amerikanske sikkerhedsinteresser og tech-virksomhedernes umættelige behov for vækst. Ambitionen er at gøre tingene rigtigt: at sikre en fair og gennemsigtig udbudsproces, undgå bestikkelse og navigere professionelt i et uforudsigeligt politisk landskab. Men virkeligheden presser idealerne. Sammen med den sovjetiske diplomat Oleg Makarov involveres han i en konsulentaftale, der i praksis fungerer som dække for systematisk bestikkelse – en nødvendig konstruktion for at forblive på god fod med de rette beslutningstagere i Moskva. Presset kommer fra flere sider. Ledelsen i Control Data er desperat efter at få aftalen i hus – helst så hurtigt som muligt – mens CIA samtidig advarer mod eksport af følsom teknologi til østblokken. Midt i dette spændingsfelt står Henrik alene med det afgørende dilemma: Skal han følge reglerne, eller er det nødvendigt at spille på to heste?"

Hans Peter Bech (Author), Hans Peter Bech (Narrator)

Audiobook

[Danish] - Balladen i Mekka

"Balladen i Mekka er første bind i en serie om hvordan samfundet og kulturen former livet for Aalborg-drengen, Henrik Bertelsen, der rives med af globaliseringen og den velstandsbølge, som rammer Danmark efter 2. verdenskrig. Handlingen foregår i tidsrummet juli til december 1979. Henrik sidder i et godt solidt job som fuldmægtig i arbejdsministeriet. Ved siden af underviser han på Danmarks Forvaltningshøjskole og på Københavns Universitet. Holder han næsen i sporet ligger karrieren snorlige foran ham. Men det gør han ikke. Ud af det blå dukker der en mulighed op for at komme med i et hospitalsprojekt i Saudi-Arabien. Han griber chancen, og så ruller lavinen. Projektet griber om sig og kræver mere og mere tid. Samtidigt etablerer Henrik bofællesskab i Nordsjælland og skal sammen med sin hustru, engelske Samantha, til Indonesien for at adoptere et barn. Forblændet af muligheden for eventyr får Henrik ikke forholdt sig til de langsigtede konsekvenser af projektet i Saudi-Arabien, og langsomt men sikkert fanger bordet. Samantha vil under ingen omstændigheder flytte til et arabisk land, og hans egne planer går da heller ikke i den retning. Midt i virakken får Henrik tilbudt et særdeles vellønnet job i et stort amerikansk computerfirma."

Hans Peter Bech (Author), Hans Peter Bech (Narrator)

Audiobook

Going Global on a Shoestring: Global Expansion in the Software Industry on a Small Budget

"Going Global on a Shoestring is a handbook for the executives and business developers in small and medium-sized software companies that lay out the strategies for global expansion as well as perform the actual fieldwork with winning the first customers abroad. It is a book about how to get the first customers outside your domestic market. We could call it establishing the bridgehead for further growth. Getting that first solid bridgehead and then scaling it to market leadership are two very different tasks. This book is mainly about the first task and not so much about the other. Based on Everett M. Rodger’s principles around Diffusion of Innovations, Alexander Osterwalder’s business model framework, thirty case stories from the industry and the author’s personal experience with growing companies from incubation to global market leadership. The book provides a practical approach to international expansion when you cannot afford to make big mistakes."

Hans Peter Bech (Author), Jim Wilson (Narrator)

Audiobook

Building Successful Partner Channels

"The book explains what it takes to build and manage partner channels in the software industry. The book uses the business model framework introduced by Alexander Osterwalder. It provides a practical guide for organizing the activities required to design productive partner programs as well implement these programs for the recruitment and management of partners that will find, win, make, keep and grow happy customers on our behalf."

Hans Peter Bech (Author), Hans Peter Bech (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks by Hans Peter Bech

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