Good to Great CD: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't


: Good to Great CD: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't

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Binding: Audio CD
Dewey Decimal Number: 658
EAN: 9780060794415
Edition: Unabridged
Format: Unabridged
ISBN: 0060794410
Label: HarperAudio
Manufacturer: HarperAudio
Number Of Items: 1
Publication Date: June 01, 2005
Publisher: HarperAudio
Release Date: June 14, 2005
Studio: HarperAudio

 


 


 


 

Editorial Review:

Amazon.com Review:
Five years ago, Jim Collins asked the question, "Can a good company become a great company and if so, how?" In Good to Great Collins, the author of Built to Last, concludes that it is possible, but finds there are no silver bullets. Collins and his team of researchers began their quest by sorting through a list of 1,435 companies, looking for those that made substantial improvements in their performance over time. They finally settled on 11--including Fannie Mae, Gillette, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo--and discovered common traits that challenged many of the conventional notions of corporate success. Making the transition from good to great doesn't require a high-profile CEO, the latest technology, innovative change management, or even a fine-tuned business strategy. At the heart of those rare and truly great companies was a corporate culture that rigorously found and promoted disciplined people to think and act in a disciplined manner. Peppered with dozens of stories and examples from the great and not so great, the book offers a well-reasoned road map to excellence that any organization would do well to consider. Like Built to Last, Good to Great is one of those books that managers and CEOs will be reading and rereading for years to come. --Harry C. Edwards

Product Description:


Built To Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the very beginning. 



But what about companies that are not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? Are there those that convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? If so, what are the distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great?



Over five years, Jim Collins and his research team have analyzed the histories of 28 companies, discovering why some companies make the leap and others don't. The findings include:

  • Level 5 Leadership: A surprising style, required for greatness.
  • The Hedgehog Concept: Finding your three circles, to transcend the curse of competence.
  • A Culture of Discipline: The alchemy of great results.
  • Technology Accelerators: How good-to-great companies think differently about technology.
  • The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Why those who do frequent restructuring fail to make the leap.



Customer Reviews
Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Collins Review
Extremely well written. The valuable information from Collin's Good to Great is useful not only in a business but also in one's personal life. A must buy!


Rating: 1 out of 5 stars - please burn every copy you can find
Please google critical review of G2G before reading. There are major problems with the "research" presented. Check out Nassim Nicholas Taleb's "The Black Swan" for some insight into what really makes a company great. The answer; no one really knows. It's all random.

Business books are nothing but fads and fashion. Read, borrow a couple of ideas, then throw them in the trash when you are done. G2G became required reading where I work and in my view has nearly destroyed the company. It ... Read More


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - Pretty great, if a little dated
I picked up this book from the bed and breakfast bookshelf while on vacation. It's not a book I normally would have chosen to read on vacation, but it was well written and was surprisingly engaging for the topic. It's a study of companies that were good companies for awhile (at least 15 years), then became great companies (outperforming the stock market by at least 3x over at least 15 years). What they found in the eleven companies that met the criteria were some interesting and at times counterintuitive ... Read More


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - Captivating for a Business Study
Very good research and well written. Somewhat dated since 3 of these companies are in trouble today, but the others are still among the best.


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Timely principles needed during this economic crisis
Jim Collins' study of business core values, principles and success concepts was expected to be timeless, even if the companies in the book were not. This is never more true than in the later half of 2008 where we see time after time companies missing the mark on these concepts and faltering badly.

I suggest that Congress, the auto makers, unions and especially Wall Street read carefully, no study the concepts in Good to Great. Had Fannie Mae continued the principles it displayed in this study, ... Read More



 

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