"This is not a book about charismatic visionary leaders. It is not about visionary product concepts or visionary products or visionary market insights. Nor is it about just having a corporate vision. This is a book about something far more important, enduring, and substantial. This is a book about visionary companies." So write Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in this groundbreaking book that shatters myths, provides new insights, and gives practical guidance to those who would like to build landmark companies that stand the test of time.
Drawing upon a six-year research project at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Collins and Porras took eighteen truly exceptional and long-lasting companies -- they have an average age of nearly one hundred years and have outperformed the general stock market by a factor of fifteen since 1926 -- and studied each company in direct comparison to one of its top competitors. They examined the companies from their very beginnings to the present day -- as start-ups, as midsize companies, and as large corporations. Throughout, the authors asked: "What makes the truly exceptional companies different from other companies?"
What separates General Electric, 3M, Merck, Wal-Mart, Hewlett-Packard, Walt Disney, and Philip Morris from their rivals? How, for example, did Procter & Gamble, which began life substantially behind rival Colgate, eventually prevail as the premier institution in its industry? How was Motorola able to move from a humble battery repair business into integrated circuits and cellular communications, while Zenith never became dominant in anything other than TVs? How did Boeing unseat McDonnell Douglas as the world's best commercial aircraft company -- what did Boeing have that McDonnell Douglas lacked?
By answering such questions, Collins and Porras go beyond the incessant barrage of management buzzwords and fads of the day to discover timeless qualities that have consistently distinguished out-standing companies. They also provide inspiration to all executives and entrepreneurs by destroying the false but widely accepted idea that only charismatic visionary leaders can build visionary companies.
Filled with hundreds of specific examples and organized into a coherent framework of practical concepts that can be applied by managers and entrepreneurs at all levels, Built to Last provides a master blueprint for building organizations that will prosper long into the twenty-first century and beyond.
Amazon.com Review: Built to Last became an instant business classic. This audio abridgement is read by the authors, who alternate chapters. Collins is a bit breathlessly enthusiastic, but clear and interesting; Porras, unfortunately, is poorly inflected and wooden. They set out to determine what's special about "visionary" companies--the Disneys, Wal-Marts, and Mercks, companies at the very top of their game that have demonstrated longevity and great brand image. The authors compare 18 "visionary" picks to a control group of "successful-but-second-rank" companies. Thus Disney is compared to Columbia Pictures, Ford to GM, and so on.
A central myth, according to the authors, is that visionary companies start with a great product and are pushed into the future by charismatic leaders. Usually false, Collins and Porras find. Much more important, and a much more telling line of demarcation between a wild success like 3M and an also-ran like Norton, is flexibility. 3M had no master plan, little structure, and no prima donnas. Instead it had an atmosphere in which bright people were not afraid to "try a lot of stuff and keep what works."
If you listen to this audiocassette on your daily commute, you may discover whether you are headed to a "visionary" place of work--and, if so, whether you are the kind of employee who fits your employer's vision. (Running time: two hours, two cassettes) --Richard Farr
Amazing Book!! I had to read this book for my management course and I thought it was going to be yet another boring business book, but IT IS AMAZING!! The authors made me completely rethink how I think companies achieve success and had some of the most in depth research I've come across.
It doesn't matter if you're in business or not, no matter who you are, you'll enjoy getting a fresh perspective that applies to business and our personal lives too. The book slows down towards the end, but overall it's a must read!
The "Core Values" of Corporate Business of the Yesterday and Today Let me just say, I have read two books by Jim Collins and his research team and I have not been at all disappointed. All chapters were explained without complex sentence writings and without all the extra stuff. For example, "Resiliency (not perfection) is the signature of greatness, be it in a person, an organization, or a nation." Jim Collins provided within each chapter insights on how to achieve at any position within a corporate company such as an employee, manager, senior executive, board member,and CEO. The book does mainly talk about people at the "top" but, the research information speaks for itself. Comparing companies such as Procter and Gamble, Walt Disney, Merck, Johnson and Johnson, Wal-Mart to Colgate, Columbia Pictures, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Ames, respectively. The researchers group and Jim Collins provided and proved what facts can represent to a reader. If you are willing to take your time and read with a understanding that anyone can create a "visionary company" of tomorrow. Highly Recommended to all future leaders with the pursue of how to develop what works and what doesn't.
Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant
This is one of my favorite book!!
Built to Last Finally, a book that includes ideas that are based on research, not just someone's good ideas and stories. If this doesn't change what you are doing in your business, you'd better stop reading, start writing and tell us all your secrets. Jim Collins is a great, inspiring author wh will engage you the whole way through.
A Must Read Together With Good To Great I enjoyed reading this book very much. It seems the company and the organization as an organic system within a larger system, and which purpose is not simply to make money (although, companies managed this way always do). It brings also the importance of the human side into management and how important it is to have a solid system of core values, beliefs, principles and mission. I highly recommended together with Good To Great, even in spite of the fact that some of the covered companies (like Ford, Sony, and Motorola) not being able to keep their greatness consistently.
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