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

TheChallengeBuilttoLast,thedefiningmanagementstudyofthenineties,showedhowgreatcompaniestriumphovertimeandhowlong-termsustainedperformancecanbeengineeredintotheDNAofanenterprisefromtheverybeginning.ButwhataboutthecompanythatisnotbornwithgreatDNA?Howcangoodcompanies,mediocrecompanies,evenbadcompaniesachieveenduringgreatness?TheStudyForyears,thisquestionpreyedonthemindofJimCollins.Aretherecompaniesthatdefygravityandconvertlong-termmediocrityorworseintolong-termsuperiority?Andifso,whataretheuniversaldistinguishingcharacteristicsthatcauseacompanytogofromgoodtogreat?TheStandardsUsingtoughbenchmarks,Collinsandhisresearchteamidentifiedasetofelitecompaniesthatmadetheleaptogreatresultsandsustainedthoseresultsforatleastfifteenyears.Howgreat?Aftertheleap,thegood-to-greatcompaniesgeneratedcumulativestockreturnsthatbeatthegeneralstockmarketbyanaverageofseventimesinfifteenyears,betterthantwicetheresultsdeliveredbyacompositeindexoftheworld'sgreatestcompanies,includingCoca-Cola,Intel,GeneralElectric,andMerck.TheComparisonsTheresearchteamcontrastedthegood-to-greatcompanieswithacarefullyselectedsetofcomparisoncompaniesthatfailedtomaketheleapfromgoodtogreat.Whatwasdifferent?Whydidonesetofcompaniesbecometrulygreatperformerswhiletheothersetremainedonlygood?Overfiveyears,theteamanalyzedthehistoriesofalltwenty-eightcompaniesinthestudy.Aftersiftingthroughmountainsofdataandthousandsofpagesofinterviews,Collinsandhiscrewdiscoveredthekeydeterminantsofgreatness--whysomecompaniesmaketheleapandothersdon't.TheFindingsThefindingsoftheGoodtoGreatstudywillsurprisemanyreadersandshedlightonvirtuallyeveryareaofmanagementstrategyandpractice.Thefindingsinclude:Level5Leaders:Theresearchteamwasshockedtodiscoverthetypeofleadershiprequiredtoachievegreatness.TheHedgehogConcept(SimplicitywithintheThreeCircles):Togofromgoodtogreatrequirestranscendingthecurseofcompetence.ACultureofDiscipline:Whenyoucombineacultureofdisciplinewithanethicofentrepreneurship,yougetthemagicalalchemyofgreatresults.TechnologyAccelerators:Good-to-greatcompaniesthinkdifferentlyabouttheroleoftechnology.TheFlywheelandtheDoomLoop:Thosewholaunchradicalchangeprogramsandwrenchingrestructuringswillalmostcertainlyfailtomaketheleap."Someofthekeyconceptsdiscernedinthestudy,"commentsJimCollins,"flyinthefaceofourmodernbusinesscultureandwill,quitefrankly,upsetsomepeople."Perhaps,butwhocanaffordtoignorethesefindings?《从优秀到卓越》是超级畅销书《基业长青》的作者柯林斯的又一力作，它描绘了优秀公司实现向卓越公司跨越的宏伟蓝图。《基业长青》揭示了公司保持卓越的秘诀，但书中提到的公司自始至终都出类拔萃。对于那些业绩平平的公司，如何才能实现从优秀到卓越的跨越呢？是不是卓越的企业都有所谓的特殊“卓越气质”？发展的瓶颈是不是真的难以突破？针对这一问题，柯林斯和他的研究小组历时5年，阅读并系统整理了6000篇文章，记录了2000多页的专访内容，创建了3.84亿字节的电脑数据，收集了28家公司过去50年，甚至更早的所有文章，进行了大范围的定性和定量分析，得出了如何使公司从优秀到卓越的令人惊异而振奋的答案。柯林斯发现，公司从优秀到卓越，跟从事的行业是否在潮流之中没有关系，事实上，即使是一个从事传统行业的企业，即使它最初默默无闻，它也可能卓越。柯林斯提出了一整套观点，“只要采纳并认真贯彻，几乎所有的公司都能极大改善自己的经营状况，甚至可能成为卓越公司”。