GOOD TO GREAT: WHY SOME COMPANIES MAKE THE LEAP...AND OTHERS DON'T

u003cpu003eu003cbu003eThe Challenge u003c/bu003eu003cbru003eu003ciu003eBuilt to Last,u003c/iu003e 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 verybeginning. u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eBut what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eu003cbu003eThe Study u003c/bu003eu003cbru003eFor years, this question preyed on the mind of Jim Collins. Are there companies that defy gravity and convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? And if so, what are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great? u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eu003cbu003eThe Standards u003c/bu003eu003cbru003eUsing tough benchmarks, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. How great? After the leap, the good-to-great companies generated cumulative stock returns that beat the general stock market by an average of seven times in fifteen years, better than twice the results delivered by a composite index of the world's greatest companies, including Coca-Cola, Intel, General Electric, and Merck.u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eu003cbu003eThe Comparisons u003cbru003eu003c/bu003eThe research team contrasted the good-to-great companies with a carefully selected set of comparison companies that failed to make the leap from good to great. What was different? Why did one set of companies become truly great performers while the other set remained only good? u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eOver five years, the team analyzed the histories of all twenty-eight companies in the study. After sifting through mountains of data and thousands of pages of interviews, Collins and his crew discovered the key determinants of greatness -- why some companies make the leap and others don't. u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eu003cbu003eThe Findingsu003c/bu003eu003cbru003e The findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice. The findings include:u003c/pu003eu003culu003eu003cliu003eu003cbu003eLevel 5 Leaders:u003c/bu003e The research team was shocked to discover the type of leadership required to achieve greatness. u003c/liu003eu003cliu003eu003cbu003eThe Hedgehog Conceptu003c/bu003e (Simplicity within the Three Circles): To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence. u003c/liu003eu003cliu003eu003cbu003eA Culture of Discipline:u003c/bu003e When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great results. Technology Accelerators: Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology. u003c/liu003eu003cliu003eu003cbu003eThe Flywheel and the Doom Loop:u003c/bu003e Those who launch radical change programs and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap.u003c/liu003eu003c/ulu003eu003cpu003e“Some of the key concepts discerned in the study,” comments Jim Collins, "fly in the face of our modern business culture and will, quite frankly, upset some people.” u003c/pu003eu003cpu003ePerhaps, but who can afford to ignore these findings? u003c/pu003e