Book Review

About author

The author of Small Giants: Companies That Choose To Be Great Instead of Big (Portfolio, 2006) is Bo Burlingham, an editor-at-large of Inc. magazine. Before joining Inc., he freelanced for various publications, including Esquire, Harper’s, Boston Magazine, and Mother Jones. He was also managing editor of Ramparts magazine for a while. In 1982, He joined Fidelity Investments. From 1992 to 1997, he served on the board of The Body Shop Inc. He was also a founder, with Tom Peters, of PAC World, which is an international networking group.

which he describes as "the corporate equivalent of charisma in a person. . . . Companies with mojo have a quality that makes people want to be part of them."

About book

It’s a widely acception of business that the top job for a company is to improve their revenues and profits . However, this book is not about how to improve competitiveness of enterprises, how to make more money. On the other hand, as the book subheading says, it is about "Companies choose to be great instead of big". How to build a company which has ability to make money and still keep their spirit, culture, service, and business value, as Burlingham calls "mojo". In the book, the author picked up 14 privately owned companies that were willing to reject the pressure of endless growth to focus on more satisfying business goals. Goals like being great at what they do, creating a great place to work, providing great customer service, making great contributions to their communities, and finding great ways to lead their lives.

Author's purpose, thesis and main argument

The author's purpose and thesis are to analyse why would a business intentionally try to keep a lid on growth. How did these small giants compete with those big companies? What did companies do to generate "mojo"? Furthermore, it arguments for staying bold and creative, intimate and manageable.

First of all, unlike most entrepreneurs, to keep their own spirits, culture and values...