From Good to Great, by Jim Collins

Good to Great

Good

 to

 Great:

 Why

 Some

 Companies

 Make

 the

 Leap...

 and

 Others

 Don't

  By

 Jim

 Collins

  Preface

  Jim

 Collins

 approaches

 the

 question

 “are

 there

 companies

 that

 defy

 gravity

 and

  convert

 long-­‐term

 mediocrity

 or

 worse

 into

 long-­‐term

 superiority...

 if

 so

 what

 are

 the

  universal

 distinguishing

 characteristics

 that

 cause

 a

 company

 to

 go

 from

 good

 to

 great?”

  Collins

 and

 his

 team

 studied

 eleven

 companies

 from

 1965

 to

 1995,

 looking

 for

 the

 ones

  that,

 for

 15

 years,

 either

 tracked

 or

 underperformed

 the

 stock

 market,

 followed

 by

 a

  transition,

 and

 subsequently

 returning

 at

 least

 3

 times

 the

 stock

 market

 for

 at

 least

 15

  years.

 They

 filtered

 the

 results

 to

 ensure

 that

 companies

 outperformed

 their

 industries.

  The

 companies

 that

 matched

 these

 criteria

 were

 studied

 in

 depth

 and

 compared

 to

  competitors

 in

 their

 respective

 fields.

  Good

 is

 the

 Enemy

 of

 Great

  Collins

 lays

 the

 groundwork

 in

 the

 beginning

 that

 he

 and

 his

 research

 team

 used

 as

  the

 basis

 of

 their

 meta-­‐analysis.

 They

 selected

 a

 period

 of

 growth

 and

 sustained

 success

  surpassing

 the

 industry

 average

 as

 one

 of

 the

 most

 important

 factor

 in

 the

 selection

  process.

 Collins

 also

 preludes

 with

 a

 few

 of

 the

 most

 significant

 findings

 from

 the...