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In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-run Companies (平装)
by Tom Peters, Robert Waterman
| Category:
Management, Corporate Excellence, Art of Excellence, Business |
| Market price: ¥ 178.00
MSL price:
¥ 148.00
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MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
The first management blockbuster and still a classic to be read and re-read. |
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AllReviews |
1 2   | Total 2 pages 11 items |
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John Naisbitt (Author of Megatrends), USA
<2006-12-19 00:00>
Perfectly tuned, well documented… I heartily recommend and strongly urge you to read and digest In Search of Excellence. |
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Ben Rossen, The Netherlands
<2006-12-19 00:00>
Like many groundbreaking works, this one must be seen as important when it was written for what it said then, and important now for what it has led to. Inspired, without doubt, by the monumental Drucker study of IBM, it took case analysis a step further. Its seminal ideas are found in many contemporary studies and schools or management thinking which have taken these principles yet further.
That doesn't mean it should no longer be read. But, after reading it, and to get the most from reading it, other contemporary works should be included in your reading list. For example, Jim Collins' Built to Last and Good to Great, and John Roberts' The Modern Firm take Peters and Waterman’s' original insights many steps further. In Search of Excellence however, is unlikely to lose its status as a classic, and the broad strokes of its conclusions will continue to be recognized as timeless principles. |
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Craig Cecil (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-19 00:00>
It's amazing how many people have read this classic Peters and Waterman book. It's even more amazing then how most companies have simply ignored the lessons illustrated within, only to continue on their dismal path of mediocrity. The basic lesson to be learned is that if your company religiously follows the core tenets outlined in the book, then your company will be the leader in your industry, because you will be the only company to do so. So why is this circa 1980's book still relevant? Because the principles apply just as much today, and they apply equally well to business of any nature. If you read this book, absorb all of the lessons, and practice them in your daily activities, then you will have learned the most important lesson in your business life. |
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Vick (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-19 00:00>
This book was written 22 years ago (in 1982) and seems to have stood the test of time. In fact, the business 'ingredients' delineated in this book have been demonstrated in many major corporations since the book was first published.
Essentially the book hinges on 8 basic principles. If any business can put these 8 basic principles into practice, Peters and Waterman say that business can not help but succeed. Now the success may not be as large as Microsoft, but success will occur at one level or the other. If you do not agree then that is fine, Peters and Waterman give several examples of small business that became huge business on the basis of these 8 principles (e.g. Wal-Mart, Hewlett-Packard, Delta Airlines, McDonald's, IBM, etc.). In fact, when you read the book (which is actually structured around describing and demonstrating these 8 principles) you will see why and how these principles actually work.
One of the most interesting things I found in this book was the fact that the 8 principles are essentially common sense ingredients. For lack of better way to describe them, 'boy scout' type principles that can be incorporated into business action on an every day basis.
The book itself is very interesting, easy to read (even if you are not very interested in reading about businesses, business growth and management, etc.) and easy to understand. There are some great business stories about customers, business action, business men and their thinking, etc. Chapter 4 is quite theoretically and somewhat difficult to wade through, but has some great insights on management, measuring earnings, business theories and strategies, and how culture plays a part in business growth based on a businesses values in relation to the culture as opposed to a business values in relation to just making money.
This is one of the better business books I have read in a long while and I do recommend it for anyone who is about to start a business, who actually own a business, or for anyone who merely love reading business books. |
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Sadhakar Shenoy (MSL quote), India
<2006-12-19 00:00>
I read this book again after a gap of nearly 20 years. The world has significantly changed since then and so have the fortunes of many of the "excellent" companies listed in this book. Some have continued to excel, some have made a comeback after facing tough times and some have ceased to exist. Excellence is neither permanent nor an assurance for "lived happily thereafter" ending for a corporate fable. As often mentioned in most management books, the only thing that is permanent is change, and change has been rapid and unforgiving in the last two decades. In this context, is this one time business bestseller flawed in its study and its findings? The authors themselves answer this question in their opening remarks - "Authors' Note: Excellence 2003" in this new paperback edition.
Theory first. There is a solid attack on the Rational Model ( over emphasis on quantitative approaches to management ) in American business schools which the authors feel is a main cause for the decline of American companies in the third quarter of the twentieth century. The understanding of the human side and aligning people with the Organization's goals through a deep sense of respect and involvement is at the core of success at the excellent companies is the next hypothesis. In their search for excellence, the research leads to eight prominent attributes that are common across the best run companies. All these attributes have direct and significant link to this aspect of the human side of enterprise.
The excellent companies have focused consciously and consistently on rigorously practicing several of the eight attributes. Failure to focus on these have led to setbacks in subsequent years. An outstanding athlete cannot be expected to win gold at all the Olympics in his lifetime. Athletes age and so do companies say the authors. But is there a prescription against aging for companies that are committed to excellence?
This book is liable for criticism on the following counts:
- Too much of theory in the first four chapters, mostly borrowed from other earlier management gurus.
- Descriptive and repetitive.
- Data insufficiency for backing conclusions.
- Sample does not cover all industries and restricted to American companies.
- Talks of the past and ignores prescriptions for the future.
- Attributes need to be ranked and revisited periodically and perhaps a new list might emerge.
Several books have been written on this topic since this classic was first published in 1982. Many have addressed the points listed above. But this ground breaking book continues to be the pathfinder in all that has followed. Go back to the analogy of the athlete. A gold is a gold at any contest and this book deserves one for its own excellence. |
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Craig Matteson (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-19 00:00>
It is hard to appreciate the impact this book had when it was first released. Some of the cases (business stories) it contains still inspire although some seem a bit dated, but the underlying ideas retain some power if you take time to think about them. As the authors say in the new preface, this is a book about attributes rather than specific recommendations for action. I like their response to those who point out that many of the companies included have since fallen on hard times. They point out that we still learn the past accomplishments of great athletes no longer in their prime.
I think the best points the book makes involve the way people react under pressure in pulling back to numbers, research, and rationality in ways that won't help them. Numbers, research, and rationality are all extremely important, but will not in themselves enable you to innovate and see new ways to compete. Although this isn't in the book, I love the story about the driver side door for the minivans. Chrysler stole the march on that and when one of their competitors was asked why they didn't come out with such an obvious innovation he responded that none of the customers in their focus groups asked for such a feature. Game, set, and match for Peters and Waterman.
This is a book that should still be read. It has a lot more to offer than many business books being printed today at great cost to our forests and our precious time. This is still a keeper. |
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-19 00:00>
Brilliance begins and often ends in the most fundamental concepts. In search of excellence makes the point well in the business context, where the authors discovered from intense study that the best companies are the best in executing the most basic business tasks. And, the most important product brilliant companies make is not something physical rolling off an assembly line. Rather, it is their thinking. This book, and other more recent works such as Why Didn't I Think of That? - Think the Unthinkable, give us the critical thinking tools we need to execute business basics better than our competitors, and on occasion, to come up with truly innovative ideas that transform business altogether. In Search of Excellence shows us how to find answers when others do not, leaving others asking the critical question "Why Didn't I Think of That?" |
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Gerard Kroese (MSL quote), The Netherlands
<2006-12-19 00:00>
Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman Jr. were consultants with McKinsey & Co. when this book was published in 1982. This book shot both authors into management guru-dom and is still one of the greatest management bestsellers ever. Both authors have written other books, but none have come close to this one.
In this book, the authors report on the findings from the excellent companies: "It will define what we mean by excellence. It is an attempt to generalize about what the excellent companies seem to be doing that the rest are not, and to buttress our observations on the excellent companies with sound social and economic theory." The authors' research started in 1977 when two internal task forces at McKinsey & Co. were set up to research a general concern with the problems of management effectiveness, and a particular concern with the nature of the relationship between strategy, structure, and management effectiveness. One of these task forces was to review thinking on strategy, the other was to review thinking on organizational effectiveness. Peters and Waterman were the leaders of the project on organizational effectiveness. Their research involved talking extensively with executives around the world and extensive literature reviews. Initially they worked mainly on the problem of expanding our diagnostic and remedial kit beyond the traditional tools for business problem solving, which then concentrated on strategy and structural approaches. This resulted in the now well-renowned 7-S framework (structure, strategy, systems, shared values, skills, style, and staff). "But there was still something missing. ... we were shore on practical design ideas, especially for the 'soft S's'." So the authors decided to look at management excellence itself. "We asserted that innovative companies not only are unusually good at producing commercially viable new widgets; innovative companies are especially adroit at continually responding to change of any sort in their environment." The authors labeled the companies that seemed to have achieved that kind of innovative performance as excellent companies.
The authors eventually chose 75 highly regarded companies, in which they conducted intense, structured interviews. Their project showed that the excellent companies were, above all, brilliant on the basics. The authors use eight chapters to discuss in detail the eight attributes that distinct excellent, innovative companies: 1. A bias for action, for getting on with it; 2. Close to the customer; 3. Autonomy and entrepreneurship; 4. Productivity through people; 5. Hands-on, value driven; 6. Stick to the knitting; 7. Simple form, lean staff; 8. Simultaneous loose-tight properties. None of these eight attributes are something special. In fact, they can even be called simple and predictable and the authors refer to them as "motherhoods". Most essential to each of these excellent companies is the intensity within them. This intensity is build on the strongly held beliefs of these companies.
Yes, I do like this book. I must admit that I had heard plenty about this book and had read several reviews before I actually started reading it. The biggest criticism I heard was that the example companies are not so excellent now. Perhaps true, but I do not think that this book is that much about the excellent companies themselves. I believe that it is much more about the attitude of the example companies, the positive culture. Highly recommended to business leaders, managers, and MBA-students. Read it sooner rather than later. The book is written in simple US-English, although it contains quite a heavy literature review.
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Hiram Pardo (MSL quote), Venezuela
<2006-12-19 00:00>
First at all, this book is not an additional well intentioned book in search of the promised land. It is rather, a kind conversation between a friendly group, where Tom Peters one of the most respectable authorities in the Management, makes an incisive analysis around a set of enrooted paradigms and fixed mental maps. Peters illuminates and allows himself to remark certain half truths we usually assume as holy word. The Managers are manacled by politicians who hinder them to display the take of decision process. On the other hand there is an exacerbated and almost blind faith in what strict and Apollonian planning, that somehow restricts the adequate flexibility in order to react to a competitive environment. There is a hidden fear for bet in favor of the innovation and experimentation. In this sense, this text was one the pioneers in what reengineering and systemic thinking would propose ten years after.
The author makes an impressive tour de force, meandering by the intersection points of several disciplines, which we tend to underrate. This reduced vision does not permit an effective response deriving in lack of competitiveness. Those were very hard years for many industries in expansion; the Japanese avalanche began to show.
This excess of trust permeated the muscular and nervous system of the American Industry and Europe learned the lesson and reacted faster, through a set of legal restrictions and imposing measures to try to reduce the silent invasion.
Of very special interest is the chapter related with the rational model. This mental rigidity plus the multiple bureaucratic gap generated since the very recent rise of prizes in 1973, froze in some way the innovative potentialities in many areas. The politic reaction worked out as a true waterfall in subsequent levels and bridled many brilliants projects.
This book is an admirable synthesis of very important age in the recent past but it maintains a prodigious modernity in despite the fact the elapsed time.
I recommend sincerely its acquiring. Fundamental reading to explore many issues in the complexity and interweaved bounds of beating actuality. |
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Elijah Chingoso (MSL quote), Kenya
<2006-12-19 00:00>
In Search of Excellence is an interesting book to read which was an international bestseller when it was first published in 1982. The book was written for the general public in simple and easy to understand language and explores the art and science of management used by leading companies with records of long-term profitability and continuing innovation. However, the information presented was not based on hard data (or based on faked data), which was its main weakness.
This controversial book had a widespread impact on Wall Street analysts and corporate management at its time of publication. The word Excellence appeared on many American corporate strategy statements.
However, some few years later, a significant number of the companies highlighted in this book as fine examples of Excellence, particularly high technology companies including Atari, Data General, DEC, IBM, Lanier, NCR, Wang, Xerox and others failed to produce excellent results. The book "In search of Stupidity by Merrill Chapman" chronicles some of the fallacies propounded in the book especially with respect to the high technology companies profiled in the book.
The book is divided into eight chapters which correspond with the main themes which Peters and Waterman argued were responsible for the success of the cited corporations, as follows:
* A bias for action: active decision making or getting on with the job.
* Close to the customer: learning from the people served by the business.
* Autonomy and entrepreneurship: entails nurturing innovation and promoting champions.
* Productivity through people: treating ordinary employees as a source of quality.
* Hands-on, value-driven: a management philosophy that guides everyday practice - management showing its commitment.
* Stick to the knitting: settle for the business that you know.
* Simple form, lean staff: some of the best companies have minimal overhead personnel particularly at head office.
* Simultaneous loose-tight properties: giving autonomy in shop-floor activities whilst maintaining centralized values.
The book has some interesting features as can be seen from the themes highlighted above that it is still worth buying.
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