This book is an expert insider account that outlines how the top community banks in the game have been hitting the target every quarter without skipping a beat, despite recessions, big-bank buyouts, and vicious competition for deposits. It's the ultimate blueprint for an unlikely success story: Stop just surviving, and learn how to thrive.

Praise for BLUEPRINT TO A BILLION "A wonderful, well thought out analysis of entrepreneurship and leadership of a growth company." —Howard Lester, Chairman, Williams-Sonoma, Inc. "If you dream about growing your business to a billion, this is a fascinating down-to-earth study that you must read. Apply the seven essential principles to your business and you are off and running. Learn about strategy, growth, leadership, team building, and a whole lot more." —Joe Scarlett, Chairman of the Board, Tractor Supply Company "Blueprint to a Billion is a well-researched and thoughtfully written book that quantifies the growth pattern of America's highest growth companies." —Professor John Quelch, Senior Associate Dean, Harvard Business School "Eighty percent of the top-performing stocks in the last twenty years were small entrepreneurial companies that had an IPO in the prior eight years. Blueprint to a Billion tells you the seven key things these innovators did in common to become America's greatest growth companies." —William J. O'Neil, Chairman and Founder Investor's Business Daily, www.investors.com "Thomson has written a masterful work that will catalyze, empower, inspire, motivate, and illuminate entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers. The world needs this book and will profit from it in manifold ways." —David M. Darst, Managing Director, Individual Investor Group Chief Investment Strategist, Morgan Stanley

First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

In the rapidly changing financial services market, banks need to seriously reconsider their way of doing business. Reengineering the Bank helps you redesign your organization from a "blank sheet of paper" to do better things at lower cost, rather than repeat the past. Reengineering the Bank includes discussion on issues such as: reengineering to face increased competition and to redesign obsolete business practices; reducing expenses and bureaucracy to improve performance; correctly pricing products and services; increasing shareholder value and market performance through reengineering; implementing tested strategies that result in increased service quality, competitiveness and customer focus, while dramatically improving returns. Reengineering the Bank details how to undertake a reengineering program. Thorough descriptions and case studies will help you apply successful approaches to your institution. Now is the perfect time for banks to act: record spreads and profits in the industry can help to fund a forward-thinking redesign effort. But you need to seize the moment while you can because competition is too fierce, too smart and too close to home. Reengineering now can ensure your bank's continued success and competitiveness.