Why do so many good companies engage in self-destructive behavior? This book identifies seven dangerous habits even well-run companies fall victim to–and helps you diagnose and break these habits before they destroy you. Through case studies from some of yesterday’s most widely praised corporate icons, you’ll learn how companies slip into “addiction” and slide off the rails...why some never turn around...and how others achieve powerful turnarounds, moving on to unprecedented levels of success. You’ll learn how an obsession with volume leads inexorably to rising costs and falling margins...how companies fall victim to denial, myth, ritual, and orthodoxy... how they start wasting vital energy on culture confl ict and turf wars...how they blind themselves to emerging competition...how they become arrogant, complacent, and far too dependent on their traditional competences. Most important, you’ll find specific, detailed techniques for “curing”–or, better yet, preventing–every one of these self-destructive habits. The “cocoon” of denial Find it, admit it, assess it, and escape it The stigma of arrogance Escape this fault that “breeds in a dark, closed room” The virus of complacency Six warning signs and five solutions The curse of incumbency Stop your core competencies from blinding you to new opportunities The threat of myopia Widen your view of your competitors–and the dangers they pose The obsession of volume Get beyond “rising volumes and shrinking margins” The territorial impulse Break down the silos, factions, fiefdoms, and ivory towers

Drawing lessons from one of the best models of success, the evolutionary model, this book explains why an organization must actively monitor the market environment and competitors to ascertain excellence and reconfigure and reframe continuously. It introduces the patterns and anti-patterns of excellence and includes detailed case studies based on different variations, including structure variations, shared values variations, and staff variations. The book includes case history segments from Toyota, Acer, eBay, Cisco, Blackberry, Samsung, Volvo, Charles Schwab, McDonalds, Starbucks, Google, Disney, and NUMMI; as well as detailed case histories of GE, IBM, and UPS.

In this FUN and data rich book, you will discover how you can WIN BUSINESS through cultivating meaningful RELATIONSHIPS, nourished by listening, respect, trust, and cultural sensitivity. This business development “guidebook” illustrates relationship building and leadership strategies with quotations from entrepreneurs, communication theories, business case studies, Taoism metaphors, and real-life stories. Businesspeople and students can apply ideas from this book for career success and work-life harmony.

This is the eBook version of the printed book. This Element is an excerpt from The Self-Destructive Habits of Good Companies...and How to Break Them (9780131791138) by Dr. Jagdish N. Sheth. Available in print and digital formats. Why don’t “great,” “excellent” companies stay that way? Why do so many falter--and how can you keep it from happening to your company? Why do good companies go bad? Of the 62 “excellent” companies praised by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman in their early 1980s bestseller In Search of Excellence, many--including stalwarts like Sears, Xerox, IBM, and Kodak--have faced serious hardships in the 20-odd years since. Some recovered. Some are struggling mightily to recover. Some are dead or, in all likelihood, soon will be. Why?

THE EXECUTIVE GUIDE TO BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT has been written primarily for business executives, decision makers, informal leaders, and managers to provide a highlevel comprehensive overview of the powerful family of Business Process Management (BPM) methodologies. It is also for people who want to build the wealth of their organizations by applying sound, effective, and sustainable improvement strategies. The book provides a comprehensive, high-level overview of specific strategies to achieve continuous improvement objectives by applying Business Process Management methodologies. The author strongly believes that implementation of Lean, Six Sigma, or similar methodologies based on BPM paradigms significantly transform organizations, and dramatically increase their efficiency, effectiveness, and ability to achieve faster business goals and meet customer expectations. The hope is that this book will not only change the way you think about your organization, how it functions, and how it can excel, but that it will also have a profound impact on your life by making it equally successful. Many of the techniques and tools described here can dramatically improve your professional or even private life.

An invaluable source of inspiration to help leaders understand themselves and overcome their barriers to success For centuries, we have learnt what’s not taught through our own experiences and the stories of others. Even today, only 3 per cent of leadership development occurs due to classroom training. In fact, for most managers, ‘the penny drops’ only when we are at the end of our careers. In this book, R. Gopalakrishnan shares some valuable learnings from his decades of corporate experience, through a series of engaging stories. When the Penny Drops encourages you to reflect on yourself, and will help you learn by identifying the success mantras embedded in you.