Summary: What Really Works E-Book

BusinessNews Publishing

• Herausgeber: Business Book Summaries
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 38

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

The must-read summary of William Joyce, Nitrin Nohria and Bruce Roberson's book: "What Really Works: The 4+2 Formula for Sustained Business Success".

This complete summary of the ideas from William Joyce, Nitrin Nohria and Bruce Roberson's book "What Really Works" asks a fundamental question: "What is the secret to sustained business success?" In their book, the authors reveal the research they carried out in order to answer this question, which they summarise in one simple result: all successful companies master six specific management practices. This summary explains each of these practices and how you can implement them to boost the success of your business.

Added-value of this summary:
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• Expand your knowledge

To learn more, read "What Really Works" and discover the key strategies for future success.

Leseprobe

Book Presentation What Really Works by William Joyce, Nitin Nohria & Bruce Roberson

Book Abstract

About the Author

Important Note About This Ebook

Summary of What Really Works (William Joyce, Nitin Nohria & Bruce Roberson)

1. The four primary management practices

2. The four secondary management practices

Book Presentation What Really Works by William Joyce, Nitin Nohria & Bruce Roberson

Book Abstract

MAIN IDEA

What is the secret to sustained business success? When it comes to being successful over the long haul, what really works?

To answer this question scientifically, a five-year research project – dubbed the “Evergreen Study” in recognition its attempt to search for the “evergreen” principles of success – was undertaken by consultants and business school professors at top universities around the country. They analyzed more than 200 management practices, fads, silver-bullet cures and management buzzwords commonly used by 160 companies to statistically identify what really matters in business and what does not.

At the end of this five-year analysis, the Evergreen Study came up with a stunningly simple result: All successful companies master six specific management practices, four of which are compulsory (the four primary management practices) and two of which are optional but which must come from a list of four secondary management practices. This 4+2 pattern is found in every company which has achieved and sustained long-term success.

In essence, the 4+2 formula is an unambiguous road map to success. Any company or organization which aspires to succeed in the future simply needs to find effective ways to excel in the four primary practices and any two of the secondary practices.

“The results of the Evergreen Study were startling. Most of the 200 practices we started with turned out to be chaff – their success or failure was irrelevant to total-return-to-shareholders. But we found a clear and compelling correlation between total-return-to-shareholders and eight general areas of management practice: four primary and four secondary. The link between 4+2 practices and business success was astonishing. A company consistently following the formula had a better than 90-percent chance of being a Winner. We don’t maintain that our formula for predicting, achieving, and sustaining superior performance is the only way to go. We do say that it stacks the odds heavily in favor of success.”

– William Joyce, Nitin Nohria and Bruce Roberson

“What do the Evergreen results mean for managers? They show why success is so elusive, and why so few companies achieve it in the long term. A business has to run full speed on six tracks at once in order to win, and a single misstep on any of them can be fatal. That is why it is so difficult to be a long-term, consistent Winner.”

– William Joyce, Nitin Nohria and Bruce Roberson

About the Author

WILLIAM JOYCE is professor of strategy and organization theory at the Dartmouth College School of Business.

NITIN NOHRIA is professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School.

BRUCE ROBERSON currently serves as part of a new management team undertaking the turnaround of a major corporation. He previously worked as a partner with McKinsey & Company for eleven years.

Important Note About This Ebook

This is a summary and not a critique or a review of the book. It does not offer judgment or opinion on the content of the book. This summary may not be organized chapter-wise but is an overview of the main ideas, viewpoints and arguments from the book as a whole. This means that the organization of this summary is not a representation of the book.

Summary of What Really Works (William Joyce, Nitin Nohria & Bruce Roberson)

1. The four primary management practices

1. Strategy: Devise and articulate a strategy which is clear and narrowly focused

Winning companies and organizations:

Stay tightly focused on their chosen business strategy – whether that strategy is low prices, innovative products, best service or another option.Find ways to continue to grow their core business over time – typically doubling the size of their core business every five years through organic expansion, mergers and acquisitions or a combination of both.

To develop a clear and focused business strategy which can be readily and logically explained to others, you need to do five basic things:

Build your strategy around a clear value proposition for the customer.

A good value proposition specifies not what you want to be but what you are. It serves as the interface between your organization and your customer. Winning companies have a realistic perspective of their own capabilities and their target customer needs. Sometimes value propositions emerge from an intensive analysis while at other times they come about as the intuitive insight of a single individual.