Synopses & Reviews
Based on a groundbreaking study, analysing data on 200 management practices gathered over a 10 year period. Reveals the effectiveness of the 4+2 practices (4 primary and 2 of 4 possible secondary) practices that really matter -- the ones that, if followed rigorously, ensure sustained business success. With a new introduction by the authors. With hundreds of well-known management practices and prescriptions promoted by consultants and available to business, which are really effective and contribute to the growth and continued success of a company? Which do little or nothing? Based on the "Evergreen Project," a massive, 5 year study involving the business school faculties of ten universities, the authors set out to find the management practices that truly promote long-term growth and success. Their findings will revolutionize the art and practice of business management.The book shows that there are essentially six management practices that all successful companies must master simultaneously. They range from focusing on a strategy of growth to maintaining the depth and quality of human talent in the organization.
Review
“Forget the fads. Here are eight big, basic, proven building blocks of long-term company success.” Harvard Business Review
Synopsis
With hundreds of well-known management practices and prescriptions available to businesses, which are really effective and contribute to the growth and continued success of a company?
In What Really Works, William Joyce, Nitin Nohria, and Bruce Roberson put forth findings based on the Evergreen Project, a massive five-year study in which consultants and business school professors at top universities around the country analyzed ten years of data on 160 companies and more than 200 management practices. The authors discovered that all successful companies simultaneously master six specific management practices. These include four primary practices -- Strategy, Execution, Culture, Organization -- and any two of four secondary practices -- Employee Talent, Leadership and Governance, Innovation, and Mergers and Partnerships.
Through lively case studies focusing on companies they've designated Winners, Climbers, Tumblers, or Losers, depending on their adherence to the formula, the authors have at last uncovered the real keys to true long-term business success and What Really Works.
About the Author
William Joyce is professor of strategy and organization theory at the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.Nitin Nohria is the Richard P. Chapman professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School.Bruce Roberson was a partner with McKinsey & Company for eleven years. He recently took a senior position with a new management team undertaking the turnaround of a major corporation. In his managerial role, Roberson is vigorously applying the concepts revealed in What Really Works.