Book Review - Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make The Leap And Others Don’t by Jim Collins

In my today's article on “Books Our Best Friends: Books To Read”, I would like to talk about “Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make The Leap And Others Don’t”.

In case you want to have some serious reading on the working of companies and how some companies managed to work their way up from being just good to great, than this is certainly the book for you.

Book Review - Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make The Leap And Others Don’t by Jim Collins

“Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make The Leap And Others Don’t” takes a look at the management practices that were followed in nineties and it shows how enterprises from very beginning engineer long term performance into their DNA.

The author, Jim Collins, than puts up a question as to what will happen to companies that are not born with such DNA? And how greatness can be achieved by good companies, mediocre companies and even by companies that are downright bad.

For many years Jim Collins has been pondering on the question: Is there a way for average companies and for bad companies as well, to get rid of their dark past and march on to become long term superior?

And in case there is a way.

What are the distinguishing characteristics that are required by a company to move on that path?

Keeping tough benchmarks, some top notch companies were picked up by Collins and his team. These companies made the big turn around and went on to become great in a span of fifteen years.

The author also defines what he means by ‘great’ in his book “Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make The Leap And Others Don’t”. As per the benchmark set by the author and his team, a good to great company is the one whose cumulative stock returns were able to beat the general stock market in the past fifteen years by an average of seven times.

Many readers of “Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make The Leap And Others Don’t” will be surprised to see the results.