In this probing study of the growth experience of Fortune 100-sized firms across the past fifty years, authors Olson and van Bever find that great companies stop growing not because of market saturation, government regulation, or other external constraints but rather because of a finite set of common strategy mistakes that appear time after time, across industries, across geography, and across the economic cycle."--Jacket.
Very few large companies manage to avoid stalls in revenue growth. These stalls are not attributable to the natural business cycle. Rather, careful analysis reveals that the vast majority of such stalls are the direct result of strategic choices made by corporate leaders. In short, stoppages in growth are almost always avoidable. This extensively researched book analyzes the growth experiences of more than six hundred Fortune 100 companies over the past fifty years to identify why growth stalls and to discover how to rectify a stall in progress or, even better, avoid one. Board members and executives in companies of all sizes will find this book a practical and essential resource. Matthew S. Olson and Derek van Bever investigate the incidence and consequences of growth stalls in major corporations, then probe the root causes. Examining hundreds of stall points, the authors conclude that the greatest threat to a company’s growth is posed by obsolete strategic assumptions that undermine market position, and by breakdowns in innovation and talent management. The study includes a selection of practices for articulating and monitoring strategic assumptions and concludes with a self-test built around fifty “Red Flag†warning signs of an impending growth stall.
A critical business analysis investigates the incidence and consequences of growth stalls in major corporations, probes the root causes of the phenomenon, and discovers how to rectify a stall in progress or avoid one all together.
Businesses can plateau, stall, OR stagnatewithout the owners or key executives even realizing it. A business might be achieving incremental year-on-year growth and yet still be in a situation of stagnation or stall. Why? Because entrepreneurs and ...
This is a book for managers who know that their organisations are stuck in a mindset that thrives on fashionable business theories that are no more than folk wisdom, and whose so-called strategies that are little more than banal wish lists. It puts forward the notion that the application of uncommon sense - thinking or acting differently from other organisations in a way that makes unusual sense - is the secret to competitive success. For those who want to succeed and stand out from the herd this book is a beacon of uncommon sense and a timely antidote to managerial humbug.
