"This is not a book about charismatic visionary leaders. It is not about visionary product concepts or
visionary products or visionary market insights. Nor is it about just having a corporate vision. This is a book
about something far more important, enduring, and substantial. This is a book about visionary companies."
So write Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in this groundbreaking book that shatters myths, provides new insights, and
gives practical guidance to those who would like to build landmark companies that stand the test of time.
Drawing upon a six-year research project at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Collins and Porras
took eighteen truly exceptional and long-lasting companies -- they have an average age of nearly one hundred years
and have outperformed the general stock market by a factor of fifteen since 1926 -- and studied each company in
direct comparison to one of its top competitors. They examined the companies from their very beginnings to the
present day -- as start-ups, as midsize companies, and as large corporations. Throughout, the authors asked: "What
makes the truly exceptional companies different from other companies?"
What separates General Electric, 3M, Merck, Wal-Mart, Hewlett-Packard, Walt Disney, and Philip Morris from their
rivals? How, for example, did Procter & Gamble, which began life substantially behind rival Colgate, eventually
prevail as the premier institution in its industry? How was Motorola able to move from a humble battery repair
business into integrated circuits and cellular communications, while Zenith never became dominant in anything other
than TVs? How did Boeing unseat McDonnell Douglas as the world's best commercial aircraft company -- what did Boeing
have that McDonnell Douglas lacked?
By answering such questions, Collins and Porras go beyond the incessant barrage of management buzzwords and fads
of the day to discover timeless qualities that have consistently distinguished out-standing companies. They also
provide inspiration to all executives and entrepreneurs by destroying the false but widely accepted idea that only
charismatic visionary leaders can build visionary companies.
Filled with hundreds of specific examples and organized into a coherent framework of practical concepts that can
be applied by managers and entrepreneurs at all levels, Built to Last provides a master blueprint for building
organizations that will prosper long into the twenty-first century and beyond.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1. The Best of the Best
Chapter 2. Clock Building, Not Time Telling
Interlude. No "Tyranny of the OR"
Chapter 3. More Than Profits
Chapter 4. Preserve the Core/Stimulate Progress
Chapter 5. Big Hairy Audacious Goals
Chapter 6. Cult-Like Cultures
Chapter 7. Try a Lot of Stuff and Keep What Works
Chapter 8. Home-Grown Management
Chapter 9. Good Enough Never Is
Chapter 10. The End of the Beginning
Chapter 11. Building the Vision
Epilogue. Frequently Asked Questions
Appendix 1. Research Issues
Appendix 2. Founding Roots of Visionary Companies and Comparison Companies
Appendix 3. Tables
Appendix 4. chapter Notes
Index