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Why Even Great Companies Fail: Diagnose the Symptoms and Cure Them!

• Conquer—or prevent—the seven disastrous “addictions” that can destroy your small business
• Overcome corporate denial, arrogance, complacency, “competency dependence,” turf wars, and more
• For every executive, strategist, entrepreneur, and manager who wants to sustain success

GM. Ford. AT&T. Sears. Firestone. Krispy Kreme. Digital. Kodak. Once, they were riding high, the exemplars of business excellence. Then, disaster. Is your small business headed for the same fate? How will you know? How will you change course? Learn. Shine a light on the dark places in your business. Uncover your self-destructive habits before they destroy you. The blinders, culture confl icts, and corporate denial. The competitive myopia. The concentrate on volume, not profits. Root them out—most of them. Then, instill the good habits your business needs: the habits of sustainable profitability and market leadership. This book teaches you how—at length, from commence to finish.

Why accomplish that many good companies engage in self-destructive behavior? This book identifies seven dangerous habits even well-run companies fall victim to–and can help you diagnose and break these habits before they destroy you. Through case studies from a few of yesterday’s most widely praised corporate icons, you’ll learn how companies put on “addiction” and slide off the rails...why some never turn around...and how others achieve powerful turnarounds, moving on to unprecedented levels of success. You’ll learn how an obsession with volume leads inexorably to rising costs and falling margins...how companies fall victim to denial, myth, ritual, and orthodoxy... how they start wasting essential energy on culture confl ict and turf wars...how they blind themselves to emerging competition...how they become arrogant, complacent, and much too reliant on their traditional competences. Most important, you’ll find specific, detailed techniques for “curing”–or, even better, preventing–each one of these self-destructive habits.

• The “cocoon” of denial
  Find it, admit it, evaluate it, and escape it
• The stigma of arrogance
  Escape this fault that “breeds in a dark, closed room”
• The virus of complacency
  Six warning signs and five solutions
• The curse of incumbency
  Stop your core competencies from blinding one to new opportunities
• The risk of myopia
  Widen your view of your competitors–and the dangers they pose
• The obsession of volume
  Get beyond “rising volumes and shrinking margins”
• The territorial impulse
  Break down the silos, factions, fiefdoms, and ivory towers

Preface xxi

Foreword    xxiii                                                                            

1          Why Do Good Companies GO SOUTH?   1                           

2          Denial: The Cocoon of Myth, Ritual, and Orthodoxy      19  

3          Arrogance: Pride before the Fall    45

4          Complacency: Success Breeds Failure    75                        

5          Competency Dependence: The Curse of Incumbency    105      

6          Competitive Myopia: A Nearsighted View of Competition    133

7          Volume Obsession: Rising Costs and Falling Margins    165    

8          The Territorial Impulse: Culture Conflicts and Turf Wars    199   

9          THE VERY BEST Cure is No Cure at All    231                                    

10        Endnotes    249                                                                    

Index    263

Category: Marketing

Details

Publisher	Audible Studios
Language	English
ISBN
DATE	2007-04
Author	Stow Lovejoy

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