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Book details for What Really Works: The 4+2 Formula for Sustained Business Success Buy What Really Works: The 4+2 Formula for Sustained Business Success
What Really Works: The 4+2 Formula for Sustained Business Success
Book author(s) Book subject

Nitin Nohria William Joyce

General Management

Sales rank 493,023 Customers rating (based on 17 reviews)
What Really Works: The 4+2 Formula for Sustained Business Success

Brief description of What Really Works: The 4+2 Formula for Sustained Business Success

Why do some organizations consistently outperform their competitors?

What do managers at the best companies know -- and do -- to keep their organizations on top?

When it comes to implementing management practices that can propel a company to lasting success . . .

WHAT REALLY WORKS?

With hundreds of well-known management practices and prescriptions promoted by consultants and available to businesses, which are really effective and contribute to the growth and continued success of a company? Which do little or nothing?

In their groundbreaking new book, What Really Works, William Joyce, Nitin Nohria, and Bruce Roberson put forth findings that will revolutionize the art and practice of management.

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.

The 4+2 formula divides the practices into four primary practices, all of which must be followed, in the areas of

  • strategy
  • execution
  • culture
  • organization

and any two of four secondary practices involving

  • talent of employees
  • leadership and governance
  • innovation
  • mergers and partnerships.

The authors also reveal which of the many management nostrums available do not contribute significantly to a company's performance. Their findings on quality programs and information technology, for example, will shock their legions of adherents.

In What Really Works, the authors present their stunning findings through lively case studies focusing on companies they've designated Winners, Climbers, Tumblers, or Losers, depending on their performances over the ten-year period studied.

What Really Works singles out the areas that are truly important for management to focus on to achieve success. Equally important, it shows readers where not to waste their efforts.

With these and other findings revealed, the authors have at last uncovered the real keys to true long-term business success and What Really Works.

Book details
PublisherHarperBusiness
Release date05/2003
AvailabilityUsually ships in 24 hours
EditionHardcover
List price$26.95
Our price$19.67 (you save 27.01%)
Used pricefrom $0.01
Websitehttp://www.what-really-works.com/
This book is recommended by...

Soundview Executive Summaries - books selected in 2004

This book has been mentioned in...

The 4+2 Formula For Success: Why do some succeed while others fail? Author Nitin Nohria says he's found the answer. (@ Inc)

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Comments by amazon customers about What Really Works: The 4+2 Formula for Sustained Business Success

Not satisfied with this particular book order
Sir, I have not yet received the book. May be you have despatched the book several months before. I dont know why this delay???. You have deducted the payment from credit card also. Please enquire and followup the matter. Regards Apurv Kumar


This may be the only business book you ever need to read...
There are big, unanswered questions that we all face as part of the human condition including: "What's the meaning of life?"; "Is there life after death?" or "Can the Mets win the World Series" ;-) All kidding aside, perhaps the biggest unanswered question facing business in general is "What Really Works?" Unfortunately, most of the proof points that business gurus and consultative experts point to in answer to that question are theoretical, pure guesswork or anecdotal at best. However, the authors of the book - "What Really Works" - decided to rigorously explore that question over a 10-year period that studied dozens of companies in search of an answer. What the 50 business consultants and academicians assigned to the project found was the "4+2 Theory." While its name smacks of ivory-tower group think it's actually a compelling formula that proposes the optimal combination of primary and secondary management practices - it's that combination of managerial fundamentals that contributes to lasting business success and may be the ultimate answer to "What Really Works."

Science and nonsense
I write this review to help general readers differentiate (imperfect but acceptable) science from nonsense. This book is highly readable, but it has a fatal flaw: it does not explain HOW the 4+2 practices REALLY work. At best, we are given anecdotal accounts, but these are poor consolation if one is looking for linkages and evidence. And here's the problem with most business books: so called "excellent companies" in one period become Lehman Brothers and AIG in the next. Reason? We still don't know how management practices really work after searching through tons of bad writing.

Read Chapter 1, then Your Done
The authors' point is, if a company wants to be a "winner," they must excel at (a) 4 mandatory areas: strategy, execution, culture, and structure, and (b) any 2 out of the following 4: talent, leadership, innovation, acquisitions and mergers. All the other things, like 360 degree personnel reviews, management training programs, etc. are not consistently statistically significant. This is the kind of book I would bring on a plane or car ride where I could skim through it. The writing style is journalistic and sensational. As another Amazon reviewer notes, the book uses a "hero" / "villain" format, which although entertaining, is somewhat naïve. That's minus one star. The book's thesis is pretty much articulated in the first chapter. You could read that, and then follow up by reading other business books that better expound on one of these areas (e.g., Bossidy for Execution). Minus a second star.

Useful and Practical
This book is the result of a research with a large amount of companies regarding their management practices in a ten-year analysis. The main outcome from this work is that there are some practices that really have a strong positive impact in a company's success whereas others - even some glamorous ones - do not contribute to the achievement of its goals. The division of companies in Winners, Climbers, Tumblers and Losers is very clever because it depicts the differences between them and provides a guide to evaluate any company according to its achievements / characteristics. It is interesting to apply the methodology to the everyday business news regarding global companies. Examples are very illustrative, specially in chapters 2 ("Meet a Winner", describing Dollar General) and 3 ("Meet a Loser", about Kmart). In summary, it crucial to focus on a clear strategy, execute it through the daily activities, make it a cultural behavior and keep a flexible and flat structure. It is important to have talented people, leaders committed to business, cultivate innovation and search for growth considering mergers and acquisitions.



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