Abstract
How do great companies become so successful? How do market leaders stay ahead despite neverending changes and new competitors in their industries? How do businesses survive and even thrive in times of uncertainty? Why are great companies and big brands not able to adapt to changing environment? These are all complex questions that are hard to answer, given the sheer number of variables in business strategy. Jim Collins, former professor at Stanford Business School, took up this challenge to identify and evaluate the factors and variables that allow a small fraction of companies to make the transition from merely good to truly great. Over 1,400 Fortune 500 companies were examined in a five-year project and eleven great companies were identified from this research. Then, the defining characteristics that differentiated these ‘great’ firms from their competitors were quantified and analysed. The resulting data are presented in his 2001 book, ‘Good to Great - Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don’t’. The overarching theme of Collins’ arguments is the need to define a narrowly focused objective and field of competency and then focus all of the company’s resources toward that area of strength.
Recommended Citation
Ganguly, Kaushik Kumar
(2024)
"How companies successfully transition from being good companies to great,"
American Journal of Business and Management Research (AJBMR): Vol. 1:
Iss.
3, Article 4.
Available at:
https://research.smartsociety.org/ajbmr/vol1/iss3/4