Driving Change: How the Best Companies Are Preparing for the 21st Century [Hardcover]

Jeremy Main (Author), Jerry Wind (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 22, 1998

With the rapid proliferation of information technologies and the stepped-up competition in the global economy, business executives must develop flexible strategies for responding to these "drivers of change". Based on six years of in-depth, worldwide research at the renowned Wharton School, Driving Change sets forth an integrated, "real world" framework of the qualities that the 21st-century enterprise must possess if it is to succeed.

Jerry Wind and Jeremy Main argue that in order to anticipate change and respond intelligently, the successful company must be dynamic, integrated, effective, civil, and custom-made. Chapter by chapter, they relate the experiences of companies that put these ideas into action -- what went wrong, what went right, and the lessons they learned. With no patience for faddish quick fixes, the authors focus on how ideas actually work in practice, showing how any corporation can be dynamic, effective, and prosperous in the next millennium.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Managers trying to cope with an endlessly changing marketplace will find comfort in this study by University of Pennsylvania Business School professor Wind and freelancer Main, who point out how technology and information are forcing the world to move ever faster, which, they underscore, has always been the case. In today's environment, companies are still learning how to adapt to the steadily shifting landscape dictated by tiny market niches, instantaneous communications and more demanding customers, they stress. Instead of offering a "silver bullet" solution, the authors of this often entertaining book present snapshots from the business evolution, focusing on the strategies of such companies as VISA, Hi-Bred, Xerox and AT&T. Pioneer, they show, has created a global net linking its 35,000 consultants; General Electric has instituted the "work out" that brings together the staff closest to a particular job to search for a "better way" of accomplishing their tasks. The book's approach, which allows readers to find ideas that are likely to work for them and their companies, is useful.

Copyright 1997 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (January 22, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684827441
• ISBN-13: 978-0684827445
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,506,038 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More like a textbook. Meanders a lot. Worth collecting., April 17, 2003

By 

Harinath Thummalapalli (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Driving Change : How the Best Companies Are Preparing for the 21st Century (Hardcover)

If you are looking for a good management book that will present a new paradigm or will change the way you think, this book IS NOT for you. If you love management books, and find historical information about great companies and anecdotes within these companies, this book will nicely add to your collection.

The book was written before 1998 and was aimed at giving a picture of how the best companies of the time were getting ready to face the 21st century. To give you an idea of how well the book succeeded in predicting the future - the word 'Internet' is mentioned on ONLY 9 pages in the entire 350 page book. Of course, the inability to accurately predict the future and especially a sudden change brought about by something like the Internet is forgivable. The authors combine the Internet with a general section on Information Technology and its impact on the future.

The book makes for an interesting read though. It is packed with quotations, little known but interesting facts about big businesses, deep insights into what the leaders at the time were thinking (at companies like Ford, GM etc.), and commonsense management advice. Evertime I picked up the book, I got the distinct feeling that the authors didn't have a real point to make, but at the same time, I couldn't put down the book as I was fascinated by everything they found in their research.

There are not only references but also discussion of famous books by other authors, like 'Reengineering the Corporation' by Michael Hammer & James Champy. The authors throw some cleverly disguised aspersions on the authors of these other books.

The book is split into four parts (taken directly from the introduction and a really good summary of the whole book) -

1. The first part describes the drivers of change - the obsolescence of the old corporation, the eruption of information technology, globalization, the new intensity of competition, society's expectations, and customers' expectations.

2. The second part describes how the new enterprise is reshaping the way business views people, including the customer, the leader, and the employee.

3. The third part analyzes how companies are using the new tools they have in information technology, innovation, speed, and quality.

4. The fourth part takes up the changes in the corporation itself, how companies are becoming global, how they network, how they learn, how they can best respond to society's demands, how they can redesign their architecture.

Bottom line, if you are interested in curious facts and little known information about famous companies, this book would serve quite well for that purpose. I am still enjoying my many sessions with this book learning about all these companies. This is one of those books that you won't feel like throwing away. It has that endearing quality to it. But don't expect to learn something revolutionary in this book that will change your future. It's just a fun management book to read.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Research-based book in blizzard organizational change pubs., March 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Driving Change: How the Best Companies Are Preparing for the 21st Century (Hardcover)

This book: describes the drivers of change; examines how the new enterprise views people; analyzes how companies are using new tools in information technology, innovation, speed and quality; and explores how organizations are changing. Chapters end with highlights that prove very helpful to serious readers with limited time.

The discussion about organizational drivers of change is based on research findings, which makes this book not only interesting but credible in a blizzard of publications spewing forth about organizational change. Given all these books on this subject, many based on the thin ice of one person's experiences in a few enterprises, a research-based work is appreciated. Reviewed by Gerry Stern, founder, Stern & Associates, author of Stern's Sourcefinder: The Master Directory to HR and Business Management Information & Resources, Stern's CyberSpace SourceFinder, and Stern's Compensation and Benefits SourceFinder.

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The definitive book on business organisations of the future, October 22, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Mumbai, India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Driving Change: How the Best Companies Are Preparing for the 21st Century (Hardcover)

The book is extremely well researched and thorough and is not blase enough to put forth a framework. Where it succeeds is by putting forth what the most successful companies are doing to prepare themselves for the next century in all aspects of their operations