The Open-book Experience: Lessons From Over 100 Companies Who Successfully Transformed Themselves [Paperback]

John Case (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 29, 1998

Over the last decade companies have struggled to balance the human dimension of business with the need to be aggressive, competitive, and profitable. Of all the management solutions considered, one philosophy, open-book management, has proven its power to transform organizations and enhance morale and productivity again and again.But what was it about a seemingly risky philosophy, in which all of a company’s financial numbers are revealed to every employee, that compelled companies as dissimilar as multibillion-dollar RR Donnelley and modest-sized Crisp publications, to undertake such a drastic rethinking of company management? Was it the increased profits other companies, such as Amoco Canada, were experiencing due to their employees’ new financial involvement in the company? Or was it he improved production that Bagel Works, Inc., and Dixie Ironworks, Inc., realized through employee joint accountability? Perhaps it was the enhanced employee morale that still other companies were achieving now that their employees were partners who designed their own bonus packages. Likely, it was all these reasons and dozens more that convinced hundreds of companies to adopt open-book management to help reduce costs, improve quality, and boost sales, all while creating an environment that reinvented and revitalized the role of the employee.In this practical and highly accessible book, John Case, the leading authority and foremost chronicler of open-book management, shows how to put the open-book philosophy to work. The Open-Book Experience explains how to identify critical numbers, how to bring the corporate financials down to earth, and how to set up a system that gets everyone in the business working to improve performance. It describes how companies both large and small have actually implemented open-book management—how they got started, how they overcame obstacles, and how they taught employees to understand the business. Using a step-by-step methodology gleaned from the experiences of more than 100 successful companies, and revealing tools and techniques such as electronic scoreboards and collaborative “games,” Case shows how open-book management can work for any company wanting to bridge the age-old gap between concern for people and the need for rigorous performance measurement and improvement.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Open-Book Experience is based on the premise that "a company performs best when its people see themselves as partners in the business." By describing precise ways that dozens of firms of all sizes and types have already developed just such a partnership by sharing with all employees the corporate financial information that once was reserved for the boardroom, John Case, a nationally recognized authority on this so-called open-book style of management, shows how the strategy can lead directly to improved morale, increased production, and boosted profits. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Chuck Kremer, CPA, is Senior Business-Literacy Consultant for Boulder-based Educational Discoveries. An originator of “The Financial Game for Decision Making™,” he teaches financial-literacy courses to managers and executives around the country.Ron Rizzuto, PH.D., is a professor of finance at the University of Denver, where he co-founded the entrepreneurship program at the Daniels College of Business.John Case is executive editor of the newsletter division at Harvard Business School Publishing. A former senior editor and senior writer for Inc. magazine, he is the author of numerous feature stories and several books on entrepreneurship and open-book management.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (December 29, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738200409
• ISBN-13: 978-0738200408
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #432,285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "A New Way of Thinking": Macro and Micro Perspectives, March 25, 2002

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Open-book Experience: Lessons From Over 100 Companies That Have Transformed Themselves (Hardcover)

I recently re-read Case's Open-Book Management: The Coming Business Revolution (1996) and then this book (1999). Both are even more important now than when originally published. In this volume, Case develops his key ideas in much greater depth while examining more than 100 companies which -- to varying extent -- have implemented open-book principles. Perhaps without intending to, some reviewers have incorrectly suggested that these principles have relevance only to publicly-traded companies. In fact, I think they can also be of substantial value to non-profits as well as to privately-owned companies. Consider the over-used phrase "taking ownership" in the context of assuming responsibility for helping to reduce costs by completing more and better work in less time or in the context of assuming responsibility for making certain that a customer's problem has been solved. Heaven knows, what Case advocates will increase "business literacy" among everyone involved in a given enterprise but it can and should accomplish more, much more.

For example, effective application of open-book principles will create a "transparent" organization. That is, one in which everyone is kept fully informed of what is most important to the success of that enterprise. Such knowledge includes but is by no means is limited to financial information which explains, for example, how much it costs to open the door each business day or how much money is spent on training, overtime, postage, shipping, etc. According to Case, "Really the only way for a company to boost performance consistently over the long terms is to have employees who work enthusiastically and effectively and who take responsibility for their own work. Good systems -- meaning good procedures and equipment -- are indispensable. But what makes the difference in the end is whether the employees doing the job think about doing it just a little bit better and care whether they do or don't." At a time when competition is more ferocious than ever before, "battles" will be won or lost within what Case characterizes as "the human dimension of business -- the wanting, the caring, the enthusiasm, the problem solving and initiative taking." Open-book principles offer a new approach to management, one which starts from scratch with a new set of assumptions "about how people in an organization work together." In this volume, citing countless real-world applications of those principles, Case explains HOW...and, of equal importance, WHY.

If possible, read Open-Book Management first. You may also wish to check out Kaplan and Norton's The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action and then its sequel, The Strategy-Focused Organization: How Balanced Scorecard Companies Thrive in the New Business Environment. Perhaps the Lone Ranger could prevail armed only with a silver bullet but the rest of us need a full arsenal of weapons. Many of them are provided by Case, Kaplan, and Norton.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read book for any interested in Open-book Management, October 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Open-book Experience: Lessons From Over 100 Companies Who Successfully Transformed Themselves (Paperback)

One of the best books yet on Open Book Management. Full of practical advice for anyone trying to use Open Book Management in their business. As anyone involved in implementing OBM will tell you, you need all the help you can get. This book has given us a host of new ideas and lots of hands on stuff to help us to make OBM a reality in our business. We hope the next book isn't far away.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The next step for Open-Book Management, March 22, 2004

By 

Eric Kassan (Las Vegas, NV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Open-book Experience: Lessons From Over 100 Companies Who Successfully Transformed Themselves (Paperback)

In his first book on Open-Book Management (OBM), the author builds the case for why a change in management practice is necessary, and why OBM in particular uniquely best addresses the issues needed for successful management today. Once one has read that book and is either interested enough to want to learn more or sold to the point he or she wants to implement it, then this book is the perfect follow-up.

This book focuses on the details, and they say the devil is always in the details. You could say the authors first book dealt more with the "WHY" and this deals more with the "HOW", though there is some crossover. By drawing experiences (both good and bad) from 100 companies, the reader can benefit enormously by not having to deal with as much trial-and-error personally. I highly recommend this book to those who are likely to implement OBM.