Relevance Regained [Hardcover]

H. Thomas Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 13, 1992

Johnson argues that top-down, management-accounting oriented organizations are no longer equipped to be competitive in modern business. Management teams with access to information about global competition, responsive to customers and quick to deliver should form the main impetus of the modern business. Johnson shows how radical overhauls based on such principles at companies such as Genral Electric, Eastman Kodak and Harley Davidson have achieved positive results.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Steven C. Wheelwright co-author, Revolutionizing Product Development and Dynamic Manufacturing This outstanding work will be of tremendous value to managers. It provides a whole new frame of reference focused on what they care most about -- competitive advantage.

Alfred M. King Senior Vice President, Valuation Research Corporation Relevance Lost by Johnson and Kaplan was the key accounting book of the 1980s. Relevance Regained will be the seminal volume of the 1990s.

William A. Golomski President, W. A. Golomski & Associates Provides new approaches and methods needed for managers at all levels to jump start the journey of continuous improvement.

Richard J. Schonberger author, Building a Chain of Customers Johnson's prescriptions for sharp course corrections are right on target.

Thomas J. Murrin Dean, School of Business Administration, Duquesne University, and former President, Energy and Advanced Technology Group, Westinghouse Electric Co. Very timely -- and positively impactful!

Thomas M. O'Brien former manager, Product Management Programs, General Electric Co. In their search for companies that are making fundamental improvements, Wall Street analysts would be wise to understand Johnson's message.

Harry V. Roberts Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago A very important contribution to Total Quality Management...ranks with Schonberger, Ishikawa, Deming, Shingo, Ohno, Box, and Juran.

James M. Hurd President/CEO, Planar Systems, Inc. Articulates the fundamental changes that U.S. managers must lead to reverse the free-fall in American industrial competitiveness. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 228 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (July 13, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0029165555
• ISBN-13: 978-0029165553
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,715,619 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real paradigm shifter, September 28, 2011

By 

Steven Bell - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Relevance Regained (Paperback)

This early book by Thomas Johnson shows a remarkable vision in the making, of how command and control thinking inhibits creativity and progress, and how traditional management accounting is a powerful under-the-radar mechanism of that control philosophy. An early pioneer in Activity Based Costing, who later reversed course as a result of his ten year insider experience at Toyota at the invitation of Mr. Fujio Cho who was then President of Toyota's North American operations, Thomas became a pioneer in the practice of management accounting for Lean - or rather the absence of management accounting used in an attempt to guide operations. Johnson has long been in Peter Senge's inner circle, and was recently awarded the Deming medal for advancing the practice. This book is an important step in the journey of one of the lesser known but more influential Lean thinkers from the very beginning.

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Book, October 8, 2011

By 

M Rother - See all my reviews

This review is from: Relevance Regained (Paperback)

Where does sustained competitive advantage come from? Using top-down accounting results to command and control an organization works well enough... if conditions are stable and the path to the goal is known. In that case, management's task consists largely of establishing targets, providing incentives and periodically checking results.

But many companies are finding themselves in marketplaces grown crowded and dynamic. It's not possible to know how conditions will develop, and when you fall behind it's hard to catch up. Our current managerial-accounting-based management system may not be up to the task that these challenges present. In crowded, dynamic markets, leaders and managers need to teach their people how to work systematically and iteratively to overcome obstacles and meet larger goals.

The change in market conditions can be slow to surface, so we may feel little urgency to change our management approach. And resistance to such change is naturally great anyway. In this book Professor Johnson gets you thinking... what if the constant use of financial-accounting-based "process drivers" cripple organizations in the long run, leading to eventual decline? Then Johnson points to mindset and behaviors that leaders, managers and business schools can adopt to better equip them for the uncertain grey zones ahead.

This book is completely germane to today's world, and it will surprise you to learn it was first published in 1992. Relevance Regained is a classic I recommend to anyone interested in management and leadership.

5 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars General Overview Only, January 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Relevance Regained (Hardcover)

I had been recommended this book a few years back and finally got around to reading it. The book is somewhat dated and only includes information until about 1990. I think the book does a good job showing some of the problems with management accounting today but falls short on how to correct them.