Every Business is a Growth Business: How Your Company Can Prosper Year After Year (Paperback)

by Ram Charan (Author), Noel Tichy (Author) "In mid-1997, we were talking with a group of Ford Motor Company's top people about how to grow profitably..." (more)
Key Phrases: new growth trajectory, total wallet, teachable point, Jack Welch, John Trani, Eckhard Pfeiffer (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Everyone wants growth, coauthor Noel Tichy explains on this audiocassette, but how many businesses are truly geared toward that end? At a time when the business cycle demands growth--or businesses risk death--but when so many businesses have already grown beyond anyone's wildest expectations, it's hard for companies not to circle the wagons and protect what they've already gained. If you can get past Tichy's somewhat droning delivery and his excessive use of "think-out-of-the-box"-level clichés and buzzwords, you'll find the secrets to continual growth for your company. Or, if you're an investor, you'll get insights into why some companies keep growing while others stagnate, and thus learn new ways to choose the best companies to stake your retirement funds on. (Running time: three hours, two cassettes) --Lou Schuler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Consultants Charan and Tichy systematically destroy one of the last crutches that weak managers lean on. There is, they argue persuasively, no such thing as a mature business; intriguingly, the best managers?many of whom the authors interviewed here?never thought there was. Citing such classic cases as Coca-Cola, Tichy (Control Your Destiny or Someone Else Will) and Charan (Boards at Work) point out that business's current fascination with "core competencies" is partly to blame for hindering growth. While there is something to be said for concentrating on what you do best, such a focus, they note, keeps companies looking inward at the very time they need to look outward to find opportunities for growth. For example, once Coke defined its competition as all beverages and not just soft drinks, its sales took off. The book is far longer than it needs to be, however, as the authors repeatedly cite multiple secondhand sources to make the same point instead of relying on their own interviews, and frequently quote their own previous work. An extensive "handbook" (the last of four parts) is perhaps the most useful section: it includes exercises showing readers how to apply the authors' ideas to their own businesses in a manner more lucid than most of the competition.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 342 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; Reprint edition (April 4, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812933052
• ISBN-13: 978-0812933055
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #517,559 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every Leader should read this...then read again!, April 11, 2002

By	Bruce V. Culver (Troy, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This is one of my favorite leadership books by two authors with whom I have a great deal of respect for their advice. The premise of the book it that by looking at the entire business landscape affecting your clients, there are larger opportunities in which to solve the client's CEO issues beyond the immediate customer orders. Written with real world examples, some of which were first hand consulting jobs by the authors, the examples are detailed and written so you can relate them to your own work.

I have applied these principles in my own professional work and find the concepts very useful in business growth development efforts. In almost every growth opportunity development session with employees, collegues and clients, the going in premise is that there is not enough budget or too limited a market, thus preventing us from pursuing a given opportunity. Applying the author's concepts to creating the expanded view of the opportunity almost always proves to incite a bigger picture for everyone.

The book may require better book bindings because I refer back to it so often that I will one day wear out the bindings!

Read and Expand the Pond! Highly Recommended.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Great Title,.. borrow from library instead, December 19, 2006

By	bronzefury (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

The title of this book caught my eye and I thought I would learn something profound. Quite frankly, there isn't really anything new here. The basic premise of the book is to understand customers needs or create needs and find a way to fulfill those needs in a profitable way. The book doesn't get into specifics but sites several examples of CEOs growing their respective companies. In general, those sources of growth were simply this..

1.Natural growth, where the market for what you make is strong and expanding
2.Gaining market share through low cost - high productivity growth, rapid cycle times, high asset turnover
3.Proprietary or patented technology
4.Highly-developed distribution channels that you've built over time
5.Opening new markets for your existing products - for example, globalization
6.Gaining power in the marketplace via acquisitions, alliances, vertical integration
7.Expanding your pond
8.Resegmenting your markets
9.Moving into adjacent segments

Ofcourse, the book goes into greater detail about each of the above, if you don't understand it in one sentence.

Main focus of book is to view your company from the outside in,..
1. How can I identify or create needs?
2. How can I meet them?
3. How fast can I meet them?

In essence, look at needs as the drivers of change

Pretty common sense stuff don't you think?

This is why I don't highly recommend this book. Its probably best to just borrow it from the library. You save money ;)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Read!, March 2, 2001

By	Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract.com" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Ram Charan and Noel M. Tichy make the case that no company, even a very large corporation, should think of itself as a mature company or as part of a mature industry. If you look at the market broadly and take your customer's perspective, you will always find room for growth. First, look at your customers' changing needs and think of how your company can expand beyond its current market. Then, expand that approach throughout the company. The basic message may sound familiar, but Charan and Tichy bring a strong how-to approach to their directions for implementing it in your company. We at getAbstract.com appreciate the utility of their mix of examples, graphs, charts, and workbook, which should prove helpful to executives and company owners.