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In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-run Companies (Paperback)

~ Thomas J. Peters (Author), Robert H. Waterman (Author) "The Belgian Surrealist Rene Magritte painted a series of pipes and entitled the series Ceci n'est pas une pipe (This is not a pipe)..." (more)
Key Phrases: excellent companies, productivity through people, executive champion, New York, Business Week, United States (more...)

3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (52 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

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'One of those rare books on management that is both consistently thought-provoking and fun to read.' Wall Street Journal 'A landmark book, without question the most important and useful book on what makes organisations effective, ever written' Warren Buffet 'Required reading.' International Management Magazine

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"One of those rare books on management that are both consistently thought-provoking and fun to read." (Wall Street Journal ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Profile Business (April 15, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1861977166
ISBN-13: 978-1861977168
Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces

Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (52 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #924,050 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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First Sentence:
The Belgian Surrealist Rene Magritte painted a series of pipes and entitled the series Ceci n'est pas une pipe (This is not a pipe). Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
excellent companies, productivity through people, executive champion, transforming leadership, lean staff, people orientation

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Business Week, United States, Blue Bell, Delta Airlines, Levi Strauss, Successful American Companies, General Motors, James Brian Quinn, Texas Instruments, The Wall Street Journal, Ray Kroc, David Ogilvy, Disney Productions, Emerson Electric, The Saving Remnant, Chester Barnard, Data General, General Electric, United Airlines, World War, Palo Alto, Philip Selznick, Thomas Watson, Big Jim

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 74 books:

Business and Its Beliefs (McKinsey Foundation Lectures) by Thomas J. Watson on 8 pages
The Functions of the Executive: 30th Anniversary Edition by Chester I. Barnard on 4 pages
The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker on 4 pages
The Social Psychology of Organizing (Topics in Social Psychology Series) by Karl E Weick on page 101, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
Dynamic Economics by Burton H. Klein on page 109, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)

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100 books cite this book:

Designing Effective Organizations: Traditional and Transformational Views by Professor David K. Banner on 15 pages
The Ultimate Business Library : 75 Books That Made Management by Stuart Crainer on 15 pages
Handbook of Local Government Administration (Public Administration and Public Policy) by Gargan on 4 pages
Handbook of Production Management Methods by Gideon Halevi on 4 pages
Perspectives on Public Relations Research (Routledge Advances in Management and Business Studies) by Danny Moss on page 27, page 57, and page 177

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Books on Related Topics (learn more)

A Passion for Excellence by Nancy Austin

Discusses:

Contemporary Issues In Leadership by William E Rosenbach

Discusses:

Handbook of Technology Management by Gerard H. Gaynor

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Customer Reviews

52 Reviews

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3.9 out of 5 stars (52 customer reviews)

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48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Management as Science, December 27, 2000

By	Walter Nicolau (Columbia, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Search of Excellence: Lessons from Americas Best Run Companies (Paperback)

This publication is a survey written by a couple of McKinsey consultants that seek to define the characteristics of successful, I mean excellent, organizations using the McKinsey 7-S framework; Structure, Systems, Style, Staff, Skills, Strategy, and Shared Values.

Their findings suggest that eight attributes are common for an excellent organization; bias for action, close to the customer, autonomy and entrepreneurship, productivity through people, hands on, value driven, stick to the knitting (=focus on what you do best), simple form lean staff, and simultaneous loose-tight properties (balance between centralized/decentralized organization). This is it.

Although the authors have a pleasant narrative style and are eloquent in making their point, I hesitate to buy into the arguments presented, first and foremost because I question the all encompassing validity of the McKinsey 7-s approach. Secondly, the authors cite companies such as Digital and Wang as qualifying for excellency. Whatever these companies did during the eighties, it wasn't good enough in the end since their advantage was not sustained and hence I wouldn't call them excellent. Thirdly, the best before stamp is obvious.

I do find the introduction and management theory review very well written and enjoyable. Ironically, (for me) the authors find that chapter the least important part of the book. I beg to differ. Overall, this would make a good intro for those interested in management theory. While you're at it, try to also take a look at Michael Porter's and Peter Drucker's work. In my view they are the authority in the field.

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26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars selecting on the dependent variable, July 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: In Search of Excellence: Lessons from Americas Best Run Companies (Paperback)

I don't have much to add to the other reviews here on the content, but as a couple of reviewers here have pointed out, there's a problem with the way they reached their conclusions. They chose a series of metrics as indicators of "excellence": they ranked companies on these metrics to identify a sample of "excellent companies": they then profiled these companies to find common features. Statisticians call this "selecting on the dependent variable": all excellent companies might have a certain feature, but you can only say that the feature has something to do with their excellence if non-excellent companies don't have it. The features that Peters picks out might be important, but the research they do doesn't in any way prove that.

There was a follow-up piece of research done some years later (not by the authors) in a paper called "excellence revisited", which argued that excellence was basically a temporary phenomenon, and that even these companies reverted to the mean. This looked at the "excellent companies" subsequent performance and found that on average, they had deteriorated significantly in all measures of performance. They then picked a sample of "non-excellent companies" using the same ranking criteria as the original book did at the time that the original research was done. Sure enough, these on average improved significantly in performance.

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42 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The first management blockbuster and still a classic, May 4, 2000

By	Michael Gering (Johannesburg, Gauteng South Africa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Search of Excellence: Lessons from Americas Best Run Companies (Paperback)

Few people can lay claim to having created an industry. TomPeters can.

Tom Peters is widely credited with having created themanagement guru industry. Before him it is said that "management thinkers wrote articles in academic journals, gave the occasional seminar, and worked as consultants for a few large corporations". The biggest blockbusters sold under five hundred thousand books.

`In Search of Excellence', co-authored with Bob Waterman, is Tom Peters first book and sold over 6 million copies. Its success surprised their colleagues at McKinsey, who had laughed at the idea that Peters and Waterman would keep the royalties, "should the book sell 50 000 copies".

Two decades later, `In Search of Excellence' is still one of the most readable management books. The eight characteristics of excellent companies, a bias for action, close to the customer, autonomy and entrepreneurship, productivity through people, hands-on values driven, stick to the knitting, simple form and lean staff, simultaneous loose-tight properties are all still relevant and still ignored today. It is written clearly, painting vivid pictures with anecdotes and examples from real companies.

Peters went on to become a megastar in the field of management entertaining, able to charge up to $80 000 for a one day show. The management guru industry is estimated to exceed a billion dollars and management books, including several by Peters himself, now regularly find their way into the best seller list. Peters'later writings have sometimes inspired and sometimes puzzled a new generation of managers.

This book is a classic. Great companies struggle to remain on top over an extended period. But the lessons learned endure. END

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic With Insights That Still Resonate
"In observing excellent companies, and specifically the way they interact with customers, the consistent presence of obsession was most striking. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Mark Hughes

4.0 out of 5 stars Awesome....
I was very pleased with everything from the service, the product, and the delivery. Thank you very much for the professional manner in which everything was handled.

Published 2 months ago by Joseph T. Davis Jr.

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic on Management and Mindset
I respect Mr. Peters tremendously. This book is a classic. Excellent from an Entrepreneur standpoint. Mindset is everything. Take advantage of this book. Read more

Published 7 months ago by Mark Deo

3.0 out of 5 stars A historical perspective of the study of management
I had a hard time finishing this book, tried it at least three times. It wasn't the knowledge that the authors' admission of falsifying data in support of their findings. Read more

Published 8 months ago by Koala

5.0 out of 5 stars One Of The All Time Management Classics
This book results from a study of several American companies trying to determine the patterns which make them consistently successful. Read more

Published 18 months ago by Joao Cortez

1.0 out of 5 stars I was not impressed with the quality of the cd.
The beginning of the cd was ok, but then the quality got progressively worse. Do not buy this product.

Published 20 months ago by T. Vynnytska

3.0 out of 5 stars Not an audio book
I bought this CD beleiving it to be the audio version of the book which it is not. It's a recording of a presentation by Tom Peters. Read more

Published 23 months ago by David A. Wright

4.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant at the Basics
Although this was written quite a few years ago, the basic truths outlined in this book remain as pertinent today as then. Read more

Published on September 24, 2007 by Nick McCormick

5.0 out of 5 stars Enthusiastic
When it's Tom Peters, it's not the content that matters, but the enthusiasm that you gain from it. I highly recommend it. Read more

Published on August 6, 2007 by Intelligent Reader

1.0 out of 5 stars Very disappointed
I believed I would receive an unabridged audio version of the best selling book. This CD seem to be from a lecture. Read more

Published on July 5, 2007 by Iceman

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