Drawing upon a six-year research project at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras took 18 truly exceptional and long-lasting companies and studied each in direct comparison to one of its top competitors. They examined the companies from their very beginnings to the present day - as start-ups, as midsize companies, and as large corporations. Throughout, the authors asked: "What makes the truly exceptional companies different from the comparison companies and what were the common practices these enduringly great companies followed throughout their history?"

Filled with hundreds of specific examples and organized into a coherent framework of practical concepts that can be applied by managers and entrepreneurs at all levels, Built to Last provides a master blueprint for building organizations that will prosper long into the 21st century and beyond.

Listening Length

6 hours and 16 minutes
Author

Jim Collins
Narrator

Jim Collins, see all
Audible release date

November 7, 2019
Language

English
Publisher

HarperAudio
ASIN

B0813QCVN9
Version

Abridged
Program Type

Audiobook
See all details

$5.95/mo for the first 4 months

For a limited time, save 60% on Audible. Get this deal

Your audiobook is waiting!

Click above for unlimited listening to select audiobooks, Audible Originals, and podcasts.
One credit a month to pick any title from our entire premium selection — yours to keep (you'll use your first credit now).
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel online anytime.

Learn more about membership

Sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company

List Price: $29.90

By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible’s Conditions Of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice.

Sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company

People who viewed this also viewed

Page 1 of 1Start OverPage 1 of 1

People who bought this also bought

Page 1 of 1Start OverPage 1 of 1

Related to this topic

Page 1 of 1Start OverPage 1 of 1

Product details

Listening Length	6 hours and 16 minutes
Author	Jim Collins
Narrator	Jim Collins, Jerry I. Porras
Audible.com Release Date	November 07, 2019
Publisher	HarperAudio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Abridged
Language	English
ASIN	B0813QCVN9
Best Sellers Rank	#3,035 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #12 in Company Business Profiles (Books) #20 in Entrepreneurship (Audible Books & Originals) #45 in Business Management (Audible Books & Originals)

Important information

To report an issue with this product, click here.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

2,376 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Reviews with images

See all photos

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Benjamin Rossen

Inspiring, but lacking analytical rigor.

Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2005

Verified Purchase

This is an inspiring book, and informative. It answers the "what" question convincingly. I missed answers to the "why" questions. Why, for example, are successful visionary companies characterized by their emphasis on ethical standards? There are many possible explanations: the staff of the company are inspired by the ideals and give more to their employer; the companies reap payoffs in the long term from grateful recipients of their honorable deeds; the companies acquire a good reputation which increases sales and hence profits. More interesting, is the question of the logic of ethics in the business game - not even touched by these authors.

According to Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, it does not matter what the company ideology is, as long as it is passionately believed by the management and employees. I find this a dubious claim, and not supported by the data. The ideological frameworks of the companies that were studied are not interchangeable, not for the trivial reason that the ideology of another company happens not to be the one believed by each of them. Boeing is unlikely to spend money on a program to cure river blindness in Africa. Why does Merck do this? Clearly, a pharmaceutical firm does well to invest in a reputation for medical generosity that flows from a passion for making people well? Merck is purchasing precisely the trust that pays-off in the medical market place. Trust reduces transaction costs, and in some cases is almost as good as a monopoly. Boeing, on the other hand, must buy a brand name attached to their dedication to engineering excellence. It does matter what companies are passionate about.

My company operates on the Internet. Our pledge includes the words: "The tragedy of the commons is the propensity of users to take more from the commons than they give. We undertake to contribute more to the commons than we take. Our presence shall make the Internet safer, more useful and greater fun." Why is this a suitable ideology for our company? The answer is not that this is one we happen to believe in, and feel passionate about - although we do. Rather, this ideology is strategically fitting. We enhance to our brand name, and therefore the value of our software, by adding our reputation to the web applications we write.

In one of our daughter businesses we are a broker of information from merchants to consumer (information about products that are available) and from consumer to merchant (we generate real time demand curves for a large range of commodities). We have pledged not to become a trader. Why? In ethical terms, we should not be a trader because our insider information would give rise to conflict of interest. The trust that we gain by not being a trader, and hence remaining a disinterested supplier of market information, enables us to broker Coasian agreements with reduced transaction costs between the parties on the Internet. The advantage is large. It is on the Internet commons that trust is scarce. We are able to purchase this by foregoing some potentially profitable trades, and that pays us more in the long term in our role as an information service provider.

Our ideology was designed to give us the greatest possible strategic advantage in our markets. That is not to say we do not believe in our ideals, but that the nature of our ideology is important. It does matter what we believe. It matters what you believe, and it matters that you understand that it matters.

I strongly recommend "The Modern Firm" by Roberts. Read this alongside "Built to Last". Roberts is a harder read, but he gets under the logic of corporate dynamics better than Collins and Porras. Because "Built to Last" is characterized by an ubiquitous analytical paucity, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras' interpretations of their data are not always correct. That is a pity. Their findings are exciting, inspiring even, and the book despite its limitations is a good read.

11 people found this helpful

Helpful

Kelley Ridings

Brilliant read to building a sustainable visionary organization

Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2022

Verified Purchase

Built to Last is a book of luminescent importance among books about successful companies/organizations. Based on the thorough research of Jim Collins (of Good to Great fame) and Jerry Porras, this book examines the qualities of visionary companies who had great success and staying power in their fields. They identified 18 such companies and had a comparison group of comparable companies in the same industry. The results are conclusive. Visionary companies thrive on being clock makers who build their organization to improve each year and withstand the test of time. They fervently focus on their core competencies. They consistently stay true to their core values. Yet they will change and innovate. They adopt the “genius of and” realizing they can be equally committed to seemingly contradictory purposes, yet those purposes are actually equally important. For example these companies can be committed to serving people, AND they can seek to dominate their market. They embody the yin and yang concept, complementary forces that co-exist and support one another. Visionary organizations are also committed to serving people and the greater common good, however they define it. They aren’t focused on profit as the most important purpose.

This is another Collins book that is a total game changer, along with Good to Great and How the Mighty Fall. It’s a classic read of brilliant proportions. Any business or organizational leader who seeks to build something that lasts and thrives long after our own tenures passed to someone else, needs to read this book. NOW!

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Amir

Lasting insights and concepts

Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2013

Verified Purchase

We sometimes wonder what makes a company great. We often look at its real and perceived competitive advantages, ideas like a strong brand, an extremely talented and visionary leader, cult followers, great idea or innovative product. We often tend to believe a company should posses these characteristics in order to be successful. I have even witnessed many people refusing to start a company before having the "aha" moment or the brilliant idea which will change the world.

Mr. Collins and Mr. Porras researched many companies and identified several characteristics which identify companies which are built to last a long time. The book is written in a way of discussion on concepts and characteristics which distinguish these visionary companies from the rest of the companies. By highlighting these concepts the authors provide surprising facts and insights and breaking several myths about the reasons for a company long term success.

The authors took a very interesting approach of comparing a visionary (build to last) company to a comparison company. As you read the book it seems as if the "comparison" company should be the one to last. However, after the authors provide the different approaches, characteristics and choices made by the two companies, we, the readers, are slowly coming to the realization it is the visionary companies which lasted. It is often the case the comparison companies do not even exist today.

The book was first published in 1994 and a lot has changed since then. It is interesting to note that today (2012) few of the visionary companies are performing worse than their comparison company. And over the years I have heard readers being disappointed with the selection of companies and even stated, "This book is wrong, you see, these companies were not build to last".¹

I believe the key to understand the book lessons, is not by focusing on the specific companies, but it is by observing the characteristics and concepts which define visionary companies as brilliantly described in this book.

I highly recommend the book for leaders of companies, builders of companies and all who wish to understand how a company can be built (or changed) to last.

Amir Avitzur
Author of "Why do we sell low and buy high? The guide you must read BEFORE you invest"

¹ Mr. Collins researched and wrote about the cause of companies to fail in a more recent book called "How the mighty fall".

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

Rach Team&Kommunikation

Pflichtlektüre für Manager in Konzernen wie auch in KMU

Reviewed in Germany on June 19, 2014

Verified Purchase

Eine Pflichtlektüre: Collins untersucht mit wissenschaftlichen Methoden, was Unternehmen, die extrem erfolgreich über mehrere Dekaden sind, so sehr, dass sie sich den Status als Legenden erarbeitet haben, also was diese anders machen, als Unternehmen, die ebenfalls groß und bekannt sind, aber nur Phasenweise erfolgreich sind. Um noch genauer zu sein, er stellt Unternehmen gegenüber, die zur gleichen Zeit, in der gleichen Branche unter den selben Bedingungen gegründet wurden, und somit absolut die selben Chancen hatten. Aber jeweils nur eines von den Vergleichspaaren hat den nachhaltigen Erfolg geschafft und ist zu einer Ikone geworden, das Andere eben nicht.
Die wissenschaftliche Analyse wird von Colins spannend vorgetragen, mit anschaulichen Metaphern und lebendig geschilderten Beispielen. Die meisten Analysen kann ich gut nachvollziehen und finde sie voll überzeugend. Nur selten denke ich mir, das kann man auch anders sehen.
Bei diesem Produkt habe ich stundenlang nach einer Angabe zum Umfang gesucht. Es sind insgesamt 5 CDs. Daher vermute ich, es ist zum Original etwas gekürzt. Aber ich vermisse aber nichts. Collins packt die Botschaft in wenige, einfache Prinzipen. Er beginnt mit den Prinzipen und einer kurzen verteidigung seiner Argumentation, dann kommt die ausführliche Analyse mit Beispielen und Storys, dann kommt eine Zusammenfassung der Prinzipien, am Ende kommen noch ein paar typische Fragen und Antworten. Der Umfang ist voll ausreichend.
Collins liest seinen Teil mit großem Engagement und sehr lebendig, als würde er eine Rede vor einem interesserten kritischen Publikumhalten. Er geht richtig mit. Er wechselt sich jedoch mit seinem Co-Autor Porras ab. Der liest eher gelangweilt, etwas schleppend und etwas nuschelnd.

3 people found this helpful

Translate review to English

Marco

Valido

Reviewed in Italy on November 1, 2022

Verified Purchase

Lettura piacevole e veloce con diversi spunti di riflessione sicuramente molto interessanti ed utile a tutti indipendentemente dall’inquadramento aziendale che hanno.

Translate review to English

Preserve the Core / Stimulate Progress

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 1, 2013

Verified Purchase

Nearly 20 years ago this book has been written, and it is still so applicable !

Based on scientific research on “visionary” companies, a lot of interesting findings are formulated. I several times felt like reading thoughts which I have been (subconsciously) thinking for years, and applied professionally. What a relief the see them so nicely formulated ! Why haven’t I read this book before?

Ideas I liked most:
- Preserve the Core and Stimulate Progress: you should separate the Core Ideology (which shouldn’t change) from the drive for Progress (which can change and should never be satisfied)
- No tyranny of the OR: instead of having to choose between Continuity OR Change (for example), you should choose Continuity AND Change. The authors put it like this: “The ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain ability to function”
- Good enough never is: visionary companies always go for better, good enough (or the 80/20 rule) is not enough.

4 people found this helpful

amit t.

Interested practical difference between companies those just servive and flourish

Reviewed in India on October 25, 2022

Verified Purchase

Go if you really interested in research based managment

Lucas Antony

Livro clássico e interessante, porém já desatualizado

Reviewed in Brazil on August 3, 2020

Verified Purchase

Livro consagrado desde seu lançamento, apresenta a trajetória de 16 empresas "visionárias" (no conceito dos autores) e as caraterísticas que fizeram delas terem tal desempenho excepcional ao longo de muitas décadas de existência. Possui pesquisa histórica primorosa, e muitas boas ideias a serem aplicadas na administração de empresas e outras organizações, lucrativas ou não.

Mas é interessante notar que algumas das empresas citadas pelo autor como visionárias que sobreviveram a períodos de turbulência estão no momento quase fora de combate devido à Revolução Digital e novo ciclo industrial. É o caso da Motorola, HP e IBM.

Como diz Flávio Augusto: estabilidade não existe!

4 people found this helpful

Translate review to English

See more reviews

Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies (Good to Great, Book 2) Audible Audiobook – Abridged

People who viewed this also viewed

People who bought this also bought

Related to this topic

Product details

Important information

Customer reviews

Reviews with images

Submit a report

Sorry, there was an error

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries