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In Search of Excellence: Lessons from Americas Best Run Companies Paperback – August 15, 1988

by Robert H Waterman, Jr. (Author), Thomas J Peters (Author)

4.6 729 ratings

Part of: Collins Business Essentials (14 books)

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An American business management "bible" since 1982, In Search of Excellence presents eight specific management principles common to successful companies.

Part of series

Collins Business Essentials
Print length

360 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Grand Central Publishing
Publication date

August 15, 1988
Dimensions

5.13 x 1 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

0446385077
ISBN-13

978-0446385077
Lexile measure

1160L
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Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grand Central Publishing (August 15, 1988)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 360 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0446385077
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0446385077
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1160L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.13 x 1 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,334,097 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #337,116 in Business & Money (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.6 729 ratings

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Tom Paters
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Tom Peters
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Tom Peters is co-author of In Search of Excellence--the book that changed the way the world does business, and often tagged as the best business book ever. Nineteen books and almost forty years later, he's still at the forefront of the "management guru industry." What's new? A lot. As CNN said, "While most business gurus milk the same mantra for all its worth, the one-man brand called Tom Peters is still reinventing himself." His most recent effort, released in March 2021: Excellence Now: Extreme Humanism. Tom’s tireless focus is on putting people first and developing leaders who stay in intimate touch with the front-liners who do the real work. In November 2017, Tom received the Thinkers50 Lifetime Achievement Award. Effectively, all of Tom’s written and speech material covering the last 20+ years is available—free to download—at tompeters.com and excellencenow.com.
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Robert Waterman
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Customer reviews

729 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book excellent, well-written, and informative. They say it teaches plenty of management lessons and is a treasure of wisdom.

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Readability Insight Value for money

41 customers mention "Readability"33 positive8 negative

Customers find the book excellent, well-written, and informative. They say it's timeless and covers lots of aspects with live examples. However, some readers feel the book is not easy to read.

"it was a really well written and informative book. i enjoyed it, especially now...." Read more

"...This is a good foundational read, and an exceptional author. It is just 25 years past a 5 star review." Read more

"Book is good reading & the title of the book & its description pretty accurately tell the contents of the book" Read more

"...and functions (or lack of) of large organizations this book is a delightful read, the first two thirds of it anyway...." Read more

20 customers mention "Insight"20 positive0 negative

Customers find the book informative, insightful, and helpful. They say it teaches plenty of management lessons and is a treasure of wisdom. Readers also mention it's a good textbook on organization and people management. They say it covers lots of aspects with live examples and is a nice addition to the business library.

"it was a really well written and informative book. i enjoyed it, especially now...." Read more

"...This book can supercharge your success!" Read more

"...To me excellence is beauty, it is the bringer of delight, desirable yet unexpected, it exudes a pride of craftsmanship, it is skill in action, it is..." Read more

"...Close to the customer, Autonomy and entrepreneurship, Productivity through people, Hands-on value-driven, Stick to the knitting, Simple form lean..." Read more

5 customers mention "Value for money"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the book value for money. They say it's hands-on, value-driven, and a classic worth reading. Readers also mention that the financial results are strong.

"...organization's output is innovative and ever fresh, and financial results are strong...." Read more

"...Autonomy and entrepreneurship, Productivity through people, Hands-on value-driven, Stick to the knitting, Simple form lean staff, and Simultaneous..." Read more

"...The entrepreneurship chapter is quite valuable and easy to implement." Read more

"Resourceful book, good seller." Read more

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chris fiedler

A must read for business managers in the 21st century

Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2016

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it was a really well written and informative book. i enjoyed it, especially now. A lot of the ideas that GE under both Jones & Welch used were exactly the same as the founders of the United States Constitution put in the Articles. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, JFK and Trump are very close together on how to market their ideas. The book explained GE's process set by step. Have big over all ideas, and allow the change to set the actions. Every action only last until a change, then it must be replaced or restructured. If all our lawmakers understood this we wouldn't have 2,000 pages of how to do something thar changes in 12 months due to improvements or complete new products and services.

One person found this helpful

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Book Reader

Standing the test of time

Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2010

Verified Purchase

"In Search of Excellence" was written nearly 30 years ago (in 1982) and appears to have stood the test of time. One of the most interesting chapters speaks of the development of management theory from the 1930s all the way through the 1970s. The well written summary of evolution of corporate strategy is extremely helpful to those who wish to broaden their knowledge, without reading thousands of pages of classical management theories.

The authors selected eight key factors that they reasoned to be drivers of success. They then identified a number of companies that they considered to be "excellent" performers, and used examples of their respective organizational structures to highlight the eight factors. The key factors include:

* Bias for Action: getting things done, open communication between employees and the management, experimentation;
* Close to the Customer: obsession with reliability, service, and quality to gain and retain customers;
* Autonomy of Entrepreneurship: in-house competition, encourage creativity, ability to tolerate failure;
* Productivity through People: treating employees with respect, make them feel important, management by wandering around the office and communicating;
* Hands-on, Value Driven: emphasizing the importance of corporate history and tradition using stories and myths, rather than bureaucratic policies;
* Stick to the Knitting: understanding what the company's primary business is, and not diversify into ventures where experience is not currently present;
* Simple Form, Lean Staff: avoiding complex management structures, increasing the ability to implement changes to the processes quickly and easily in accordance with the dynamic environment;
* Simultaneous Loose-tight Properties: balance of central direction and individual autonomy, combination of control and innovative entrepreneurship.

Many ideas developed by Peters and Waterman do appear to have a universal truth quality to them. Most successful companies today do in fact possess the aforementioned characteristics.
Interestingly, nearly two-thirds of all "excellent" companies discussed in the book, have gone bankrupt or were acquired by other firms. It appears that excellence cannot be sustainable over a long-term period, and eventually meritocracy sets in. This issue was not discussed by the authors, but one could explain it by attributing it to changes in management, which in turn led to the disappearance of the key factors.

For example, consider the recent competition faced by General Motors. With increasing prices on non-renewable resources and rising environmental awareness, American consumers began demanding more fuel efficient automobiles. Japanese competitors, such as Toyota and Honda, were able seize this marketing opportunity by delivering vehicles that outperformed those of GM. GM was too late with becoming "close to the consumer," leading to a massive loss in a market share, in turn leading to an overall fall in sales.

Another example can be provided by a once excellent mass-market electronics retailer, Circuit City. The company was praised for its level of superior service. The company spent significant amount of time on staff development, which differentiated it from other retailers. The change in management in the early 2000s also brought cost cutting measures which replaced well-trained service employees with minimum wage personnel. Forgetting its history and unique selling proposition drove consumers away from Circuit City, ultimately leading to bankruptcy of the organization in late 2008.

Some could mistakenly conclude from this that excellence is simply a temporary state, and cannot be sustained over a long-term period. Looking at the decline of some of the once great companies clearly shows which one of the eight factors had gone awry, and if addressed in time could have kept the company at its excellent condition. The authors of the book could not have perceived the fall of some of the great companies mentioned in the book, yet they did clearly say that excellent companies must not lose sight of the key factors, as doing so will lead to disappearance of overall excellence and could even escalate to complete failure, as it has been shown in the examples above.

13 people found this helpful

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Ed Barton

Dated Classic

Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2014

Verified Purchase

Tom Peters is one of the most influential business writers of the last 20 years, and this was his initial work. Published in the early 1980's, the book explored new management methods - revolving around employee empowerment, fostering innovation and decentralized control. Exploring dozens of leading companies, Peters identifies 8 basic principles to "Stay on Top of the Heap":

* Bias to action
* Stay close to the customer
* Promote autonomy and entrepreneurship
* Productivity through people
* Executives need to be hands-on and values driven
* Focus on the business the company knows best
* Keep a simple form and few layers of management
* Foster tight adherence to values and high tolerance for employees accepting the values

These 8 principles are tough to argue - yet the majority of the companies Peters profiled in the book subsequently failed or went through extremely tumultuous times (IBM, TI, Delta Airlines, Dow, Exxon, Dana, Blue Bell, DEC, Amdhal, NCR, Wang and Xerox to name a few). Perhaps they didn't stick to their knitting - or perhaps there are other factors besides the 8. The bottom line is that the book is now nearly 30 years old, and much has changed in that time. Peters has newer books that are more on point for this century. This is a good foundational read, and an exceptional author. It is just 25 years past a 5 star review.

22 people found this helpful

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Richard Boggs

Still holds up

Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2021

Verified Purchase

Though the case studies are outdated, the core competencies of this book are still very strong. The authors acknowledge this in the book's Author's Note added in 2003. I will be recommending this book to the rest of my company's senior leadership as a succinct guide to overcoming specific challenges we are having as our business grows and we develop new protocols and organizational structures. Throughout the book, it is mentioned that the structure presented is in contrast to military-style thinking, but I feel that too may be outdated as more contemporary books from former Secretaries of Defence Gates and Mattis, as well as other military-turned-business advisors expound heavily upon many of the basic principles laid out in this book.

I also observe that some of the ideas discussed in the book have been dissected and bastardized by contemporary companies, especially in the marketing agency and tech fields. Luxuries and motivators, incentive programs for their staff, now turned necessities to the business such as free snacks, company happy hours, constant recognition and participant ribbons, among other things. It is interesting to read back to where these concepts actually started and why - turns out it was Silicon Valley after all.

I got out of this book exactly what I was hoping to. However, it was not a quick read because it left my mind racing about how we can streamline the business, improve communication, deepen our corporate culture, and the like. Every few paragraphs I would have to stop reading to take a note or allow an idea to mature before moving to the next part of the book. I hope it does the same for you.

3 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

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Rafael Ladeira

Um bom livro

Reviewed in Brazil on June 25, 2024

Verified Purchase

O livro possui um bom conteúdo mas achei que não foi direto ao assunto principal durante boa parte do livro, gostei mais da segunda metade do conteúdo mas acho válida a leitura.

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JoAnna

Book it’s great.

Reviewed in Germany on July 5, 2023

Verified Purchase

I bought it for mg husband and he never read it. But as a gift it’s great because has a great reviews so whoever will check will be happy to receive such a great book. Now I wish to find it and read myself at least.