Taking Good to Great (Jim Collins)

The book is the result of an investigation into what goes into a company's transformation from mediocre to excellent, and what principles take a company from good to great for a sustained period of time. Collins and his research staff of 21 people spent five years gathering information via case studies to determine what it takes to change a good company into a great, enduring one. They examined 1,435 established companies to uncover principles and commonalities of those companies that made the leap from good to great. Collins' criterion was to find those companies that made the leap from average results to great results. Great results was defined as cumulative stock returns that exc

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the company's passion. A Hedgehog Concept "is a simple, crystalline concept that flows from deep understanding about the intersection" of three dimensions, or circles. Circle one is what a company can be the best, or cannot be the best, in the world at. Circle two is what drives a company's economic engine, or insight into how to most effectively generate sustained and robust cash slow and profitability, and Circle three is to focus on those activities that ignite passion (95-96). Collins emphasizes that a Hedgehog Concept is not a goal, strategy or plan to be the best. "It is an understanding of what you can be the best at. The distinction is absolutely crucial" (98). He underscores the point that knowing both what you can and cannot be best at is a primary contrast between the good-to-great companies and the comparison companies. Companies that went from good to great did not waste time, energy and money pursuing a goal they could not be the very best at; it is not enough merely to be good and go after easy growth and profits, but to focus on being the best, or what the company can potentially do better than any other company. Understanding that distinction leads to greatness, according to Collins. Collins acknowledges that
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Approximate Word count = 2156
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)