Customer Reviews
Inspiring, but missing the deeper analytical level. - By: B. Rossen, 09 Jan 2006 
This is an inspiring book, & 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 & give more to their employer; the companies reap payoffsin the long term from grateful recipients of their honorable deeds; the companies acquire a good reputation which increases sales & hence profits. More interesting, is the question of the logic of ethicsin the business game - not even touched by these authors.
According to Jim Collins & Jerry Porras, it does not matter what the company ideology is, as long as it is passionately believed by the management & employees. I find this a dubious claim, & 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 blindnessin Africa. Why does Merck do this? Clearly, a pharmaceutical firm does well to investin a reputation for medical generosity that flows from a passion for making people well? Merck is purchasing precisely the trust that pays-offin the medical market place. Trust reduces transaction costs, &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 & greater fun." Why is this a suitable ideology for our company? The answer is not that this is one we happen to believe in, & feel passionate about - although we do. Rather, this ideology is strategically fitting. We enhance to our brand name, & 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) & 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, & 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, & that pays us morein the long termin our role as an information service provider.
Our ideology was designed to give us the greatest possible strategic advantagein our markets. That is not to say we do not believein our ideals, but that the nature of our ideology is important. It does matter what we believe. It matters what you believe, & 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 & Porras. Because "Built to Last" is characterized by an ubiquitous analytical paucity, Jim Collins & Jerry Porras' interpretations of their data are not always correct. That is a pity. Their findings are exciting, inspiring even, & the book despite its limitations is a good read.
Built To Last - Indeed the book is as well! - By: Jerome William Moore, 13 Oct 2005 
One of the best books ever written about how a great company becomes great. Yet, so applicable to even a one man or one woman start up company!
The most interesting book ever written about business - By: , 07 Apr 1999 By taking an academic approach to analysing why some companies have endured over generations, & other similar companies have lost their way, Collins & Porras provide an insight into greatness which no other author has brought to life for mein such a vivid way.
Read it!
