Creative Destruction: Why Companies That Are Built to Last Underperform the Market--And How to Successfully Transform Them - Hardcover

Foster, Richard; Kaplan, Sarah

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385501331 ISBN 13: 9780385501330

Publisher: Doubleday, 2001

Synopsis

Argues that "built-to-last" companies weigh down the market, presents a plan for transforming business practices, and explains how formerly successful companies fall into habits that compromise future productivity.

About this title

Review:

Being in search of excellence--or built to last--is one thing. Sustaining superior performance over the long haul, Richard Foster and Sarah Kaplan point out in Creative Destruction, is another matter entirely. Based on a concept first advanced some 70 years ago by economist Joseph Alois Schumpeter, Foster and Kaplan (longtime McKinsey & Company executives) propose that corporations can outperform capital markets, and thus maintain their leadership positions, only if they creatively and continuously reconstruct themselves in ways that keep them ahead of the upstart challengers waiting in the wings. The decidedly radical paradigm that they champion has been urged in one form or another by others since Schumpeter, but this effort is particularly convincing because of the massive research the authors call upon to back it up: McKinsey studies of more than 1,000 corporations in 15 industries over 36 years.

Citing the specific reasons behind ups and downs at firms such as Storage Technology, Intel, Johnson & Johnson and Corning, Foster and Kaplan claim that the process of creative destruction must become an integral part of today's corporations from top to bottom if they truly hope to attain lasting excellence (and beat Wall Street's primary indices for more than a few fleeting years). Firms that have mastered elements of this practice have done so by innovatively shedding detrimental processes and operations while cleverly spotting and appending those that add new value. The authors write that, "The key to their success is the balance they have struck between creativity and destruction--between continuity and change." Their book offers impressive insight into the acts of both breaking down and building up; if its analyses of past performance mean anything, it should prove very interesting to savvy managers as well as long-term investors. --Howard Rothman

Review:

Advance acclaim for Creative Destruction:
"A thoroughly researched, masterfully written, and somewhat frightening explanation of how competitive advantage is built and inevitably erodes. Anyone who is interested in staying ahead of the competition should read this book. It's good."
--Clayton Christensen, Associate Professor, Harvard Business School, and author of The Innovator's Dilemma.
"[Offers] invaluable insight into business building and dealing with the challenge of dynamic growth. Foster and Kaplan get right to the heart of one of today's central themes. An instructive and insightful guide for managers to navigate the twenty-first century."
--Jorma Ollila, Chairman and CEO, Nokia Corporation
"It was clear the game had changed, but until this book it was never clear by how much," "Creative Destruction will reverberate in corporate boardrooms for some time to come, changing the basic premises of corporate success. There is no doubt that, in order to survive in the future, inspiration can be found in Foster's and Kaplan's book"
--Antony Burgmans, Chairman, Unilever, N.V., the Netherlands
"Creative Destruction is a phenomenal book. It reveals what it takes for an enterprise to thrive in the age of discontinuities yet meet the pressures of continuous performance. Wise, sweeping, balanced, grounded in facts and yet highly imaginative, it is unquestionably the best business book I have ever read Countless numbers of CEOs will wish they could have read it sooner--and so will their shareholders."
--John Seely Brown, President, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
"Creative Destruction has clarified for me the challenges of sustaining business success. It is thefreshest view of the challenges before us that I have seen. It also shows where we have to change to be successful. Compelling."
--Vernon Jordan, Lazard Frres.
"Creative Destruction" "is a sharp stick in the eye for corporate conventional wisdom and orthodoxy. Foster and Kaplan have captured the essence of market-driven counterinitiative thinking. A wake-up call for CEOs and investment strategists!"
--Joe L. Roby, Chairman, Credit Suisse First Boston Corporation

"From the Hardcover edition."

Advance acclaim for Creative Destruction
"A thoroughly researched, masterfully written, and somewhat frightening explanation of how competitive advantage is built and inevitably erodes. Anyone who is interested in staying ahead of the competition should read this book. It's good."
Clayton Christensen, Associate Professor, Harvard Business School, and author of The Innovator's Dilemma.
"[Offers] invaluable insight into business building and dealing with the challenge of dynamic growth. Foster and Kaplan get right to the heart of one of today's central themes. An instructive and insightful guide for managers to navigate the twenty-first century."
Jorma Ollila, Chairman and CEO, Nokia Corporation
"It was clear the game had changed, but until this book it was never clear by how much." "Creative Destruction will reverberate in corporate boardrooms for some time to come, changing the basic premises of corporate success. There is no doubt that, in order to survive in the future, inspiration can be found in Foster's and Kaplan's book"
Antony Burgmans, Chairman, Unilever, N.V., the Netherlands
"Creative Destruction is a phenomenal book. It reveals what it takes for an enterprise to thrive in the age of discontinuities yet meet the pressures of continuous performance. Wise, sweeping, balanced, grounded in facts and yet highly imaginative, it is unquestionably the best business book I have ever read Countless numbers of CEOs will wish they could have read it sooner and so will their shareholders."
John Seely Brown, President, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
"Creative Destruction has clarified for me the challenges of sustaining business success. It is the freshest view of the challenges before us that I have seen. It also shows where we have to change to be successful. Compelling."
Vernon Jordan, Lazard Frres.
"Creative Destruction" "is a sharp stick in the eye for corporate conventional wisdom and orthodoxy. Foster and Kaplan have captured the essence of market-driven counterinitiative thinking. A wake-up call for CEOs and investment strategists!"
Joe L. Roby, Chairman, Credit Suisse First Boston Corporation

"From the Hardcover edition.""

Advance acclaim for Creative Destruction
-A thoroughly researched, masterfully written, and somewhat frightening explanation of how competitive advantage is built and inevitably erodes. Anyone who is interested in staying ahead of the competition should read this book. It's good.-
--Clayton Christensen, Associate Professor, Harvard Business School, and author of The Innovator's Dilemma.
-[Offers] invaluable insight into business building and dealing with the challenge of dynamic growth. Foster and Kaplan get right to the heart of one of today's central themes. An instructive and insightful guide for managers to navigate the twenty-first century.-
--Jorma Ollila, Chairman and CEO, Nokia Corporation
-It was clear the game had changed, but until this book it was never clear by how much. Creative Destruction will reverberate in corporate boardrooms for some time to come, changing the basic premises of corporate success. There is no doubt that, in order to survive in the future, inspiration can be found in Foster's and Kaplan's book-
--Antony Burgmans, Chairman, Unilever, N.V., the Netherlands
-Creative Destruction is a phenomenal book. It reveals what it takes for an enterprise to thrive in the age of discontinuities yet meet the pressures of continuous performance. Wise, sweeping, balanced, grounded in facts and yet highly imaginative, it is unquestionably the best business book I have ever read Countless numbers of CEOs will wish they could have read it sooner--and so will their shareholders.-
--John Seely Brown, President, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
-Creative Destruction has clarified for me the challenges of sustaining business success. It is the freshest view of the challenges before us that I have seen. It also shows where we have to change to be successful. Compelling.-
--Vernon Jordan, Lazard Frres.
-Creative Destruction is a sharp stick in the eye for corporate conventional wisdom and orthodoxy. Foster and Kaplan have captured the essence of market-driven counterinitiative thinking. A wake-up call for CEOs and investment strategists!-
--Joe L. Roby, Chairman, Credit Suisse First Boston Corporation

From the Hardcover edition.

About this edition

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0385501331
• ISBN 13: 9780385501330
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 366