PROJECT IN QUALITY
Nikolas Bellosillo
TC303

INTRODUCTION This book review is for our QUALITY subject with our professor Mr. R. Romero. The book is entitled Built to Last: Successful habits of Visionary companies By Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, published by HarperCollins Publishers. Built to Last is a blueprint for building organizations that will endure long into the twenty-first century.
"This is not a book about charismatic visionary leaders. It is not about visionary product concepts or visionary products or visionary market insights. Nor is it about just having a corporate vision. This is a book about something far more important, enduring, and substantial. This is a book about visionary companies." So write Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in this groundbreaking book that shatters myths, provides new insights, and gives practical guidance to those who would like to build landmark companies that stand the test of time.
Drawing upon a six-year research project at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Collins and Porras took eighteen truly exceptional and long-lasting companies -- they have an average age of nearly one hundred years and have outperformed the general stock market by a factor of fifteen since 1926 -- and studied each company 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 other companies?"
Collins and Porras go beyond the incessant barrage of management buzzwords and fads of the day to discover timeless qualities that have consistently distinguished out-standing companies. They also provide inspiration to all executives and entrepreneurs by destroying the false but widely accepted idea that only charismatic visionary leaders can build visionary companies.
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 twenty-first century and beyond.

EVALUATION: At first, it is not interesting for me to read this one. Maybe it’s because I’m not fund of reading. But I have to read this for our project. As I read the content of the book, it became interesting for me. As an Export Management student, I have encountered or learned some things in my other classes about business, management, strategic management, etc., that’s why I became interested in reading this, besides, it is important for business ad. student like me to encounter and learn things like these. The Authors have discussed a lot of good points in this book. They provide specific examples and they wrote the text in a way that is easy to understand. The lesson in each topic is very useful in our life as well as in the real world. SHORT OVERVIEW OF THE CONTENTS OF THE BOOK First, let me introduce some key points of each chapter of this book that is meaningful and useful. No “Tyranny of the OR”- the yin yang symbol • purpose beyond profit AND pragmatic pursuit of profit • a relatively fixed core AND vigorous change and movement • conservatism around the core AND bold, committing, risky moves • clear vision and sense of direction AND opportunistic groping and experimentation • Big Hairy Audacious Goals AND incremental evolutionary progress • selection of managers steeped in core AND selection of managers that induce change • ideological control AND operational autonomy • extremely tight culture AND ability to change, move and adapt • investment for the long term AND demands for short term performance • philosophical, visionary and futuristic AND superb daily execution • organization aligned with core AND adapted to its environment

One of the given example in the book was the Motorola purpose- “The purpose of Motorola is to honorably serve the community by providing products and services of superior quality at a fair price to our customers: to do this so as to earn adequate profit which is required for the enterprise to grow, and by so doing provide the opportunity for our employees and shareholders to achieve their reasonable personal objectives.” Embrace “the genius of the and” If there's one lesson from our finding to keep in mind above all others, it is this: Clock build your company so that it preserves a passionately held core ideology and simultaneously stimulates progress in everything but that ideology. Preserve the core and stimulate progress. A truly visionary company embraces both ends of a continuum: continuity and change, conservatism and progressiveness, stability and revolution, predictability and chaos, heritage and renewal, fundamentals and craziness. And, and, and. Stimulate progress through BHAGs, experimentation, and continuous improvement To build a visionary company, you need to counterbalance its fixed core ideology with a relentless drive for progress. While core ideology provides continuity, stability, and cohesion, the drive for progress promotes change, improvement, innovation, and renewal. Home-grow your management Indeed, as great companies grow up, we see continuity and order in management tenure and succession. Insiders preserve the core values, understanding them on a gut level in a way that outsiders usually cannot. Yet insiders can also be change agents, building on the core values while moving the company in exciting new directions. Build your company around a core ideology You should build your company around a core ideology to be able to run and grow the company well. You should work towards one goal and purpose. Build a cult-like culture There are different people in the company. So, you should make them work with harmony and excellently to complement their skills and abilities.

Secondly, this topic strikes me; there are some of the former myths that have removed with their research. These are: * A great idea is needed to start companies * Visionary organizations need charismatic leaders * Maximizing profits is the dominate goal with visionary companies * Visionary companies focus on beating competitors * Hiring outsiders as CEO’s is the best way to spark an organization In my own opinion, these have removed due to some instances. First, having a great idea isn’t necessary to start companies, as long as each individual share their ideas with each other to come up with a greater one. Second, it’s not always needed to have a charismatic leaders to be able to run the business successfully, instead, empowerment and proper management does. Third, economically, each company aims to maximize their profits, but for visionary companies, they don’t have to dominate their focus on maximizing profits, instead, they’re having a more important and long term goal. Fourth, Visionary companies isn’t necessary to focus on beating competitors, they would better plan and focus on how they survive in spite of the intense rivalry among competitors and how they adapt changes. Lastly, for visionary companies, it is more advisable to have home grown management instead of hiring outsiders. It is because you work with one vision and work towards a certain goal. Some of the core beliefs Porras and Collins discuss in Built to Last include preserving a core ideology, the BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) concept, owning a cult-like culture, trying new things, refusing the idea of a “great idea” to start a company, and consistent innovation. Preserving a core ideology allows companies stay in tune with competition through the constant evolution of products. The BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) philosophy encourages organization leaders to conduct paradigm shifts with their products by constantly launching missions, like new products and the building of “firsts.” Both authors also dive into the “cult-like culture” mantra, where every single employee in the company must adapt to a leader’s vision and become cohesive and non-fragmented to survive. Porras and Collins provide the examples of fantastic department store sales people and companies’ devotion to technological products as milestones.

Other philosophies described in Built to Last include constant innovation, “refusing the idea of a great idea”, and embracing evolution. According to the authors, innovating allows companies to keep products and services updated to beat the competition.

CONCLUSION I highly recommend this book to others, especially business students. It emphasizes the principles and strategies on how we can achieve success in the business. Also, we all know that having a successful visionary company, we need so much time and effort to build a great and successful company. Moreover, the most difficult is to grow and maintain the success of the business. To conclude, this book teaches us how quality is important to build a long lasting successful visionary company.

References: http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Book-Review http://dowlingconsulting.ca/Builtto.pdf