Built To Last

7 Pages 1731 Words

“Built To Last”: A Study in Visionary Business Most theories of management are based on a structured set of definitive principles from which executive business strategies are intended to proceed. Such practical organizational guidelines as the formation of a coherent and focused mission, the endowments of a talented leader and a trained attentiveness to the development of a single, visionary product are commonly incurred in the theoretical discourse. Collins and Porras, however, have conducted a study regarding the historical, economical and philosophical impetus behind those corporate entities which we have come today to recognize as visionary. Classified as visionary for both their unique virtuosity in their chosen discipline(s) and for their status as culturally pervasive icons of perpetuating importance, the major corporations included in the study are selected for their capacity to illustrate the factors that make a visionary company. In order to accomplish this, the business theorists employ a case by case study in which visionary companies are marked by one of any number of factors against close competitors in their respective fields. The methodology is intended “to identify the underlying characteristics and dynamics common to highly visionary companies…and to translate these findings into a useful conceptual framework” (Collins, 12). This goal is also intended to be buffeted with an effective conveyance of the principles in an executable way that may be taken on by future associates to would-be visionary companies. Each case which the writers consider in order to accomplish this two-fold goal is centered around determining what fundamentally sets the visionary company apart from the control company. In each case, the data yielded is proposed to offer a framework for the route to visionary status. The study incorporates thirty six companies; eighteen visionary and eighteen control organizations.
As a study on the dive...