Can a good company achieve greatness?

Abstract

There have been several books written on how the great companies became great. Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great, adds a new twist when he attempts to find out if a company can go from being just good to great, and if so, how. Collins compared eleven companies that were able to make the leap from good to great to those that could not and found six distinguishing characteristics that set them apart: Level 5 leaders, first who...then what, confronting the brutal facts, the Hedgehog Concept, creating a culture of discipline, and finally using technology as an accelerator. ECCU is a good company that is striving to become great. While the results need to be tested over time ECCU is an example of a company who has consciously applied the techniques and seen the expected success. Many of the good to great principles can be applied to ones personal life as well as to corporate life.

Citation

Barbe, B. and Kleiner, B.H. (2005), "Can a good company achieve greatness?", Management Research News, Vol. 28 No. 2/3, pp. 108-117. https://doi.org/10.1108/01409170510785156