Serial Innovators
Firms That Change the World
Published on 13. October 2011
208 pages
978-1-118-17406-7 (ISBN)
Description
"The average life expectancy at "birth" of a firm is roughly 15years, and only one out of twenty lives longer than fifty years.
Firms are born, they grow, then they struggle to keep up withchanging markets. Slow adapters often become big losers, fall bythe wayside, and die. Serial Innovators studies the factorsaffecting the aging of firms, particularly those that slow downtheir ability to adapt to changes in the marketplace. The bookreviews recent findings in relevant academicfields--behavioral economics, psychology, neuroscience,organizational science, network theory, anthropology, sociology,and strategy--to understand how firms, as they grow, developrigidities that prevent change.
It develops a model of organization that is adaptive,innovative, and can create significant value for its stakeholdersfor long periods of time".
Firms are born, they grow, then they struggle to keep up withchanging markets. Slow adapters often become big losers, fall bythe wayside, and die. Serial Innovators studies the factorsaffecting the aging of firms, particularly those that slow downtheir ability to adapt to changes in the marketplace. The bookreviews recent findings in relevant academicfields--behavioral economics, psychology, neuroscience,organizational science, network theory, anthropology, sociology,and strategy--to understand how firms, as they grow, developrigidities that prevent change.
It develops a model of organization that is adaptive,innovative, and can create significant value for its stakeholdersfor long periods of time".
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Book
11/2011
Wiley
€33.00
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Persons
Claudio Feser is a Director of McKinsey & Company, where he leads the McKinsey CEO Network, a practice of the company that focuses on CEO training and coaching. Feser previously managed McKinsey offices in Switzerland and Greece. During his career, he has advised the CEOs of some of the world's largest and most renowned companies.
Content
Foreword ix
Prologue xi
Introduction xiii
PART I THE EPHEMERAL NATURE OF FIRMS
CHAPTER 1 Meet Carl Berger 3
CHAPTER 2 Corporate Life Cycle 11
PART II INDIVIDUAL RIGIDITIES
CHAPTER 3 To Err Is Human 25
CHAPTER 4 The Greatest of All Time 39
CHAPTER 5 Rewiring Brains 55
PART III ORGANIZATIONAL RIGIDITIES
CHAPTER 6 Long Live Bureaucracy! 75
CHAPTER 7 In Brain We Trust 97
CHAPTER 8 What We Value 111
CHAPTER 9 What Not to Pay For 121
CHAPTER 10 Fast Learners 131
PART IV SERIAL INNOVATORS
CHAPTER 11 The Secrets of Serial Innovators 139
CHAPTER 12 Beyond Business: The Medici, Oxford, and the CatholicChurch 155
CHAPTER 13 Legacy through Leadership 161
Afterword 167
Appendix A: Analysis of the Top 50 U.S. Firms of 1960171
Appendix B: Corporate Aging and Survival 177
Appendix C: Key Questions for Transforming Your Firm181
References 187
Acknowledgments 193
About the Author 195
Index 197
Prologue xi
Introduction xiii
PART I THE EPHEMERAL NATURE OF FIRMS
CHAPTER 1 Meet Carl Berger 3
CHAPTER 2 Corporate Life Cycle 11
PART II INDIVIDUAL RIGIDITIES
CHAPTER 3 To Err Is Human 25
CHAPTER 4 The Greatest of All Time 39
CHAPTER 5 Rewiring Brains 55
PART III ORGANIZATIONAL RIGIDITIES
CHAPTER 6 Long Live Bureaucracy! 75
CHAPTER 7 In Brain We Trust 97
CHAPTER 8 What We Value 111
CHAPTER 9 What Not to Pay For 121
CHAPTER 10 Fast Learners 131
PART IV SERIAL INNOVATORS
CHAPTER 11 The Secrets of Serial Innovators 139
CHAPTER 12 Beyond Business: The Medici, Oxford, and the CatholicChurch 155
CHAPTER 13 Legacy through Leadership 161
Afterword 167
Appendix A: Analysis of the Top 50 U.S. Firms of 1960171
Appendix B: Corporate Aging and Survival 177
Appendix C: Key Questions for Transforming Your Firm181
References 187
Acknowledgments 193
About the Author 195
Index 197
