Scaling Up : How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't (Rockefeller Habits 2.0)

Refrain from using the words “quality,” “value,” or “service” as Brand Promises. They are too vague. Their definitions may vary, depending on the group of customers you’re facing.

EBIT/net operating assets = return on net assets (EBIT: earnings before interest and taxes) This is arguably the most useful ratio for measuring management effectiveness. The ratio brings into consideration both the P&L of the business (which provides the EBIT) and the balance sheet.

In setting Strategy, follow the definition from the great business strategist Gary Hamel. You don’t have a real strategy if it doesn’t pass two tests: First, what you’re planning to do really matters to enough customers; and second, it differentiates you from your competition.

You, too, need a team of absolute specialists — chess pieces — to achieve your ambitious goals.

Function Accountability Chart (FACe): Jim Collins, author of Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... And Others Don’t, emphasizes the importance of getting the right butts in the right seats at the top of the organization. After all, the bottleneck is always at the top of the bottle! The FACe tool provides a list of seats (functions) tha

Divide big teams into smaller ones aligned around projects, product lines, customer segments, geographical locations, etc., based on the idea of getting everyone in the organization into small teams and as close to his or her respective customers as

Anytime somebody goes two days without reporting a constraint, you can bet there’s a bigger problem lurking. Busy, productive people who are doing anything of consequence get stuck pretty regularly. The only people who don’t get stuck are those who aren’t doing anything or are so stuck that don’t know it!! So, challenge the team member who reports,

A Core Competency has three attributes, according to Prahalad and Hamel: 1. It is not easy for competitors to imitate. 2. It can be reused widely for many products and markets. 3. It must contribute to the benefits the end customer experiences and the value of the product or service to customers.

Managers adjust the 4 drivers by tweaking the 7 main financial levers available to them to improve cash and returns in the business: 1. Price: You can increase the price of your goods and services. 2. Volume: You can sell more units at the same price. 3. Cost of goods sold (COGS)/direct costs: You can reduce the price you pay for your raw materials