false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174584751m/419462.jpg 419462 1 Going far beyond previous empirical work, John Kotter and James Heskett provide the first comprehensive critical analysis of how the "culture" of a corporation powerfully influences its economic performance, for better or for worse. Through painstaking research at such firms as Hewlett-Packard, Xerox, ICI, Nissan, and First Chicago, as well as a quantitative study of the relationship between culture and performance in more than 200 companies, the authors describe how shared values and unwritten rules can profoundly enhance economic success or, conversely, lead to failure to adapt to changing markets and environments.<P>With penetrating insight, Kotter and Heskett trace the roots of both healthy and unhealthy cultures, demonstrating how easily the latter emerge, especially in firms which have experienced much past success. Challenging the widely held belief that "strong" corporate cultures create excellent business performance, Kotter and Heskett show that while many shared values and institutionalized practices can promote good performances in some instances, those cultures can also be characterized by arrogance, inward focus, and bureaucracy -- features that undermine an organization's ability to adapt to change. They also show that even "contextually or strategically appropriate" cultures -- ones that fit a firm's strategy and business context -- will not promote excellent performance over long periods of time unless they facilitate the adoption of strategies and practices that continuously respond to changing markets and new competitive environments.<P>Fundamental to the process of reversing unhealthy cultures and making them more adaptive, the authors assert, is effective leadership. At the heart of this groundbreaking book, Kotter and Heskett describe how executives in ten corporations established new visions, aligned and motivated their managers to provide leadership to serve their customers, employees, and stockholders, and thus created more externally focused and responsive cultures.<P> 408605 7 4 1992 Corporate Culture and Performance total:5|5:1|3:4| 5 17 10 1 3 0 false false Sat May 03 05:44:47 -0700 2008 Sun Feb 24 08:54:05 -0800 2008 Sat May 03 05:44:47 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Sat Aug 15 02:35:10 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 15 02:35:16 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Fri May 15 15:31:42 -0700 2009 Fri May 15 15:31:42 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Jan 23 19:08:54 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 23 19:08:59 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Mon Jan 19 02:09:59 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 19 02:09:59 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Fri Aug 22 20:10:01 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 22 20:10:01 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Sun Jun 08 16:19:07 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 08 16:19:07 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Sat Jan 12 11:40:19 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 12 11:40:25 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Thu Sep 20 14:45:26 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 20 14:45:28 -0700 2007 5 0 false false Wed Aug 08 19:34:21 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 08 19:34:21 -0700 2007 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=419462