Built to last means preserving the core ideology and beliefs and stimulate progress over long periods of time. Visionary companies have well defined values and know their core purpose for existence. Visionary companies use process and process analysis to discipline and move their organization. The processes, engineering, and management closely adhere company core beliefs. Visionary companies over power and outcompete comparison companies by taking on bold commitments of change. BHAG maybe both daunting and risky, but the adventure, excitement, and challenge of it grabs people in the guts and momentum flowing. Visionary companies take a "try and see if it works" attitude. Visionary companies make some of their best moves by experimentation, trial and error, opportunism, and by accident. Visonary company CEO and management rise up through the ranks and rarely come from the outside. Visionary companies focus on beating themselves. Visionary companies elevate in stature through thousands of well defined processes.
Social Darwinism is 1800s and it is old hat. Attributing social darwinism as the reasons for corporate success is like fitting a square in a round hole, it doesn't make sense. The authors praise visionary corporations by personifying corporations by use phrases like "cult-like" devotion, "evolutionary" attributes, "survival of the fittest" emergence, as glorification and justifications. Cults are idol worshippers and so the authors seem to be suggesting visionary company achieve cult like status among their followers.
It is exhausting how many times authors seem to praise and give tribute too the Darwin's survival of the fittest doctrines, as if this doctrine was the reason corporations have withstood the test of time. The evolution jargon and rhetoric seems pointless. The fit and flourish principles mercilessly pounds a path to its objectives and destroys the worth of the individual. The actualization of this doctrine being, a fit individual in the visionary company will be happy. The corporate God becomes the source of mans happiness. Corporation devices transfer wealth, product products and service, and preserve wealth.
The history of corporations demonstrates they amass great wealth by promoting opulence, manipulation tax laws, and gain legality monopoly power stifling competition. These practice provide an unfair advantage in the market place and have stifled competition allowing great accumulate wealth uncontested. Core Ideology can not explain how $1 invested from 1926-1990 would return $6,356.
Second, visionary companies most like did not perform beyond the comparison companies during boom periods. Instead visionary companies had deep pockets to weather the bust periods and received large transfers of wealth which allowed them staying power. Investors typically flee innovation and growth oriented medium size companies during bust periods and sink their money into large cap companies. Large companies buy up innovative small companies during boom periods to avoid disruptive technologies from disturbing their empires. So the whole ideology of what made the visionary companies wealth could be incorrectly place. Wealth does not have to prove itself.
The authors could have explained their observations simply as follows: 1. Enduring great companies decide what core values it holds to be core, largely independent of the current environment, competitive requirements, or management fads. When defining values focus on "actual" verses "should" values. The core values can be anything and they do not have to reflect moralistic, humanistic, or enlightening values. 2. The core purpose for the organizations being. The core purpose reflects the importance people attach to the company's work and taps into the idealistic motivations. Purpose should not be confused with specific goals or business strategies. A purpose should be able to last 100 years. A purpose does not change, yet it inspires change. Core ideology and envisioning the future are not the same. BHAG is envisioning the future. Defining the core ideology is discovery, whereas, BHAG is creativity. BHAG is creating the future not predicting the future. Most companies want to analyze their way into the future and this does not work. "The envisioned future must be truly exciting to those inside the organization, otherwise it's just not a full-fledge BHAG. Indeed, the envisioned future should produce a bit of the gulp factor when it dawns on people what it will take to achieve the goal and the level of commitment to the goal, there should be an almost audible gulp"
Merck core values: corporate social responsibility, excellence in all aspects of the company, science-based innovation, honesty and integrity, and profit from work that benefits humanity.
Merck purpose: To preserve and improve human life.
Merck BHAG: To transform the company into the preeminent drug-making company in the world.
Sony core values: elevation of the Japanese national culture and status, being a pioneer, respect and encourage of individual ability and creativity.
Sony purpose: To experience the sheer joy of innovation and the application of technology for the benefit and pleasure of the general public.
Sony BHAG: Change the worldwide image of Japanese products as one of high quality.
3M: Innovation, integrity, respect for individual initiative and personal growth, tolerance for honest mistakes, product quality and reliability, and "our real business is solving problems".
American Express: Heroic customer service, worldwide reliability, and encouragement of individual incentive.
Boeing: lead edge of aeronautics, tackling huge challenges, product safety and quality, "To eat, breath, and sleep" the world of aeronautics.
Citicorp: Expansionism, being out front, autonomy and entrepreneurship, meritocracy, aggressiveness and self-confidence.
Ford: People as source of strength, products as end results, profits as necessary means, honest and integrity.
GE: Improve quality of life through technology and innovation; interdependence balance between customers, employees, society, and shareholders; individual responsibility and opportunity, and honest and integrity.
HP: Technical contributions, respect and opportunity for HP people, contribution and responsibility to communities, affordable quality, and profit and growth.
IBM: Giver full consideration to IBM employee, spend time making customers happy, and go the last mile to make things right.
J&J: alleviate pain and disease, customer centered, and decentralize-be creative-and productive.
Marriott: Friendly service, people are number 1, work hard, continual self-improvement, and overcome adversity to build character.
Motorola: Superior quality products and service, continues self-renewal, latent creative power within, and treat employee with dignity.
Nordstrom: Service to the customer, hard work and productivity, continuous improvement, and excellence in reputation.
Phillip Morris: Personal freedom of choice, winning, individual initiative, achieve on merit, and hard work.
P&G: product excellence
Wal-Mart: Swim upstream, run lean, and value to the customer.