Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies
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Hardcover edition (2004)
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| Author | Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Corporate strategy |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | William Collins |
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Publication date
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October 26, 1994 |
| Media type | Hardcover |
| Pages | 336 pp. |
| ISBN | |
Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies is a book written by Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras. The first edition of the book was published on October 26, 1994 by HarperBusiness.
The text outlines the results of a six-year research project into what makes enduringly great companies. Two primary objectives for the authors’ research goes as follows: “to identify underlying characteristics are common to highly visionary companies” and “to effectively communicate findings so they can influence management”. The research conducted by Collins and Porras was articulated in Built to Last, presenting valid examples based on stories and research data. The book is said to be "one of the most influential business books of our era".
Collins and Porras listed a total of eighteen companies they identified as ‘visionary.’ They defined a visionary company as one that is a premier institution in its industry, is widely admired by knowledgeable businesspeople, made an imprint on the world, had multiple generations of Chief executive officers (CEOs), had multiple product/service life cycles, and was founded before 1950. The list of visionary companies was determined based on the results of a survey of 1,000 CEOs. The authors ensured representation across all industries and various sized organizations by sampling from Fortune 500 industrial companies, Fortune 500 service companies, Inc. 500 private companies and Inc. 100 public companies. The survey yielded a 23% response rate with 3.2 companies listed per response. An important caveat the authors express is the fact that through their research, they can claim a correlation, not a causal link between their findings and the success of companies.
The list of eighteen companies identified as visionary:
These companies have taken leadership roles in their industries, offering innovative products and services and consistently outsmarting rivals. What made the research particularly useful and interesting is that Collins and Porras compared and contrasted these visionary companies with a control set of rivals. For instance, Boeing was compared and contrasted with Douglas Aircraft, Marriott was compared and contrasted with Howard Johnson's, and Merck was compared and contrasted with Pfizer. The findings are based on what the visionary companies do that is different than close competitors who have achieved a high level of success, but not to the extent of the visionary companies. From 1926 through 1990 the comparison companies outperformed the general by 2 times whereas the visionary companies outperformed the market by 15 times.
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