Grow to be great : breaking the downsizing cycle

Drawing on the authors' study of more than 1000 large companies, this is a guide to profitable growth in business. It argues that managers now involved in downsizing must consider long-term goals for growth alongside their short-term measures for slimming.

Reviews 1

Booklist Review

Mercer Management Consulting, a leading consulting firm specializing in strategic planning, is known for its application of benchmarking techniques. Gertz and Baptista are both principals with Mercer. Along with a corps of Mercer's consultants, they rate here nearly 400 companies that have demonstrated sustained and profitable growth. Analyzing the data, they challenge the notion that companies must reduce their workforce, sell off subsidiaries, and cut operating units to reduce costs and earn profits. They show the diminishing value of downsizing and offer instead strategies for growth. These include servicing core customers, developing new products and services, and better matching of customer segments with products or services; and the authors effectively use examples from their list of "growth champions" to demonstrate their case. --David Rouse

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction What's Keeping CEOs Awake at Night	p. 1
1 You Cannot Shrink to Greatness	p. 7
2 Shattering the Myths of Corporate Growth	p. 22
3 What Most Growing Companies Have in Common	p. 39
4 Customer Franchise Management	p. 50
5 New Product and Service Development	p. 78
6 Channel Management	p. 104
7 Growth Foundations	p. 127
8 Getting to Growth	p. 160
Appendix A Growth Diagnostic	p. 179
Appendix B Growth Champions	p. 185
Notes	p. 201
Index	p. 205
About the Authors	p. 213

Available:*

On Order

Summary

Summary

Reviews 1

Booklist Review

Table of Contents