The Individualized Corporation: A New Doctrine for Managing People

Both authors hold chairs at prestigious business schools, Ghoshal at London and Bartlett at Harvard. Together they have written extensively about their new vision of the modern corporation. For them, ""Great companies are defined by purpose, process, and people."" They argue that success has caused many companies to fail, noting that commitment to strategies that brought past achievement prevented them from renewing themselves. The authors have studied a variety of firms worldwide, including McKinsey and 3M in the U.S., IKEA in Sweden, Kao in Japan and Philips in the Netherlands. They claim that all these enterprises have concluded that people are the key, and every aspect of human resource development is critical. The authors have devised a simple model classifying the competencies needed at different managerial levels. This alone makes the book worth reading. A fine addition to university and corporate shelves. (Oct.)