Business Success by John Collins - Just a Marketing Fad?

Business Book writer John Collins demonstrates an obsession with Business Success.

All his books are around that theme:

1) From Good to Great
2) Build to Last
3) How the mighty fail

Can we apply all these learnings? Is the methodology applied in these books scientifically sound? Is it justified to learn from the experience from others to become successfull? Without an answer to these important questions, it is impossible to become successfull just by copying successfull companies.

Eventually the very systematic and data-driven approach from John Collins would be laughed away by Andrew Cox as merely barefoot empiricism. Years ago, this excentric University lecturer from Birmingham University started a crusade against the dominant thinking that success comes from successful competition in the marketplace.


In the end this critique is against an inappropriate way of thinking.

* 'Fads' cannot work outside the circumstances in which it was originally implemented
* 'Fads' are based on a benchmarking mentality of observation of past practices and is no guide to future action
* Succesful adaptation can only lead to a war of competitive imitation
* Such approach is unsound as a guide to appropriate behabviour for particular companies under specific circumstances

Taking a fresh look at our ignorance about why some companies are successfull and others are not, Andrew Cox came to see power relations in the supply chain as the key lever to business success. The one who controls the key assets in the supply chain through innovation builds a successfull monopoly and temporarily eliminates the competitive pressures of the marketplace.

A new exciting area of scientific exploration that could give great rewards - if one came to understand better what brings business success...