Four plus two equals success

Douglas West

A study of 160 companies between 1986 and 1996 finds that companies that outperformed their peers excelled in four primary management practices: strategy, execution, culture and structure.

Best In Brief

Harvard Business Review: Four plus two equals success

Nitin Nohria, William Joyce and Bruce Roberson

Douglas West University of Westminster

From a study of 160 companies between 1986 and 1996, it was found that most management techniques had no direct causal relationship with superior business performance.

Instead, companies that outperformed their peers excelled at the four primary management practices of strategy, execution, culture and structure. These were then supplemented by any two out of four secondary management practices of talent (holding onto talented employees), innovation (transforming the industry), leadership (finding leaders committed to the business and...

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