Why Great Companies Go Bad

GM. Ford. AT&T. Sears. Firestone. Krispy Kreme. Digital. Kodak. They once were riding high, the exemplars of business excellence, but then met with disaster. Is your company headed for the same fate? In his new book, The Self-Destructive Habits of Good Companies . . . And How to Break Them, Jagdish N. Sheth examines the bad habits that go before a fall, including blinders, culture conflicts, corporate denial, competitive myopia, and a focus on volume rather than profits. He then shows how to instill good habits that lead to sustainable profitability and market leadership.

Through case studies from some of yesterday's most widely praised corporate icons, the book explores how companies slip into "addiction" and slide off the rails. Some of these companies never turn around, but others reinvent themselves to move to unprecedented levels of success. How do they do it? Sheth offers specific, detailed techniques for "curing"—or, better yet, preventing—the self-destructive habits that undermine corporate success.

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