The Living Company by Arie De Geus, Arie De Geus, Peter M. Senge (Foreword by)

Product Details

Synopsis

This book raises a fundamental question, What are companies and what are they for? Whereas the standard answer is that companies are organizations that carry out economic processes to produce goods or services, he argues that such narrow thinking leads to management practices and priorities that are detrimental to everyone—from shareholders to employees to stakeholders—often leading to the demise of firms. Today's scarce resource is knowledge, which is created by a company's human assets. As a result, management's top priority must be the optimization of human resources and its knowledge-creation ability to ensure the longevity of the firm. The author explores the theme of organizational learning and identifies four key elements to organizational survival and renewal: sensitivity to the environment (a company's ability to learn and adapt), cohesion and identity (a company's innate ability to create a community and a persona), tolerance (the ability to build constructive relationships with other entities), and conservative financing (the ability of a firm to govern its growth and evolution). Together, these four factors are essential to growth and viability. Winner, The Edwin G. Booz Prize for the Most Innovative, Insightful Management Book of 1997, The Financial Times/Booz-Allen & Hamilton Global Business Book Awards. A Business Week Best Business Book of the Year. Named as one of the Best Business Books of the Year by the Financial Times. "With a light touch and an interesting variety of examples, de Geus employs biological metaphors in order to analyze corporate management [and] provides an interesting challenge to basic assumptions about the way companieswork."—Business Week "The Living Company earns a spot as one of this year's best business books."—Quality Digest "This profound and uplifting book is for the leader in all of us."—Dr. James F. Moore, Author of The Death of Competition "In contrast to the common gaggle of management books, few of which can truthfully be called thought-provoking, The Living Company is one that deserves a read."—Training "Arie de Geus has written an excellent book that gives senior executives and board members provocative insights into success."—Directors & Boards "A seminal book that will initiate far-ranging discussions regarding the nature and purpose of the company."—National Productivity Review

Annotation

In The Living Company, the man who first introduced the revolutionary concept of the learning organization turns his attention to identifying the critical characteristics of organizational longevity. The book speaks to everyone trying to adapt to a turbulent business environment. 224 pp. 15,000 print.

Library Journal

According to a study conducted by Royal Dutch Shell, where the author worked for 38 years, the average life expectancy of Fortune 500 firms is 40 to 50 years. Many such companies don't survive beyond a few years, while others have existed for over 200. Why? De Geus, widely credited with originating the concept of the learning organization, writes: "Companies die because their managers focus on the economic activity of producing goods and services, and they forget that their organizations' true nature is that of a community of humans." He summarizes the components of the long-lived company as sensitivity to the environment, cohesion and identity, tolerance and decentralization, and conservative financing. In this insightful study, he describes how today's managers and staff should strive to develop a living company and increase its life expectancy. An important work; recommended for academic libraries.Lucy T. Heckman, St. John's Univ. Lib., Queens Village, N.Y.