This document summarizes the book "In Search of Excellence" by Thomas Peters and Robert Waterman. It discusses the authors and their backgrounds. It then outlines the 8 principles described in the book for running a successful business: 1) Bias for action, 2) Staying close to customers, 3) Autonomy and entrepreneurship, 4) Productivity through people, 5) Hands-on value-driven management, 6) Sticking to the knitting, 7) Simple form and lean staff, and 8) Simultaneous loose-tight properties. The principles focus on taking risks, customer focus, empowering employees, clear values, and balancing centralized control with decentralized autonomy.

1. In Search of
Excellence
A Review by,
Vishal Singh

2. About the Authors
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Thomas J. "Tom" Peters is an American
writer on business management practices.
He is an MBA and Ph.D. from Stanford
Business School. He also received an
honorary doctorate from the State
University of Management in Moscow.
Peters worked as a management
consultant at McKinsey & Company.
He was referred to in a British Department
of Trade and Industry (DTI) publication as
one of the world's Quality Gurus.
He known as “Father of the Post Modern
Corporation” and He is the chairman of
Tom Peters Company.

3. About the Authors
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Robert H. Waterman, Jr. is a non-fiction
author
and
expert
on
business
management practices.
He earned his MBA from Stanford University
and his Degree in Geophysics from the
Colorado School of Mines.
Mr. Waterman serves as Chair Person of the
RLS Foundation. He also serves on the
boards
of
the
World
Wildlife
Fund,
Scleroderma
Research
Foundation,
ASK
Group,
Boise
Cascade, and McKesson.
Mr. Waterman currently directs his own
company, The Waterman Group, Inc.

4. Eight Principles
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Author described eight principles in
this book and their applications in
Management.
Also they told how the Best-run
Companies use these eight principles
to stay on Top of the heap.
The eight principles are about how to
run a successful business and stay
ahead of competitors.

5. One
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In its simplest term, this says “get out
there and try something.”
Just as you don’t learn anything in
science without experiment, you
don’t learn anything in business
without trying, failing and trying
again.
The trick, and it’s tough times lets you
understand what kind of failure is
okay and what kind leads to disaster.
No amount of analysis, especially
market research, will lead to true
innovation.
“A bias for action: a
preference for doing
something anything - rather
than sending a
question through
cycles and cycles of
analyses and
committee reports.”

6. Two
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There’s so much to pay attention to
in side an organization that has time
to understand customers.
Especially when the set of customers
includes distributors and irrational
end users.
Combined
with
a
formidable
innovative capability, may explain
that company’s incredibly long
history of success.
“Staying close to the
customer – learning
his preferences and
catering to them.”

7. Three
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This means “Even if you’re big, act
small”
Organizations are simply collection of
people, and people don’t relate well
to big, abstract entities.
If you want to understand the
success
of
Johnsons
&
Johnsons, 3M, Wal-Mart, and the
original HP, look into the fact that
they
organize
themselves
into
small, relatively independent units.
Held together by common goals and
cultural norms.
“Autonomy and
entrepreneurship breaking the
corporation into
small companies
and encouraging
them to think
independently and
competitively.”

8. Four
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As a youngster say, “Duh!” What else
counts in an organization except
people?
Everyone gives lip service to the
importance of their people, yet only
a few really treat them as other than
cannon fodder.
One of the best examples we’ve
ever seen was Delta Airlines with its
“Family Feeling” which was so
special that employees banned
together to spend a total of $30
million in payroll deductions to give
their employer its first Boeing 767, the
Spirit of Delta.
“Productivity though
people – creating in
all employees the
awareness that their
bets efforts are
essential and that
they will share in the
rewards of the
company’s
success.”

9. Five
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The idea is simple. Figure out what
your company should stand for, what
would give your people the most
pride.
Remember that profit is to business as
breathing is to life.
The
top
companies
make
meaning, not just money.
“Hands-on, value
driven – insisting that
executives keep in
touch with the firm’s
essential business.”

10. Six
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Except for one or two exceptions
business diversity almost never works.
Be particularly leery of the word
synergy, which sounds great - who
doesn’t want 1+1 to equal 3?
Big mergers rarely work. Nothing
screw up a successful business more
than a hyper fast growth.
“Stick to the knitting
– remaining with the
business the
company knows
best.”

11. Seven
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One ought not make them more so
via
complex
organizational
arrangements.
Install
a simple and workable
structure, people will figure out the
rest.
Keep staff to a minimum, outsource
a lot of staff activities, or use timelimited, project oriented task forces.
Big staff, and most career staff
people, always seem to get in the
way of the folks in organizations who
get the real work done.
“Simple form, lean
staff – Few
administrative
layers, few people at
the upper levels.”

12. Eight
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Any well-functioning organization is
neither centralized nor decentralized
but a wonderful combination of
both.
Around most dimensions the best
companies, then and now, are
loose.
They
give people
exceptional
freedom to do things their own way.
At the same time, the great
companies are highly centralized
around a few crucial dimensions: the
central value that make up their
culture, one or two top strategic
properties, a few key financial
indicators.
“Simultaneous loosetight properties fostering a climate
where there is
dedication to the
central values of the
company combined
with tolerance for all
employees who
accept those
values.”

13. Conclusion

14. Thank You…
……Queries Invited