This document discusses lessons learned from superstar companies. It identifies 9 common characteristics of highly successful companies: 1) obsession with talent, 2) investing in core skills, 3) balancing long and short-term goals, 4) setting extravagant goals, 5) attention to detail, 6) regularly reassessing investments, 7) balancing global scale with local roots, 8) disrupting their own businesses before others can, and 9) turning high performers into loyal employees through training and opportunities. Examples are provided for each characteristic.

1. LESSO NS FRO M SU PERST A R C O M PA NI ES
Playing to Win
Ajay AroraSeptember 2016

2. Why study the Superstars
— Everybody admires the Superstars but the
ingredients to success are still not widely know
— This research paper is aimed to capture and present
a comprehensive view on making of a Superstar
company
— Common characteristics of companies that have
sustained success over a considerable period time are
presented in next few pages

3. 1. Obsession with Talent
— Hire the Right People and turn them into Loyal
Corporate Warriors
¡ GE spends a billion dollars p.a. on training; 40 VPs of GE
became CEOs of major companies
— Elitist to the Core
¡ HUL, GE, Google – all fast track their promising employees
— Watchful eye on High fliers
¡ Jeff Immelt (CEO of GE) has detailed knowledge of 600 people
at the top of his company including their family circumstances
and personal ambitions
— “Stretch Assignments”, “Accelerator Experiences”
and so on

4. 2. Investing in Core Skills
— Amazon
¡ Sacrificed dividends for years to establish mastery of online
shopping
— BMW
¡ Investing in new materials like Carbon fibre and things like
Parking assistance
— Corning
¡ Evolved from making glass for Edison’s first light bulb to
‘Gorilla’ glass of iPhone

5. 4. (Right) Balance between Long and Short term
— Many family companies
score in this aspect due to
dominant owners
¡ Free to think long term and not bowed by ‘quarterly’ pressures
— Other mechanisms such as Dual voting structures
¡ Extra voting rights to founders justified by Facebook, Google
and others

6. 5. Extravagant Goals
— Also known as BHAGs
(Big Hairy Audacious Goals)
¡ Coke wants to put a can of within ‘easy reach of everyone on
planet’
— Having achieved those goals, they move the
Goalposts
¡ Amazon – from world’s biggest bookstore to be the world’s
biggest everything store

7. 6. Endless attention to Detail
— Enable the link between
“Strategic Vision
&
Everyday Operations”
¡ Steve Jobs@Apple – went down even to the ‘exact shade of
grey’ for signs in its stores’ lavatories
¡ Ingvar Kamprad@Ikea - continually toured stores well into his
80s

8. 7. Reassessment of Investment decisions
— Regular Reassessment - in light of changing
environment
— Agility – fighting a constant
war against bureaucratic bloat,
unnecessary complexity and overlong
meetings
¡ R&D labs of Apple and Intel in Carnegie Mellon’s collaboration
Center
¡ Every Car company has opened an office in Silicon valley
¡ Close relationships with startups
÷ GE Garages – lab incubator to provide startups with access to its
experts and equipment

9. 8. Rooted Cosmopolitans
— Balance between Global scale
and Local roots
¡ Microwave ovens destined for
East India (by Samsung and LG)
have autocook option for Bengali
fish curry
¡ Oreo biscuits for China have less
sugar and more familiar flavours
such as Green tea

10. 9. Radical changes in order to Survive
— Disrupting their own core businesses
before someone else does
¡ Netflix disrupted its video-delivery
business by embracing steaming
¡ GE
÷ In 1980s and 1990s worked on the decree of being in top 3 in the
world in all its businesses (or getting out)
÷ Jeff Immelt is now restructuring GE for the digital age, selling off
GE appliances, buying Alstom, investing in IoT and moving the
HQ to Boston to be closer to the heart of High-tech.

11. H A P P Y T O H E L P
A R O R A A J A Y @ G M A I L . C O M
H T T P S : / / I N .L I N K E D I N . C O M / I N / A R O R A J A Y
H A N D P H ON E : + 9 1 9 9 1 1 1 0 8 9 3 3
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