Think big, act small : how america's best performing companies keep the start-up spirit alive

269 Pages·2014·1.68 MB·English

by  Jennings

Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Introduction

SECTION ONE - Think Big

SECTION TWO - The Building Blocks
Chapter 1 - Down to Earth
Chapter 2 - Keep Your Hands Dirty SAS INSTITUTE
Chapter 3 - Make Short-Term Goals and Long-Term Horizons SONIC DRIVE-
IN
Chapter 4 - Let Go CABELA’S
Chapter 5 - Have Everyone Think and Act Like an Owner KOCH INDUSTRIES
Chapter 6 - Invent New Businesses DOT FOODS
Chapter 7 - Create Win-Win Solutions MEDLINE INDUSTRIES
Chapter 8 - Choose Your Competitors PETCO ANIMAL SUPPLIES
Chapter 9 - Build Communities STRAYER EDUCATION
Chapter 10 - Grow Future Leaders O’REILLY AUTOMOTIVE

SECTION THREE - The Quad A SELF-EVALUATION AND
RANKING

SECTION FOUR - The Research
SECTION FIVE - Charts

Conclusion
Acknowledgements
INDEX
ALSO BY JASON JENNINGS
Less Is More
How Great Companies Use Productivity
as a Competitive Advantage

It’s Not the Big That Eat the Small . . .
It’s the Fast That Eat the Slow
with Laurence Haughton

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First published in 2005 by Portfolio, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Copyright © Jason Jennings, 2005
All rights reserved

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This book is dedicated to my mother and father,
Bill and Beverly Jennings,
for being great parents and wonderful friends.
INTRODUCTION
You’re about to learn the identities of a handful of companies whose consistent
revenues and profit growth places them among the top one-hundredth of 1
percent of all American companies. Having increased revenues and profits by 10
percent or more for ten consecutive years, they routinely accomplish what the
rest of us (the other 99.99 percent) have, as yet, only dreamed about. Here’s why
what these companies do is vitally important . . . to you.

Raising Revenues and Profits Isn’t an Option
The bottom-line need of every business is constantly higher revenues and profits.
Ambitious workers want to improve their lot in life and expect raises.
Competitive spirits demand runs on the scoreboard. And investors and
shareholders have insatiable appetites for constantly higher returns. Companies
that aren’t going forward are going backward!
Executives and managers who fail to consistently increase revenues and
profits end up with their heads on a stick, and business owners who don’t grow
revenues end up with empty storefronts, deserted factories, and haunting
memories of what could have been. Historically, business managers and owners
have had three choices for constantly improving the financial performance of
their business.

Increase Revenues
It’s easy to increase revenues when the economy is in terrific shape, the
competition isn’t paying attention, and people are knocking down your door to
buy what you sell. Unfortunately, those days are over. Economies everywhere