Good to Great: Chapter 7 Ashley Gonzenbach, Amanda Long, Brian Bryne, Dianna Perkins

1. Good to Great: Chapter 7Ashley Gonzenbach, Amanda Long, Brian Bryne, Dianna Perkins

2. Technology Accelerators • Walgreens • Crawl: Competitors took off running with the new internet technology, Walgreens stepped back to pause and reflect. • Walk: They found ways to use and explore the internet to their advantage. • Run: Walgreens launched a sophisticated and well designed site.

3. Technology and the Hedgehog Concept

4. Technology and the Hedgehog Concept • Good to Great companies have technological sophistication • Pioneering the application of selected technology • Technologies varied greatly

5. Technology and the Hedgehog Concept • Gillette - Manufacturing technology • Kroger - Computer & Information technology • Kraft - Demand Sensing & Inventory Optimization technology

6. Technology as an Accelerator, Not a Creator • Good-to-great companies didn’t begin their transformations with pioneering technology • Does the technology fit directly with your hedgehog concept? • They all became pioneers in technology once they grasped how it fit with their three circles of the Hedgehog concept

7. Technology as an Accelerator, Not a Creator • Fannie Mae – pioneered application of computer technology to more accurately assess mortgage risk • Reduced loan-approval time from 30 days to 30 minutes • Lowered the associated costs by over $1,000 per loan

8. The Technology Trap • 80% of good-to-great executives interviewed didn’t mention technology as one of the top factors in the transition • A Nucor executive quoted as saying, “20% of our success is the new technology we embrace…but 80% of our success is in the culture of the company.”

9. The Technology Trap • The evidence from their study does not support the idea that technological change play the principal role in the decline of once-great companies • Technology is important but never a primary cause of either greatness or decline.

10. The Technology Trap • Bethlehem Steel, R.J. Reynolds, and A&P all lost their respective positions as #1 in their industry due to poor management decisions • VisiCalc, Remington Rand, and De Havilland all created new technologies but could not sustain being great. • Vietnam War – the U.S. had the vastly superior military but did not succeed in the war

11. Technology: The Fear of Being Left Behind • Title of section could be misleading NOT ABOUT possession or lack of technology IS ABOUT how you understand & use technology • What motivates a companies use of technology? Good to Great - Excellence Lesser Company- Fear • The Fear of Being Left Behind VS Deep Creativity Organization’s Purpose, Goals, Culture How You Want To Improve What would you like driving your companies use of technology? Or any resource?

12. Which Path Looks Better? Appetite for Excellence Deep Creativity Patient Disciplined Well Thought Ideas Harnessing the Pioneering its Application Good to Great Company Technology MOTIVATION >>>> ACTION>>>> RESULT Rapid Reckless Response Fearing What Others Have Fearing What Others Will Do Trying To Keep Up Technology You Have No Idea How To Use So It Uses You Mediocre Wanna Be Company Lack of Control Lack of Application

13. The Book Says: Technology by itself is never a primary cause of either greatness or decline My Interpretation: If two similar companies are both given the same access to a technology, the difference in greatness will be determined by how they apply that technology to their organization

14. Takeaways • Avoid fads, pioneer the application of carefully selected technologies • Use technology as the accelerator of momentum, not a creator of it • Do not function on the fear of being left behind