W h y s o m e c o m p a n I e s m a k e t h e
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| 132 Collins R UBBERMAID C ORPORATION , A C LASSIC T RANSITION Ratio of Cumulative Stock Returns to General Market, Set to 1.0 at Start of Stanley Reign 5 Ends 4 3 2 1 \ Company Acquired congressional commission on budget reduction and wrote a second book. He began a syndicated newspaper column, bought an Italian villa where he started bottling his own wine and olive oil. Critics contend it all distracted him, and was a root cause of Chrysler's current problems. Distracting or not, it's clear that being a folk hero is a demanding Worse than his moonlight career as a national hero, his lack of discipline to stay within the arenas in which Chrysler could be the best in the world led to a binge of highly undisciplined diversifications. In 1985, he was lured into the sexy aerospace business. Whereas most would be content with a single Gulfstream jet, Iacocca decided to buy the whole Gulfstream Also in the he embarked on a costly and ultimately unsuccessful joint venture with Italian sports car maker Maserati. "Iacocca had a soft spot for Italians" said one retired executive. "Iacocca, who owns a modest estate in Tuscany, was so intent on an Italian alliance that commercial realities were ignored, suggest industry insiders" wrote Business Wee Some estimates put the loss of the failed venture at $200 which, according to Forbes, was "an enormous sum to lose on a igh-price, low-volume roadster. After all, no more than a few thousand ill ever be During the first half of his Iacocca produced remarkable results, taking the company from near bankruptcy to nearly three times the general market. During the second half of Iacocca's tenure, the company slid Good to Great 133 3 1 percent behind the market and faced another potential "Like so many patients with a heart condition" wrote a Chrysler executive, "wed survived surgery several years before only to revert to our unhealthy The above cases illustrate a pattern we found in every unsustained comparison a spectacular rise under a tyrannical disciplinarian, followed by an equally spectacular decline when the disciplinarian stepped away, leaving behind no enduring culture of discipline, or when the disciplinarian himself became undisciplined and strayed wantonly outside the three circles. Yes, discipline is essential for great results, but disciplined action without disciplined understanding of the three circles cannot produce sustained great results. Download 3.69 Mb. Share with your friends:
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