"Secrets of Efficient and Productive Companies"

Consultant and author Jason Jennings had always been fascinated with two vital aspects of successful enterprises, efficiency and productivity. In other words, getting more done with the same or less.

Jennings states in the introduction to his book, Less is More: How Great Companies Use Productivity As A Competitive Tool In Business, "why wasn't there a book about how the most efficient and productive companies got that way, with lessons that anyone or any company could follow?" To fill the gap Jennings assembled a team of researchers, some of whom were recent graduates of Princeton, Stanford and Berkley, to search all over the world for the most productive and efficient companies. The primary objective was to determine what made these companies tick and why were they successful. The culmination of the research was the publishing of his book describing a mix of companies such as a European airline, a chain of New Zealand and Australian discount stores, a steel maker, a Swedish and Danish furniture retailer, a financial institution, a manufacturing company and a trucking company.

The criteria for selecting the companies included in the book was broken down into revenue per employee, return on equity and return on assets, operating income per employee, has the company been overexposed, and might this company pull an Enron.

Five principal sections make up the book: Focus, Streamline, Digitize, Motivate, and Embody. Within each section the author explains the component parts that provide the reader with the lessons that will prove less is more. According to the Jennings business is a game and in order to win you must understand how to play the game. Concepts such as understanding the big objective, streamlining, truthfulness, destroying bureaucracy, avoiding layoffs, productivity, leanness, compensation, and financing, are all analysed in simple language. The end of the book summarizes all of the lessons presented with a listing of twelve rules that will show you the way to building a successful business organization.

Although much of what Jennings presents in his book has been rehashed in a variety of ways in other business books, nonetheless, it does serve as a useful primer for anyone who does not want to be bogged down with charts, tables, and long-winded self-praise narratives.

Reviewed by Norman Goldman
Courtesy Bookpleasures
Posted December 18, 2002