Are great companies just lucky?

Are "Great" Companies Just Lucky? was the title of a recent article (not free) in the Harvard Business Review (HBR). It was based on a paper published by Deloitte, A Random Search for Excellence: Why “great company” research delivers fables and not facts. The authors, Raynor, Ahmed and Henderson essentially argue that the reasons for organisations' success are random and linked to the time frame within which it occurs. According to them:

"Many of the “great” companies cited are, in fact, nothing special; consequently, the researchers are simply imposing patterns on random data. That’s not science—it’s astrology."

They are particularly critical about the work of authors such as Tom Peters (In Search of Excellence) and Jim Collins (Built to Last and Good to Great). They point out that two recent and influential books, Hard facts, Dangerous Half-truths and Total Nonsense by Pfeffer & Sutton,and The Halo Effect and the Eight other Delusions that Deceive Managers by Rosenzweig, have each made similar points. Francis Wheen in his excellent How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World was also heavily critical of business gurus such as Peters, Collins and others.

See also a well received article on the same issue in the Boston Globe, Luck, Inc.

Tom Peters commented on the HBR article in his blog in posts entitled Say It Ain't So, Jim! and Questionable Assertions: Let's Take a Second Look.