Grossman and Jennings examine 15 industrial companies and find unique characteristics in their values and management styles—characteristics that other companies would be wise to understand and emulate. Each of the example companies knew they were in business to make money. Dynamic, questioning, and actively in step with society's changes, they constantly asked themselves one critical question: What business are we in? The answers they found, the principles of management they discovered and practiced, and the values they recognized and adopted all led to prosperity.

In the current age of gurus, buzzwords, and fad theories, these companies' stories reaffirm that there are notions, principles, and management techniques that have proved themselves over time and can lead an organization toward a profitable, enduring corporate life. The authors offer frank insights into how businesses survive and grow. Anecdotal but based on solid research, with clarifying diagrams and other illustrations, this book is a major contribution to our understanding of the past, and a view of what is best in the future of today's organizations.