4+2 What is truly effective for businesses

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Features: How can a company succeed? This question has long attracted the attention of many managers, and over the past two decades, numerous books on this topic have been published. To answer this question, 4+2: What Really Works for a Company has conducted the most comprehensive and meticulous research in history. The findings are highly practical, insightful, and inspiring, making a significant contribution to management thought. Recommended by Michael Porter, James Cap Gemini, and Tom Peters.
Facing the complex internal and external environment, business managers always yearn to find a golden key in the myriad of management guides that point in every direction. However, whether it is the world-renowned management guru Peter Drucker and Porter or the rising stars of the management field, Kaplan and Charan, they have only studied one aspect of business management, rarely covering all the success principles of a company comprehensively. 4+2: What Really Works for a Company attempts to break through in this regard.
In their co-authored book 4+2, American management scholars Joyce, Nohria, and Robertson proposed a "4+2" framework. They believe that for a company to achieve success, realize, and maintain high performance, the fundamental approach is to master four key management practices—"strategy," "execution," "corporate culture," and "organizational structure"—and select two from four elective practices—"talent," "leadership," "innovation," and "mergers and cooperation." At first glance, this may seem unbelievable! However, once you truly appreciate the meticulous research design, diligent data collection, rigorous data analysis, and compelling case studies in the book, you can’t help but wonder—perhaps successful companies really do have secrets.
The first and foremost is that strategy must be clear and focused. A company should develop a clear, focused strategy from the outside in. This strategy should fully respect the opinions of customers, partners, and investors and be built on a clear value proposition. When expanding, a company should continuously strengthen its core business while being cautious about unfamiliar areas. If a company can maintain consistency in its core strategy and walk steadily, success will be simple!
Execution must be flawless. Most of the time, business professionals spend their efforts on familiar small tasks, but sometimes, a sudden idea may lead them to a crossroads, facing a choice: to continue the path they’ve been on or to move toward a hopeful yet uncertain future. Whatever the decision, a company must continuously provide products and services that meet customer expectations; empower frontline employees to respond to customer needs; and constantly strive to improve productivity, eliminating all forms of redundancy and waste. This is flawless execution.
Corporate culture must be performance-oriented. Indeed, corporate culture has been heavily discussed, but people have never quite understood what it really is. Many non-cultural initiatives and promotions have been labeled as cultural, further reinforcing the notion that culture can only add color but not warmth. The significant contribution of this book lies in restoring corporate culture to its performance-oriented essence, which is precisely what Edgar Schein, the founder of cultural theory and a management master, has consistently emphasized. A company should strive to encourage everyone to give their all, reward employees’ achievements with praise and money, and create a challenging, satisfying, and engaging work environment.
Organizational structure must remain flat and agile. Regarding a company’s organizational structure, flattening is an unstoppable trend—removing unnecessary organizational layers and bureaucratic structures and simplifying the organization, simplifying, and simplifying again. At the same time, actively promote collaboration and information exchange across the entire company, allowing the best talent to take the front line and ensuring the right people are in the right roles. This book keenly observes and uses data to prove the trend of organizational flattening. Chinese companies are no exception, but they must be cautious in this process and not blindly pursue flattening. This is because Chinese companies lack historical accumulation in management structures and systems and have a weak sense of institutional awareness; China’s unique culture will also affect the efficiency of organizational structures.
The author also repeatedly emphasizes that companies should incorporate stakeholders into all management practices. The highly developed information technology has made companies no longer closed entities, and their boundaries have become increasingly blurred as interactive forms. Shareholders, employees, suppliers, salespeople, customers, and the public are increasingly involved in formulating corporate strategy, influencing corporate culture, and driving innovation. Therefore, strategies such as organizational structure, leadership, and execution must consider various stakeholders to evolve the company toward the goal of a social enterprise.
4+2 also tells us that rules are crucial for companies. A company’s business practices may be diverse, and its path to success may be colorful, but the foundation of its success lies in strictly adhering to basic rules. In essence, "4+2" is just such a rule system that guides companies toward success and maintains their dominance. Many people are fascinated by the "small tricks" of a company’s rise, while neglecting the in-depth exploration of its "big wisdom." This may not be a wrong path, but at least it lacks a deep understanding of this economic organization. Less showiness and more adherence to rules—this is an important practical significance of learning and following the "4+2" rules.
Of course, the author does not believe that 4+2 is a universal key. Readers can view it as a highly operational book. It provides a framework that smart operators can use to incorporate their management practices into this framework for measurement and comparison, to see if they align with the basic principles proposed in the book.