Exposing the Contradictory Claims, Myths and Illusions of the “Secrets of Business Success and Company Longevity†Genre

Nick Forster, Zayed University

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Vision: The Journal of Business Perspective

Publication Date

1-1-2010

Abstract

Over the last three decades, several management consultants, academics and business practitioners have laid claim to identifying “the secrets†of business success and company longevity. However, a systematic analysis of 24 studies in this genre revealed fundamental disagreements over the elements these authors claim are the primary drivers of business performance and longevity, and demonstrates that they share eight methodological and analytical flaws. Furthermore, many of the claims they made about “the secrets†of business success have not stood the test of time. The paper explains why business practitioners will find little in these studies to help their companies become more successful now and in the future, and also speculates why several of these studies became international best-sellers during the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. It concludes by suggesting some new avenues for future research in this domain, and highlights the practical implications of these findings for business practitioners.

ISSN

0972-2629

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Volume

14

First Page

141

Last Page

161

Disciplines

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Indexed in Scopus

no

Open Access

no

Link to Full Text

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