What America Does Right

Waterman, coauthor of In Search of Excellence , here illuminates ``why a handful of widely admired American firms do so well'' and why ``some giant companies . . . stumble badly.'' He argues that firms excel by building coherent, clearly defined cultures. A successful company creates ``shared values that give its people a sense of purpose,'' while eschewing bureaucratic organizational charts, job descriptions, written policies and other strictures that might restrain employee initiative. The author relies heavily on case studies of company strategies that he defines as great, including Federal Express's people-first philosophy, Merck's investment in intellectual capital and other guideposts from Levi Strauss, Proctor & Gamble, Rubbermaid and Motorola. Waterman's anecdotal lessons from the best methodologies is outstanding, like the rest of this book. (Mar.)