cover image The Leading Edge: Ceos Who Turned Their Companies Around: What They Did and How They Did It

The Leading Edge: Ceos Who Turned Their Companies Around: What They Did and How They Did It

Mark Potts. McGraw-Hill Companies, $16.95 (220pp) ISBN 978-0-07-050599-5

This penetrating study of top management, its problems and its future may prove revealing to executives at all levels. Potts, business editor of the San Francisco Examiner, and Behr, a financial editor of the Washington Post, examine the situation at many major firms, from GE and du Pont to AT & T and IBM, focusing on difficulties common to all, principally the necessity of competing in the world marketplace. They reach two main conclusions: overdiversification is a thing of the past, as companies learn that venturing into areas where they have no experience is chancy; the belief that a top manager can manage any business is not necessarily true, as expertise in a specific area makes a CEO better at his or her job. The book includes in-depth looks at Disney, GM and Borg-Warner, each of which faced different problems and is engaged in solving them in different ways. 25,000 first printing; $25,000 ad/promo. (November 24)