In his book In Search of Excellence, Tom Peters outlines eight principles of operation that are practiced by the most excellent, innovative corporations. They are:

• Act quickly.
• Serve the customer.
• Encourage creativity and innovations.
• Know the value of your employees
• Stay close to your business.
• Do what you do best.
• Don’t get fat at the top.
• Adhere to established values while allowing employee independence.

Peters points out that some of these characteristics are so basic that they are like “motherhood” and “apple pie.” They bore to yawns the average business student. On the other hand, says Peters, these qualities are almost conspicuously absent in most large companies.

In Search of Excellence, by Tom Peters.