When Growth Stalls (PDF)

One of the toughest lessons every business leader learns is how
hard it is to generate sustained growth. Stalled growth is the
rule, not the exception--even for the best-managed companies.
That's especially true in unpredictable economic environments such
as the one we're experiencing today.

McKee has a unique understanding of what happens when growth
stalls. His firm commissioned a study of 700 companies that had at
one time been among the nation's fastest-growing businesses.
Developed in concert with Decision Analyst, a leading national
research and consulting firm, the study probed areas as diverse as
corporate structure, competition, branding, finance, and strategy.
The target respondent profile were CEOs, owners, principals,
presidents, managing directors or chairmen of the board. In-depth
follow-up interviews yielded fascinating stories and personal
comments from executives who had been living on the front lines of
real-life growth crises. McKee presents compelling knowledge about
how and why companies lose their way, and offers practical advice
about how they can rekindle growth.

When Growth Stalls demonstrates that sluggish growth is
generally produced not by mismanagement or strategic blundering but
by natural market forces and management dynamics that are often
unrecognized--and widespread. The book presents seven
characteristics that commonly correlate with stalled growth and
what to do about them. Some are external forces to which countless
companies have fallen victim: economic upheavals, changing industry
dynamics, and increased competition. What McKee points out,
however, is how often they catch companies off-guard. More
surprising are four subtle and highly destructive internal factors
that conspire to keep companies down: lack of consensus among the
management team, loss of nerve, loss of focus, and marketing
inconsistency. McKee makes the case that, regardless of what's
going on outside of an enterprise, it's what's inside that
counts.