In Search of Excellence has long been a must-have for the boardroom, business school and bedside table, and continues to influence the thinking of leaders and managers across the globe today.

Based on a study of forty-three of America's best-run companies from a range of sectors - consumer goods, technology, services - the book identifies eight common 'attributes of excellence' that made these organisations successful. Though many of the profiled companies have since lost their edge (or disappeared completely), these eight management principles, each highlighted in a chapter in the book, have shown themselves to be timeless.