REPEATABILITY
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5 percent per year. IKEA’s operating margins are above 15 per-
cent, more than double the industry average profi t level.
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is the largest infrastructure construc-
tion organization in India, with operations extending far
beyond the Indian subcontinent. The company traces its origin
to 1938, with the wonderful signature phrase “we make things
that make India proud.” Since A. M. Naik became CEO in 1999,
L&T has grown its revenues at 22 percent, to $12 billion, and its
profi ts at a 45 percent annual rate, to $1 billion. Central to this
success were a period of shrinking to its construction core in
order to grow and the application of a repeatable approach to
project-based large-scale construction.
Since 1955, ...