Selling Above and Below the Line

CHAPTER 10

Sharpen Your ExecutiveBusiness Acumen

Companies are predicable. Most have run the same way for years. There’s a great sameness in their organizational structure, the products and services they provide, the employees they hire, the profits they make, and the shareholder value they deliver. And while some do it much better than others, in the long run there isn’t much difference between Company A and Company B.

If you look at companies in a specific industry, you’ll find close organizational similarities. A pharmaceutical company may be somewhat different from a gear manufacturer, but most pharmaceutical companies look similar to one another, and so do all the gear companies.

You use information about how companies run to improve your ...