Summary of Good Profit: by Charles G. Koch Includes Analysis Paperback – April 15, 2016

This is an analysis of Charles Koch's book Good Profit: How Creating Value for Others Built One of the World's Most Successful Companies, an expansion of his 2007 work The Science of Success: How Market-Based Management Built the World's Largest Private Company. It looks at Market-Based Management (MBM), how and why it works and how to employ it.One of the basic ideas behind the system is that good business choices benefit the long term well being of the company, benefit the customer, and benefit society as a whole. MBM focuses on the entire picture, the company, the customers, the employees, and the surrounding society. If decisions are made for the good of all these concerns, the company wins, the customers win, everyone wins. MBM is concerned not merely with profit, but also with value.The key takeaways are:1- Adversity drives success. This guide points out that the idea that failure is how people learn to succeed is a particularly American phenomenon, and I will point out that is the exact argument made in Super Mario by Jeff Ryan. When the game Sonar failed for Nintendo of America, they could have gone the traditional Japanese route of bowing out gracefully, but instead they took the American approach of turning failure to success. The cabinets were re-purposed for a new game -- Donkey Kong.2- Corporate welfare obscures the free market to bad effect. This resonates with the point Robert Reich raises in Saving Capitalism.3- Good profit arises when all interested parties win. This is very like Covey's "Think Win-Win" from The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.4- A companies vision and mission statement is the cornerstone of good management. Again, this has echoes of Covey. For Koch, this vision is making a better product more efficiently and improving the world along the way.5- Hire for values, not skills. Skills can be taught. The skills called for change over time due to advances in technology and corporate change. Values are constant, largely immutable, and values aligned with corporate vision lead to the best wins all around, for employee and for company. Koch is all about generating wins.6- Strong communication makes strong companies. When employees feel free to share ideas and concerns, it can only strengthen the company. It provides management with eyes on the ground with the customer base and how the products are performing and being perceived in the field.7- An employee needs to feel they have ownership of their part of the business, that they can make a real change and help drive improvement and growth.8- Short and long term incentives, where employees have unlimited growth potential, fosters initiative and excellence.9- The MBM system must be adopted in its entirety.This guide does an excellent job of distilling the principles of the original down to its essence, though of course there is too much in the original to cover it all in depth. It will let you see if this is something you would want to pursue further. This guide further analyses the original in terms or readability, strengths, and failures.I received a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a readers digest summary of the book. Great way to get the important points without spending the time to read the whole thing.

Charles Koch is the CEO of Koch Industries, Inc. Personally he was listed as the ninth richest person in the world in 2014. In this Instaread summary (think DETAILED review) the reader is presented with 9 Key Takeaways from the original book. Here are two to whet your appetite:>> #2 - "Corporate welfare in the form of handouts and tax subsidies obscures the free market and is negative for the economy.">> #7 - "In order for a company to succeed, employees must feel as though they are responsible for their work and have agency. This improves accountability and results."How can adversity be a blessing and failure build character? Can we learn from what happened to Solyndra? What does MBM stand for? How many of us know that talent doesn't always equate to having good values? Be careful who you employ, ensuring that they have the same values that your company has. "Koch Industries complicated and thoughtful hiring process is extremely important to the company's growth." Their hiring system "does not value big-city educations or long resumes over the right value system".Instaread describes this book as being a mixed hat with discourse, biographies and principles of MBM all thrown in together. Good Profit builds on the author's first book, The Science of Success. Some subjects are described as being "glossed over". With the original book at 288 pages, this Instaread summary is a great option for those who want/need to know what the original book is all about and get the major points. Please note that my review is based on the quality of this Instaread review and NOT the contents of the original. Book provided in exchange for an honest review. Thanks, Liz

Even if you’re not a news junkie, you have to have heard of the Koch brothers and their relationship to some of the most reactionary members of the Republican Party. They are also among the richest people in the world, as directors and owners of one of the world’s largest private companies.Charles G. Koch, CEO of Koch Industries, is also the author of Good Profit: How Creating Value for Others Built One of the World’s Most Successful Companies. This book builds on his 2007 book, The Science of Success, and posits the view that good profit is achieved when a company generates value by providing goods or services the best price, using the smallest amount of resources, and improving the lives of consumers.Instaread’s Good Profit: How Creating Value for Others Built One of the World’s Most Successful Companies by Charles G. Koch/Key Takeaways, Analysis & Review provides an in depth summary of Koch’s book, detailing the key points of the book, listing the main characters, and analyzing the author’s style and presentation. Of key interest is the note that Koch fails to show in his book how his company has improved society as he claims, and gives some important issues only a quick gloss. Again, Instaread has provided a useful look at a book, allowing a reader to get a solid idea of the book’s content without having to pay the full price. While I give the Instaread high marks for its thoroughness, I’m not so sure I would do the same for the book summarized.

No specifics that I noted, but I expect that is because the book itself has no specifics. As far an an outline of the book, it's OK.I did not find it worth reading. I gained very little or nothing from reading this. I know others who found value in reading it, so I gave it a two star review.

Solid and clear commentary, insightful

I can’t blame them for false advertising but the ‘summary’ is too high-level to be of any value to me. Save your money and read the amazon description of the actual book. You’ll get more information.