Description
Berkshire Hathaway, the $300 billion conglomerate that Warren Buffett built, is among the world’s largest and most famous corporations. Yet, for all its power and celebrity, few people understand Berkshire, and many assume it cannot survive without Buffett. This book proves them wrong. In a comprehensive portrait of the corporate culture that unites Berkshire’s subsidiaries, Lawrence A. Cunningham unearths the traits that assure the conglomerate’s continued prosperity. Riveting stories of each subsidiary’s origins, triumphs, and journey to Berkshire reveal how managers generate economic value from intangibles like thrift, integrity, entrepreneurship, autonomy, and a sense of permanence. Rich with lessons for those wishing to profit from the Berkshire model, this engaging book is a valuable read for entrepreneurs, business owners, managers, family business members, and investors, and it is an important resource for scholars of corporate stewardship. General readers will enjoy learning how an iconoclastic businessman transformed a struggling textile company into a corporate legacy. Lawrence A. Cunningham, editor and publisher since 1997 of The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, is the Henry St. George Tucker III Research Professor at George Washington University. Cunningham’s dozen books include The AIG Story (with Maurice R. Greenberg) and How to Think Like Benjamin Graham and Invest Like Warren Buffett. His extensive writings on a wide range of business and legal topics appear in leading university journals as well as in such periodicals as the Baltimore Sun, the Financial Times, the New York Post, and the New York Times. He lives in New York City with his wife and two daughters. Foreword Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Part One 1. Origins 2. Diversity 3. Culture Part Two 4. Budget-conscious and Earnest 5. Reputation 6. Kinship 7. Self-starters 8. Hands-off 9. Investor Savvy 10. Rudimentary 11. Eternal 12. All One 13. Berkshire’s Portfolio Part Three 14. Succession 15. Challenges 16. B.E.R.K.S.H.I.R.E. Epilogue Appendix Notes Selected Bibliography Index
