James Collins Quotes

There is a wide range of opportunities for us and we see a main part of our strategy as being a company that supplies products across a range of different end applications and indeed we have quite a wide product portfolio which we enhance each year.

The tools used by economists to analyze business firms are too abstract and speculative to offer any guidance to entrepreneurs and managers in their constant struggle to bring novel products to consumers at low cost.

The best American manufacturers customize products to meet customer needs, reduce the time required to make them and constantly improve their design.

Pretty much, Apple and Dell are the only ones in this industry making money. They make it by being Wal-Mart. We make it by innovation.

Southwest Airlines is successful because the company understands it's a customer service company. It also happens to be an airline.

Relentless improvement of the product and upgrading of consumer tastes are the heart of mass merchandising.

Levi's can produce many more Western jeans than we can and make them at a better price.

The biggest threat to McDonald's lies within - and that is us as a company becoming complacent. There are a lot of companies that get fat, dumb and happy and take their eye off the ball and forget about serving customers.

If you think about the history of the PC industry, the PC industry has essentially been nothing but acquisitions by one company or another. Dell is the outlier. Dell built its own culture. They automated themselves to be the most efficient manufacturer.

There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.

Profitability is coming from productivity, efficiency, management, austerity, and the way to manage the business.

The hardware business is all about per-unit manufacturing cost and functionality. The services business is less asset-intensive and more dependent on people.

Profitability comes from loyalty, productivity, and having a character base from which to work.

Wal-Mart's success strategies and tactics are easy to understand yet hard to duplicate.

We were in the market ahead of competition. We brought new products on the market ahead of competition. We rolled out our networks. We begged, borrowed, stole, put things out. And while they were never near perfect, they were first. And that gave us, to my mind, a lot of advantage.

We are really very lucky to have so many fantastic brands. But to grow them we should not be too much in a hurry. They are growing fast, but they have to grow accordingly to the market and to the capacity we have to deliver good products.

I'd rather Apple cannibalize Apple than somebody else cannibalize Apple.

Over time, the product we produce has been consistently successful here in America and around the world. Apparently, we are doing something right.

My view is make Indian manufacturing competitive, and if it is competitive, it can serve customers or consumers anywhere.

We are reinventing ourselves as a company. Compaq is taking ownership of its customer relationships and accountability of our customer's needs.

Let's face it: if you and I have the same capabilities, the same energy, the same staff, if the only thing that's different between you and me is the products we can get, and I can get a better product than you, I'm going to be a better chef.

The key to Operations at Wal-Mart is their ability to maintain the highest standards while at the same time getting things done with lockstep execution.

A strategy is something like, an innovative new product; globalization, taking your products around the world; be the low-cost producer. A strategy is something you can touch; you can motivate people with; be number one and number two in every business. You can energize people around the message.

The purpose of a business is to create customers.

Business is Business.