AWWA JTMGT64433

In Jim Collins' 2001 best seller "Good to Great", he concludes that a good company, even one mired in mediocrity in a poor industry, can become a great company. Collins did this by sorting through a list of 1,435 private companies, looking for those that made a good-to-great transition. He settled on 11 and discovered common traits that challenged many of the conventional notions of corporate success. This paper seeks to answer the question, "Can a good utility become a great utility by applying the same Good to Great principles discovered in the private sector?" The concepts put forth in Collins' book appear on their surface to be transportable to any organization, but doing so can be particularly daunting in a municipal agency. This paper explores how some Good to Great concepts apply while others do not because of the fundamental differences between private and public sector organizations. For example, municipalities do not seek to maximize profits, please stockholders, or dominate market share. With no competition and a seemingly never-ending funding source (though the funds themselves may be limited or become limited), what will drive a municipality to greatness is, in most cases, much different than what drives a private company. That does not, however, mean the Good to Great equation changes completely. It may simply mean the variables must be adapted to fit into a municipal setting. This paper explores the comparisons and contrasts between private companies and municipal utilities as the Good to Great concepts apply, and concludes with guidelines for transforming good utilities into great ones. Because Good to Great defines "good" and "great" in terms of stock market performance, terms that can not be directly applied to the public utilities sector, this paper also concludes with what the authors believe is the definition of greatness for a utility. Includes 9 references, figure.