The Caterpillar Way - Craig Bouchard & James Koch

[Eng12345]

The Caterpillar Way by Craig Bouchard and James V Koch

 

@John Hjorth As I mentioned in the CAT thread I just finished this book. It was written around 2013. I originally bought it in hopes of a grand industrial story of greatness. Ultimately what the book really focused on was the turnaround of the late eighties and early nineties in much more textbook fashion. Supposedly in the eighties CAT was losing money year after year and was on the brink of destruction. 

 

What stood out to me as fundamental was their ability to break the pattern negotiation strategy of the UAW - which allowed them great flexibility when time to cut costs came. They also empowered alot of their management to be /truly/ responsible for their own budgets - ie if material was cheaper outside of CAT then buy it there. Additionally, something I subconsciously knew but the book called a lot of attention to was the extended dealer network that CAT supports provides a great moat for them and is something they've utilized to great effect to smooth revenues. 

 

Overall a pretty good, well researched book that I'm glad I read though it did get somewhat dry at points. 

[competitive-advantage]

Thanks for you review of the book. It's great to learn from their history.