Question

Good-to-Great comparison companies: Wells Fargo is considered a Great company while Bank of America is considered it's direct comparison company. Why did Wells Fargo make the list of Great companies but Wells Fargo did not? Use Good-to-Great ideology to answer the question.l

Answer 1

Wells Fargo is one of the companies listed under good to great companies. The companies are identified as good to great based on their results. The no-better-than average companies make a leap forward that after the leap the company’s cumulative stock returns is more than the generate stock market at least three times in their stint in the industry over a period of 15 years.

Wells-Fargo was able to achieve 3.99 times of the market share which made the company to be listed under good-to-great companies. This huge success was due to their commitment to excellence and down-to-earth approach in their strategies. This framework has made the leaders to be on-track during their long-term goal of achieving the returns in the stock market. However, Bank of America is considered Wells Fargo’s direct comparison company- with virtually the same opportunities during their years of operation, has been listed as one of the un-sustained companies because they did buy-into the change myths such as:

1. Myth of stock options- the stock options, bonuses and high salaries are only given as incentives to implement any changes.

2. Myth of fear-driven change- the fear of being left behind if the change is a failure, the fear of watching others to win the game are factors that drive the change and not their strategic choice.

3. Myth of technology-driven change- The technology is used only to drive change to combat the competition.

4. Myth of revolution- Any big change is highly painful and is the extreme for the organization.

All of these myths are wrong and Bank of America has been considered one of the companies in the un-sustained list because it has considered the myths above in their performance which yielded only failure for the company.