Among all the things managers do$,$ nothing affects a company's ultimate success or failure more fundamentally than

the degree to which the company is able to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.

how well its management team charss the company's direction, develops competitively effective strategic moves and business approaches, and pursues what needs to be done internally to produce good day$-$in$/$dayout strategy execution and operating excellence.

top management's success in executing both the company's customer value proposition and profit proposition.

the ability of top management to develop a superior business model and to execute the company's strategy in the most cost$-$effective manner.

their ability to operate the company in a manner that both pleases customers and results in above$-$average