The SAIC Solution: Built by Employee Owners

by J. Robert Beyster, Peter Economy

In The SAIC Solution , 2nd Edition , Dr. J. Robert Beyster — who founded SAIC in 1969, and grew it into the nation’s largest employee-owned research and engineering company — examines recent issues faced by the company, including its 2006 IPO, the dismantling of its employee-ownership culture, significant decline in shareholder value, and its eventual split into two separate companies.

This book is a guide to implementing principles and practices developed and used by SAIC to drive exponential growth, global expansion, and diversification across science and technology customers and markets. Topics sustaining a people-first culture, linking contribution to rewards, experimenting with management structures and business investment, and balancing reasonable profit with sustainable, accelerating growth. This book also provides a cautionary tale for entrepreneurs, company founders, and executives who seek to sustain their organizations in the 21st century.

Genres: Business

275 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 30, 2007

About the author

Dr. J. Robert Beyster (La Jolla, CA) is the founder of Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC). He served as CEO and chairman of the company for 35 years. Beyster continues to promote innovation and employee ownership through his Foundation for Enterprise Development and the Beyster Institute at the Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego.

Reviews

[John Scillieri · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a little slow at times but overall lots of interesting and relevant bits of information. It was really informative to hear how a company similar to Visionist (at least when it started) got off the ground.

The interesting notes:
* They seemed to get a lot of new business by bringing an outside expert (Govie, other Contractor, etc) on to the team and giving them that arm of the business to run.
* The corporation was run a lot more like a holding company than I expected.
* They had a good policy of punishing poor decision makers by removing their ability to make decisions, not implementing draconian policies that hurt everyone.
* Beyster seemed really burned by the takeover and commented he should have done more to implement a transition strategy, even at one point saying he should have stepped away from all technical aspects to ensure that the business was really ready for someone else.

[Alex E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! Dr. Beyster is an inspiring man, with a unique and refreshing perspective about business.

[JudyB]

Recommended by a vendor... we shall see.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book on the successes (and failures) of building an employe owned company.