The Goal

Israeli physicist Eliyahu M. Goldratt is a business management expert who works with corporations and governments worldwide. Though this book is a novel, it’s also a business classic and perennial bestseller that provides accessible, practical how-to advice. Goldratt (writing with Jeff Fox) draws on physics, process engineering, cost accounting and ancient Greek philosophy to expound his “theory of constraints.”

Goldratt’s fictional protagonist must meet an impossible goal in an unrealistic time frame or his hometown’s big employer will have to close. He saves the day by discovering the theory of constraints through trial and error.