''It's Not Luck'' (1994) is a business

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

and a sequel to '' The Goal''. Set several years after, the plot continues to follow the advancement of the main character, Alex Rogo, through the corporate ranks of large

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or Production (economics), production of goods with the help of equipment, Work (human activity), labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary se ...

, UniCo. Author Dr.

Eliyahu M. Goldratt Eliyahu Moshe Goldratt (; March 31, 1947 – June 11, 2011) was an Israeli business management guru. He was the originator of the Optimized Production Technique, the Theory of Constraints (TOC), the Thinking Processes (Theory of Constraints), Th ...

, a business consultant known for his

theory of constraints The theory of constraints (TOC) is a management paradigm that views any manageable system as being limited in achieving more of its goals by a very small number of constraints. There is always at least one constraint, and TOC uses a focusing p ...

(TOC), continues to teach the reader his thinking processes through the eyes of Alex Rogo as he learns from his mentor, Jonah. In this book, the primary subjects are the resolution of conflict through the evaporating clouds method and the identification of root causes through the effect-cause-effect method.

Synopsis

In this book the main character, Alex, conducts the reader through the essence of some TOC tools and applications, like the Thinking Processes and the TOC solutions for Marketing, Distribution and how to compose the Strategy of a company. Alex Rogo, the new executive vice president of UniCo (which is in need of money), must turn around three newly acquired companies, knowing that if he succeeds, they will be sold off and the new owners will replace him, and if he fails, the companies will be closed - in either case, he will likely be fired. Using what he learned from Jonah, Alex manages to turn the companies around - two are sold, with UniCo keeping one due to it now being so profitable. The book ends with Alex set to become CEO.

Characters

* Alex Rogo - Main character, and executive vice president of UniCo * Stacey Kaufmann and Bob Donovan - Alex's friends from the previous books, and directors of two of the companies * Brandon and Jim - Shareholders in UniCo, they come to respect Alex and his methods
Business books 1994 novels 20th-century Israeli novels Theory of constraints Sequel novels {{1990s-novel-stub