These reminds me a lot of "Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visoionary Copmpanies"[0], where the authors of the book spend a lot of time pointing out how the companies they consider "better" (better performing in the long run, most likely to not fail, widely considered leaders of their field etc) have a few shared features such as a widespread shared culture, homegrown management, focus on building a lasting company rather than immediate benefits etc.

The book is very interesting, but I believe the conclusion are quite arguable and 25 years later many of those companies might not be looked with the same glaring eyes (i.e. HP, motorola).

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Built_to_Last:_Successful_Habit...