The novel The Goal, by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox, is undoubtedly one of the most unusual business books of recent years. The intention of co-author Goldratt in conceiving the book is to introduce and develop a theory of production management based on the principles of physics. The authors, however, chose to develop this view by presenting what amounts to a hypothetical case study. To that point, the exercise is not uncommon in the literature of business.

However, in developing a hypothetical case study in the length and detail required for the argument presented–the book runs to 337 pages–the authors chose to present their work in the form of a novel. The book centers on Alex Rogo, the plant manager of the Bearington manufacturing plant of UniCo; town and corporation are both fictitious, as are the machines in the plant…