What is the summary of 'The Goal'?

'The Goal' is a management-oriented novel by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, a business consultant known for his Theory of Constraints. The book is centered around the protagonist, Alex Rogo, who is a manager at a manufacturing plant. The plant is not performing well and Alex has a limited amount of time to turn it around. The book introduces the Theory of Constraints, which focuses on identifying the most important limiting factor (i.e., the constraint) that stands in the way of achieving a goal and then systematically improving that constraint until it is no longer the limiting factor. In the context of manufacturing, the goal is to make money. The book suggests that in order to achieve this goal, businesses should focus on three measures: throughput (the rate at which the system generates money through sales), inventory (all the money that the system has invested in purchasing things it intends to sell), and operational expense (all the money the system spends in order to turn inventory into throughput). By focusing on these measures and identifying and managing constraints, businesses can improve their performance and profitability.