Growing Pains: Transitioning from An Entrepreneurship to A Professionally Managed Firm

Entrepreneurs may all have visions of long-term success, yet most of the attention to entrepreneurship these days begins and ends with the start-up process itself. Flamholtz, a professor of management at UCLA, and his colleague Randle have spent 20 years looking beyond the initial new venture stage to the long-term success or failure of entrepreneurial firms. In this revised editon of their book, they provide advice on how to survive and thrive through the "rigorous organizational demands of rapid growth." Walking readers through the seven predictable stages of growth from start-up to mature corporation (new venture, expansion, professionalization, consolidation, diversification, integration, and decline and revitalization), they explain the important steps to be taken at each stage to lay the best possible foundation for long-term success. This is a practical guide for those who want to make the transition from the informal and temporary-on-the-fly management and structure that most new ventures have to the solid, well-managed, mature company management and organizational structure of a professionally managed firm.