Growing Pains: How to Make the Transition from an Entrepreneurship to a Professionally Managed Firm (Jossey-Bass Management Series) [Hardcover]

Eric G. Flamholtz (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1555422721 | ISBN-13: 978-1555422721 | Publication Date: November 19, 1990 | Edition: 2

Explores the seven predictable stages of organizational growth, from start-up enterprise to mature corporation. Identifies the accomplishments in each stage that lay a foundation for continued successful development and provides practical guidance for implementing professional management systems.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The entrepreneurs who need this book are already successful, experiencing spectacular growth. Of limited use to small business owners, Flamholtz's principles are more helpful for major firms trying to analyze potential or actual problems. Flamholtz's style is erudite, almost textbookish in tone, but he makes a genuine contribution to management literature. He offers a unified prescription for management, integrating ideas on topics ranging from product life cycle to leadership styles to organizational structure. He contrasts and explains entrepreneurial and professional management styles, explaining which is needed when, and why the use of the wrong style has led to the demise of some very large firms. Paul Hawken's Growing a Business (S. & S., 1987) is more popular in approach with more nitty-gritty advice for small businesses. Flamholtz is recommended for management collections.
- Sue McKimm, Cuya hoga Cty. P.L., Cleveland
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"More than just outlining management tasks, Growing Pains takes an in-depth look at the psychological development of the manager and the nature of leadership itself."

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 370 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 2 edition (November 19, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555422721
• ISBN-13: 978-1555422721
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,370,016 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for beginning CEOs, November 18, 2000

By 

Ed Perry (Austin, Texas USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Growing Pains : Transitioning from an Entrepreneurship to a Professionally Managed Firm (Hardcover)

After 2 successful startups and serving as an executive in three Fortune 500 enterprises, I was doubtful there would be much to learn here. I was surprised to find the book to be rich in insights for both the budding CEO and the experienced enterprise corporate officer. Especially valuable are the maps of where effort needs to be concentrated at various stages of growth and the discussion on the benefits and consequences of different leadership styles. I use the book now to train new corporate leaders.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars READ THIS BOOK to build a firm beyond just its founder., June 29, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Growing Pains: How to Make the Transition from an Entrepreneurship to a Professionally Managed Firm (Jossey-Bass Management Series) (Hardcover)

If you have ever been in a start-up enterprise, where the founding member(s) are the driving force of the entrepreneurship, you will find yourself nodding your head up and down, by the time you get to page 10. This is reality! If the quest of the entrepreneurship is to build a lasting company, one that will have a legacy beyond its founder(s), you need this book. Look at GROWING PAINS as a roadmap, not a dictionary. This IS NOT a book to put in the library and rarely look at; rather it IS a book to keep open on your desk, to have dog-eared pages, highlights, and bookmarks, in dozens and dozens of places. For anyone who desires to move the start-up entrepreneurship into the Fortune 500 and beyond, this book IS a must-have.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Textbookish but useful, August 30, 2006

By 

Ashok Korwar - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Growing Pains : Transitioning from an Entrepreneurship to a Professionally Managed Firm (Hardcover)

This is a book about an important topic - the transitions compnies must go through, from the struggle for surival to becoming a large, mature company. It contains a very useful and credible model in the form of a pyramid depicting the 'normal' growth stages of a company, beginning with defining product/market and ending with establishing a corporate culture. Two noticeable shortcomings: the authors seem to largely ignore strategy and business models in their description of the growth path, and second, it is written in a very lieless and textbookish style. The management jargon rolls on and on, dulling the reader's mind, and making him wonder if he is reading the same page again and again. The entire approach is extremely conventional, with very little appreciation for more modern theories of management. Overall, a good book, not great.