Strategy


Recent Strategy Articles

Hiring Contractors via the Web

By Nicole Bishop |  Oct 27, 2000

Hiring on the Web can be risky. You'll be dealing with strangers -- and, working with them from a distance, you won't have the benefit of encounters to bu...  Read more

How do we propose an owner financing plan to a business owner?

Oct 24, 2000

An inc.com user asks: We're a young couple, and there's a business we're interested in buying. We've secured some family loans,...  Read more

Growth Strategies of Inc. 500

Oct 16, 2000

Since 1982, Inc. magazine has been compiling its annual list of the fastest-growing private companies in the country -- the Inc. 500. This guide wil...  Read more

Bonding over Barbecue

By Ilan Mochari |  Oct 15, 2000

The partners: Friends about town Met: 1982 Fused: 1991 Bonding event: H...  Read more

Planning for Growth

By Edward O. Welles |  Oct 15, 2000

One thing seems clear in today's economy: Growth seems more random and more unexpected than ever. So perhaps the fitting response to that reality is that ...  Read more

From Start-Up to Globalization: The 2000 Inc. 500

By Martha E. Mangelsdorf |  Oct 15, 2000

The technical savvy of many companies in the 2000 Inc. 500 is just one aspect of their high level of sophistication. A number of them already hav...  Read more

CEO's Regret #1: Being Distracted by a Buyout Proposal

By Rifka Rosenwein |  Oct 15, 2000

Behind every successful CEO probably lurks at least one major regret. The best, or the luckiest, CEOs learn from their mistakes and get an opportunity to ...  Read more

CEO's Regret #3: Not Trying to Go Public Sooner

By Rifka Rosenwein |  Oct 15, 2000

Behind every successful CEO probably lurks at least one major regret. The best, or the luckiest, CEOs learn from their mistakes and get an opportunity to ...  Read more

Transforming Experiences

By Joshua Hyatt |  Oct 15, 2000

To grow spectacularly in a tumultuous era, the 2000 Inc. 500 companies have had to invent and master a distinctive skill: real-time retooling.  Read more

Snapshots: Locations

By Rifka Rosenwein |  Oct 15, 2000

These Inc. 500 companies relocated for various reasons -- from access to skilled labor to the CEO's love of the outdoors.  Read more

Snapshots: Hall of Fame Overview

By Susan Greco |  Oct 15, 2000

Here's a survey of 30 of the 48 companies in the Inc. 500 Hall of Fame -- an elite group of companies that have appeared on the list at least five t...  Read more

Snapshots: Hall of Fame Second Acts

By Mike Hofman |  Oct 15, 2000

After Mark Hamister's company made the Inc. 500 list five times in the 1980s, he sold nearly all of it and semiretired. But he's caught the entrepre...  Read more

Inc. 500 All-Stars: Then and Now

By Mike Hofman |  Oct 15, 2000

What happens to entrepreneurs after their companies make the Inc . 500 list? Interviews with 12 past and present Inc. 500 CEOs show that mos...  Read more

The 2000 Inc. 500 Almanac

By Inc. staff |  Oct 15, 2000

A statistical look at the Inc. 500 companies and the CEOs that run them.  Read more

The Long Good-bye

By Susan Greco |  Oct 15, 2000

When four friends started Inc. 500 company IRIS (#192), they decided to sell the company ASAP. Eight years later, they've finally succeeded.  Read more

Now, On to the Really Big Time

By Thea Singer |  Oct 15, 2000

Some Inc. 500 CEOs are choosing to cash out through IPOs or mergers when their companies are seemingly at the height of their powers. Find out why.  Read more

Flexible Flyers

By Edward O. Welles |  Oct 15, 2000

Even as Kingston Technology topped the Inc. 500 in 1992, its founders were warned that the memory upgrade market would disappear. But they knew better.  Read more

The Democratic Merger

By D.M. Osborne |  Oct 15, 2000

When two friends decided to merge their companies, they did so in a democratic manner with heavy input from their respective employees. The result: They incr...  Read more

The Inc. 500: Class of 2005?

By D.M. Osborne |  Oct 15, 2000

Two 2000 Inc. 500 CEOs demonstrate that spinning off new start-ups from within can give big benefits -- and profits -- to both parent and child.  Read more

Incubators Are Hot!

By Anne Marie Borrego |  Oct 15, 2000

Incubators have gotten plenty of attention lately. A few of the 2000 Inc. 500 winners are exploring the concept themselves.  Read more

2000 Inc. 500 Index

By Inc. staff |  Oct 15, 2000

The fastest-growing private companies in America in 2000, listed alphabetically.  Read more

Growth: How Fast Is Too Fast?

By Edward O. Welles |  Oct 15, 2000

An overview of the 2000 Inc. 500 list shows that companies today are growing at a stunning pace. But when exactly does fast become too fast?  Read more

Inc. 500 Alumni: Where Are They Now?

By Karen Carney |  Oct 6, 2000

Each year since 1981, Inc. magazine has named the fastest-growing small privately held companies in America. When companies first make the In...  Read more

How do I deal with potential hidden liabilities in a business that's for sale?

Sep 21, 2000

Buying a Business mentor Tom West responds to the following question from an inc.com user: I've found a business I'm really inte...  Read more

Is the asking price right?

Sep 20, 2000

Buying a Business mentor Tom West responds to the following question from an inc.com user: My partner and I are looking to buy a...  Read more

How does the business valuation process work?

Sep 19, 2000

Buying a Business mentor Tom West responds to the above question from an inc.com user: Here's the deal: If you're considering buyin...  Read more

The Changing Face of Competition

By Rhonda Abrams |  Sep 15, 2000

If I asked you who your competition is, you're likely to mention the company down the street or across town that sells the same product or service as you....  Read more

Retaining Employees Following an Acquisition

Sep 12, 2000

Steps you can take to retain as many existing employees as possible when you acquire a company.  Read more

" Intrapreneurship" ? Spinning Off a New Company

Sep 5, 2000

Are you thinking about spinning off a new venture from your existing company? Gary Hamel, author of Leading the Revolution (Harvard Business Scho...  Read more

Stifled Growth

By Mike Hofman |  Sep 1, 2000

The myth of the 25th employee Frayda Levin hates federal regulations, from controls on age discrimination to rules on how to treat...  Read more

Where Are They Now? Updates on Businesses for Sale

By Jill Andresky Fraser |  Aug 19, 2000

Where Are They Now? Here's an update, from the September 2000 issue of Inc. magazine, on the companies featured in Inc...  Read more

The Art of Effective Alliances

By Jonathan Carson |  Aug 16, 2000

When we started FamilyEducation Network in 1990, we understood that we would have to build our business on carefully chosen and sensitively nurtured strat...  Read more

Business For Sale: Bakery and Restaurant In New Mexico Ski Region

By Jill Andresky Fraser |  Aug 1, 2000

A close-up look at a business offered for sale, including price rationale and pros and cons of the purchase.  Read more

Obit: Pizza Chain's Blockbuster "Deal" Ends in a Bust

By Susan Greco |  Aug 1, 2000

Thinking he had a great deal cooking, Tony Riviera prepared to take his pizza concept national in a joint venture with Blockbuster. But when the entertainmen...  Read more

Who Owns Harlem?

By Paul Keegan |  Aug 1, 2000

As an economic-development boom takes off in Harlem, residents hotly debate what path will lead the famed African American neighborhood into a prosperous fut...  Read more