A comprehensive resource guide to many of the subjects featured in the April issue of Inc. magazine.
Resources is the Inc. guide to more information on subjects in this issue. This information is intended to help our readers; Inc. does not profit from the sale of any of the resources listed.
Letters
Readers took issue with Kathy Marshack's conclusion that husband-and-wife teams who run businesses together are less egalitarian than dual-career couples. Yet there are plenty of studies that corroborate Marshack's conclusions. Here's a selected bibliography of articles from periodicals:
"Who's the Boss? Responsibility and Decision Making in Copreneurial Ventures," by L. Ponthieu and H. Caudill (Family Business Review, 1993, Volume 6, Number 1, pages 3-17). The Family Business Review is now published by the Family Firm Institute, in Brookline, Mass. To order a back issue ($21), you can go to the Institute's Web site, call 617-738-1591, or send a fax to 617-738-4883.
"Close Coupling in Work-Family Relationships: Making and Implementing Decisions in a New Family Business and at Home," by A. Wicker and K. Burley (Human Relations, 1991, Volume 44, Number 1, pages 77-92). To order a reprint ($11.50 plus a copyright fee of about $6), call 800-787-7979.
"Working Couples in Small Business," by J. Cox, K. Moore, and P. Van Auken (Journal of Small Business Management, October 1984, pages 24-30). To order a reprint ($11), call UMI at 800-248-0360.
Markets: Start-up Chasers Track New-Biz Storm
"Fundamentally, there's nothing more central to market economies than the creation of new businesses," declares Paul Reynolds. "And right now we know almost nothing about the start-up process."
Reynolds's Entrepreneurial Research Consortium is scrutinizing that crucial gestation period in which some would-be entrepreneurs succeed in establishing companies while others throw in the towel. The unusual collaborative effort aspires to be to entrepreneurship research what the Hubble Space Telescope is to astronomy: not an isolated inquiry but a gold mine of data to be dissected by a bevy of researchers, each exploring a different question.
Among those burning questions: How many start-up efforts does it take to create one viable business? How do fledgling entrepreneurs use social networks for support? How do successful ones differ from failed ones in terms of personality, income, and demographic profile? How many entrepreneurs devote themselves full-time to the effort? How much time elapses before nascent businesses record their first dollar of revenue or hire their first employee?
"We'll be able to understand this process for the first time," says Bill Gartner of the University of Southern California, one of the researchers who anted up $20,000 to participate in the study. "We don't now, frankly."
For further information on the study, visit the research page at Babson College's Web site.
Obits: Cubs Send Minor-League Owners to the Showers
The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues' Web site is one-stop shopping for information about minor-league ball. Visitors can read the latest minor-league news, apply for a job, check team standings, and of course, buy team hats. Minor-league sections include detailed listings of management personnel for each team, contact information, and team schedules.
Growth Strategies: Dear Max, Drop Dead. Love, GoCard
If you're thinking about forming a more perfect union with other small businesses in your area or in your industry, you may find it helpful to dip into The TeamNet Factor, by Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps (John Wiley & Sons, 800-225-5945, 1993, $29.95). At times oppressively jargony--starting with the title--and thin on consistently vivid and relevant examples, the book is useful nonetheless. Chapter 6 provides a helpful primer for small companies, including the best reasons to form a network and advice on how to manage one. Chapter 8, "Quick Start: Getting Your TeamNet to Click," serves as a valuable reminder that networks, like companies, go through phases as they grow. Finally, the last four pages of chapter 11, "Five Good Ways to Fail," handily sum up the perils of such a strategy. There's a Chapter 11 joke in here somewhere.
Mind of the Manager: What Balance?
For those of you struggling with the impossible task of balancing work and family, Nancy Austin recommends the following books:
Balancing Act: How Managers Can Integrate Successful Careers and Fulfilling Personal Lives, by Joan Kofodimos (Jossey-Bass, 800-956-7739, 1993, $27). An absolutely on-point guide, says Austin.
A Dog in Heat Is a Hot Dog: And Other Rules to Live By, by E. Jean Carroll (Pocket Books, 800-223-2336, 1996, $12). Says Austin, "Wonderful, totally charming, very, very funny--perfect when you seek relief from what is such a deadly serious subject."
Body and Soul, by Anita Roddick (Crown Publishing, 800-726-0600, 1991, $16). This is a classic, says Austin. "In case anybody thinks you can approach starting a business or holding a job in a measured, controlled, balanced way--just get this and read almost any page. Nobody ever does anything unless they are lit up with a cause or royally pissed off, as Roddick proves in this indispensable guide."
