Sink or Swim: Know When It's Time to Bail

ABSTRACT

There are endless survival challenges for newly created businesses. The degree to which a business successfully meets these challenges depends largely on the nature of the organization and the culture that evolves within it. That’s to say that while market size, technical quality, and product design are obviously crucial factors, company failures are typically rooted in some form of organizational dysfunction. To help investors recognize signs of trouble before catastrophe strikes, I started working more than a decade ago on the Bell-Mason Diagnostic, a quantitative evaluation method that includes a set of rules for examining a company and comparing it with an “ideal” organization.

REFERENCES

• 1: C. Gordon Bell , John E. McNamara, High-Tech Ventures: The Guide for Entrepreneurial Success, Perseus Publishing, 1991
• 2: 2. Mason, H., and Rohner, T. The Venture Imperative: A New Model for Corporate Innovation. Harvard Business School Press, Boston: MA, 2002, 301-307.
• 3: 3. Nanyang Ventures: see http://www.nanyang.com.au/.
• 4: Edgar H. Schein , Paul J. Kampas , Michael Sonduck , Peter DeLisi, DEC is Dead, Long Live DEC: The Lasting Legacy of Digital Equipment Corporation, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2003

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.6 MANAGEMENT OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS
      K.6.1 Project and People Management
          Subjects: Management techniques (e.g., PERT/CPM)

Additional Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.1 THE COMPUTER INDUSTRY
      Subjects: Markets; Suppliers
  K.6 MANAGEMENT OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS
      K.6.1 Project and People Management
          Subjects: Strategic information systems planning; Systems analysis and design

General Terms:
Economics, Management