The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses

"After this impressive study reviews the difficulties and risks involved in starting new businesses, it provides well selected examples of both successes and failures. Bhide's description and analyses of the continuing evolution of growth is placed in a broader historical setting, one that is related to more general economic and sociological analyses and theories. The book should be required reading for entrepreneurs at all stages in the development of their enterprises."-- Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., Isador Straus Professor of Business History, Emeritus Harvard Business School "Required reading for entrepreneurs at all stages in the development of their enterprises."--Alfred Chandler, Harvard Business School
"With the analytic rigor of a scholar and the practical insight of a savvy investor, Amar Bhide explores the most important aspects of entrepreneurship: how and why some businesses prosper and evolve while others atrophy. And unlike most research on entrepreneurs, Bhide explains how what's good for small business is good for big business and good for America."--Richard F. Cavanagh, President and CEO, The Conference Board
"Anyone who wants to start or grow a business should read this book. It combines rigorous analysis with data and field research on hundreds of new ventures. As a third generation entrepreneur, I found Bhide has accurately captured the challenges entrepreneurs face and their free-wheeling strategies for success."-- Dan Bricklin, Co-creator of VisiCalc, Co-founder of Software Arts, Software Garden and Trellix
"I cannot say enough about The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses. It is, in my estimation, the single most significant contribution to our understanding of entrepreneurship to date. It illuminates what lies at the very heart of capitalism itself--the process by which men and women transform human capital (daring, imagination, resourcefulness) into financial capital (wealth). The only negative thing I have to say about this remarkable book is, 'damn, I wish I had written it myself.'--George Gendron, Editor in Chief, Inc. Magazine
"A good deal of what Mr. Bhide says is contentious. But the strength of his book is that it hands us large quantities of empirical and awkward fact. Any future theorizing about the role and nature of the entrepreneur must take it into account."--Financial Times
"This groundbreaking work shows the complementary roles held by innovative startup companies in areas with high uncertainty and little financial investment and by more established companies, which focus on large-scale projects with more certain payoffs....Offering a wealth of avenues for future research as well as insights for potential entrepreneurs, this book is sure to be cited for years to come."--Library Journal