ABSTRACT
The data on firm birth and death rates analysed by Anyadike Danes & Hart highlight a significant amount of ‘churn’ among new firms as many are established and die quite quickly. Stage or linear models thus imply that firms grow in a predictable way and that you should be able to diagnose a particular resource or systems deficiency at a specific stage in their development cycle and apply the appropriate solution. Stage models conceptualize management transitions as requiring access to specific knowledge resources that will solve predictable crises; resource saliency will change depending on which crisis is being managed. Tony was a packaging manufacturer who provided packaging solutions for large corporate clients and small businesses. One of the key underpinning theoretical assumptions is that stage models are generally applicable to all growing firms. The starting point is the entrepreneur’s existing human capital and their capacity to engage in critical reflection about their business.
