Getting Bigger by Growing Smaller: A New Growth Model for Corporate America

Large, mature companies always become trapped at some point in the declining stages of what has become known as the corporate life cycle. Historically this barrier to continued growth has been, and is still, as unavoidable as death and taxes.

In Getting Bigger by Growing Smaller, Joel Shulman, a leading researcher on entrepreneurship, teams up with Thomas T. Stallkamp, one of the world's most effective executives, to introduce a powerful new growth model for corporate America (based on 4 years of research at Babson College and Harvard University) that can enable corporations to break through this barrier to growth by utilizing a new breakthrough business model called the Strategic Entrepreneurial Unit (SEU). Shulman and Stallkamp demonstrate how to build new employee/entrepreneur-led startups within the corporation--entities that can take on new market opportunities and deliver startup-level growth. This is the first book to provide practical methods for actually identifying, creating, and implementing smaller units within large organizations to enable continued, rapid growth beyond the predictable barriers of the corporate life cycle.

Joel M. Shulman holds a Term Chair and is an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at Babson College. In addition to his Ph.D., CFA, and CMA credentials, he has an MPA from Harvard, where he conducted much of his research. He directs the Shulman Review Program, which provides training for investment professionals throughout the world. He has consulted extensively for both small entrepreneurial firms and large corporations, including Coldwell Banker, Ford, Freddie Mac, Kmart, Merrill Lynch, Salomon Brothers, Sears, and UNISYS. He has also consulted for the World Bank, assisting in the development of capital markets throughout Central Asia and the former Soviet Union.

Shulman is author or co-author of Encyclopedia of Business; Leasing for Profit: Alternatives to Conventional Financing; Planning Cash Flow; How to Effectively Manage Corporate Cash: A Manager’s Guide to Financial Analysis; The Job of Corporate Controller; and How to Manage and Evaluate Capital Expenditures.

Thomas T. Stallkamp is Vice Chairman and CEO at MSX International, a global provider of collaborative enterprise services. He previously served as Vice Chairman of DaimlerChrysler, where he earned a global reputation for improving quality and cost-efficiency by developing new business processes and enhanced partnerships with the automotive supply community. During his term as President, Chrysler was the auto industry’s most profitable company.

Stallkamp serves on the boards of Visteon Corporation and Baxter International. He is also on the board of advisors of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, and he teaches at Babson College’s Graduate Entrepreneurship Center. He has received two Honorary Doctorates, from Georgetown University and Miami University.