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The 7 Irrefutable Rules of Small Business Growth by Robert Morris

The 7 Irrefutable Rules of Small Business Growth
Steven S. Little
John Wiley & Sons

The ³rules² which Little offers in this volume could well have been 11 or 21...if not more. All are essential to business success. For example, ³Establish and maintain a strong sense of purpose² (#1) and ³Attract and keep the best and brightest² (#6). No news there. The great value of this book is derived from what Little has to say about each rule and, more importantly, HOW and WHY all seven are interdependent. At this point, it may be of interest to share information cited by Michael Gerber in his recently published E-Myth Mastery: ³Of the 1 million U.S. small businesses started this year [2005], more than 80% of them will be out of business within 5 years and 96% will have closed their doors before their 10th birthday.² Opinions vary as to the percentages as well as to the reasons for such extensive failure. However, the fact remains that a substantial majority of small businesses will fail eventually. In this volume, Little suggests strategies and tactics to achieve and sustain many of the competitive advantages to which Welch refers. His tone is personal, indeed conversational, and he thereby establishes a direct rapport with his reader; moreover, he anchors his observations and recommendations within a real-world context, mercifully free of theories and hypotheses; also, he addresses how and why as well as what to do; and finally, following his rigorous analysis of each of the seven rules (to each of which he devotes a separate chapter), Little then provides a suggested Next Steps section which reiterates key points concerning implementation. I also appreciate Little¹s inclusion of hundreds of personal anecdotes which add some seasoning to an already lively narrative. This book offers a practical, cohesive, comprehensive, and cost-effective program by which all organizations (regardless of size or nature) can achieve and then sustain profitable growth. It will be of greatest interest to decision-makers in smaller organizations...and perhaps to decision-makers in larger organizations which have lost their entrepreneurial spirit.