Cambridge Business Association
The Partnership Charter
Book

The Partnership Charter

How to Start Out Right With Your New Business Partnership (Or Fix the One You're in)

David Gage
Basic Books, 2004
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

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Recommendation

This is a top-notch book - nicely written, smartly organized, and easy to follow and understand. It provides insightful information, telling case histories, useful checklists and exercises, and even includes a fully developed "Partnership Charter" in the appendix. Author David Gage offers an inside view of partnerships, and his case studies make the text a pleasure to read. More importantly, he shows you how to create a partnership charter that will function as your enterprise's Magna Carta in the years to come. If you are planning a partnership, getAbstract advises you to study this expert presentation first. You will save yourself a lot of trouble.

Summary

Partnerships: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

When actress and TV host Rosie O'Donnell joined with Gruner & Jahr U.S.A. as a 50-50 partner to publish the former McCall's magazine as Rosie, neither she nor the publishing company expected to end up in a knockdown fight. This, however, is precisely what happened. Somehow, when they teamed up, O'Donnell and the publishing company neglected to stipulate who would control Rosie's editorial content. It wasn't long before a frustrated, angry O'Donnell threatened to sue the company and to "bring the whole magazine down" unless she got her way. After an extended battle, the magazine is now an unpleasant memory.

How could O'Donnell and Gruner & Jahr fail to mandate who would govern Rosie's editorial content - the most basic of all publishing decisions? The truth is that partners sometimes give short shrift to fundamental issues (Who will be in charge? How should we handle compensation?) when they first go into business with each other. Such oversight is a primary reason why so many business partnerships dissolve.

Let's Be Partners!

Partnerships are one of the most common forms of business organization. Most...

About the Author

David Gage, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and adjunct professor at the Kogod School of Business at American University. He founded a multidisciplinary consulting and mediation firm that specializes in conflict prevention for closely held businesses.

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