Designing Businesses, How to Develop and Lead a High Technology Company

Engineers and other technical professionals are increasingly presented with the opportunity of running their own businesses as entrepreneurs. In other circumstances, particularly in times of great change in industry, they may be considered 'corporate entrepreneurs', leading divisions of larger organisations in an entrepreneurial fashion.

This book aims to support the engineer finding him/herself in this position. It looks at the many issues confronting the technical professional faced with the task of leading a company, or a semi-autonomous unit within a company, with clarity and direction in a changing environment. It focuses particularly on:

• designing the business to meet the requirements of the marketplace
• financial design of the business and raising venture capital
• alliances and acquisitions, management buyouts and buyins

The material will be useful to three groups of engineers: those who are setting up their own businesses or running companies in changing markets, those who are presented with a management-buyout opportunity, and those who wish simply to broaden their awareness of commercial issues.

George Young currently heads the Acquisition Search function within DCC plc, an industrial holding company quoted in London and Dublin. He has worked with the company in London, Dublin and Boston, and previously worked with a subsidiary of AT&T. Dr Young sits on the boards of three DCC businesses in the computer field, as well as one US company in the health-care business. He is a former chairman of the Irish Venture Capital Association and a director of the European Venture Capital Association. He chairs the Telecommunications Services Policy Committee within the Irish Business and Employers' Confederation (IBEC), and is a member of the National Executive Council of the IBEC. He holds an MBA and a PhD in electronic engineering.