| Over the last twenty years, the economic impact of second stage entrepreneurial firms has garnered great interest from a number of wide ranging stakeholder groups, including government and economic development policy makers, academic researchers, and small business support agencies. Interest in second stage firms has increased due to the dramatic role these firms play in the creation of new jobs in the US economy, with a significant number of jobs being created during this phase of business growth. This increased interest has provided numerous theoretical approaches and research focused primarily on the criteria of business success.;Additionally, the phenomenon of organizational decline is a widely researched concept, yet very few empirical studies have been attempted to explore the effects on second stage entrepreneurial firms. This dissertation explores and reviews the significant role the decline variables of creditworthiness, employee growth, and industry expansion play upon the ability of a second stage entrepreneurial firm to profitably grow and survive.;The theoretical review and empirical study presents a comprehensive understanding of the variable's effects and forms a relatively new understanding of the variables potential as precursor to the decline and failure of a second stage entrepreneurial firm.;Empirical results indicate a negative, but statistically insignificant correlation, between the industry expansion and creditworthiness variables and the sales performance variable. A positive correlation between employee growth and the sales performance dependent variable was found. |
