ATLANTA - Monday, February 26, 2007.

Tatum Founder, Doug Tatum Says Gazelle Companies Caught in ‘No Man’s Land’ Are the Key to New Job Growth in the U.S.

Douglass M. Tatum, founder of Tatum, LLC. a national business consulting firm, characterized fast growth companies that have grown quickly to $25-50M size range as ‘Gazelles’ and warns that although these companies provide the majority of new jobs in the country, they can find themselves in a ‘no man’s land’ when it comes to understanding and accomplishing changes necessary to continue to the next level.

Speaking at the Paalam, Inc. sponsored CIO Roundtable Forum luncheon recently, he noted, “These companies have outpaced the talents of the entrepreneurs who founded them and led the early growth. Gazelles need new management skills and capital to invest in infrastructure to prepare for the next round of growth.”

Tatum sees these Gazelles as having huge implications for America’s future. “Gazelles are becoming the large-company research and development function. The large companies wait to see what innovations Gazelles bring to the market and then race to outbid others to buy them. “This makes private equity the king, in today’s financial markets,” he said, “but has all but put pure venture capital on the back burner, stifling the commercialization of new ideas. Without the funding for these new ideas, we will see less Gazelles and fewer new jobs.”

He summarized his remarks by saying, “These Gazelles are so important to job creation that it is ludicrous to put obstacles in front of them, such as the barriers against the use of global outsourcing. If a smart, growing company can use these new resources to cut costs and improve competitiveness, this translates to more new jobs. At a time when large companies are shedding jobs, it’s important that we give the Gazelles every opportunity to succeed.”

Another speaker at the same event, David Hudson, CEO of Solution Resources, Inc., a change-management consulting firm, detailed the ways that savvy companies in this no-man’s-land recognize the need to change and deal with it. “You can’t order change done,” he said, referring to the fact that few executives recognize the complexity of a major change in an organization. “When an organization trying to change fails, it’s because the top management often fails to fully commit to the process,” he said. Hudson has worked with large and small companies and insists that there is a manageable change process that can be applied within a company if the management is willing to be educated as to what’s entailed. “We’re usually called in when the management’s program isn’t working. It may be too late then, since the business is disrupted, and good people leave. Where we are most successful is when the company realizes it has to change and they aren’t the experts. Properly planned and installed, the process to accomplish successful change can energize a company’s momentum and lead it to further growth.”

Paalam, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is a technology services company that specializes in managing globally distributed technology development teams for its clients. Paalam offers significant savings by providing fixed price contracts, guaranteeing quality and managing software development projects end to end.

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