The best writing on the subject of temporary businesses is by Ted Goranson, especially his short monogram "Whale of a tale", now out of print (I've suggested t

The best writing on the subject of temporary businesses is by Ted Goranson, especially his short monogram "Whale of a tale", now out of print (I've suggested to him that he simply upload it to Amazon and self publish it, but he has not yet done so). Of businesses that exist for a specific job he calls them Agile Virtual Enterprises. He traces the history of the AVEs to the whaling ships of the 1600s. He points out that the laws created then continue to shape modern AVEs, and countries that did not do whaling in the 1600s generally don't have AVEs now. He focuses on industries such as film to look at how AVEs evolved during the 20th century and how that culture helped influence modern startup life.