"Why and How Small Firms Grow: Advancing Research on Firm Growth"
Päärahoittaja
Päärahoittajan myöntämä tuki (€)
- 28 000,00
Hankkeen aikataulu
Hankkeen aloituspäivämäärä: 01.08.2023
Hankkeen päättymispäivämäärä: 31.07.2024
Tiivistelmä
Firm growth is a condition or assumption of entrepreneurship. Why some firms grow, and others do not is a key question for entrepreneurship scholars and practitioners. While multiple views are evident in existing literature about what really matters for a company in order to grow, the empirical evidence shows contradicting evidence.
The purpose of this research is to shed light on the process of firm growth and to address several issues that have been either neglected or viewed differently in earlier studies. First, there is an issue of predispositions held about small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) growth. It is a commonly held belief that large companies grow by merging and acquiring, while smaller firms experience resource limitations and thus must grow by own means (i.e. organically). This is however not accurate. Recent quantitative evidence showed that not only SMEs on average perform mergers and acquisitions more often than large companies (Weitzel & McCarthy, 2011), but they also do it more profitably (Moeller et al., 2004). Existing knowledge only partially addresses the reality and often does not accurately depict the context of SMEs. This research bridges academic findings closer to practical applicability.
Second, the consensus about what helps firms to grow has not been reached yet. The question ‘what makes some firms grow and others not?’ is frequently asked by both, researchers and firm owners. This research addresses earlier contradicting discussions on the role of entrepreneurial growth intentions in firm development. We attempt to understand why growth intention is a necessary but not sufficient condition for growth and explain why owner-managers should not solely rely on own intentions.
To meet these purposes, we contribute to the knowledge about firm growth by the means of three independent studies employing three different methodological techniques:
Study 1. Title: Growth Intention and Variance of Firm Growth Rates : longitudinal survey-based research with annually collected survey data from 2,243 small and medium-sized Finnish IT companies
Study 2. Title: Growth intentions and firm performance: A meta-analysis study
Study 3. Title: SMEs and Growth Mode Change: systematic literature review and future research agenda
The purpose of this research is to shed light on the process of firm growth and to address several issues that have been either neglected or viewed differently in earlier studies. First, there is an issue of predispositions held about small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) growth. It is a commonly held belief that large companies grow by merging and acquiring, while smaller firms experience resource limitations and thus must grow by own means (i.e. organically). This is however not accurate. Recent quantitative evidence showed that not only SMEs on average perform mergers and acquisitions more often than large companies (Weitzel & McCarthy, 2011), but they also do it more profitably (Moeller et al., 2004). Existing knowledge only partially addresses the reality and often does not accurately depict the context of SMEs. This research bridges academic findings closer to practical applicability.
Second, the consensus about what helps firms to grow has not been reached yet. The question ‘what makes some firms grow and others not?’ is frequently asked by both, researchers and firm owners. This research addresses earlier contradicting discussions on the role of entrepreneurial growth intentions in firm development. We attempt to understand why growth intention is a necessary but not sufficient condition for growth and explain why owner-managers should not solely rely on own intentions.
To meet these purposes, we contribute to the knowledge about firm growth by the means of three independent studies employing three different methodological techniques:
Study 1. Title: Growth Intention and Variance of Firm Growth Rates : longitudinal survey-based research with annually collected survey data from 2,243 small and medium-sized Finnish IT companies
Study 2. Title: Growth intentions and firm performance: A meta-analysis study
Study 3. Title: SMEs and Growth Mode Change: systematic literature review and future research agenda
