Understanding the Challenges to Growth in Entrepreneurial Firms: Cases from the UK and USA

Blackburn, Robert ORCID: 0000-0002-6488-0284 and Brush, Candida (2009) Understanding the Challenges to Growth in Entrepreneurial Firms: Cases from the UK and USA. In: RENT XXIII Research in Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2009-11-18 - 2009-11-20, Budapest.

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Abstract

This paper aims to contribute to the growing body of evidence by focusing on the specifics of fast-growth firms within a time period. The literature on firm growth is not new (Penrose, 1959; Boswell, 1972), spans a wide disciplinary base (e.g. Evans 1987; Starbuck, 1965) but remains unsatisfactory in terms of detailed empirical evidence and levels of theorising (Coad, 2007; Dobbs and Hamilton, 2007). The paper is an attempt to respond to the underlying exasperation of many scholars, with the level of theory development in the literature, and a call for more empirical evidence, on the actual experience of firms undergoing business growth. Using a framework that spans individual, enterprise and environmental factors, the paper examines owner-managers and the experience of their firms whilst undergoing the growth process and the causes of spurts and slowdowns in growth. The paper draws on data collected using a qualitative methodology with evidence from fast growth enterprises in the UK and the USA.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Unspecified)
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	03 Nov 2020 09:41
Last Modified:	18 Jan 2023 23:23
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3105941