Entrepreneurial and Business Growth and the Quest for a “Comprehensive Theory”: Tilting at Windmills?

Leitch, Claire; Hill, Frances; Neergaard, Helle

doi:10.1111/j.1540-6520.2010.00374.x

Cited by 148 publications

(175 citation statements)

References 30 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

157

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…As noted, a key feature of the high growth entrepreneurship literature, and firm growth research more generally, has been a strong focus on the questions of 'how many' and 'how much', rather than questions of 'how' and 'why' firms achieve growth (Henrekson and Johansson 2010;Leitch et al 2010;McKelvie and Wiklund 2010). The consequence of this focus on measurement is that "our current understanding remains limited" (Dobbs and Hamilton 2007, 315).…”

Section: Recent High Growth Firm Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Myth-busting and entrepreneurship policy: the case of high growth firms

Brown

Mawson

Mason

2017

Entrepreneurship & Regional Development

164

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Promoting high growth firms (HGFs) has become a strong fixation within enterprise policy. This is a debate article seeking to examine and challenge the mythology perpetuated by policy makers and embedded within high growth entrepreneurship policy frameworks. Within the article we argue that a number of distinctive 'myths' have become deeply embedded within these policy frameworks. Such myths have been built on misconceived preconceptions of HGFs, which has resulted in policy-makers taking a myopic view of these firms. A key aim of the paper is to highlight how false perceptions of HGFs translate into inappropriate policy interventions. The paper challenges some of the most commonly held myths about these firms (that they are predominantly young, small, high-tech, VC-backed, university spin-outs, who grow in an orderly organic fashion, operating similarly irrespective of location) and identifies a clear mismatch between how policy makers perceive HGFs and what they actually look like in reality. Suggestions for the design of future policy approaches are forwarded.

show abstract

Section: Recent High Growth Firm Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Myth-busting and entrepreneurship policy: the case of high growth firms

Brown

Mawson

Mason

2017

Entrepreneurship & Regional Development

164

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Ideas of growth pervade the study of commercial organizations like firms, especially entrepreneurial ventures (Leitch et al 2010). Research into the phenomenon of 'growth' is primarily concerned with changes occurring when smaller firms grow in size, measured with reference to various indicators such as sales, employment, market share, physical outputs, profits and assets (Delmar 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Re-imagining the growth process: (co)-evolving metaphorical representations of entrepreneurial growth

Clarke

Holt

Blundel

2014

Entrepreneurship & Regional Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We investigate the role and influence of the biological metaphor 'growth' in studies of organizations, specifically in entrepreneurial settings. We argue that we need to reconsider metaphorical expressions of growth processes in entrepreneurship studies in order to better understand growth in the light of contemporary challenges, such as environmental concerns.Our argument is developed in two stages: first, we review the role of metaphor in organization and entrepreneurship studies. Second, we reflect critically on three conceptualizations of growth that have drawn on biological metaphors: the growing organism, natural selection and co-evolution. We find the metaphor of co-evolution heuristically valuable but under-used and in need of further refinement. We propose three characteristics of the co-evolutionary metaphor that might enrich our understanding of entrepreneurial growth: relational epistemology; collectivity; and multidimensionality. Through this we provide a conceptual means of reconciling an economic impetus for entrepreneurial growth with an environmental imperative for sustainability.

show abstract

“…Enfin, l'influence des caractéristiques du dirigeant semble décroître. La diversité des constats conduit les auteurs à considérer que « la croissance de chaque firme semble être unique et résulter d'un processus idiosyncratique » (Delmar et al, 2003 ;Dobbs et Hamilton, 2007 ;Leitch et al, 2010). Au final, l'article de Gueguen, Janssen et Giacomin est intéressant à la fois par son contenu, ses résultats, mais aussi ses implications.…”

Section: Les Déterminants Et Trajectoires De La Croissanceunclassified

“…Mais, si une certaine insatisfaction peut être ressentie sur un plan méthodologique, il apparaît de plus en plus que les questionnements doivent passer d'une focalisation sur le taux de croissance à une focalisation sur le mode de croissance, en cessant de considérer le processus de croissance comme une « boîte noire » (McKelvie et Wiklund, 2010 ;Leitch, Hill et Neergaard, 2010). De fait, Wright et Stigliani (2013) insistent sur la nécessité de se livrer à une analyse fine du processus de croissance, en éclairant finement le rôle de l'entrepreneur (who), le processus (how), son contenu (what) et son contexte (when and where).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified