New Perspectives on Firm Growth

This insightful volume presents a collection of innovative works by two of the leading researchers of firm growth.The studies extend previous research by providing stronger theoretical underpinnings and using longitudinal databases that can separate in time the firms' growth from its presumed causes. They also break new ground by examining different modes of growth, such as sales growth vs. employment growth, and organic growth vs. acquisition-based expansion. Further, the studies investigate the drivers of firm growth and take a critical look at the effects, such as under what circumstances high growth is associated with high profitability. The issue of how firm growth is achieved and managed, and what consequences it has for different stakeholders is both theoretically interesting and practically important. The book will strongly appeal to academics of entrepreneurship, small business management and strategy. Contributors: L. Achtenhagen, G.N. Chandler, P. Davidsson, F. Delmar, J. Fitzsimmons, S. Girma, A. Lockett, A. McKelvie, L. Naldi, H. Patzelt, D.A. Shepherd, P. Steffens, J. Wiklund

Table of Contents:
Contents: Introduction Per Davidsson and Johan Wiklund PART I: EXPLAINING WHY AND HOW MUCH FIRMS GROW 1. Building an Integrative Model of Small Business Growth Johan Wiklund, Holger Patzelt and Dean A. Shepherd 2. Aspiring for, and Achieving Growth: The Moderating Role of Resources and Opportunities Johan Wiklund and Dean A. Shepherd 3. The Effect of Small Business Managers’ Growth Motivation on Firm Growth: A Longitudinal Study Frédéric Delmar and Johan Wiklund PART II: CHANGING THE FIRM GROWTH RESEARCH AGENDA 4. Are We Comparing Apples with Apples or Apples with Oranges? Appropriateness of Knowledge Accumulation Across Growth Studies Dean A. Shepherd and Johan Wiklund 5. Advancing Firm Growth Research: A Focus on Growth Mode Instead of Growth Rate Alexander McKelvie and Johan Wiklund 6. Towards an Integrative Framework for Future Research on Small Firm Growth Per Davidsson, Leona Achtenhagen and Lucia Naldi PART III: A CRITICAL LOOK AT THE GROWTH–PROFIT RELATIONSHIP 7. Growing Profitable or Growing from Profits: Putting the Horse in Front of the Cart? Per Davidsson, Paul Steffens and Jason Fitzsimmons 8. Performance Configurations Over Time: Implications for Growth-and Profit-oriented Strategies Paul Steffens, Per Davidsson and Jason Fitzsimmons PART IV: THEORY-DRIVEN RESEARCH ON SPECIFIC FORMS OF GROWTH 9. Asset Specificity and Behavioral Uncertainty as Moderators of the Sales Growth–Employment Growth Relationship in Emerging Ventures Gaylen N. Chandler, Alexander McKelvie and Per Davidsson 10. Organic and Acquisitive Growth: Re‐examining, Testing and Extending Penrose’s Growth Theory Andy Lockett, Johan Wiklund, Per Davidsson and Sourafel Girma Index

About the Author :
Per Davidsson, Director, Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research and Professor of Entrepreneurship, Queensland University of Technology, Australia and Jönköping International Business School, Sweden and Johan Wiklund, The Al Berg Chair and Professor of Entrepreneurship, Whitman School of Management, Syracuse University, US

Review :
‘This collection of articles by an internationally recognized team of authors is a welcome addition to the literature on firm growth. The authors, singly and together, have previously made important contributions with regard to frameworks for understanding growth, as well as cutting-edge empirical research on the actual growth process. In this volume, the authors bring previous research up-to-date, providing a critical look at what has been published in the last decade and offering new theoretically informed insights in how and why firms grow.’