Understanding the Myth of High Growth Firms

Understanding the Myth of High Growth Firms PDF Author: Malin Brännback
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461494575
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 117

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Book Description
In this volume, the authors challenge some long held assumptions about entrepreneurial firms held by academics, public policy makers, investors and even entrepreneurs themselves. The first is assumption is that growth is what really differentiates an entrepreneurial firm from a small business. The second is that growth is always good. Third, if growth is rapid, and/or high growth, it is even better. Drawing from a fresh review of the literature, their own primary research and experience in entrepreneurial ventures, the authors argue that the relationship between growth and firm performance is, in fact, inconclusive. Despite the strength of contemporary bias, there is strong evidence that the growth-profitability relationship is problematic. For example, rapid growth may lead to considerable organizational challenges that can seriously constrain a firm’s ability to generate sustainable profits. Also, it is not uncommon that a growth firm becomes a victim of its own success. Using examples from industries as diverse as airlines, accounting, biotechnology, information technology, personal products, wineries, and food establishments, the authors highlight limitations to research due to variations in the choice of growth indicators, the calculation of growth measures, the measurement periods, and whether objective or subjective measures have been used. Moreover, researchers have equated growth with high growth and almost automatically assumed that this also means high technology, while policy makers appear to have interpreted this as high employment. Armed with more precise definitions and understandings of key concepts and the nature of their causality, the authors consider the implications of restoring profitability to the core of entrepreneurship for future research, firm strategy, financing, organizational structure, resource allocation, and public policy.

Understanding the Myth of High Growth Firms

Understanding the Myth of High Growth Firms PDF Author: Malin Brännback
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461494575
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 117

Get Book

Book Description
In this volume, the authors challenge some long held assumptions about entrepreneurial firms held by academics, public policy makers, investors and even entrepreneurs themselves. The first is assumption is that growth is what really differentiates an entrepreneurial firm from a small business. The second is that growth is always good. Third, if growth is rapid, and/or high growth, it is even better. Drawing from a fresh review of the literature, their own primary research and experience in entrepreneurial ventures, the authors argue that the relationship between growth and firm performance is, in fact, inconclusive. Despite the strength of contemporary bias, there is strong evidence that the growth-profitability relationship is problematic. For example, rapid growth may lead to considerable organizational challenges that can seriously constrain a firm’s ability to generate sustainable profits. Also, it is not uncommon that a growth firm becomes a victim of its own success. Using examples from industries as diverse as airlines, accounting, biotechnology, information technology, personal products, wineries, and food establishments, the authors highlight limitations to research due to variations in the choice of growth indicators, the calculation of growth measures, the measurement periods, and whether objective or subjective measures have been used. Moreover, researchers have equated growth with high growth and almost automatically assumed that this also means high technology, while policy makers appear to have interpreted this as high employment. Armed with more precise definitions and understandings of key concepts and the nature of their causality, the authors consider the implications of restoring profitability to the core of entrepreneurship for future research, firm strategy, financing, organizational structure, resource allocation, and public policy.

The Myth of Private Equity

The Myth of Private Equity PDF Author: Jeffrey C. Hooke
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231552823
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
Once an obscure niche of the investment world, private equity has grown into a juggernaut, with consequences for a wide range of industries as well as the financial markets. Private equity funds control companies that represent trillions of dollars in assets, millions of employees, and the well-being of thousands of institutional investors and their beneficiaries. Even as the ruthlessness of some funds has made private equity a poster child for the harms of unfettered capitalism, many aspects of the industry remain opaque, hidden from the normal bounds of accountability. The Myth of Private Equity is a hard-hitting and meticulous exposé from an insider’s viewpoint. Jeffrey C. Hooke—a former private equity executive and investment banker with deep knowledge of the industry—examines the negative effects of private equity and the ways in which it has avoided scrutiny. He unravels the exaggerations that the industry has spun to its customers and the business media, scrutinizing its claims of lucrative investment returns and financial wizardry and showing the stark realities that are concealed by the funds’ self-mythologizing and penchant for secrecy. Hooke details the flaws in private equity’s investment strategies, critically examines its day-to-day operations, and reveals the broad spectrum of its enablers. A bracing and essential read for both the financial profession and the broader public, this book pulls back the curtain on one of the most controversial areas of finance.

Big Is Beautiful

Big Is Beautiful PDF Author: Robert D. Atkinson
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262345676
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
Why small business is not the basis of American prosperity, not the foundation of American democracy, and not the champion of job creation. In this provocative book, Robert Atkinson and Michael Lind argue that small business is not, as is widely claimed, the basis of American prosperity. Small business is not responsible for most of the country's job creation and innovation. American democracy does not depend on the existence of brave bands of self-employed citizens. Small businesses are not systematically discriminated against by government policy makers. Rather, Atkinson and Lind argue, small businesses are not the font of jobs, because most small businesses fail. The only kind of small firm that contributes to technological innovation is the technological start-up, and its success depends on scaling up. The idea that self-employed citizens are the foundation of democracy is a relic of Jeffersonian dreams of an agrarian society. And governments, motivated by a confused mix of populist and free market ideology, in fact go out of their way to promote small business. Every modern president has sung the praises of small business, and every modern president, according to Atkinson and Lind, has been wrong. Pointing to the advantages of scale for job creation, productivity, innovation, and virtually all other economic benefits, Atkinson and Lind argue for a “size neutral” policy approach both in the United States and around the world that would encourage growth rather than enshrine an anachronism. If we overthrow the “small is beautiful” ideology, we will be able to recognize large firms as the engines of progress and prosperity that they are.

Commercialisation and Innovation Strategy in Small Firms

Commercialisation and Innovation Strategy in Small Firms PDF Author: Tim Mazzarol
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9811926514
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 506

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Book Description
This book focuses on the process of commercialisation and innovation management in small firms. Although commercialisation and new product development (NPD) has been covered quite extensively, relatively little attention has been given to how small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) engage with these issues. The book explores this topic in depth, taking a close look at the reasons why decisions are made and mapping this behaviour against established theories and “best practice” models of NPD and commercialisation. The book uses case studies to analyse the relationship between entrepreneurial decision- making and commercialisation, and investigates how and why NPD and commercialisation decisions are made, which offers valuable insights from both a theoretical and applied perspective.

The Myth of Capitalism

The Myth of Capitalism PDF Author: Jonathan Tepper
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1394184069
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 349

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Book Description
The Myth of Capitalism tells the story of how America has gone from an open, competitive marketplace to an economy where a few very powerful companies dominate key industries that affect our daily lives. Digital monopolies like Google, Facebook and Amazon act as gatekeepers to the digital world. Amazon is capturing almost all online shopping dollars. We have the illusion of choice, but for most critical decisions, we have only one or two companies, when it comes to high speed Internet, health insurance, medical care, mortgage title insurance, social networks, Internet searches, or even consumer goods like toothpaste. Every day, the average American transfers a little of their pay check to monopolists and oligopolists. The solution is vigorous anti-trust enforcement to return America to a period where competition created higher economic growth, more jobs, higher wages and a level playing field for all. The Myth of Capitalism is the story of industrial concentration, but it matters to everyone, because the stakes could not be higher. It tackles the big questions of: why is the US becoming a more unequal society, why is economic growth anemic despite trillions of dollars of federal debt and money printing, why the number of start-ups has declined, and why are workers losing out.

The Myth of Market Share

The Myth of Market Share PDF Author: Richard Miniter
Publisher: Random House Digital, Inc.
ISBN: 9780609609880
Category : Market share
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Most business people are transfixed by the cult of size, the dogma of bigness. They want to gain, keep, and increase market share because they have been convinced that it is synonymous with profitability. It is not. In The Myth of Market Share, Richard Miniter shows why.Miniter pushes readers to rethink the common business wisdom and provides examples of practical strategies that enable businesses to achieve strong growth and high profits without resorting to ill-advised mergers such as that of Daimler Benz and Chrysler and other questionable measures in the pursuit of market dominance.

Research Handbook on Entrepreneurship and Leadership

Research Handbook on Entrepreneurship and Leadership PDF Author: Richard T. Harrison
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1783473762
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 512

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Book Description
This Research Handbook argues that the study of entrepreneurs as leaders is a gap in both the leadership and the entrepreneurship literatures. With conceptual and empirical chapters from a wide range of cultures and entrepreneurship and leadership ecosystems, the Research Handbook for the first time produces a systematic overview of the entrepreneurial leadership field, providing a state of the art perspective and highlighting unanswered questions and opportunities for further research. It consolidates existing theory development, stimulates new conceptual thinking and includes path-breaking empirical explorations.

The Transformation Myth

The Transformation Myth PDF Author: Gerald C. Kane
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262366576
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
In this business bestseller, how companies can adapt in an era of continuous disruption: a guide to responding to such acute crises as COVID-19. Gold Medalist in Business Disruption/Reinvention. When COVID-19 hit, businesses had to respond almost instantaneously--shifting employees to remote work, repairing broken supply chains, keeping pace with dramatically fluctuating customer demand. They were forced to adapt to a confluence of multiple disruptions inextricably linked to a longer-term, ongoing digital disruption. This book shows that companies that use disruption as an opportunity for innovation emerge from it stronger. Companies that merely attempt to "weather the storm" until things go back to normal (or the next normal), on the other hand, miss an opportunity to thrive. The authors, all experts on business and technology strategy, show that transformation is not a one-and-done event, but a continuous process of adapting to a volatile and uncertain environment. Drawing on five years of research into digital disruption--including a series of interviews with business leaders conducted during the COVID-19 crisis--they offer a framework for understanding disruption and tools for navigating it. They outline the leadership traits, business principles, technological infrastructure, and organizational building blocks essential for adapting to disruption, with examples from real-world organizations. Technology, they remind readers, is not an end in itself, but enables the capabilities essential for surviving an uncertain future: nimbleness, scalability, stability, and optionality.

How Venture Capital Works

How Venture Capital Works PDF Author: Phillip Ryan
Publisher: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc
ISBN: 1448867959
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 82

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Book Description
Explanations to the inner workings of one of the least understood, but arguably most important, areas of business finance is offered to readers in this engaging volume: venture capital. Venture capitalists provide necessary investment to seed (or startup) companies, but the startup is only the beginning, there is much more to be explored. These savvy investors help guide young entrepreneurs, who likely have little experience, to turn their businesses into the Googles, Facebooks, and Groupons of the world. This book explains the often-complex methods venture capitalists use to value companies and to get the most return on their investments, or ROI. This book is a must-have for any reader interested in the business world.

The Illusions of Entrepreneurship

The Illusions of Entrepreneurship PDF Author: Scott A. Shane
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300150067
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
There are far more entrepreneurs than most people realize. But the failure rate of new businesses is disappointingly high, and the economic impact of most of them disappointingly low, suggesting that enthusiastic would-be entrepreneurs and their investors all too often operate under a false set of assumptions. This book shows that the reality of entrepreneurship is decidedly different from the myths that have come to surround it. Scott Shane, a leading expert in entrepreneurial activity in the United States and other countries, draws on the data from extensive research to provide accurate, useful information about who becomes an entrepreneur and why, how businesses are started, which factors lead to success, and which predict a likely failure. The Illusions of Entrepreneurship is an essential resource for everyone who has dreamed of starting a new business, for investors in start-ups, for policy makers attempting to facilitate the formation and survival of new businesses, and for researchers interested in the economic impact of entrepreneurial activity. Scott Shane offers research-based answers to these questions and many others: · Why do people start businesses? · What industries are popular for start-ups? · How many jobs do new businesses create? · How do entrepreneurs finance their start-ups? · What makes some locations and some countries more entrepreneurial than others? · What are the characteristics of the typical entrepreneur? · How well does the typical start-up perform? · What strategies contribute to the survival and profitability of new businesses over time?