The phenomenon of enterprise growth is more a function of the nature of the entrepreneurial person and the policies and strategies adopted by a venture rather than the economic and environmental factors such as profitability or industry growth. This book focuses on the role of founder characteristics and venture policies in promoting enterprise-growth, with special focus on High Growth Enterprises. The research reported in this book is triggered by the that almost 95% of business start-ups either get closed down or stagnate, with only about 5% taking to a growth path, even though many more of them are profitable. The study presented in the book investigates the relationships between enterprise growth and venture policies as well as entrepreneurial characteristics such as the traits, motives and background of entrepreneurs. It also identifies the general entrepreneurial characteristics and points to the need for reviewing/redefining some of the concepts traditionally associated with entrepreneurship, such as achievement motive, power motive, desire for independence, risk-taking ability, support and encouragement, etc.
Contents:
Foreword
Preface
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Growth: The Sour Grapes of Entrepreneurship
Research Design and Methodology
Enterprise Growth, Profitability, Industry Growth and Growth Venture Characteristics
General Entrepreneurial Concerns and Orientations
Inter-linkages among Factors and their Association with Enterprise Growth
Conclusion
References
Appendix 1: An Illustrative Case-Study
Appendix 2: Entrepreneurial Policies and Strategies A Questionnaire
Index
Readership: Advanced graduate and post-graduate students, researchers and practitioners in the fields of Entrepreneurship and New Venture Management. Key Features:
Entrepreneurial ventures, especially the high-growth ones, are of special interest to researchers, practitioners, consultants, trainers and policy-makers, because of the high potential of these ventures for developing the economy by generating income and employment
Although there are many books on entrepreneurship, there are very few on high-growth ventures
The book offers a fairly comprehensive coverage of the issues related to enterprise growth, such as firm-profitability, industry-growth, founder-characteristics (background, traits, motives, personal policies) and venture policies, and thereby provides an opportunity to the community of scholars to reflect on the relevance of the prior theories and concepts proposed for explaining entrepreneurship
Real-life case examples used for illustrating the concepts and strategies will be of special interest to all stakeholders, especially practitioners, consultants and trainers
The questions raised in the book would open up newer directions of thinking and stimulate further research in the field of entrepreneurship
The methodology adopted in the book is fairly rigorous and could be of help to future researchers, especially doctoral scholars