Narrow Results

The goal of this paper is to identify the factors that precede and may cause sudden changes in the pace of growth of high-growth SMEs or gazelles. A retrospective longitudinal case study of seven high growth SMEs that had undergone a total of 14 sudden shifts in growth reveals that a number of events caused the changes of pace. Some were triggered by the entrepreneur's decisions while others resulted from events beyond his/her control. Management's motivation for growth was an important element and this motivation changed over time, being influenced by both success and problems associated with actual growth. The success of growth strategies also appears to depend on the firm's proximity to its client base and its ability to obtain the information required for sound decision-making. Lastly, the availability of tangible and intangible resources was found essential in allowing the company to seize growth opportunities and proximity to the business milieu may help accessing these resources.

This paper examines the effects of innovativeness, creative climate and learning on high growth. We study how fast-growing SMEs, known as gazelles, differ from other SMEs. A survey of 345 Norwegian gazelles and 135 non-gazelles supports the idea that innovativeness is an important factor in whether a company becomes a gazelle. Creative climate, learning and innovativeness were conceptualized and analyzed as first-order constructs using confirmatory factor analysis, OLS and Probit regression. Learning and creative climate were found to have a positive impact on growth through innovativeness. Based on the data, it seems that younger companies are more likely to be innovative and grow quickly.