High Growth Strategy

New ventures have historically played an important role in the development and commercialization of new products, processes and technologies. At times, such organizations have been instrumental in the creation of entirely new industries such as personal computers, bio-technology, and internet-based services. Growth has been a central concern within the economics, strategy and organizational literatures for decades. Based on these studies, it is apparent that there are two central growth related tasks that must be addressed by all senior executives. The first concerns where and how the firm will grow; the second critical task relates to how firms actually manage the challenges presented by very high rates of growth, about which remarkably little has been written. Aimed at MBAs and executives, this book by two top US strategy academics reports on a detailed study of the strategic and organizational approaches to managing growth in relatively young but fast growing ventures. The authors, well known for their research in this area, have interviewed executives in forty (40) high-growth companies to capture their growth stories. Through this inquiry Kazanjian and Drazin identify a set of strategic and organizational elements that advances our understanding of the central managerial tasks of business growth.