IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nms/mamere/10.5771-0935-9915-2018-4-333.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding the Alternative of Not Growing for Small Mature Businesses

Author

Listed:
  • Souza, Ricardo Rodrigues de
  • Seifert, Rene Eugenio

Abstract

A major characteristic of modern capitalist society is the idea of progress and development through economic growth. In this context, business growth in size is typically equated to management success, and not growing is hardly seen as an alternative or a choice. In this study, we explore what the fact of not having their businesses grow means for Brazilian owners of smaller firms with over 30 years of operation. Methodologically, this study is an exploratory qualitative research. We have investigated six mature small firms from the food and drink sectors, through semi-structured interviews. Empirical investigation resulted in three major findings. The first one is that the goal of business growth is not as univocal among smaller firms as the dominant management literature supposes. Secondly, we have identified what the absence of business growth means for sampled firms which inform a choice towards that course of action. Finally, we have found that business success has a much more diverse set of meanings than the mere idea of organisational growth that is found in mainstream literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Souza, Ricardo Rodrigues de & Seifert, Rene Eugenio, 2018. "Understanding the Alternative of Not Growing for Small Mature Businesses," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 29(4), pages 333-348.
    • Handle: RePEc:nms:mamere:10.5771/0935-9915-2018-4-333
    DOI: 10.5771/0935-9915-2018-4-333
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nomos-elibrary.de/10.5771/0935-9915-2018-4-333
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5771/0935-9915-2018-4-333?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Johan Wiklund & Dean Shepherd, 2003. "Aspiring for, and Achieving Growth: The Moderating Role of Resources and Opportunities," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(8), pages 1919-1941, December.
    2. Davidsson, Per, 1989. "Entrepreneurship -- And after? A study of growth willingness in small firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 211-226, May.
    3. Yuri Mishina & Timothy G. Pollock & Joseph F. Porac, 2004. "Are more resources always better for growth? Resource stickiness in market and product expansion," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(12), pages 1179-1197, December.
    4. Lars Kolvereid & Erlend Bullvag, 1996. "Growth Intentions And Actual Growth: The Impact Of Entrepreneurial Choice," Journal of Enterprising Culture (JEC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 4(01), pages 1-17.
    5. Scott Holmes & Ian Zimmer, 1994. "The Nature of the Small Firm: Understanding the Motivations of Growth and Non-Growth Oriented Owners," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 19(1), pages 97-120, June.
    6. Cliff, Jennifer E., 1998. "Does one size fit all? exploring the relationship between attitudes towards growth, gender, and business size," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 13(6), pages 523-542, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Naudé, Wim, 2024. "Entrepreneurship Is Dangerously Obsessed with Growth and Incompatible with Current Visions of a Post-growth Society," IZA Discussion Papers 17158, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. M. Knockaert & M. Der Foo & T. Erikson, 2011. "Determinants of entrepreneurs’ growth intentions. A cognitive style perspective," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 11/720, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    2. José Pedro Carreón-Gutiérrez & José Manuel Saiz-Álvarez, 2019. "Opportunity Motivation and Growth Aspirations of Mexican Entrepreneurs: The Moderating Role of the Household Income," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-15, November.
    3. Jay Mitra & Asma Basit, 2021. "Personal networks and growth aspirations: a case study of second-generation, Muslim, female entrepreneurs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 121-143, January.
    4. Douglas, Evan J., 2013. "Reconstructing entrepreneurial intentions to identify predisposition for growth," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 633-651.
    5. Cyron, Thomas & Zoellick, Jan Cornelius, 2018. "Business Development in Post-Growth Economies: Challenging Assumptions in the Existing Business Growth Literature," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 29(3), pages 206-229.
    6. Ioannis Giotopoulos & Alexandra Kontolaimou & Aggelos Tsakanikas, 2017. "Drivers of high-quality entrepreneurship: what changes did the crisis bring about?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 913-930, April.
    7. Raquel Puente & María Antonia Cervilla & Carlos Giovanni González & Nunzia Auletta, 2017. "Determinants of the growth aspiration: a quantitative study of Venezuelan entrepreneurs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 699-726, March.
    8. Cassar, Gavin, 2006. "Entrepreneur opportunity costs and intended venture growth," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 610-632, September.
    9. Mohd Hizam Hanafiah, & Sheikh Usman Yousaf, & Bushra Usman,, 2017. "The influence of psychological capital on the growth intentions of entrepreneurs: A study on Malaysian SME entrepreneurs," Business and Economic Horizons (BEH), Prague Development Center, vol. 13(5), pages 556-569, December.
    10. Desislava Ivanova Yordanova, 2011. "Growth Plans of Bulgarian Enterprises: An Empirical Investigation of Individual, Organizational and Environmental Influences," International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, vol. 1(1), pages 1-30.
    11. Mayer-Haug, Katrin & Read, Stuart & Brinckmann, Jan & Dew, Nicholas & Grichnik, Dietmar, 2013. "Entrepreneurial talent and venture performance: A meta-analytic investigation of SMEs," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 1251-1273.
    12. Unger, Jens M. & Rauch, Andreas & Frese, Michael & Rosenbusch, Nina, 2011. "Human capital and entrepreneurial success: A meta-analytical review," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 341-358, May.
    13. Bradley, Steven W. & Wiklund, Johan & Shepherd, Dean A., 2011. "Swinging a double-edged sword: The effect of slack on entrepreneurial management and growth," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 537-554, September.
    14. Siepel, Josh & Cowling, Marc & Coad, Alex, 2017. "Non-founder human capital and the long-run growth and survival of high-tech ventures," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 34-43.
    15. McKelvie, Alexander & Brattström, Anna & Dennis Jr., William J., 2021. "What do they think and feel about growth? Examining small business managers’ attitudes towards growth in the United States," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 15(C).
    16. Tatiana S. Manolova & Nancy M. Carter & Ivan M. Manev & Bojidar S. Gyoshev, 2007. "The Differential Effect of Men and Women Entrepreneurs’ Human Capital and Networking on Growth Expectancies in Bulgaria," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 31(3), pages 407-426, May.
    17. A. Arrighetti & A. Ninni, 2009. "Firm size and growth opportunities: a survey," Economics Department Working Papers 2009-EP05, Department of Economics, Parma University (Italy).
    18. Jolanda Hessels & Marco Gelderen & Roy Thurik, 2008. "Entrepreneurial aspirations, motivations, and their drivers," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 323-339, October.
    19. Guo, Feng & Zou, Bo & Zhang, Xiaofei & Bo, Qingwen & Li, Kai, 2020. "Financial slack and firm performance of SMMEs in China: Moderating effects of government subsidies and market-supporting institutions," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    20. HERMANS, Julie & VANDERSTRAETEN, Johanna & DEJARDIN, Marcus & RAMDANI, Dendi & STAM, Erik & VAN WITTELOOSTUIJN, Arjen, 2012. "Ambitious entrepreneurship: Antecedents and consequences," Working Papers 2012023, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nms:mamere:10.5771/0935-9915-2018-4-333. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nomos.de/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.