A Physiological Approach to Analysing SME Growth Patterns and to Understanding the Distinctions and Similarities between Normal and Abnormal Growth

Abstract

Building on earlier work on abnormal SME growth trajectories, this paper investigates to what extent the analysis can be extended to the study of an unusual but “normal” growth pattern. The detailed case histories of two firms which might be called micro-giants are presented. These are companies that would be categorised as small firms but are actually competing, and competing successfully, in non-niche markets with much larger firms, or even multinational giants. The resource based view and modelling approaches developed in the earlier non-normal growth situations is then applied to these cases. It is argued that by viewing the management of strategic assets as part of the normal business management process, but recognising that both normal and abnormal growth behaviours can ensue, is a physiological approach. This is distinct from the “where things went wrong” or pathological approach of the earlier work.