Entrepreneurship, Second Edition

Chapter 14. ENTREPRENEURIAL GROWTH

Yankee Candle Company (Source: Courtesy Yankee Candle Co.)

While entrepreneurship begins with an opportunity, sustainable success comes from creating an organization that can execute on that opportunity. But as organizations start to gain more sales and customers, managing growth becomes a critical challenge that, if not handled appropriately, can lead to venture failure.

Why do entrepreneurs fail to manage growth? Often they have limited time and resources to spend on organization building. They're constantly fighting fires in the business's day-today operations or they're chasing too many opportunities, leaving little time for planning. Entrepreneurs without organizational or business skills may retreat into something they do know and are more comfortable doing, like product development. They may hire salespeople or engineers to handle sales and technical support before bringing in someone with organizational and business skills. But eventually growth overwhelms the operation. In order to survive and continue to grow, entrepreneurs need to pay attention to the requirements of a firm in its growth phase. They cannot neglect the planning and preparation required for long-term success.

Many believe that entrepreneurial skills and managerial skills are mutually exclusive and operate at different phases of the firm's life. Entrepreneurial skills ...