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Fast‐growth companies illustrate, over a short space of time, the opportunities, threats, problems and pitfalls of business growth. After carrying out a general survey of fast‐growing companies in Britain, the authors carried out an in‐depth study of 30 of them. Organic growth and growth by acquisition were examined, as well as their strategic planning and implementation, their control of operations and their company development. Successful fast‐growth companies were found to be anti‐bureaucratic and task‐focused. The keys to their success were size flexibility and opportunism. The companies studied were bold in their strategy but unsophisticated in developing and implementing strategic plans. The main weakness of the companies was a lack of attention to managing transitions – i.e. controlling the evolution of the company as it grew. These weaknesses were revealed in the worsening business climate of the late 1980s, when many of these star performers of the early 1980s hit major problems.

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate the connections between an organization’s knowledge management and growth management strategies. The study shows how knowledge management can support organizations’ growth objectives.

The paper first connects the literature streams of growth management and knowledge management. This conceptual understanding about growth-oriented knowledge management is then advanced through an exploratory case study of a company aiming at rapid growth in the construction industry.

The paper recognizes two knowledge perspectives to growth management. First, the perspective of knowledge assets concerns whether an organization has the needed knowledge resources to enable growth. Second, to make informed decisions, the management needs relevant and up-to-date information. From these viewpoints, the paper derives the case-specific cornerstones of growth-oriented knowledge management and suggests some paths forward in terms of future research.

Although growth strategy defines an organization’s growth aims and clarifies how the intended growth will be attained, knowledge strategy takes a stand on the needed knowledge assets and paints a path from the existing knowledge base to a state where organization’s knowledge assets enable reaching of its business goals. The paper helps practitioners to plan growth-oriented knowledge management strategies.

The paper contributes by extending the analysis of knowledge strategy to growth management and by providing a practical illustration of the development process where knowledge was put into prime focus of organization’s growth strategy. The paper also provides original data and perspective to the roles and interaction of the board and the management team in the case of growth management.

Entrepreneurship and small business development has been subject to a considerable amount of academic speculation. Previous studies contend that small fast growth firms are more likely to have developed or acquired managerial practices in areas such as human resource management, finance and marketing. Despite this evidence there is little known as to why growing construction firms adopt key management practices. This paper examines how small growth oriented construction firms have adopted management practices to sustain growth. A group interview technique was utilized to examine the management development process within small construction firms in the South Wales area. The research revealed that while management practices such as marketing, financial management and planning had been implemented to facilitate growth, the importance of these practices often varied across firms. Nevertheless, firms that continued to be growth oriented were more inclined to consider the strategic benefits that certain practices provide. Based on these findings the paper concludes that management training initiatives aimed at improving firm development in the construction industry must be tailored to fit the strategic goals of the firm if they are to engender sustainable growth.

This paper proposes that owner‐managers of growth firms are more likely to have developed or acquired managerial practices that facilitate such expansion. The paper, therefore, examines how growth oriented firms in Wales have adopted management practices to build the necessary entrepreneurial capacity to sustain growth.

A group interview technique was utilised to examine the management development process in 18 growing firms across the manufacturing, construction sectors.

The research highlighted that whilst firms argued that the management practices they had implemented were to facilitate further growth, the relative importance of practices such as marketing, financial management and planning varied across sectors. Furthermore, it was apparent that growth firms identified in this study were more inclined to look at the adoption of management practices from a strategic perspective.

The exploratory nature of this study means that it is difficult to generalise these findings outside the boundaries of the adopted research strategy. In addition, links between performance and managerial action are always very difficult to demonstrate conclusively as this process is often dependent on owner‐managers recounting and recognising cause and effect relationships. Nevertheless, the study does strengthen existing academic argument that key management practices outlined in this paper are regularly adopted by growing firms.

The findings will assist policy makers and owner/managers with regard to identifying and understanding why certain management practices engender small business growth.

The paper adds its support to the growing literature which examines the process of management development in small growth firms. Moreover, given Wales' current dearth of growth oriented firms, the paper implies that policy makers should support training and initiatives that develop entrepreneurial and managerial competencies that are industry specific.

Wilson argues that knowledge management (KM) maturity is an extension of information management and effective management of work practices. Gallagher and Hazlett state that there is too much effort addressing technological concerns in KM while offering little practical assistance. Kruger and Snyman believe KM is a strategic resource with ICT and information management as enablers in establishing KM maturity. These three positions of KM growth and maturity reflect the huge spectrum of and diverse views. But, very little is known about the KM growth or maturity that occurs in different industries, or how employees and managers perceive growth in KM maturity. This paper aims to address these issues.

From a large urban South African University engaged in numerous collaboration programmes with industry, the authors gain insight into the growth of KM in industry groupings over a five‐year period. The authors apply an inventory developed by Kruger and Snyman to a set of 86 organisations distributed over nine economic sectors in South Africa. In total 434 employees are interviewed over three group levels (operational, middle and senior management). This is achieved by interviewing 178 senior practitioners in three subjects (one in each group level).

Analysis of the growth in KM maturity, as it relates to different organisational sizes, reveals that there are statistical differences between the score reported by small, medium, large and extra‐large organisations and between the scores reported by senior, middle and operational personnel. Findings also indicate that growth in KM differs between industry groupings, with high growth in construction, building materials and mining (±70 per cent), and low growth in educational institutions (±40 per cent).

This paper is of relevance to KM practitioners interested in gaining insight into KM maturity growth that occurred in different organisational groupings and at different operational levels across an extremely diversified environment.

To examine differences between family and non‐family SMEs in business goals, management practices and performance as they grow.

The study was based on 233 small non‐family and 362 small family firms. Medium firms comprised 305 family and 341 non‐family firms. Chi‐square tests and t‐tests were used to investigate the hypotheses formulated.

Small family firms were less likely to pursue growth compared with similar non‐family firms. Although medium family proprietors desired growth, their actual growth was lower than similar non‐family firms. Management practices were less formal in family firms and the gap between family and non‐family firms in this area widened with growth. Small family firms achieved greater profits than their non‐family counterparts, although this disparity disappeared at the medium level. Exports were low for both firms at the small level. However, medium family firms were less likely than similar non‐family firms to export.

Firms in the various size groups examined were independent of one another. A longitudinal investigation of family and non‐family firms as they progress through various growth stages should complement the findings.

The findings should assist policies makers, advisers, owners and management in designing policies and programs, providing advice and managing the two ownership types. Informal management procedures and the associated flexibility may enhance performance of small family firms but may impede their performance at larger sizes.

The paper demonstrates that the relationship between goals, strategies and performance varies between family and non‐family firms and the variations change with firm size.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between knowledge management and growth performance of construction companies.

In total, 600 questionnaires were sent to selected individuals in grade G7 construction companies. A total of 110 completed questionnaires were returned and deemed usable. The collected data were processed and analysed by partial least-squares (PLS) path modelling with SmartPLS 2.0 software. This technique was selected because it is appropriate for exploratory studies, such as the current one, where hypothesised relationships between variables have not been tested.

The findings show a positive relationship between knowledge management and growth performance in construction companies. The results of this study are valuable in establishing a valid and reliable survey instrument, especially for construction companies.

The results of this study can be can be utilised as a basis for strategic choices by top management, to enable a company to grow. Right decisions are crucial to enable construction companies to remain competitive, and develop in a challenging business environment.

The paper furthers understanding of how knowledge management influence growth performance in construction industry. This aspect has been little studied both in theoretical and empirical studies.

The impact of knowledge management on the financial success of companies has not yet been properly researched. This paper aims to make a contribution by examining the relationship between sustainable sales growth and knowledge management activities in 108 Finnish small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs).

Data were generated from a questionnaire survey of 108 SMEs from different fields and thematic interviews with ten companies.

Higher levels of KM‐maturity were found to correlate positively with long‐term sustainable growth. Although Finnish SMEs display a surprisingly high awareness about KM, only a minor proportion of the sample firms has been able to benefit in terms of growth from their KM‐related activities. The results have implications for policy formulation in the field of SMEs, since half the Finnish SMEs in the sample do not grow. We found that the fast‐growing companies with high KM‐maturity are applying KM‐related activities in a comprehensive and balanced way, thereby raising question marks around the effectiveness of eclectic “KM implementations”.

This research was carried out in only one country and the results cannot be generalised. Furthermore, this study does not provide any information concerning the causal relationship of knowledge management and SME performance. Therefore, further studies in the field are needed.

The results from this study also suggest that SMEs might be able to shift into higher growth by applying a comprehensive KM‐approach incorporating all intangible assets equally.

This study provides new information concerning the relationship between knowledge management and small business performance.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between human resource (HR) executive representation in top management and the growth of newly public firms. It draws upon research on strategic leadership, strategic HR management and Penrose’s theory of firm growth to consider the role of HRs executives in addressing demands placed upon top managers in the pursuit of firm growth. This study attempts to extend the focus of research on the influence of HR executives on organizational outcomes

In order to test study hypotheses, this study analyses data from a sample of US newly public firms that underwent initial public offerings (IPO) during the 2007 calendar year. Study data were analyzed using ordinary least squares regression in order to test study hypotheses.

This study provides general support for study hypotheses. First, HR executive presence in top management was found to be positively related to post-IPO firm growth. Second, upper echelon size and the number of firm employees were found to weaken the positive effect of HR executive presence in top management on post-IPO firm growth.

As a consequence of study design, the results found in this study may be limited with respect to their external validity. Therefore, researchers and practitioners are encouraged to use caution before generalizing study findings to other contexts.

This study provides implications for top management team staffing and the pursuit of firm growth. Newly public firms appear to benefit in terms of firm growth by including HR executives in top management. The benefits of doing so appear to be reduced for newly public firms as the size of their upper echelons and number of employees increase.

This study extends research on the firm level consequences of HR executive presence in top management as well as research on factors which influence firm growth.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of education and training and management supervision on the development of entrepreneurship attitude and growth of small and micro enterprises (SMEs) developed by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Pekanbaru City.

This research focuses on a discussion of the effects of education and training management oversight of entrepreneurial attitudes and business growth from the distribution of PKBL funds as one attitude of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the development of small and micro entrepreneurs in Riau Province by selecting three SOEs companies that distribute CSR funding program in Pekanbaru City, namely, PT. Jasa Raharja, PT. Angkasa Pura and PT. Pegadaian Riau region, whereas the scope of this study includes a review of material on the beneficiary of PKBL from 2016 to 2017.

Education and training conducted by SOEs toward micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) entrepreneurs do not give a positive contribution to the business growth. Management supervision that has been conducted so far has not contributed to the growth of MSMEs business. The entrepreneurship attitude of MSMEs entrepreneurs determines the success of MSMEs. Attitude not only directly contributes to the growth of business but also indirectly mediates education and training in making a positive contribution to the development and growth of the business. Attitude also mediates the management supervision in splitting the growth of MSMEs business.

No previous study has comprehensively studied the education and training and management supervision toward entrepreneurship attitudes and its implications to business growth, especially in Riau, Indonesia.