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In this research, we examine the impact of ISO 14001, an international environmental management accreditation, on the long-term financial risk and sales growth of firms.

We employ a quasi-experimental design and construct 682 treated and control firms that are matched using propensity score matching. We then test our hypotheses using the difference in difference model.

We find that, although ISO 14001 leads to lower financial risk, standard management systems such as ISO 14001 actually hinder the sales growth of firms, an unanticipated outcome. In particular, this trade-off worsens over time, becoming particularly more severe among firms that adopt ISO 14001 early and operate in less-polluting industries.

We present a hidden side of environmental accreditations, indicating a potential trade-off in the long-term efficacy of environmental standard management systems.

Firms must be cautious about adopting environmental management systems. Over time, a focus on environmental certification could potentially hinder firms' long-term growth. Firms should also be aware of certification timing and levels of industry pollution to resolve the tension in the trade-off.

This research is one of the first studies demonstrating that environmental accreditations result in a trade-off between reducing financial risk and improving sales growth.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of firm-, industry- and country-level determinants on real annual sales growth in the context of a cross-classified multilevel perspective.

The authors studied 11,381 firms from 17 industries in six Latin American countries based on the data collected up to 2015. Since the data are nested in two levels (level 1: firms; level 2: cross-classification of industries and countries), the authors use a cross-classified multilevel model. The significant variability in all levels of analysis confirms the option for the multilevel model.

Differences in industries account for the largest proportion of variance (77.2 percent). This finding indicates that industry-level characteristics should be explored in the sales growth literature (it seems to the authors that they were neglected). This finding also calls attention to the roles of policy-makers in facilitating firm growth. The final model indicates that the considered variables explain approximately 55 percent of the differences in real annual sales growth in the same industry and country after having accounted for the impacts of the differences in firms. After accounting for the impacts of the differences in firms’ and countries’ characteristics, 43 percent of the variation in average real annual sales growth is due to differences in industries. The obtained results indicate that while firms from countries with higher GDP growth and more effective corporate boards present higher real annual sales growth, firms that operate in commodity producer industries have worse performance in this indicator. With respect to firm’s characteristics, larger firms (contradicting Gibrat’s law) and exporters grew less. Some results could be explained by the decrease in commodities’ prices and global purchases between 2012 and 2015.

The paper fills some gaps in the firm growth literature by testing Gibrat’s law in non-developed countries (not yet done, to the best of the authors’ knowledge) and exploring variables other than size in the explanation of firm growth (rarely used, to the best of the authors’ knowledge). Moreover, the adopted model correctly estimated the origin of the variability in firm growth in its natural cross-classified distinct levels.

Gives an in depth view of the strategies pursued by the world’s leading chief executive officers in an attempt to provide guidance to new chief executives of today. Considers the marketing strategies employed, together with the organizational structures used and looks at the universal concepts that can be applied to any product. Uses anecdotal evidence to formulate a number of theories which can be used to compare your company with the best in the world. Presents initial survival strategies and then looks at ways companies can broaden their boundaries through manipulation and choice. Covers a huge variety of case studies and examples together with a substantial question and answer section.

We investigate the relative roles of key components of earnings change in explaining the value relevance of earnings across different life‐cycle stages of the firm. We hypothesize that firms in different life‐cycle stages take different strategic actions: change in sales is emphasized in the growth and mature stages, while in later stages, profitability is emphasized. Because payoffs to such strategies vary across the life‐cycle, the stock market reaction to the success firms have in employing these strategic actions is likely to vary across the life‐cycle. To test our hypotheses, we disaggregate changes in earnings into three key components: earnings change from change in sales, earnings change from change in profitability, and an interaction term comprising both sales change and profitability change. Our findings are consistent with our hypotheses: when firms are in the growth stage, the value‐relevance of change in sales is relatively greater than that of change in profitability. In the mature stage, the value relevance of change in profitability increases, relative to that of change in sales. When firms are in stagnant stage, the value‐relevance of changes in profitability are relatively greater than that of change in sales. Collectively, the results demonstrate a shift in the value relevance of earnings components from a growth emphasis early in the life‐cycle to a profitability emphasis later in the life‐cycle.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the impact of credit supply on sales growth among small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The three-stage least square (3SLS) method was used to analyse a cross-sectional panel data set covering 13,548 Swedish SMEs across four industry sectors from 2009 to 2012.

The study provides empirical evidence that trade credit in terms of accounts receivable significantly and positively affects sales growth, indicating that SMEs investing more in accounts receivable are more likely to achieve growth. Furthermore, lagged sales growth and firm size are positively, while firm age is negatively, related to growth.

Managers can increase firm growth by efficiently managing the supply of credit to their customers, especially liquidity-constrained firms, thereby increasing sales growth.

To the authors’ best knowledge, this is one of the first empirical studies of the impact of credit supply in terms of accounts receivable on sales growth. The study applies the 3SLS method to a comprehensive cross-sectoral sample.

Briefly reviews previous literature by the author before presenting an original 12 step system integration protocol designed to ensure the success of companies or countries in their efforts to develop and market new products. Looks at the issues from different strategic levels such as corporate, international, military and economic. Presents 31 case studies, including the success of Japan in microchips to the failure of Xerox to sell its invention of the Alto personal computer 3 years before Apple: from the success in DNA and Superconductor research to the success of Sunbeam in inventing and marketing food processors: and from the daring invention and production of atomic energy for survival to the successes of sewing machine inventor Howe in co‐operating on patents to compete in markets. Includes 306 questions and answers in order to qualify concepts introduced.

Previous studies primarily focus on how to achieve better performance in the international markets, but few centers on whether internationalization is a promising strategy for new ventures’ growth and development. Based on two pioneering frameworks Conservative, Predictable, and Pacemaker (CPP) model and the 7-P model, this paper fills this gap by analyzing how exporting exert heterogeneous effects on two types of growth, sales growth and employment growth. Accordingly, this paper aims to favor market-oriented new ventures to make a strategy on expanding international markets.

This study is based on firm-level data from the Chinese Industrial Enterprises Database. The year 2005 was used as the shock year. By conducting the propensity score matching method, 793 couples of matched new ventures were collected with sales growth and 686 couples with employment growth. The difference-in-differences method was applied to analyze the various influences that exporting has on new ventures’ sales growth and employment growth.

The main finding of this paper is that new ventures that exported can achieve better sales growth than their counterparts that only operated domestically, whereas new ventures that remain in the domestic market have no difference in employment growth from those that exported.

This study shows that exporting is especially beneficial for market-seeking new ventures. Because the study is based on Chinese data, scholars of international business can conduct further research on other countries with different economic structures.

Theoretically, this paper contributes to both international business theory and entrepreneurship theory by combining the CPP model and the 7-P model. Practically, this paper shows that exports mainly benefit the sales growth of new ventures. This suggests that business practitioners should consider their growth goals before they choose to enter the global market.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the antecedents of business growth expectations and subsequent accumulated sales revenues and employment costs. Hypotheses are derived guided by the theory of planned behaviour.

The authors followed a sample of 207 incorporated businesses started in May/June 2002 over a ten-year period. The hypotheses are tested using hierarchical regression analysis.

The results suggest that the entrepreneurs’ need for social cohesion, subjective norm with regard to business growth and perceived self-efficacy with regard to opportunity recognition are positively and significantly associated with business growth expectations. These expectations, reported at the time of business registration, accurately predict subsequent short-term as well as long-term accumulated sales revenues and labour costs, but this is not the case for entrepreneurs with novel business ideas.

Since entrepreneurs’ attitude, subjective norm and self-efficacy are possible to change, the findings should interest policy makers and educators. Measures aimed at enhancing the antecedents of entrepreneurs’ growth expectations should be considered. The findings that growth expectations have a long-lasting effect on sales and employment stress the importance of entrepreneurs’ subjective expectations for outcomes in new businesses.

There is a lack of studies using a longitudinal design when investigating the link between initial business growth expectations and subsequent firm outcomes. This study contributes to the entrepreneurship literature in this regard by using high-quality secondary data to examine firm achievements.

This multiple case study research aims to identify the characteristics of scaling up SMEs in Chile for exploring how and why some entrepreneurship in the information technology (IT) sector are able to scale up and develop sustainable strategies, based on three consecutive years. The average sales of the companies during the last period analysed was around US$1,323,579, with an average annual growth rate of 66.7%. Scaling up SMEs may require several attributes to achieve positive revenue and develop effective high growth rates that allow them to succeed over several years.

To discern the phenomenon of entrepreneurship, the methodology of multiple case study research was conducted in three parts. The first was to define and design the research process, in which the study should settle the theory analysis and then show that research propositions and questions. The second part of the research was to prepare, collect and analyse the data through crafting instruments and data collection protocols as a source of evidence to conduct the pilot and multiple case study. In this stage, interviews were scheduled, transcribed, analysed and coded to explore how individual attributes may create a scaling-up entrepreneurial process for maintaining or developing high performance in the IT sector. The last part of the research concludes and validates the research propositions for the identification for potential attributes, which were obtained during the qualitative study.

Attributes were selected when 13 or more SMEs reported the importance of this initiative for the process of scaling up their SMEs. As a result of the data analysis, the empirical findings suggest on the importance of the academic background, budgetary control, negative entrepreneurial experiences, building teams, geographical expansion and first critical experience as key attributes for scaling-up. Additionally, the data propose that constructive entrepreneurial ecosystem and reforms financing markets and programmes are two additional components that could moderate the interaction between the scaling-up process and the achievement of rapid sales results as a key outcome measure.

The first limitation was the lack of consensus on the phenomenon of the scaling up of entrepreneurship. Information in Latin America and emerging countries is scarce, which also represents an opportunity for other researchers to deepen and validate the results reported here. Even though it was an attempt to understand the issue of environmental change, this additional limitation did not allow the evaluation of these adjustments over time that can positively or negatively drive the strategies corresponding to the evolution in each of the moderator variables.

Because of the characteristics of the sample in terms of size of the SMEs, industrial sector, location, culture, socio-economic environment and years of establishment of the company, the study cannot be generalised in terms of other industrial sectors or countries. The results of this research are also limited to SMEs in Chile, and to the extent that it can be applied to emerging countries IT sectors with similar sample characteristics, it must be done so with caution. Yin states that eight cases “are sufficient replications to convince the reader of a general phenomenon”.

Policymakers have the option to identify what skills and knowledge the entrepreneur requires to be trained to scale up their established ventures. In this context, they will also benefit from the empirical contribution of knowing what the restrictions that limit this process are, such as adverse tax systems and public strategies. Additionally, it is of public interest because no national records exist on the presence of theoretical terms.

Even though the literature promotes the present findings, it shows that there is an absence of empirical evidence in emerging economies to better comprehend which factors may affect the development process of scaling up entrepreneurship in the IT sector. Both deliberate and emergent strategic initiatives are necessary for the scaling-up process where six critical factors are the basis of the scaling-up. This empirical contribution for entrepreneurs will support the achievement of rapid and sustained sales results for scaling up their ventures.

Examines the issue of excessive growth in the service firm, using the case example of People Express, a US domestic airline. Addresses the question of how service firms can grow and yet maintain financial stability. Focuses on sustainable growth a marketing planning method for determining the financial feasibility and desirability of a company′s product and market growth strategies. Concludes that an excessive growth firm must carefully examine its choices to be able to align its market opportunities with its financial resources, otherwise it faces disaster