High-growth firms, or scale-ups, are critical engines of innovation, job creation, and economic transformation. However, achieving and sustaining rapid growth is far from straightforward. This special issue explores the strategies, processes, and leadership practices that enable firms to scale successfully. Drawing on research across entrepreneurship, strategy, and organizational behaviour, the articles examine how firms build scalable business models, orchestrate resources, and navigate the pressures of accelerated growth. Key insights address both the speed and sustainability of growth, highlighting the organizational challenges that emerge during scaling.
Beyond structural and strategic considerations, the issue also emphasizes the human and managerial dimensions of scaling. Studies investigate how founders, CEOs, and top management teams align capabilities, recruit and retain talent, foster organizational culture, and manage dynamic processes in rapidly growing firms. By connecting multilevel, ecosystem, and longitudinal perspectives, the research provides actionable guidance for entrepreneurs, executives, investors, and policy makers seeking to understand the practical realities of scaling businesses while sustaining growth over time.
Read the full issue here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14676486/2023/60/3 or browse the individual articles below.
Scaling-up: Building, Leading and Sustaining Rapid Growth Over Time by Justin J. P. Jansen, Ciaran Heavey, Tom J. M. Mom, Zeki Simsek and Shaker A. Zahra
Resource Orchestration and Scaling-up of Platform-Based Entrepreneurial Firms: The Logic of Dialectic Tuning by Jing Zeng, Yunlu Yang and Soo Hee Lee
Speed and Scaling: An Investigation of Accelerated Firm Growth by Maksim Belitski, Tatiana Stettler, William Wales, Jeff Martin
Coming Apart While Scaling Up – Adoption of Logics and the Fragmentation of Organizational Identity in Science-Based Ventures by Peter Kalum Schou
CEO–TMT Congruence in Growth-Need Strength and Firm Growth by Xue Wan, Stephen X. Zhang and Feng Wei
List of Reviewers for this Special Issue
