To grow or not? Growing small service firms

摘要

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether entrepreneurs realised their growthrnaspirations for their service sector businesses after five years. Growth in sales turnover and employeernnumbers is explored, as well as entrepreneurs' perspectives of how they achieved growth (or why theyrndid not). There have been few examples of longitudinal research which compares entrepreneurs' growthrnaspirations with actual growth, and fewer still that focus on service businesses.rnDesign/methodology/approach - Twenty-six entrepreneurs are interviewed in New Zealand inrn2001 and re-interviewed in 2006. Face-to-face interviews are used in the first instance, and the follow-uprninterview is conducted by telephone.rnFindings - Twenty-one entrepreneurs aspired growth in terms of either sales or employees (mostrnaspired growth in both). The majority achieved growth in sales through having a good reputation,rnattention to customer service, diversification and employing good staff. Fewer entrepreneurs achievedrntheir aspired growth in employee numbers, due to difficulties in employing and managing staff, skillrnshortages and a tight labour market. Findings support prior research that show if an entrepreneurrnchooses to grow his or her business it is likely that growth will actually occur.rnResearch limitations/implications - This qualitative sample of 26 entrepreneurs is relativelyrnsmall, but allows for an in-depth look at the growth process. Implications for policy makers arernpresented.rnOriginality/value - The findings of this paper contribute to the growth aspirations' literature, andrnnarrow the focus to service sector firms particularly. The qualitative approach also provides a new lensrnthrough which to understand more about the growth process from the entrepreneurs' perspective.