Entrepreneurship and Growth: Approaches and Theories

Reflection – 1
Entrepreneurship is a procedure in which a person starts, launch and run a new business
venture by doing some innovation. Such people have some specialized knowledge as well as
eagerness to develop, organize and manage the new venture. There is a reflection related to
Module 1 in this paper that explains about ‘Understand Growth’. There are different
approaches and theories related to the same that helps an entrepreneur to make the business
grow. This would also include growth strategies that help in discussing if there is an ideal
type growth strategy or model. A lot of dilemma has been created in growing economies due
to the unavailability of space. Involvement of some individual companies in this topic would
also make a part of the reflection.
According to me, there is an entrepreneur in every single person and it just about looking for
the nearby opportunities. Entrepreneur inside us always think about the discrimination
between exciting opportunities that a person can utilize for growth. Growing involves a risk
factor in entrepreneurship because there are so many challenges to start a new business and
make it survive in strong competitive market. As per my learning, growth is directly related to
the employees, customers, revenues, liquidity and profit. In entrepreneurship, there are
various barriers as well as hurdles that create hindrances in growth. I understand that an
entrepreneur who possess a very strong knowledge regarding risks and takes them in a usual
ways has higher chances of achieving the growth.
As per Carsrud & Brännback, entrepreneurship is totally related to the growth and
maximization of profits. It becomes easy with the help of judging good opportunities and
getting all the resources together and capitalizes them to create an effective output. According
to me, entrepreneurship refers to the process of organizing, conceptualizing and launching an
innovative business in which a business is converted into a growing venture in the complex
situations. Entrepreneurship is totally different from a common business as entrepreneurship
involves innovation and it includes potential to achieve high growth in a short time period.
Entrepreneur ventures have a wide scope because they are open to bigger part of the market
instead of a restricted market and they can create their own market as well. The small
business ventures are very common and they operate in already settled market. In
entrepreneurship, it is very difficult to achieve growth (Carsrud & Brännback, 2007).
In this reflection, I have covered growth models and approaches that are highlighted in the
literature. Mainly, there are two growth models which are in practice as of now. These are the

most important growth models. First one is organic growth and the other one is growth by
acquisition. Organic growth is also known as internal growth. This growth actually happens
when venture starts expanding the operations instead of depending upon the mergers. Growth
through acquisition refers to a growth process in which a company acquires the other one for
achieving growth. It is similar like taking over of control of an organization. These growth
patterns are not random as they are highlighted by the exhibit of firms. We can say that these
patterns related to the growth of the firm are comprehensive and distinct in nature. They are
also related to demographic affiliation that has to be in systematic manner (Milligan, 2012).
Entrepreneurial growth is a kind of growth that take place when growth is about to start.
There are some cognitive processes handled by an entrepreneur that are responsible for
enhancing the growth opportunities. There are different kinds of resources involved in every
cognitive process for the achievement of growth (Nandram, 2007). In entrepreneurship, there
are so many variables that possess the capability of enhancing as well as restricting the
growth of small ventures in particular time duration. There are so many findings of research
done by different researchers and it includes that small business managers can become the
major part for the development of the venture by contributing in an effective way. Managers
have full power to take actions for encouraging employees in order to make the company
expand and grow (Roy, 2011). Different authors also explain that there are some small firms
that are performing really well and have an amazing growth in their strategic orientation. The
main strategic dimensions are innovation and proactiveness. Entrepreneurial ventures should
concentrate more on the growth by aiming for the growing market instead of acquiring market
shares from strong competitors. VRIN resources help a lot to the firms in getting different
opportunities and enable them to allocate resources in an effective way for the growth
perspective (Obebo, Wawire & Muniu, 2018).
Lockett et al. (2011) is an author who explained Edith Penrose’s theory of firm growth. This
theory explains that the growth rate of the firm’s keeps fluctuating and it gets influenced by the
cost adjustments of opportunities that are productive in nature. Author has also described that
previous organic growth is considered as a barrier for the present organic growth. The overall
conclusion of the acquisition growth and organic growth is that both of them are two different
options that a firm can opt for. The growth of the future also depends upon the same. There is a
debate on the concept of growth and there is a discussion that companies should grow profitable
or they should grow with the help of profits (Szerb, 2013). As per their concept, growth of any
firm is considered as a positive thing and it is known as a sign of success. There is a hypothesis
on the concept that companies that are growing effectively but they are not considering the
profitability are less effective in long run in comparison to those who focus the most on

profitability. There are some examples of different growth strategies related to big companies of
the world (Corbett, Katz & McKelvie, 2015).
At the time of launching Sunsilk Shampoo by Unilever in US, they focused on market
development strategy. There were no changes in the product for a long time period and it
increased market potential of the product. In other case, when Diet coke was launched by
Coca Cola, strategy adopted by the company was product development because it was a new
product that was launched into the market (Fier, Liebenberg & Liebenberg, 2017). There is an
example of product diversification strategy as when GAP has introduced its Forth and Towne
brand for women over the age of 35 then the market potential of the company automatically got
increased because there was no brand of GAP that sell products for that age group. The topics
that are related to the risk and benefits of the firm are really important to discuss. There is a big
dilemma between growing economies of the world due to limited space (BUTLER, 2016).
There are firms for which it is necessary to undergo the growth periods and they are considered
as very turbulent because they carry different types of risks. In general, there are entrepreneurs
who face different challenges in the path of growth as growth is considered as risky and there is
an increase in the risk of failure due to stagnation. In such circumstances, companies are
supposed to invest in different innovations for coping up with risk factors. In this way, risks can
be mitigating in an easy manner and it leads to proper planning. Companies should act in an
appropriate way for increasing growth opportunities. For enhancing growth, it is necessary to
create a strong organizational culture and a network of all the stakeholders. By this, a company
can easily start growing and founders can establish a connection with all the investors, customers
and competitors. With the help of a large network, a firm can easily expand its operations and
connect with new partners in new regions. It can increase the customer base as well (Hitt,
Ireland & Hoskisson, 2017).
With the help of the whole analysis, there is a conclusion that there is not any typical growth
model because there are different types of organizations with different patterns of growth.
Growth has to be recognized and it is considered as a multidimensional process that can occur
in various ways. Strategic planning is necessary because it is the core process that helps the
organizations in the growth and success. There should be effective strategic planning so that
every process can become so smooth. As per my thinking, an entrepreneur should prepare
short term as well as long term plans for creating a vision of the venture as it helps in
focusing toward an objective. Structure of the company plays a vital role in the growth of the