The relationship between the manager and growth in small firms

• PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to improve the understanding of the relationship between the manager and growth in small firms, through a review of earlier research. Design/methodology/approachA review of articles published during the last 25 years is carried out in order to answer the question: How does the top manager influence growth in small firms?FindingsThree key relationships are identified: between growth and, respectively, managerial traits and characteristics, managerial intentions, and managerial behavior or roles. The diverse findings in the literature are contradictory and give a paradoxical picture of the impact of the manager. A deeper analysis of the results from the review, supplemented with leadership theory, yields a better understanding of small-firm growth with a special focus on the behavior of the manager.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper problematizes the complexity in managing small-firm growth, and can be further empirically validated by using multiple methods including qualitative ones such as observational studies.Practical implicationsThe findings have a bearing on education and policy implications. If a behavior can be identified that promotes small firms' growth, education and policy implications can be developed in line with these results. Originality/valueIn small firms there seems to be a general consensus that managers do influence the performance of small firms, but so far there has not been a systematic review of earlier empirical research, that is done in this paper. From this review, a more complete picture of how managers influence growth in small firms is presented.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Small firms

Growth

Managers

Behaviour

Business development

Small enterprises

Business studies

Företagsekonomi

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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