High-growth: A Look Behind the Scenes: A Qualitative Study Exploring the Growth-Drivers of Modern High-growth Firms

Abstract

Purpose – This thesis sets out to understand what drives and enables high growth in modern high-growth firms (hereinafter HGFs). Design/methodology/approach – We approached this research from two sides. First, we conducted a qualitative analysis of seven HGFs in Europe and enhanced our understanding through a review of the major academic frameworks on the strategic management of HGFs. Then, we brought both sides together in a discussion to understand how the growth-drivers defined by the reviewed literature explain the high growth of the sampled HGFs, and to identify potential additional growth-drivers that our inductive analysis highlighted. Findings – We have found that some of the growth-drivers help understand how high-growth was enabled in our sampled HGFs. Furthermore, we have not just been able to contribute with new perspectives on growth-drivers and how they had been executed in HGFs, but also have been able to introduce new attributes to the academic conversation that have not been discussed yet in this field of research. Research limitations/implications – This research was conducted amid the Covid-19 pandemic, for which our sample comprises of seven founders of HGFs. On a conceptual level, this research has been able to shed light on a gap between current research on high-growth in firms and what is happening in modern HGFs. Originality/value – This study is the first study connecting product-market fit, product-channel fit, business model fit, and virality in the context of HGF research.