Growth & Innovation

Rapid growth is usually treated as a success. More customers, higher sales and larger contracts can all suggest that a business is moving in the right direction. But growth can also expose weaknesses that were manageable when the company was smaller. If sales increase faster than staffing, systems, cash flow or operational capacity, the business

Innovation is often associated with breakthrough inventions, new technologies or completely new products. In practice, a business can innovate without inventing anything from scratch. It may change how a product is sold, how customers receive a service, how employees complete a process or how the company generates revenue. The OECD defines business innovation broadly as

Some businesses grow quickly while others remain almost the same size for years. The difference is not always the quality of the original idea. Growth usually depends on a combination of demand, management capability, access to finance, productivity, innovation and the ability to turn opportunities into repeatable business activity. OECD research on scaling firms shows