Course Overview

Virtually every organization considers growth a critical objective. But while almost universally desired, and much talked about, enterprise growth is quite poorly understood. Careful empirical studies show that very few enterprises grow profitably over sustained periods of time. Indeed, many organizations’ pursuit of growth is the very cause of their demise. How can companies grow profitably? This course examines this question. It focuses on three components of an organization’s growth strategy: the rate of growth, the direction of growth (e.g. penetrate existing markets vs. diversification), and the method of growth (e.g. organic vs. acquisition).

The conceptual framework of the course is built around the idea that growth is a dynamic process of balancing the pursuit of market opportunities with the capacity and capability to serve those opportunities. The course is divided into four modules.

Module 1: Introduction--Growth Strategy

In this module, we introduce the key themes and conceptual underpinnings of the course. A key idea is that growth strategy involves choices about the rate of growth, direction of growth, and method of growth.

Module 2: Growth Through Expanding Scale

This module focuses on the challenges of expanding organizational scale in order to meet demand. In this section of the course, the focal problem is not generating demand to fuel growth, but rather scaling the organization to profitably meet rising demand. This section of the course focuses on operational, organizational, and cultural challenges of rapid growth, and how to avoid the pitfalls of rapid growth sowing the seeds of failure. Typically, cases in this module examine younger smaller enterprises facing significant opportunities for rapid growth.

Module 3: Growth Through Expanding Scope

This module examines the challenges of generating growth by expanding the scope of the company through entry into new markets and diversification. This module features more mature organizations struggling to find new growth opportunities.

Module 4: Sustaining a Capacity for Growth: Innovation, Transformation, and Agility

Organizations grow over long periods of time by adapting to and exploiting fundamental shifts in their core technologies and markets. Thus, long term growth requires a capacity for innovation, transformation, and agility. This final module of the course explores the organizational, cultural, and leadership underpinnings of these long-term growth drivers.

The course will use a mixture of case studies drawn from a variety of contexts, including food and beverages, restaurants, airlines, social enterprises, luxury goods and services, rescue operations, technology, life sciences, manufacturing, apparel, automobiles, software, and entertainment. We will also use readings to introduce the theoretical and conceptual foundations of the course.

Course Requirements

The course will have a final exam.

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