Summary

How is growth encouraged in small firms? Are there owner-manager characteristics connected with small firm growth? The Centre for Enterprise (CfE) and Winning Pitch (WP) have undertaken a new piece of research that explored these questions, examined the connection between research and practice in growth coaching of SMEs. The focus was on the role of the owners of businesses with the potential for high growth, examining what is known about the ‘gazelle mindset’. 

The Centre for Enterprise, Winning Pitch and their impact on SMEs’ growth

The Centre for Enterprise and Winning Pitch both have a strong background working with SMEs and helping them grow. The CfE does it by building its approach on learning theory and literature on growth and small firms. While WP does it from a pragmatic and experience - led viewpoint, with some awareness of research. This Knowledge Exchange project will bring these together using different research methods and practical approaches of the CfE and WP, approaches will be compared and analysed.  As a result, it is expected that by the end of the project, new knowledge will be generated to support SMEs’ growth and contribute to the overall economic competitiveness of the North West. As SMEs grow and improve, employment opportunities will follow.

Tools

If you would like to be part of discussions and debate, you can follow us on Twitter @mmucfe or #gazelle.

For more information on Winning Pitch please visit:

• The Winning Pitch website - http://www.winning-pitch.co.uk/

• John Leach’s blog, CEO of Winning Pitch - http://johnleachwp.wordpress.com/