Marketing Drivers and Barriers to Growth in the Entrepreneurial Firm

Abstract

The paper describes the marketing strategies and resources that are used in a rapid growth small-medium enterprise identified in 2003, as the twelfth fastest growing company in the UK (The Sunday Times, 2003) and examines the industry, entrepreneurial and life cycle context, on the marketing strategies used to sustain growth. The study examines an Entrepreneurial Marketing (EM) view of new venture growth. In doing so the research challenges the orthodoxy to rapid growth new ventures and uses the concepts of dominant design and innovation from engineering, to propose a new model of new venture marketing. The paper is based on an exploratory study using observations from a single case to propose differences between entrepreneurial and managerial marketing. Based on this, a number of propoistions are advanced that further research will examine.