Member Article

Manchester researchers to investigate the "high-growth mindset"

High growth businesses are estimated to comprise 1% of UK businesses, however these firms create up to a quarter of all jobs in the UK.

Researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) Centre for Enterprise have set about investigating the behavior and thought processes found in high growth entrepreneurs, and what makes them different to those running slower growth businesses.

The University hopes to understand the “winning mindset” of high growth business leaders by mapping their “DNA”.

Working alongside business enhancement specialists, Winning Pitch, the researchers will ask: Why do high growth business entrepreneurs go one step further than those who remain more modest in their ambitions?

Why do they keep going when the odds are stacked against them? Why do they carry on when others give up? Why do they take risks others won’t?

Professor Lynn Martin, director of MMU Centre for Enterprise, commented: “Being able to understand the behaviours and psychology behind business growth in small businesses and replicate this behaviour in more sluggish firms, could drive and sustain economic recovery and job creation.”

John Leach, Chairman of Winning Pitch, added: “From our experience of coaching and developing high growth firms we have identified that these companies tend to be founded by individuals with a special mindset and personal mission.

“Much of the research on small business growth to date has focused on the ‘hard’ issues of strategy, management, finance and selling, etc.

“We will be looking at the human factors and if we can model that behaviour and mindset, we can then coach others how to pursue rapid growth.”

Winning Pitch will collaborate on the research to support small business growth using leadership and enterprise workshops.

The two bodies hope their research will create “a valuable exchange of dialogue and knowledge”, while bringing different perspectives together from academia and the private sector.

Results from the knowledge exchange partnership, which is supported by the Economic and Social Research Council, will be published in November 2013 and the team will present at national conferences, including the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .