Research
Investigating Sustainable Strategies For Turning Round ‘Stunted Growth’ Businesses
A distinctive group of small companies, and especially micro-firms, comprises those that have survived through many years, maybe many generations, providing their owners with acceptable returns and lifestyles, but have remained very small despite having significant growth potential – the ‘dwarf’ or ‘stunted’ small firm (in Italian nanismo aziendale). The ability of such firms to […]
Stunted Growth’ in Small Firms: How to Turn Them Round and Unleash Their Potential
The phenomenon of ‘dwarf’ or ‘stunted’ small and micro firms (in Italian nanismo aziendale) is recognised in the small business literature. These are firms that have survived through many years, maybe many generations, providing their owners with acceptable returns and lifestyles, but have remained very small. They might therefore represent potential lost opportunities for owners […]
Fostering Entrepreneurs’ Capabilities to Outline Sustainable Strategies in ‘Stunted’ SMEs
Fostering Entrepreneurs’ Capabilities to Outline Sustainable Strategies in ‘Stunted’ SMEs through Modelling and Simulation: a Dynamic Resource-Based View The literature recognises the phenomenon of ‘dwarf’ or ‘stunted’ small and micro firms (in Italian nanismo aziendale) and that they might represent potential lost opportunities for owners and the local economy. Based on a field survey conducted […]
Structural growth disengagement and value creation in small and micro-firms
This paper focuses growth disengagement, in the perspective of those firms who have been keeping their structures, processes and relational systems unchanged for a very long time.The implicit hypothesis according to which such businesses are affected by a structural disease, are not able to create any significant value, and characterised by similar features, is critically […]
Pathology and physiology of business ‘dwarfism’ as a structural growth disengagement condition
This paper focuses the subject of growth disengagement, in the perspective of those firms who have been keeping their structures, processes and relational systems unchanged for a very long time, for at least three generations. In Italy such phenomenon is commonly referred as nanismo aziendale, i.e. “business dwarfism”. The implicit hypothesis commonly adopted by socio-economic […]
Opportunities and pitfalls related to e-commerce strategies in small–medium firms: a system dynamics approach
E-commerce is often perceived as a powerful lever to foster growth of SMEs. However, both the literature and empirical evidence have shown the perils hidden in superficial decision making by SME entrepreneurs. A system dynamics (SD) approach is used in this article to demonstrate how managing processes of accumulation and depletion of strategic assets, detecting […]
Special Issue Editorial
The importance of small–medium enterprises (SMEs) in today’s economy has been widely recognized, both in regard to the role and number of such firms and to their contribution to gross national product, employment, and local economic well-being. However the perception appears to be that system dynamics (SD), at least in terms of published works, is […]
Discerning the inertial effects of current decisions on long-term performance in family firms: the rise and fall of Casa Florio
Investigating the rise and fall of a business is commonly viewed as a matter of searching single causes to be linked with corresponding effects. Such an atomistic and static picture of the driving forces of business success and decline often produces a superficial understanding of observed phenomena. This might be the case of Casa Florio, […]
Processi di sviluppo e apprendimento delle piccole imprese attraverso il commercio elettronico
Il presente lavoro tenta di delineare un modello esplicativo dei processi di costituzione e degrado delle risorse-chiave necessarie per il perseguimento di uno sviluppo sostenibile attraverso il ricorso al commercio elettronico. Tale modello si basa sull’adozione di due complementari prospettive di studio: l’analisi dell’azienda vista come sistema di risorsechiave e la rappresentazione delle relative dinamiche […]
How to define a profitable and sustainable growth policy in a changing market?
How to define a profitable and sustainable growth policy in a changing market? A case study: a small publishing company. A tireless architect founded Grafill, a small book publishing company, at the end of the 80s. He believed that in the real estate and construction sectors there is a lack of practical, reliable and punctual […]
