Hitting the "wall" : the role of leadership and organizational process in the successful growth of SMEs
Name
457061030-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
33.13 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
ba7371ecf19fa9bb769856231860c075
Author(s)
Macaux, Michelle (Wendy Michelle)
Advisor(s)
Deborah Ancona.
Alternative Title
Role of leadership and organizational process in the successful growth of SMEs
Date Issued
2009
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Rapidly growing companies often start out well, but hit a "wall" as they continue to expand. This wall is partly due to a lack of structure within the organization, but is also due to a lack of leadership and training to build new initiatives or to implement change. This thesis examines two components of the company: the organizational behavior at the company level and the leadership development at the level of individual stakeholders within the company. By examining the organizational structures and leadership teams of successful and failed rapidly-growing companies, this thesis proposes a new organizational developmental model to better understand and predict what makes a growing company successful in getting over the "wall" and to its next phase of development. The first part of the study examines the leadership and organizational needs of small- and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) at early and midlife stages of development. This thesis then examines leadership and organizational process theory before drawing on developmental psychology to propose a new model to address the stages of growth through which a company passes. Using the proposed developmental model as an analytic framework, two case studies are examined. The model provides insights into the kinds of leadership and organizational structure that are predictive of successful - or unsuccessful - growth in the SME. Lessons for SMEs are suggested, including what a company can do early in its life cycle to prevent it from hitting the wall.
Description
Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2009.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-82).
Subjects
Sloan School of Management.
MIT Department
Sloan School of Management
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