SME growth trajectories,transitions and board role portfolios: A critical review and integrative model

Abstract

This article presents a novel framework integrating a dynamic states approach to firm growth and a portfolio perspective of board roles. In our framework, we highlight four typical firm growth states aligned with primary board roles to guide firms effectively through the transitions associated with each state to reach a new equilibrium. The particular contribution of our framework is that it takes small and medium firm (SME) heterogeneity into account while capturing the dynamic nature of these states which are reached along non-linear, non-sequential and non-deterministic transitional pathways, as well as incorporating reverse and counterintuitive trajectories between states.