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Darden Private Growth Company Research Project
This project will focus on the challenges of managing a private
growth company as it scales its business. Private growth company
leaders are challenged:
(1) to manage simultaneously across functions;
(2) to develop and execute growth strategies with significant
capital, people, and time restraints;
(3) to constantly prioritize and make decisions "on the fly";
(4) to lead by example and create a high performance environment;
(5) to hire, train, and engage employees in the pursuit of execution
excellence;
(6) to manage quality, people, financial, and legal risks daily;
(7) to balance growth with the firm's capabilities;
(8) to prioritize and install quality, financial, and HR controls,
policies, procedures, and processes;
(9) to decide whether to invest ahead of or behind the growth
curve;
(10) whether and how to upgrade employees; and
(11) to maintain the entrepreneurial spirit and fun as one grows.
This study will look at the key challenges of growth and scaling
a business from strategy, accounting & financial controls,
operations and quality controls, people- HR controls, marketing
and customer -relationship issues, growth capital issues, and
entrepreneurial leadership perspectives.
The purpose of this study is to create growth management best
practices across function and time to help other business builders
learn from the experiences of others and to increase their chances
of success.
Some companies will be asked to participate in Darden's new private
growth company case series.
This research is being funded by the Batten Institute of the Darden
School of Business. The research team leader is Professor Edward
D. Hess, HessE@Darden.virginia.edu.
Professor Hess spent over30 years in the business world and has
focused his academic research on organic growth and high performance
organizations. He is the author of numerous applied articles and
5 published books including The Road To Organic Growth ( McGraw-Hill,
2006) ; The Successful Family Business (Praeger,2005); Hess &
Cameron, eds., Leading With Values: Positvity, Virtue & High
Performance (Cambridge University Press, 2006) and his upcoming
book The New American Dream: Building Your Own Business: How To
Avoid the 8 Killer Mistakes ( Free Press, 2008). He teaches growth
and small business growth course at Darden.
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