TOWARD A NEW GROWTH MEASUREMENT MODEL FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL FIRMS

Previous literature has mainly focused on the growth of large organizations and neglected entrepreneurial firms. Unique characteristics of entrepreneurial firms make them distinguished among others and require comprehensive understanding of the growth process and the growth assessment in these kinds of firms. Hence, this study focuses on firms in semiprocessed food industry in Iran as a fast growing, entrepreneurial industry and tries to shed light on different growth dimensions and measurements in entrepreneurial firms. Data collected from 85 entrepreneurs through questionnaires. We used correlation matrix, Friedman’s rank test and structural model to estimate growth dimensions and identify its measurements. Results show among growth dimensions, entrepreneurial orientation shows the highest coefficients and the highest rank in Friedman’s test, which means this dimension, is the most effective one on firm’s growth. In addition, results of structural model show subjective measurements are also included in growth measurements and they show even higher coefficient than the objective measurements