Relation of Dominant Problems to Stages of Growth in Technology-Based New Ventures

Abstract

Two studies investigating the growth patterns of new ventures are presented. In the first study, a stage-of-growth model theorized to apply specifically to technology-based new ventures was developed from two cases. Stages are described as a configuration of organizational design variables representing a firm's response to the sets of dominant problems it faces at sequential times. The second study explored relationships between stages of growth and a theorized pattern of dominant problems using a data base of 105 firms. Partial support emerged for the link between dominant problems and stages of growth.