High growth firms or scale-ups are a critical part of any entrepreneurship ecosystem, accounting for a disproportionate share of job creation, employment, innovation and wider social and economic value. Strathclyde has a long track record in fostering high growth entrepreneurship by encouraging high growth ambitions, supporting newly-growing firms and assisting growing firms to continue their development and scaling. We do this through a range of activities across the University, from our internationally recognised research, through to our Undergraduate and Postgraduate education and our market-leading Executive Development offerings.
In terms of research and knowledge exchange, Strathclyde’s portfolio of work on high growth and scale-up entrepreneurship has helped to shape current understanding of the high growth phenomenon, including what rapid firm growth entails and what can enable and constrain growth. Our work also considers a wide range of related and complementary themes such innovation, technology, public policy, economic development and psychology.
Strathclyde’s highly commended Growth Advantage Programme is aimed at growth-oriented businesses with a minimum £1 million turnover. In addition to fostering greater ambition and growth orientation, the programme is effective in terms of refining operations, product and service portfolios and management practices to enable effective growth and scaling.
As economic conditions fluctuate or uncertainty prevails, high growth entrepreneurship becomes increasingly important for socio-economic prosperity. Our work is helping to give businesses the best possible chance to develop to their full potential, to increase efficiencies and productivity and to scale to a size and state that provides benefits across a range of actors and all levels of society.