Smart Growth

“One only has to look at the recent financial crisis in the United Sates to see that good companies can self-destruct or self-inflict serious wounds by pursuing poor quality growth or by failing to manage the risks of growth.

In this book, I challenge some commonly held business beliefs about growth. First, I challenge the commonly held business beliefs (“Growth Mental Model”) that

1. businesses must continuously grow or they will die;

2. growth is always good;

3. public company growth should occur continuously and smoothly; and

4 quarterly earnings should be a primary measure of public company success.

These beliefs drive short-term business behaviors that in too many cases defer or destroy long-term value creation, decrease competitiveness, and can lead to premature corporate demise.

Smart Growth believes that improvement is more important than growth. And if a company continuously improves in ways that meet customers’ needs faster, better, or cheaper than the competition, then growth may occur if the business makes a decision to grow.” 

From the book Smart Growth, Building an Enduring Business by Managing the Risks of Growth by Edward D. Hess