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What Barriers to Growth Do Small Businesses Face? (Report Date: January 2003, Full Report: 19 pages) Summary This report identifies and describes the main organisational barriers to growth that businesses face in the present business environment. In order to remain competitive, particularly in a rapidly changing business environment, companies need to progress and evolve on a continuous basis. Standing still can considerably weaken their position in the market and can pose a threat to their future survival. However, while businesses can be very successful at managing day-to-day operations, they often lack the required capabilities that will enable them to grow steadily and effectively. Those businesses will need to overcome several major obstacles in order to manage the growth process successfully. Small businesses in particular face a tougher challenge during the growth process than their larger counterparts because they have limited financial and human resources. Unfortunately, those businesses often underestimate the growth challenge and dive into the growth process head first, without considering the potential consequences. Yet, there are many issues that they need to address as they grow, issues which affect their people, culture, and organisational capabilities. Businesses face both internal and external barriers to growth. Although organisations cannot always control external barriers to growth, such as tough market conditions, they can influence internal barriers to growth, particularly human resources- and process-related barriers within the organisation. This report identifies the main internal barriers to growth facing small businesses.
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