53-61 Purchase Full Text of This Article Three Strategies for Managing Fast Growth Georg von Krogh and Michael A. Cusumano To grow steadily and avoid stagnation, a company must learn how to scale up and extend its business, lengthen its expansion phase, and accumulate and apply new knowledge to products and markets faster than competitors.
Managers can t leave growth to chance.
Such planning has an internal focus. It aims to help a company exert more control over its own fate as it rises to external challenges. Three thriving companies demonstrate three different strategies in action. Established in 1954 as a small domestic furniture manufacturer and retailer in Sweden, by 1999 IKEA had 50,000 employees and a presence in 25 countries. As the authors explain in depth, IKEA s success is tied to the way it manages and transfers knowledge.