Malin Brännback

Understanding the Myth of High Growth Firms

In this volume, the authors challenge some long held assumptions about entrepreneurial firms held by academics, public policy makers, investors and even entrepreneurs themselves. The first is assumption is that growth is what really differentiates an entrepreneurial firm from a small business. The second is that growth is always good. Third, if growth is rapid, and/or high growth, it is even better. Drawing from a fresh review of the literature, their own primary research and experience in entrepreneurial ventures, the authors argue that the relationship between growth and firm performance is, in fact, inconclusive.

Where do we go from here? A research agenda for entrepreneurial cognitions

In this edited book of eleven chapters, we examine a variety of approaches that may be useful in advancing our understanding of the cognitions that drive entrepreneurial activity. Although we pay special attention to entrepreneurial intentions because it is perhaps the widely researched cognitions, our focus is far broader. In our previous books on this general topic (Carsrud & Brännback, 2009; Brännback & Carsrud, 2017) we examined a variety of key areas in the psychology of the entrepreneur and subsequently how that research changed over the course of some nine years. We have also suggested that serious research methods issues limit our understanding of entrepreneurial processes (Carsrud & Brännback, 2014). In this volume, we move beyond what has been done to take a more forward-looking approach. We do this by examining areas we feel still have been under-researched, ignored, or are often not thought of as having an impact on the thinking and cognitions of entrepreneurs. We are most appreciative of the publisher, Edward Edgar, for their willingness to allow us to take a more forwardlooking approach.