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Profitable growth: Avoiding the ‘growth fetish’ in emerging markets

Nan Zhou (), Seung Ho Park and Gerardo R. Ungson

Business Horizons, 2013, vol. 56, issue 4, 473-481

Abstract: Growth management is a challenging but critical corporate strategy facing the fast economic growth in emerging markets. An overemphasis on growth would lead to the growth fetish, where growth is unqualified and seen as an end in itself. By examining the performance of 105,260 firms in key sectors of Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) from 2002 to 2011, this study presents quantitative evidence that supports a profit-oriented strategy as a more effective path to sustained profitable growth in emerging markets. To further support this argument, this study also provides qualitative evidence of a group of 70 sustained high-performing firms that are superior to their peers (the top 500 private companies in each of the BRIC countries) in terms of profit, growth, market share, and efficiency over a 10-year period. The study shows that sustained profitable growth requires qualified sales growth (i.e., organic growth), competence-based and competence-enhancing growth, and continuous product diversification.

Keywords: Profitable growth; Emerging markets; Sustainable high performance; Growth fetish; Management control (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:bushor:v:56:y:2013:i:4:p:473-481

DOI: 10.1016/j.bushor.2013.03.008

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