Abstract—
Abstract—In this study, we drew on the business model research and the stage theory of business growth to develop a five states model of how small businesses grow in their early existence. The model suggests that a small business may progress through five states (seed, breakthrough, sprout, sapling and young tree) of early growth, depending on the extent to which the business addresses the four fundamental issues in its business model (for whom to create value, what value to create, how to create value, and how to capture value). We assessed the validity of our model with data from a questionnaire sent to 100 small and micro businesses operating in the City of Changsha in China. A preliminary analysis of the collected data generated some initial evidence in support of the five early growth states. Using the model, a small start-up firm can quickly identify where it stands in its early stage of existence and what critical problems it needs to resolve in order to move to a more advanced state and increase its viability.
Index Terms—
Index Terms—Small business, business growth, business model.
Index Terms—Small business, business growth, business model.
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Cite:
Honghua Chen and Michael Jijin Zhang, "
The Business Model and Early Growth States of Small Businesses," Journal of Economics, Business and Management vol. 5, no. 5, pp.
201-204, 2017.