Small Firm Owners in New Zealand: In it for the ‘good life’ or growth?

Abstract

Developing a ‘profile’ of a SME owner – either as a means of understanding the characteristics of a ‘successful’ individual or to better predict what intentions, goals, or strategies pave the way to firm growth, remains a preoccupation for researchers. In this pursuit, a number of useful descriptors and typologies have been put forward, including those that focus on making the distinction between growth-rejecting’ and ‘growth-enthusiastic’ SME owners. One such descriptor that has achieved consistent use, and perhaps abuse, is that of the lifestyle’ SME owner. This paper reports on the findings of a project that studied New Zealand SMEs in the context of business growth. Site visits and in-depth interviews were carried out with the owner or manager of a random sample of 50 firms throughout New Zealand. This paper contributes to a better understanding of SME growth and the applicability of business growth models to SMEs in a New Zealand context, and puts forward an alternative categorisation of those described as ‘lifestyle’ owners.

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