%0 Journal Article %J Technology Innovation Management Review %D 2012 %T Categorizing the Growth Strategies of Small Firms %A Seppo Leminen %A Mika Westerlund %K growth orientation %K growth strategies %K R&D investment %K technology entrepreneurship %X This study investigates the link between a small firm’s investment in R&D and its growth strategy. A firm’s growth strategy refers to the means by which the organization plans to achieve its objective to grow in volume and turnover. We categorize firm growth strategies into eight distinctive clusters: opportunity explorers, radical innovators, business developers, business expanders, profit makers, business rebuilders, stagnators, and downsizers. We argue that understanding a firm’s growth orientation provides a way to assess the returns of its R&D investments, because an organization’s intangible growth strategies and tangible inputs are connected. %B Technology Innovation Management Review %I Talent First Network %C Ottawa %V 2 %P 5-9 %8 05/2012 %U http://timreview.ca/article/553 %N 5 %1 Laurea University of Applied Sciences and Aalto University Seppo Leminen, D. Sc. (Econ.), Lic. Tech., holds positions as Principal Lecturer at the Laurea University of Applied Sciences and Adjunct Professor in the School of Economics at Aalto University. Seppo holds a doctoral degree in Marketing from the Hanken School of Economics and a licentiate degree in Information Technology at the Helsinki University of Technology. His research and consultation interests include value co-creation and capture with users as well as relationships, services, and business models in marketing. He runs various living lab and business model projects in ICT and media industries. %2 Carleton University Mika Westerlund, D. Sc. (Econ.) is an Assistant Professor at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business. He previously held positions as Postdoctoral Scholar in the Haas School of Business at the University of California Berkeley and Postdoctoral Researcher in the School of Economics at Aalto University. Mika earned his doctoral degree in Marketing from the Helsinki School of Economics. His doctoral research focused on software firms’ business models and his current research interests include open innovation, business strategy, and management models in high-tech and service-intensive industries. Results from his research are reported in numerous scholarly journals. %R http://doi.org/10.22215/timreview/553