Why scaling up is not the same as growth

Shift

“Around ten years ago, the focus on entrepreneurship was almost exclusively limited to start-ups,” says Veroniek. “But at some point, it became clear that we also need companies that can take the next step: ones that can really scale up.” This insight led to the establishment of the Vlerick Centre for Excellence in Scale-ups and the Scale-up Masterclass. Along with her co-editor and co-author Professor Justin Jansen, and with Leonardo Fuligni, Veroniek was also the driving force behind the establishment of the European Scaleup Institute more than two years ago.

The academic world has also noted this shift. “There is a long tradition of scientific research into growth, but exactly how it differs from scaling up is a more recent question,” Veroniek continues. “In any case, we were receiving signals from both practical and academic angles that the time was ripe to bring all our knowledge together, so that we could help organisations achieve sustainable growth in an empirically and scientifically substantiated way. Growth is still the main focus of attention, after all, with scaling up being added almost as an afterthought. And scaling up means something different for everyone. That’s why we finally wanted to combine our state-of-the-art insights.”

Growing efficiently

“Scaling up is a process where you start by identifying and defining the areas in which you excel. Where are your pockets of excellence? What is your recipe for success? Once you’ve got that down on paper, you can replicate it – across multiple countries, markets or use cases. That’s how you grow”, explains Veroniek. “But scaling up isn’t just about growing,” she emphasises, “it’s about being able to grow efficiently, and that requires you to think about the underlying systems, processes and structures. Because ultimately you don’t just want to increase your turnover. You also need to improve your margins, allowing you to achieve that longed-for exponential growth in a financially sustainable way. In short, scaling up is the ability to grow exponentially in an efficient manner.” 

Three sections

The Handbook of Research on Scaling and High-Growth Firms contains a wealth of information, practical knowledge and current insights explained through examples. The chapters in the first section lay the foundations: a comprehensive definition of what scaling up is and how it differs from growth. This is not only a topic of discussion among professionals, but also among academics. “It’s important to get everyone on the same wavelength from the start,” says Veroniek. “Our vision is clear: scaling up and growth are not the same thing, although clearly they are related.”

The second section examines the building blocks of scaling up. It covers replication, underlying processes and organisational aspects. The third and final section focuses on the drivers and preconditions that make scaling up possible – financing, talent management, ecosystems etc. “It discusses the impact perspective too: how scaling up can also bring about changes at the social level. Not only can you examine scaling up at the company level, but equally well at higher levels too.”

Evidence-based insights, across sectors and contexts

The Handbook of Research on Scaling and High-Growth Firms brings together insights from leading researchers in various disciplines: entrepreneurship, strategy, finance, marketing and organisational behaviour. Although the authors mainly come from the network of the European Scaleup Institute, the content is not purely European. There are also contributions by authors from Australia, Canada, China and the US, making it a truly international publication – unlike many other books on growth and scaling up, which are often heavily centred on the US.

Furthermore, most publications on scaling up are anecdotal. “They tell the story of a single entrepreneur”, says Veroniek. “And as interesting as they are, the insights remain limited to that one case. The huge added value of our book lies precisely in the academic lens: what can we learn from hundreds or thousands of entrepreneurs? Which patterns determine whether you can grow sustainably?”

Moreover, this book does not just focus on the tech industry. “An interesting fact is that the concept of scaling up has its origins in social impact literature,” she notes. “Intuitively, this makes sense: when you set up a social venture to solve a major social problem, it involves issues on a global scale almost by definition. You then need to think from day one about how to avoid limiting your solution to a single town or region, because if you are genuinely driven by a social mission, you want to have as broad an impact as possible. But this realisation seems to have got slightly lost along the way, as if scaling up were only for tech companies.” The Handbook of Research on Scaling and High-Growth Firms shows that scaling up is relevant to many more sectors and contexts, with shared growth pains as well as sector-specific differences.

Four lessons to take home

What does Veroniek hope readers will remember? She doesn’t need to spend long thinking about the answer:

• Growth is not the same as scaling up. “Growth is a result, an outcome. Scaling up is a skill that you need to develop from day one.”
• Replication is the foundation of scaling up. “It might sound simple, but it isn’t”, she warns. “And in order to replicate, you first need to identify what works. If you don’t, you will find yourself scaling up your mistakes as well as your successes.”
• Efficiency comes before expansion. “Too many entrepreneurs still equate scaling up with rapid sales growth – they want to conquer the world. But if you rush things without strengthening your foundations first, you’ll end up crashing.”
• Scaling up is a matter of organisation. “It goes without saying that you need to have a good product. However, this is just a necessity and not a sufficient precondition for scaling up. In order to scale up, you need processes, routines, leadership and the right talent. In short, you need to get organised.”

This last lesson, by the way, ties in seamlessly with the results of the Rising Star Monitor 2025. Veroniek can’t stress enough that scaling up isn’t something that happens automatically: you need to plan for it. “If you want to scale up successfully, you will actually have to improvise less. The extent to which you can standardise and codify things – make them explicit, no matter how you do it – determines whether you can replicate and grow in a sustainable way. And that slightly contradicts the over-romanticised image of the chaotic entrepreneur who does everything off the cuff. Improvising can sometimes work out well if you’re lucky, but if you really want to increase your chances of success you will need to get organised for scaling up.”

Scientifically robust, relevant in practice

When compiling the book, Veroniek and Justin had three target groups in mind: academics, entrepreneurs and policymakers. “We believe it is important to stimulate thorough, in-depth research into scaling up. As a result, we wanted to make it clear to the next generation of researchers where we are today and what we don’t yet know.”

The Handbook of Research on Scaling and High-Growth Firms is not a light Sunday evening read – you need to keep your wits about you. Nevertheless, entrepreneurs should not be deterred. After all, each chapter contains concrete implications and practical tools to help them get started right away. Policymakers are also offered insights that will help them to develop effective policies. Because if you want to encourage scale-ups, you have to know which buttons you can turn.

Interested in reading more?
The Handbook of Research on Scaling and High-Growth Firms (edited by Veroniek Collewaert and Justin J.P. Jansen) is published by Edward Elgar Publishing and available through the publisher’s website. You can also order the book from Amazon.

About the authors
Veroniek Collewaert is a Full Professor of Entrepreneurship at Vlerick Business School. She is the director of both the Masters programmes and the Centre for Excellence in Scale-Ups. Justin J.P. Jansen is a Professor of Corporate Entrepreneurship at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University.