Successful Non-Growing Companies

Little light has been shed on the functioning of business in potential post-growth economies. With this paper, we aim to expand discussions on post-growth economies to the company level and suggest one possible way to connect existing management practise with the fact that, in order to stay within planetary boundaries, economic growth cannot be infinite. To that end, we conceptualise Successful Non-Growing Companies (SNCs) as one possible form of post-growth companies and examine ten existing SNCs with regard to their motivations, key performance indicators and management strategies. Results of our document analysis suggest that when different approaches towards growth in qualities are given preference over traditional quantitative growth several characteristics follow that are advantageous for the transition to a post-growth economy. We postulate the concept of Successful Non-Growing Companies has potential to support the cultural shift needed on the company level for the transformation towards post-growth on the macro level.

Keywords: Post-growth, Company Growth, Management, Planetary Boundaries, Non-growing

JEL Classification: L21, M13, M14, O47, P12, P13, Q20, D21

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Liesen, Andrea and Dietsche, Christian and Gebauer, Jana, Successful Non-Growing Companies (June 28, 2015). Humanistic Management Network, Research Paper Series No. 25/15, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2623920 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2623920