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Tracing Gazelles: An Exploration into Identities of Rapidly Growing Companies

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Abstract

Young, rapidly-growing companies—so called “gazelles”—are attracting increasing attention, mainly due to their significant impact on employment creation. Specific interest lies in the determinants for the observed growth, be they external or internal to the companies. Eight case studies, using qualitative research, of such companies from the energy technology sector in Germany’s capital region led to the extraction of elements of a growth-fostering organizational identity. These entailsedfactors of signification, legitimization, and domination according to Giddens’ “duality of structures”. The resulting three-dimensional model can serve as a basis for understanding the internal determinants for continued above-average growth of young companies.

JEL codes: M10, M13, M14

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Tomenendal, M., Raffer, C. (2017). Tracing Gazelles: An Exploration into Identities of Rapidly Growing Companies. In: Dörrenbächer, C., Tomenendal, M., Stanske, S. (eds) Organizational Identity and Firm Growth. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57724-5_4

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