Collapsing or prospering: High-growth firms and business scaling in a turbulent world

The contemporary business environment is characterized by high levels of turbulence originating from both radical events and gradual changes in market trends. This has created ever-increasing uncertainty around potential disruptions, making it increasingly challenging for high-performing firms, such as HGFs and scale-ups, to maintain their predicted performance trajectories. While some firms have been struggling with maintaining their rapid growth, others have experienced an additional boost of acceleration on top of their already impressive growth rates. Yet, we know very little about how HGFs and young scaling ventures respond to such turbulence in their environments. By conducting a comprehensive review of the literature, we integrate the findings of diverse theoretical perspectives, offering a more complete understanding of high growth and business scaling. We provide ambitious future research avenues facilitating cross-fertilization of theoretical perspectives to advance our multi-level understanding of how such firms can navigate through turbulent times.