Dealing with abnormal business growth by leveraging local area common goods: an outside-in stakeholder collaboration perspective

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how for a business located in a local area that does not portray the characteristics of the “Silicon Valley” stereotype, developing a strategy that pretends to autonomously set its boundary spanning may lead to unsustainable growth. Design/methodology/approach: This work suggests Dynamic Performance Management (DPM) as a method to implement an outcome-based view of sustainable development of small- and micro-sized organizations in their own context. A case study shows how collaboration between the public and the business sector may improve local area's outcomes and develop common goods in the context. Findings: Among the “abnormally-grown” small-and-micro businesses, this paper identifies “dwarf” and “small giant” firms as examples of context-based organizations, where an outside-in perspective may support sustainable development. To enable such firms to build up a capability to survive and grow in their contexts, local area common goods can be leveraged to pursue collaborative strategies and generate value. To this end, education may play a crucial role. Results from a fieldwork focused on the design and use of an educational package are illustrated. Practical implications: A change in decision-makers mental models is a prerequisite to introduce the use of “lean” DPM systems as a method to implement an “outside-in” perspective to pursue sustainable development in such organizations. Originality/value: This work has a multidisciplinary track; it uses a simulation-based methodology to understand performance dynamics, to assess policy's sustainability, and to foster a learning-oriented perspective to planning.