Development of a growth strategy model for female-owned mid-scale enterprises

Abstract: The growth of mid-scale enterprises in Africa has been constantly prevented from achieving successful entrepreneurial status by countless number of hindrances. Female owned mid-scale enterprises are most affected due to the considerably low participation of women in various economies in comparison to men. The lack of effective strategies to promote the growth of their businesses and the inclination of female owned mid-scale enterprises towards necessity-based entrepreneurship greatly limits their business growth potential. Additionally, there is a dearth of growth models, which are strategically focused on female mid-scale entrepreneurship, particularly in Africa. Therefore, this study was aimed at developing a growth strategy model for female mid-scale entrepreneurs. The researcher adopted a qualitative mode of research entailing a comprehensive literature review process from which a preliminary conceptual growth strategy model was developed. This model was aligned and modified with data from semi-structured interviews with three prominent female mid-scale entrepreneurs from East Africa due to the region’s unique economic development characteristics with entrepreneurship as a vital instrument for growth, to develop a comprehensive growth strategy model. Semi-structured interviews were used as the main data collection approach to gather input from participants on their respective mid-scale enterprises. A multi-pronged data analysis method with a comprehensive focus on conversation analysis, was also adopted. Conversation analysis, which focuses on social interactions during conversations, was applied to uncover the in-depth meaning of the lengthy conversations held with the selected female mid-scale entrepreneurs...D. Phil. (Leadership