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The risks facing small businesses that pursue fast growth are legion, but certain best practices can make the difference between soaring to new heights and flaming out.
For starters, rapid expansion typically requires entrepreneurs to redirect the ambition that got their startups off the ground.
"In the pantheon of problems, of course it's a 'good' problem to have," says Daniel Petree, dean of the School of Business Administration and Economics at SUNY College at Brockport. "If you're choosing between the problem of not having enough business versus having to manage rapid growth, you'd choose rapid growth every time.
"But it's not quite that simple," Petree adds. "Too-rapid growth or chaotic growth has probably ruined as many small businesses and their futures as some of the things we think of as sort of the regular reasons why they don't succeed, like undercapitalization or insufficient planning ... and also the possibility that the product or service isn't meeting the expectations of the marketplace."
Before making any attempts to leapfrog the competition, small businesses need to perfect their existing products and services, standardize their processes and prepare to hire new talent quickly, experts say. Owners of small firms also should keep in mind that higher sales do not necessarily equal higher margins.
"It may in fact put pressure on cost structure in such a way that you may end up losing...