The gazelles: how Indiana's fast-growth companies can sustain growth.

• Author: Kuratko, Donald F.
• Position: Viewpoint

IN SPITE OF OUR SLOW economic recovery in the U.S., entrepreneurial activity has continued to emerge and thrive. For example, 15 percent of the fastest-growing new firms (nicknamed "gazelles") accounted for 94 percent of net job creation, and less than one-third of these gazelles were involved in high technology.

In my latest book, Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process, Practice, I argue that entrepreneurial firms make two indispensable contributions to the U.S. economy. First, they are an integral part of the renewal process that pervades and defines market economies. Entrepreneurial firms play a crucial role in the renovations that lead to technological change and productivity growth. The U.S. economy is a dynamic organic enuty always in the process of "becoming," rather than an established one that has already arrived.

Second, entrepreneurial firms are the essential mechanism by which millions enter the economic and social mainstream of American society. Smaller firms enable millions of people, including women, minorines and immigrants, to access the American Dream. The greatest source of U.S. strength has always been the American Dream of economic growth, equal opportunity and upward mobility In this evolutionary process, entrepreneurship plays the crucial and indispensable role of providing the "social glue" that binds together both the high-tech of "Wall Street" and the low-tech of "Main Street" activities.

Fast-growth firms are the basis for real entrepreneurial success. The opportunities for Indiana entrepreneurs are unlimited. The constantly changing economic environment provides a continuous flow of potential opportunities if an individual can recognize a profitable idea amid the chaos and cynicism that also permeates such an environment. The "Indiana Growth 100," sponsored by the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at the Kelley School ot Business, Indiana University, Bloomington, is an excellent example of the firms within our state that form a core of "gazelles." They are the real future of Indiana's economy in the 21st century and these types of gazelle firms need to carefully plan for sustained growth. The...