Getting to Scale: Growing Your Business Without Selling Out

Ben & Jerry’s. Stonyfield Farm. The Body Shop. Tom’s of Maine. All leaders in the socially responsible business movement—and all eventually sold to mega-corporations. Do values-driven businesses have to choose between staying small, selling off, or selling out?

Jill Bamburg says no. Based on intensive interviews with more than thirty growth-oriented, mission-driven entrepreneurs—including American Apparel, Give Something Back, Wild Planet Toys, Organic Valley Family of Farms, and Village Real Estate—her book explodes the myths of scale from both ends of the spectrum. She debunks both the limiting “small is beautiful” approach as well as the “you have to sell out to grow” mandate.

Focusing on the unique challenges that socially conscious companies face, Getting to Scale addresses the issues that affect all businesses:

Production and personnel
Access to capital and markets
Changes in organizational structure
Ownership and control
Corporate culture

Filled with practical and tested advice, Getting to Scale provides a blueprint for socially responsible entrepreneurs in any industry who want to benefit larger groups of customers, have a greater positive impact on their communities, and maintain their independence by scaling up their enterprises.

Jill Bamburg is the dean of the MBA program at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute (BGI; www.bgiedu.org), a new institution offering an MBA, certificate programs, and short courses with a focus on sustainable business. She is a founding faculty member of BGI, has spearheaded the development of its unique curriculum, and has lived the lessons of getting to scale as the organization has grown from 10 students to more than 100 in four years. Her academic experience also includes seven years of teaching marketing, strategy, and general management to midcareer managers in the Graduate Management Program at Antioch University/Seattle.