Business Development: Measurement and Performance

Business development tasks and processes span a growth opportunity’s planning phase and implementation phase. This exploratory study aims at clarifying and empirically verifying the business development construct and addressing its unique organizational design and performance implications. On the basis of 198 CEO responses from growth enterprises and growth entrepreneurs, the results indicate that business development and its two components – business planning sophistication and developer support – have differential effects on firm performance. The research and managerial implications are discussed.