Every business depends on growth to succeed. That's why CEOs and business owners focus so much of their daily efforts on how best to grow their enterprise. But there’s also risk in too much growth—that's why managing business growth is essential.

Whether you define growth as making key investments, identifying and penetrating your core customer base, or scaling operations to see a profit, “growth is also about slowing down,” say Karl Stark and Bill Stewart, contributors to Inc. If your business experiences too much growth or it grows by acquiring the wrong type of customers, the result can be failure—just as surely as if there was no growth at all. Managing business growth takes some finesse.

Stark and Stewart are managing directors and co-founders of Avondale Strategic Partners, a Chicago-based advisory firm that focuses on growing companies. When strategizing about managing business growth for your company, they suggest keeping a few key factors in mind. (more…)