Four Ways to Scale Up: Smart, Dumb, Forced, and Fumbled (2021)
Four Ways to Scale Up: Smart, Dumb, Forced, and Fumbled


	
	
		
	

	
	
		
		
	

	
	

	
	
	
	
	
    
        Flyvbjerg, Bent, 2021, "Four Ways to Scale Up: Smart, Dumb, Forced, and Fumbled," Saïd Business School Working Papers (Oxford: University of Oxford).
    
	

	
	
		
		
			37 Pages
		
		

		Posted: 5 Mar 2021
		
		
		
	
	
		
			
			




	Bent FlyvbjergUniversity of Oxford - Said Business School; IT University of Copenhagen; St Anne's College, University of Oxford

		
	
	
	
	
	



	
	
	
	
		
		
	
	
		
			Date Written: January 5, 2021
		
	

	
	
		
		
	

	
	
		
	
	
		Abstract
		Scale-up is the process of growing a venture in size. The paper identifies modularity and speed as keys to successful scale-up. On that basis four types of scale-up are identified: Smart, dumb, forced, and fumbled. Smart scale-up combines modularity and speed. Dumb scale-up is bespoke and slow, and very common. The paper presents examples of each type of scale-up, explaining why they were successful or not. Whether you are a small startup or Elon Musk trying to grow Tesla and SpaceX or Jeff Bezos scaling up Amazon – or you are the US, UK, Chinese, or other government trying to increase power production, expand your infrastructure, or make your health, education, and social services work better – modularity and speed are the answer to effective delivery, or so the paper argues. How well you deal with modularity and speed decides whether your efforts succeed or fail. Most ventures, existing or planned, are neither fully smart nor fully dumb, but have elements of both. Successful organizations work to tip the balance towards smart by (a) introducing elements of smart scale-up into existing ventures and (b) starting new, fully smart-scaled ventures, to make themselves less dumb and ever smarter. 
	
	

	
		
		


	

	
	

		
		

	
	


	

	
	
	
		
	
	
	

	
	
		
		
			
				
			
		
		Keywords: Scale-Up, Scaling, Scale, Scalability, Modular, Modularity, Replicability, Speed, LEGO
	
	

	
    
    
	

	
	
	

	
	

























    	
	
				
	
	
	
   	
	
	
	
	
	            
	















	












   
  











    
    
    
    
















	



    




	
		Suggested Citation:
		Suggested Citation
	
	
		
			Flyvbjerg,  Bent, Four Ways to Scale Up: Smart, Dumb, Forced, and Fumbled (January 5, 2021). Flyvbjerg, Bent, 2021, "Four Ways to Scale Up: Smart, Dumb, Forced, and Fumbled," Saïd Business School Working Papers (Oxford: University of Oxford).,  Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3760631 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3760631 
		
	
	

	
	
	

	
	

	
	
		
	

	
	
	
