Scaling New Ventures

Although scaling is a “hot topic” in the practitioner literature, it has mostly been ignored (at least explicitly) in the academic literature. Building on a recent editorial, this chapter highlights the importance of scaling for new venture growth. Scaling refers to spreading excellence within a venture as it grows (organically or through acquisition) from a new (and often small) organization to an established, large organization (Shepherd & Patzelt in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 10.1177/1042258720950599, 2020). In this chapter, we explore the drivers and consequences of scaling and explain how knowledge management facilitates scaling, how founder replacement impacts scaling, and how current scaling influences subsequent scaling.

A new channel to form IMBHs throughout cosmic time

ABSTRACT While the formation of the first black holes (BHs) at high redshift is reasonably well understood though debated, massive BH formation at later cosmic epochs has not been adequately explored. We present a gas accretion driven mechanism that can build-up BH masses rapidly in dense, gas-rich nuclear star clusters (NSCs). Wind-fed supraexponential accretion in these environments under the assumption of net zero angular momentum for the gas, can lead to extremely rapid growth, scaling stellar mass remnant seed BHs up to the intermediate mass black hole (IMBH) range. This new long-lived channel for IMBH formation permits growth to final masses ranging from 50 to 105 M⊙. Growth is modulated by the gas supply, and premature termination can result in the formation of BHs with masses between 50 and a few 100 M⊙ filling in the so-called mass gap. Typically, growth is unimpeded and will result in the formation of IMBHs with masses ranging from ∼100 to 105 M⊙. New detections from the LIGO–VIRGO source GW190521 to the emerging population of ∼105 M⊙ BHs harboured in low-mass dwarf galaxies are revealing this elusive population. Naturally accounting for the presence of off-centre BHs in low-mass dwarfs, this new pathway also predicts the existence of a population of wandering non-central BHs in more massive galaxies detectable via tidal disruption events and as gravitational wave coalescences. Gas-rich NSCs could therefore serve as incubators for the continual formation of BHs over a wide range in mass throughout cosmic time.

Validation of demographic equilibrium theory against tree-size distributions and biomass density in Amazonia

Understanding the relative abundance of trees of different sizes is an important part of predicting the response of forests to changes in climate, land-use and disturbance events. Two competing theories of forest size-distributions are demographic equilibrium theory (DET), based on scaling of mortality and growth with size, and metabolic scaling theory (MST), based scaling size with metabolic rates and how trees fill space. Recently, it was shown that for US forests DET is a much better model than MST, even using the same growth scaling with size. Studies comparing DET and MST have so far focused on trunk diameter, but tree mass and the associated forest mass per unit area (biomass density) are much more relevant to climate. In this study, we extend by fitting both DET and MST to mass data for the Amazon rainforest. The conversion via allometry from trunk diameter data to mass leads to an artefact in the mass distribution, which can be corrected by excluding smaller trees. We derive equations to calculate the total forest biomass density from the mass distribution equation, for both models, and these can be used as an indicator of goodness of model fit to the data. The models were fitted to the data, using Maximum Likelihood Estimation, at the forest plot, regional and continental scale. The fits for both diameter and mass demonstrate that MST is rarely a good fit for Amazon size-distributions and that DET is much better and can estimate biomass density, at the forest plot scale, with a mean error of 6 % (10 % if DET allometry fixed to MST) of its true value, compared to 139 % for MST. The median of the fitted growth scaling power for all the 124 plots is very close to the MST allometry values, implying MST allometry is a mean scaling, around which smaller forest plots cluster. At the larger regional scale, the error in the biomass density estimate of DET reduces to 2 % or less and it is less than 1 % for the whole continent. This suggests that models based on DET, such as the relatively simple Robust Ecosystem Demography model (RED), are a good basis for a next-generation dynamic global vegetation model, and that Amazonian forests remain close to demographic equilibrium on large-scales, despite climate change and significant anthropogenic disturbance.

Molecular Diversity and Network Complexity in Growing Protocells

A great variety of molecular components is encapsulated in cells. Each of these components is replicated for cell reproduction. To address an essential role of the huge diversity of cellular components, we study a model of protocells that convert resources into catalysts with the aid of a catalytic reaction network. As the resources are limited, it is shown that diversity in intracellular components is increased to allow the use of diverse resources for cellular growth. Scaling relation is demonstrated between resource abundances and molecular diversity. We then study how the molecule species diversify and complex catalytic reaction networks develop through the evolutionary course. It is shown that molecule species first appear, at some generations, as parasitic ones that do not contribute to replication of other molecules. Later, the species turn to be host species that support the replication of other species. With this successive increase of host species, a complex joint network evolves. The present study sheds new light on the origin of molecular diversity and complex reaction network at the primitive stage of a cell.

Assessing the relationship between epidemic growth scaling and epidemic size: The 2014–16 Ebola epidemic in West Africa

We assess the relationship between epidemic size and the scaling of epidemic growth of Ebola epidemics at the level of administrative areas during the 2014–16 Ebola epidemic in West Africa. For this purpose, we quantify growth scaling parameters from the ascending phase of Ebola outbreaks comprising at least 7 weeks of epidemic growth. We then study how these parameters are associated with observed epidemic sizes. For validation purposes, we also analyse two historic Ebola outbreaks. We find a high monotonic association between the scaling of epidemic growth parameter and the observed epidemic size. For example, scaling of growth parameters around 0.3–0.4, 0.4–0.6 and 0.6 are associated with epidemic sizes on the order of 350–460, 460–840 and 840–2500 cases, respectively. These results are not explained by differences in epidemic onset across affected areas. We also find the relationship between the scaling of epidemic growth parameter and the observed epidemic size to be consistent for two past Ebola outbreaks in Congo (1976) and Uganda (2000). Signature features of epidemic growth could become useful to assess the risk of observing a major epidemic outbreak, generate improved diseases forecasts and enhance the predictive power of epidemic models. Our results indicate that the epidemic growth scaling parameter is a useful indicator of epidemic size, which may have significant implications to guide control of Ebola outbreaks and possibly other infectious diseases.

Controversial Aspects of the Internal Control Concept

The logic of the paper is based on defining the key aspects of internal control notion as a phenomenon in modern management process. The article considers the issues of applying Article 19 “Internal control” of the Federal Act 402 taking into consideration the progress in microelectronics, information technology and telecommunications and their relation to control. It also discusses the important aspects of “The Conceptual Framework of Risk Management in Organizations” related to the issues of internal control as a wider notion of risk management. It is also noted that this document doesn’t cancel “The Conceptual Framework of Internal Control” but include it as an integrant part.The author draws the attention to the modern transformation of methodological views on internal control organization particularly to the shift of emphasis with regard to identification and elimination of risks. Nowadays it is believed that the management task is to make decisions about the level of uncertainty which the organization is prepared to accept seeking to increase value for stakeholders.The author concludes that the system of internal corporate control (SICC) is a multilevel process, the subjects of which are all company’s management bodies, departments, divisions and their employees whose activity is related to risks able to influence the company’s goals achievement including such an important goal as reliable presentation of company’s activity results in financial and other types of reporting.The article contains the proposals on the content of risk-oriented internal corporate control. Sustainability of an enterprise is based on getting right economic strategy which means that the goals should be set in a way that ensures the optimal balance between the technological development and growth (scaling) of the company, its profitability and risks along with thrift and efficient use of resources available.

Adaptive diversification of growth allometry in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana

Seed plants vary tremendously in size and morphology; however, variation and covariation in plant traits may be governed, at least in part, by universal biophysical laws and biological constants. Metabolic scaling theory (MST) posits that whole-organismal metabolism and growth rate are under stabilizing selection that minimizes the scaling of hydrodynamic resistance and maximizes the scaling of resource uptake. This constrains variation in physiological traits and in the rate of biomass accumulation, so that they can be expressed as mathematical functions of plant size with near-constant allometric scaling exponents across species. However, the observed variation in scaling exponents calls into question the evolutionary drivers and the universality of allometric equations. We have measured growth scaling and fitness traits of 451 Arabidopsis thaliana accessions with sequenced genomes. Variation among accessions around the scaling exponent predicted by MST was correlated with relative growth rate, seed production, and stress resistance. Genomic analyses indicate that growth allometry is affected by many genes associated with local climate and abiotic stress response. The gene with the strongest effect, PUB4, has molecular signatures of balancing selection, suggesting that intraspecific variation in growth scaling is maintained by opposing selection on the trade-off between seed production and abiotic stress resistance. Our findings suggest that variation in allometry contributes to local adaptation to contrasting environments. Our results help reconcile past debates on the origin of allometric scaling in biology and begin to link adaptive variation in allometric scaling to specific genes.

Adaptive diversification of growth allometry in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana

Seed plants vary tremendously in size and morphology. However, variation and covariation between plant traits may at least in part be governed by universal biophysical laws and biological constants. Metabolic Scaling Theory (MST) posits that whole-organismal metabolism and growth rate are under stabilizing selection that minimizes the scaling of hydrodynamic resistance and maximizes the scaling of resource uptake. This constrains variation in physiological traits and in the rate of biomass accumulation, so that they can be expressed as mathematical functions of plant size with near constant allometric scaling exponents across species. However, observed variation in scaling exponents questions the evolutionary drivers and the universality of allometric equations. We have measured growth scaling and fitness traits of 451 Arabidopsis thaliana accessions with sequenced genomes. Variation among accessions around the scaling exponent predicted by MST correlated with relative growth rate, seed production and stress resistance. Genomic analyses indicate that growth allometry is affected by many genes associated with local climate and abiotic stress response. The gene with the strongest effect, PUB4, has molecular signatures of balancing selection, suggesting that intraspecific variation in growth scaling is maintained by opposing selection on the trade-off between seed production and abiotic stress resistance. Our findings support a core MST prediction and suggest that variation in allometry contributes to local adaptation to contrasting environments. Our results help reconcile past debates on the origin of allometric scaling in biology, and begin to link adaptive variation in allometric scaling to specific genes.Significance statementAre there biological constants unifying phenotypic diversity across scales? Metabolic Scaling Theory (MST) predicts mathematical regularity and constancy in the allometric scaling of growth rate with body size across species. Here, we show that adaptation to climate in Arabidopsis thaliana is associated with local strains that substantially deviate from the values predicted by MST. This deviation can be linked to increased stress tolerance at the expense of seed production, and it occurs through selection on genes that are involved in abiotic stress response and that are geographically correlated with climatic conditions. This highlights the evolutionary role of allometric diversification and helps establish the physiological bases of plant adaptation to contrasting environments.