| Abstract [eng] |
The traditional business concept sees growth as an indicator of success, but often too rapid expansion process, not aligned with a company's financial resources, can lead to insolvency problems, value destruction or even bankruptcy. From a financial management perspective, a company's sales growth should be linked to its future planning, which is why the concept of sustainable growth rates is becoming so important in today's business world. By following a sustainable growth rate, companies can maximise sales without changing their financing structure and ensure optimal long-term business continuity. The current economic uncertainty leads to a highly dynamic and insecure business environment with limited financing options. As a result, companies should be prepared to embrace change and adjust their financial management policies to incorporate a sustainable growth rate that helps them assess the realism of the organisation's future growth plans in terms of its financial capacity. While the academic literature contains research on the internal factors that determine sustainable growth rates, there has been very little research on the external factors. In view of the lack of research on sustainable growth rates, this Master's project undertakes a study that integrates an assessment of the impact of internal and external factors on sustainable growth rate. The first part of the project focuses on the concept of sustainable growth and its implications for corporate financial management. It also analyses the main subject areas related to sustainable growth, which identify the need for the study and the future direction of the research. In order to ensure that the research adds value to the research field, it has been decided to investigate not only the internal but also the external factors that determine the sustainable growth of companies. By including companies in the sample, the study aims to provide new insights into the factors determining sustainable growth rates through a less explored Western European geographical location. Having identified a new scientific discourse, the second part of the project analysed a wide range of scientific literature in order to gain a clear understanding of the research question, to uncover key theoretical knowledge and concepts, and to provide methodological guidance on how best to conduct a study on the impact of the factors on sustainable growth rate. The third part of the project provides a coherent description and justification of the methodology of the planned study. The study is carried out according to a clearly structured research process and the fourth part of the project describes the main results obtained. The empirical study was based on a sample of 49 Western European companies grouped into high and low growth sectors. To ensure the depth of the findings, the observations were carried out in the periods of economic certainty (2014–2019) and economic uncertainty (2020–2023). The results show that, regardless of the separation of sectors and periods, the sustainable growth of each company depends mainly on its ability to generate profits and its choice of financing structure. |
