I read all the case studies I can find (no, I don't have a life), mostly all are from the US, and there seems an air of mysticism to the concept of business growth.  All of the other 'business problems' are readily solvable – what's the problem, what discipline does it belong to, what needs to be changed, how to execute the change (or the trouble maker), etc.

But why does any business fail to grow?  The reasons are the same whether big or small business, it's mostly a factor of scale.

1. Failure to define the business' vision (and values).

What will the business look like in 1 year, 5 years, when it is finished?  What will it take to get to each milestone?  Knowing these targets engages and motivates people, and provides meaning and significance as to how everyone contributes to the result.

2.  The CEO doesn't understand the role and responsibility.

You know this one – work on, not in the business.  You're not a technician now, you don't have to do 'real work'.  The principal needs to delegate, communicate effectively, plan, monitor, and especially avoid being a bottleneck.  Usually this means integrated and/or better systems; in the Cloud keeps the IT costs down.

3. Super-sizing is not the best plan for growth.

You need to not only sell more current product or ramp up the value of existing customers.  You also need to identify new customer niches, provide new products and sell existing products to new customer segments.  (The 'Ansoff matrix' identifies the risk in various growth strategies).  Experiment, try new things, learn from failure.

4. Reliance on 'Luck'

Some businesses are fortunate to survive as order takers.  But to grow needs a plan and targets, development of infrastructure and systems, and to take advantage of momentum.

5. Becoming complacent

It's easy to say 'I'm okay with where I am'. It could be just complacency, but it could be they don't know how to think big.

Hundreds of leadership texts have been written to tell us how to handle change.

One of the best is Harvard's John Kotter, at Kotterinternational.com. (f you want to find out more).  The same texts say the qualities most needed for growth are vision, courage, knowledge, teamwork and execution (which doesn't mean you have to join the Sopranos).  Every plan requires knowing what is to be achieved, then working on how it will be achieved;  "Where there's a will, there's a way".