The Growth Department: The Emerging Role and Impact of Chief Growth Officers and Their Cross-Functional Teams

Atefi, Yashar; Hohenberg, Sebastian; Janani, Saeed; Zhou, Wei

Abstract

This article investigates “growth departments,” an increasingly popular governance structure in modern organizations. Using a multimethod approach, the authors examine the purpose, responsibilities, and effectiveness of these departments. In Studies 1a and 1b, the authors analyze job ads to understand the growth department. Study 2 expands this understanding via interviews with chief growth officers. Findings show that the growth department is a cross-functional unit distinct from marketing and sales departments, designed to unify and orchestrate growth throughout the organization. Studies 3 and 4 assess their impact on firm outcomes, drawing from boundary spanning and organizational ambidexterity theories. In startups, hiring a growth leader results in better advancement through funding rounds, a key proxy of startup growth, than hiring a marketing or sales leader (Study 3). In public firms, a powerful growth department improves performance metrics including Tobin’s Q, cash flow, and return on assets (Study 4). The authors also identify contingency factors influencing the growth department’s effectiveness, including the growth leader’s past sales or marketing experience and the firm’s strategic emphasis on exploration versus exploitation. Together, the findings advance theory and practice by clarifying what growth departments are, how they operate, and under what conditions they enhance firm performance.