Thanks to our strategic partnership with consultancy company BDO, we can support founders and scale-ups in their growth journey. From academic insight to hands-on advice.
The challenge of scaling successfully
When scaling your business, the complexity of your organization increases along the way. Whether it is your governance structure that needs to evolve, stakeholder expectations rise or your financial needs change. For many founders and leadership teams, these transitions happen faster than anticipated and often under significant pressure.
Even though entrepreneurs have access to a wealth of information today, much of it focuses on trends, benchmarks or success stories after the fact. To understand the critical elements behind sustainable growth and turn these insights into concrete decisions, businesses need more guidance.
In the Belgian business landscape of today, too many start-ups struggle with the same growth pains and never even reach the scale-up phase. Because growing a company requires a pragmatic mindset and a different approach at each step of that journey. And that’s where the partnership between BDO & AMS comes in.
Actionable guidance, based on academic research
By joining forces with BDO, we can better address the challenges of scaling.
At Antwerp Management School, we combine thorough academic research with deep hands-on experience in entrepreneurship and venture creation. Our Master in Innovation & Entrepreneurship program, which launched more than 130 start-ups, is just one testament to this. BDO complements this with extensive experience advising start-ups and scale-ups across sectors and growth phases.
Rather than merely describing the start-up and scale-up ecosystem, this partnership focuses on practical cases and the drivers of successful scaling in today’s business world. With insights based on research and tested against real cases, we bridge science and practice to deliver actionable guidance for founders and leadership teams. Together, we help them create long-term sustainable growth.
Step by step towards future growth
The partnership is built around a pragmatic, step-by-step approach:
Research foundations: We conduct in-depth academic research into the scale-up journey, to move beyond linear growth models and acknowledge the complexity of real-world businesses.
Scaling Navigator groundwork: By analysing concrete cases, we can identify recurring growth triggers, trade-offs and decision points that founders encounter as they scale.
Translation into practical insights: These research outcomes are converted into accessible deliverables. We’ll provide articles, opinion pieces and podcasts, to ensure these insights reach entrepreneurs when needed.
Ecosystem presence and dialogue: Our ambition is to broaden our engagement and reach within the Antwerp entrepreneurial ecosystem through events and interactions with scale-ups.
Thanks to this clear structure, we can give tailor-made advice and insights to entrepreneurs, support by a solid research base
“Together with BDO, we will map the complexity of growth, financing and innovation, so that with new insights and practical tools we can support the next generation of Belgian scale-ups. This is how we build an ecosystem in which entrepreneurship can truly flourish.”
—
Robin De Cock, PhD, Professor in Innovation & Entrepreneurship
The value for start- & scale-ups
For start-ups and scale-ups, this partnership delivers:
Clearer insight into the underlying drivers of sustainable growth
Practical reflection points to support decision-making at key transition moments
Access to independent, research-based knowledge translated into concrete guidance
Opportunities to engage with advisors, researchers and peers through content and events
Our aim is not to create generic best practices, but help founders make clearly defined and concrete choices that fit their specific growth path.
“In AMS, we find a partner that shares our ambition: to strengthen entrepreneurship, help talent grow and further develop the scale-up ecosystem. In this way, we help entrepreneurs accelerate, make innovation tangible and connect talent with the companies that are driving our economy forward.”
—
Dave Vanhaute, Partner Deal & Valuation Advisory at BDO Belgium
The goal of this partnership
Through this partnership, BDO & AMS aim to achieve:
A robust, research-backed framework that supports scaling with impact
Thought leadership pieces that link theory with day-to-day entrepreneurial challenges
A practical navigator to help founders reflect on their growth trajectory and next steps
A stronger entrepreneurial ecosystem, anchored in Antwerp and connected to a broader network
Publications
Antwerp Management School and BDO Belgium join forces for a three-year partnership on entrepreneurship and scale-up growth
AMS and BDO announce a three-year strategic partnership to strengthen their impact in the entrepreneurship and scale-up ecosystem, focusing on knowledge sharing, innovation, and talent development.
The evolution of startups in Belgium: innovation, scaling, and the future of Belgian entrepreneurship
The Belgian startup ecosystem has evolved from early community-building to international acquisitions and now to strong homegrown scale-ups, but to truly accelerate further growth, more focus is needed on scaling, talent, and collaboration between startups and corporates.
