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This paper examines the impact of managers' attitudes to growth on the realised growth in a sample of 1,416 small firms in northern Sweden. The findings demonstrate a positive relationship between the managers' attitudes and the actual growth outcomes. Zero-growth firms turned out different from both positive- and negative- growth firms with regard to managers' attitude towards growth as a competitive necessity. The owners of zero-growth firms perceived their firms as a primary source of income and employment. Our findings, therefore, provide indications of how attitudes affect outcomes among SMES that aspire to grow.