Background: Bangladesh is one of the fastest growing economies of the world. Entrepreneurs play in this context a key role, driving economic growth and fostering innovation. Bangladesh’s start-up ecosystem has thus significantly grown during the last ten years, where many successful start-ups have developed in various industries, being the e-commerce sector one of the most attractive ones. However, despite the fact that the e-commerce sector has shown a huge potential in Bangladesh, only a few start-ups have successfully scaled-up their business. Therefore, focusing on the e-commerce sector of Bangladesh as case of study, this research aims to analyse how organisational routines can bring stability and change in the start-ups’ scale-up process. In our study we considered the nature of organisational routines in general and its specific impact on the way start-ups change and grow. The results of this study, obtained mainly through interviews with key actors from different Bangladeshi start-ups, indicate the possibility of rising the awareness about this subject as a strategy for improving a start-up’s development. 

Purpose: We aim to find what role do organisational routines play in start-ups in their scaling-up stage.

Methodology: This qualitative study conducted interviews with 6 e-commerce start-ups in Bangladesh. Out of these 6 start-ups, 2 have successfully scaled-up, 2 start-ups are on the process of scaling-up, and 2 start-ups have failed to scale-up their business.  

Findings: The study provides evidence that the more organised a start-up is in terms of routines, the more agile and successful it becomes. Therefore, organisational routines improves the start-up performance and encourage change.