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Generalising Gibrat: using Chinese evidence founded on fieldwork

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  • Gavin Reid
  • Zhibin Xu

Abstract

This paper reports on determinants of small firm growth and survival, using fieldwork evidence collected by face-to-face and telephone interviews. It extends the ‘basic’ size-age model to a ‘comprehensive’ growth model with two types of additional explanatory variables: firm specific and business environmental. Estimation is by log-linear regression on Chinese cross-section data, with corrections for sample selection bias and heteroskedasticity. Our results from the comprehensive model highlight the importance of location choice and customer orientation for the growth of Chinese private firms. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Gavin Reid & Zhibin Xu, 2012. "Generalising Gibrat: using Chinese evidence founded on fieldwork," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 1017-1028, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:39:y:2012:i:4:p:1017-1028
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-011-9338-3
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    Cited by:

    1. Lina Cortés & Juan M. Lozada & Javier Perote, 2019. "Firm size and concentration inequality: A flexible extension of Gibrat’s law," Documentos de Trabajo CIEF 17205, Universidad EAFIT.
    2. Canfei He & Jiangyong Lu & Haifeng Qian, 2019. "Entrepreneurship in China," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 563-572, March.
    3. Aili Tang, 2015. "Does Gibrat’s law hold for Swedish energy firms?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 659-674, September.
    4. Lina M Cortés & Juan M Lozada & Javier Perote, 2021. "Firm size and economic concentration: An analysis from a lognormal expansion," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(7), pages 1-21, July.
    5. Marko Peric & Vanja Vitezic, 2016. "Impact of global economic crisis on firm growth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 1-12, January.
    6. Marie Bouchard & Damien Rousselière, 2018. "Does Gibrat's law hold among urban social economy enterprises? A research note on Montreal social economy," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 38(3), pages 1523-1540.
    7. Annie Royer & Josée St-Pierre, 2020. "Facteurs qui entravent ou facilitent l’expansion des PME en croissance rapide de l’industrie bioalimentaire," CIRANO Project Reports 2020rp-37, CIRANO.
    8. Dirk Burghardt & Marco Helm, 2015. "Firm growth in the course of mergers and acquisitions," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 889-904, April.
    9. Marko Peric & Vanja Vitezic, 2016. "Impact of global economic crisis on firm growth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 1-12, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Models of small firm growth; Choice of location; Customer orientation; Chinese private firms; D21; M13; L25; L26;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship

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