IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/applec/v53y2021i46p5397-5414.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Small businesses and the effects on the growth of formal collaboration agreements: additional insights and policy implications

Author

Listed:
  • Maria Michela Dickson
  • Giuseppe Espa
  • Roberto Gabriele
  • Andrea Mazzitelli

Abstract

The paper studies the impact of formal collaboration agreements (FCA) on firms’ growth in Italy. To conduct a proper evaluation exercise, we started building a novel database of Italian firms where networked firms in 2012 (treated units) are matched with firms that did not subscribe to a formal network agreement (controls units) but possess similar observable characteristics. Then we use difference-in-differences regression models in which we employ time lags in the relationships between objective variables and control ones. We show that FCAs have a positive effect and can be interpreted as a valid means to reduce the cognitive distance from the market of firms. Moreover, the effect is mainly due to a defensive strategy. The effect is stronger for those firms that do not exploit other proximity types, namely geographical and organizational. Finally, structural characteristics play a role: younger and smaller firms avoid a ‘size contraction’ signing an FCA.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Michela Dickson & Giuseppe Espa & Roberto Gabriele & Andrea Mazzitelli, 2021. "Small businesses and the effects on the growth of formal collaboration agreements: additional insights and policy implications," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(46), pages 5397-5414, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:53:y:2021:i:46:p:5397-5414
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2021.1922595
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00036846.2021.1922595
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00036846.2021.1922595?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xin, Yongrong & Khan, Rizwan Ullah & Dagar, Vishal & Qian, Fang, 2023. "Do international resources configure SMEs' sustainable performance in the digital era? Evidence from Pakistan," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    2. Devicienti, Francesco & Grinza, Elena & Manello, Alessandro & Vannoni, Davide, 2022. "Employer Cooperation, Productivity, and Wages: New Evidence from Inter-Firm Formal Network Agreements," IZA Discussion Papers 15617, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:53:y:2021:i:46:p:5397-5414. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAEC20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.