Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Firm growth: empirical analysis

Contents:

Author Info

  • Alex Coad

    ()

  • Werner Hölzl

Abstract

Recent research has led to the empirical regularity that firm growth rate distributions are heavy tailed. This finding implies that a few firms experience spectacular growth rates and decline, but that most firms have marginal growth rates. The literature on high growth firms shows that high growth firms are the central drivers of job creation in the economy but that these firms are neither clustered in high technology sectors nor are these firms necessarily young and small. The evidence on the determinants of firm growth confirms that firm growth is difficult to predict. The finding that firm growth is well approximated by a random process does not only reflect the heterogeneity at the firm level but is also associated with the low persistence of growth rates over time.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
File URL: ftp://papers.econ.mpg.de/evo/discussionpapers/2010-02.pdf
Download Restriction: no

Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Max Planck Institute of Economics, Evolutionary Economics Group in its series Papers on Economics and Evolution with number 2010-02.

as in new window
Length:
Date of creation: Feb 2010
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:esi:evopap:2010-02

Contact details of provider:
Postal: Kahlaische Strasse 10, D-07745 Jena
Phone: +49-3641-68 65
Fax: +49-3641-68 69 90
Web page: http://www.econ.mpg.de/
More information through EDIRC

Order Information:
Email:
Web: http://www.econ.mpg.de/english/research/EVO/discuss.php

Related research

Keywords: firm growth Length 25 pages;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
as in new window
  1. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Mairesse, Jacques & Lotti, Francesca, 2006. "Employment, Innovation, and Productivity: Evidence from Italian Microdata," UNU-MERIT Working Paper Series 043, United Nations University, Maastricht Economic and social Research and training centre on Innovation and Technology.
  2. Mercedes Teruel-Carrizosa, 2010. "Gibrat’s law and the learning process," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 34(4), pages 355-373, May.
  3. Goedhuys, Micheline & Sleuwaegen, Leo, 2009. "High-Growth Entrepreneurial Firms in Africa: A Quantile Regression Approach," Working Papers UNU-WIDER Research Paper , World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
  4. Erik Stam & Karl Wennberg, 2009. "The roles of R&D in new firm growth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 77-89, June.
  5. Alex Coad, 2007. "A Closer Look at Serial Growth Rate Correlation," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 69-82, August.
  6. Giulio Bottazzi & Alex Coad & Nadia Jacoby & Angelo Secchi, 2005. "Corporate Growth and Industrial Dynamics: Evidence from French Manufacturing," LEM Papers Series 2005/21, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
  7. Steven J. Davis & John Haltiwanger & Ron Jarmin & Javier Miranda, 2006. "Volatility and Dispersion in Business Growth Rates: Publicly Traded versus Privately Held Firms," NBER Working Papers 12354, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  8. Steven J. Davis & John Haltiwanger & Scott Schuh, 1993. "Small Business and Job Creation: Dissecting the Myth and Reassessing theFacts," NBER Working Papers 4492, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  9. de Wit, Gerrit, 2005. "Firm size distributions: An overview of steady-state distributions resulting from firm dynamics models," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 23(5-6), pages 423-450, June.
  10. Peter E Hart & Nicholas Oulton, . "Growth and size of firms," NIESR Discussion Papers 77, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
  11. Robson, Paul J A & Bennett, Robert J, 2000. " SME Growth: The Relationship with Business Advice and External Collaboration," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 193-208.
  12. Aghion, Philippe & Fally, Thibault & Scarpetta, Stefano, 2007. "Credit Constraints as a Barrier to the Entry and Post-Entry Growth of Firms," IZA Discussion Papers 3237, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  13. Francesca Lotti & Enrico Santarelli & Marco Vivarelli, 2003. "Does Gibrat's Law hold among young, small firms?," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 213-235, August.
  14. Audretsch, David B., 1995. "Innovation, growth and survival," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 441-457, December.
  15. Dunne, Paul & Hughes, Alan, 1994. "Age, Size, Growth and Survival: UK Companies in the 1980s," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 115-40, June.
  16. Diego A. Comin & Thomas Philippon, 2006. "The Rise in Firm-Level Volatility: Causes and Consequences," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2005, Volume 20, pages 167-228 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  17. Diego Comin & Sunil Mulani, 2006. "Diverging Trends in Aggregate and Firm Volatility," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(2), pages 374-383, May.
  18. McPherson, Michael A., 1996. "Growth of micro and small enterprises in southern Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 253-277, March.
  19. Christian Bellak, 2004. "How Domestic and Foreign Firms Differ and Why Does it Matter?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(4), pages 483-514, 09.
  20. Mueller, Dennis C, 1977. "The Persistence of Profits above the Norm," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 44(176), pages 369-80, November.
  21. Caballero, R.J. & Hammour, M.L., 1991. "The Cleansing Effect of Recessions," Discussion Papers 1991_59, Columbia University, Department of Economics.
  22. Variyam, Jayachandran N. & Kraybill, David S., 1992. "Empirical evidence on determinants of firm growth," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 31-36, January.
  23. Fu, Dongfeng & Pammolli, Fabio & Buldyrev, Sergey V. & Riccaboni, Massimo & Matia, Kaushik & Yamasaki, Kazuko & Stanley, H. Eugene, 2005. "The Growth of Business Firms: Theoretical Framework and Empirical Evidence," MPRA Paper 15905, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  24. Enrico Santarelli & Marco Vivarelli, 2007. "Entrepreneurship and the process of firms’ entry, survival and growth," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(3), pages 455-488, June.
  25. Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Vojislav Maksimovic, 2005. "Financial and Legal Constraints to Growth: Does Firm Size Matter?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 137-177, 02.
  26. Alex Coad, 2010. "Exploring the processes of firm growth: evidence from a vector auto-regression," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(6), pages 1677-1703, December.
  27. Evans, David S., 1986. "The Relationship Between Firm Growth, Size, and Age: Estimates for 100 Manufacturing Industries," Working Papers 86-33, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University.
  28. Metcalfe, J S, 1994. "Competition, Fisher's Principle and Increasing Returns in the Selection Process," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 4(4), pages 327-46, November.
  29. Paul Schreyer, 2000. "High-Growth Firms and Employment," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2000/3, OECD Publishing.
  30. Giulio Bottazzi & Angelo Secchi, 2006. "Explaining the distribution of firm growth rates," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 37(2), pages 235-256, 06.
  31. Magnus Henrekson & Dan Johansson, 2010. "Gazelles as job creators: a survey and interpretation of the evidence," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 227-244, September.
  32. Higson, C. & Holly, S. & Kattuman, P. & S. Platis, 2001. "The Business Cycle, Macroeconomic Shocks and the Cross Section: The Growth of UK Quoted Companies," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0114, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
  33. Higson, C. & Holly, S. & Kattuman, P., 2002. "The cross-sectional dynamics of the US business cycle: 1950-1999," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 26(9-10), pages 1539-1555, August.
  34. Steven J. Davis & John C. Haltiwanger & Scott Schuh, 1998. "Job Creation and Destruction," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262540932.
  35. Geroski, Paul A & Gugler, Klaus Peter, 2001. "Corporate Growth Convergence in Europe," CEPR Discussion Papers 2838, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  36. Paul Geroski & Mariana Mazzucato, 2002. "Learning and the sources of corporate growth," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(4), pages 623-644, August.
  37. Davidsson, Per & Lindmark, Leif & Olofsson, Christer, 1998. " The Extent of Overestimation of Small Firm Job Creation--An Empirical Examination of the Regression Bias," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 87-100, August.
  38. Coad, Alex, 2007. "Testing the principle of `growth of the fitter': The relationship between profits and firm growth," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 370-386, September.
  39. Marco Capasso & Elena Cefis & Koen Frenken, 2009. "Do Some Firms Persistently Outperform ?," LEM Papers Series 2009/15, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
  40. Giulio Bottazzi & Giovanni Dosi & Marco Lippi & Fabio Pammolli & Massimo Riccaboni, 2001. "Innovation and Corporate Growth in the Evolution of the Drug Industry," LEM Papers Series 2001/02, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
  41. Jaumandreu, Jordi & Harrison, R, & Mairesse, J. & Peters, B., . "Does innovation stimulate employment? A firm-level analysis using comparable micro data on four European countries," Open Access publications from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid info:hdl:10016/5266, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.
  42. Alex Coad & Werner Hölzl, 2009. "On the Autocorrelation of Growth Rates," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 139-166, June.
  43. Oivind Anti Nilsen & Fabio Schiantarelli, 1996. "Zeroes and Lumps in Investment: Empirical Evidence on Irreversibilities and Non-Convexities," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 337., Boston College Department of Economics, revised 01 Nov 2000.
  44. Kirchhoff, Bruce A & Greene, Patricia G, 1998. " Understanding the Theoretical and Empirical Content of Critiques of U.S. Job Creation Research," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 153-69, March.
  45. Bronwyn H. Hall, 1988. "The Relationship Between Firm Size and Firm Growth in the U.S. Manufacturing Sector," NBER Working Papers 1965, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  46. Lucia Foster & John Haltiwanger & Chad Syverson, 2005. "Reallocation, Firm Turnover, and Efficiency: Selection on Productivity or Profitability?," Working Papers 05-11, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
  47. Werner Hölzl & Peter Huber, 2009. "An Anatomy of Firm Level Job Creation Rates over the Business Cycle," WIFO Working Papers 348, WIFO.
  48. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:12:y:2008:i:9:p:1-15 is not listed on IDEAS
  49. Mead, Donald C. & Liedholm, Carl, 1998. "The dynamics of micro and small enterprises in developing countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 61-74, January.
  50. Chesher, Andrew, 1979. "Testing the Law of Proportionate Effect," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(4), pages 403-11, June.
  51. Richard E. Caves, 1998. "Industrial Organization and New Findings on the Turnover and Mobility of Firms," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(4), pages 1947-1982, December.
  52. Harhoff, Dietmar & Stahl, Konrad & Woywode, Michael, 1998. "Legal Form, Growth and Exit of West German Firms--Empirical Results for Manufacturing, Construction, Trade and Service Industries," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(4), pages 453-88, December.
  53. Giulio Bottazzi & Angelo Secchi & Federico Tamagni, 2008. "Productivity, profitability and financial performance," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(4), pages 711-751, August.
  54. G. Bottazzi & E. Cefis & G. Dosi & A. Secchi, 2007. "Invariances and Diversities in the Patterns of Industrial Evolution: Some Evidence from Italian Manufacturing Industries," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 137-159, June.
  55. Kumar, M S, 1985. "Growth, Acquisition Activity and Firm Size: Evidence from the United Kingdom," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 327-38, March.
  56. Eric Bartelsman & John Haltiwanger & Stefano Scarpetta, 2009. "Measuring and Analyzing Cross-country Differences in Firm Dynamics," NBER Chapters, in: Producer Dynamics: New Evidence from Micro Data, pages 15-76 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  57. Simon Parker & David Storey & Arjen Witteloostuijn, 2010. "What happens to gazelles? The importance of dynamic management strategy," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 203-226, September.
  58. Geroski, Paul A & Machin, Stephen & Walters, Christopher F, 1997. "Corporate Growth and Profitability," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 171-89, June.
  59. J. Stanley Metcalfe, 2007. "Alfred Marshall's Mecca: Reconciling the Theories of Value and Development," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 83(s1), pages S1-S22, 09.
  60. Matthias Almus, 2002. "What characterizes a fast-growing firm?," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 34(12), pages 1497-1508.
  61. Singh, Ajit & Whittington, Geoffrey, 1975. "The Size and Growth of Firms," Review of Economic Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(1), pages 15-26, January.
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

Citations

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

Cited by:
  1. Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov & Elert, Niklas & Johansson, Dan, 2010. "The economic contribution of high-growth firms: Do definitions matter?," HUI Working Papers 35, The Swedish Retail Institute (HUI).
  2. Sánchez-Valadez, Manuel, 2012. "Decisiones financieras, competencia en el mercado y desempeño de las empresas: Evidencia empírica para Iberoamérica/Financial Decisions, Market Competition and Firm Performance: Empirical Evidence ," Estudios de Economía Aplicada, Estudios de Economía Aplicada, vol. 30, pages 359 (36 pag, Abril.
  3. Werner Hölzl & Jürgen Janger, 2012. "Innovation Barriers across Firms and Countries," WIFO Working Papers 426, WIFO.
  4. Peter Huber & Harald Oberhofer & Michael Pfaffermayr, 2011. "Job Creation and the Intra-distribution Dynamics of the Firm Size Distribution," WIFO Working Papers 395, WIFO.
  5. Werner Hölzl, 2012. "Arbeitsplatzschaffung und Beschäftigungsgrößenklassen. Eine Untersuchung methodischer Alternativen," WIFO Working Papers 425, WIFO.
  6. Jan de Kok & Haibo Zhou & Chantal Hartog & Peter van der Zwan, 2012. "The Risk of growing fast: does fast growth have a negative impact on the survival rates of firms?," Scales Research Reports H201209, EIM Business and Policy Research.
  7. Pietro Moncada-Paternò-Castello & Peter Voigt, 2012. "Projection of R&D-intensive enterprise growth to the year 2020: Implications for EU policy?," JRC-IPTS Working Papers on Corporate R&D and Innovation 2012-01, Institute of Prospective Technological Studies.
  8. Jan de Kok & Haibo Zhou & Chantal Hartog, 2012. "The risk of growing fast," Scales Research Reports H201119, EIM Business and Policy Research.
  9. Pietro Moncada-Paterno-Castello, 2011. "Companies' growth in the EU: What is research and innovation policy's role?," JRC-IPTS Working Papers on Corporate R&D and Innovation 2011-03, Institute of Prospective Technological Studies.

Lists

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Statistics

Access and download statistics

Corrections

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:esi:evopap:2010-02

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Karin Serfling).

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.

If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with 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 profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

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