IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/ratioi/0169.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Who do High-growth Firms Employ, and Who do they Hire?

Author

Listed:
  • Coad, Alex

    (Science and Technology Policy Research (SPRU), Freeman Centre, University of Sussex)

  • Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov

    (The Swedish Retail Institute (HUI) and Dalarna University)

  • Johansson, Dan

    (The Ratio Institute)

  • Wennberg, Karl

    (The Ratio Institute and Stockholm School of Economics)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study who high- growth firms (HGFs) hire using a matched employer-employee dataset for all knowledge intensive industries in Sweden, where high growth is measured over the period 1999-2002. The results indicate that HGFs to a larger extent employ young people, immigrants, and individuals with longer unemployment periods. However, these patterns seem contingent on the stage of firm evolution. HGFs that have already realized rapid growth seem to start focusing on hiring individuals from other companies, even though immigrants are still overrepresented among new employees.

Suggested Citation

  • Coad, Alex & Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov & Johansson, Dan & Wennberg, Karl, 2011. "Who do High-growth Firms Employ, and Who do they Hire?," Ratio Working Papers 169, The Ratio Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0169
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://ratio.se/app/uploads/2014/11/who-do-high-growth-firms-employ_wp_169.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Frédéric Delmar & Karl Wennberg, 2010. "Knowledge Intensive Entrepreneurship : The Birth, Growth and Demise of Entrepreneurial Firms," Post-Print hal-02298137, HAL.
    2. Henrekson, Magnus & Johansson, Dan, 2010. "Firm Growth, Institutions and Structural Transformation," Working Paper Series 820, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    3. Michael Kremer, 1993. "The O-Ring Theory of Economic Development," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 551-575.
    4. Oi, Walter Y. & Idson, Todd L., 1999. "Firm size and wages," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 33, pages 2165-2214, Elsevier.
    5. Paul Schreyer, 2000. "High-Growth Firms and Employment," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2000/3, OECD Publishing.
    6. Raghuram G. Rajan & Luigi Zingales, 2001. "The Firm as a Dedicated Hierarchy: A Theory of the Origins and Growth of Firms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(3), pages 805-851.
    7. 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.
    8. Littunen, Hannu & Tohmo, Timo, 2003. "The High Growth in New Metal-Based Manufacturing and Business Service Firms in Finland," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 187-200, September.
    9. Danny Miller & Peter H. Friesen, 1984. "A Longitudinal Study of the Corporate Life Cycle," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(10), pages 1161-1183, October.
    10. Martinsson, Gustav, 2010. "Equity financing and innovation: Is Europe different from the United States?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1215-1224, June.
    11. Henrekson, Magnus & Johansson, Dan, 2008. "Competencies and Institutions Fostering High-growth Firms," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 5(1), pages 1-80, November.
    12. Per Davidsson & Frédéric Delmar & Johan Wiklund, 2006. "Entrepreneurship and the Growth of Firms," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3971.
    13. Matthias Almus, 2002. "What characterizes a fast-growing firm?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(12), pages 1497-1508.
    14. Davidsson, Per & Henrekson, Magnus, 2002. "Determinants of the Prevalence of Start-Ups and High-Growth Firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 81-104, September.
    15. Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), 2010. "Handbook of the Economics of Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    16. Wennberg, Karl & Wiklund, Johan & DeTienne, Dawn R. & Cardon, Melissa S., 2010. "Reconceptualizing entrepreneurial exit: Divergent exit routes and their drivers," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 361-375, July.
    17. Nadim Ahmad, 2006. "A Proposed Framework For business Demography Statistics," OECD Statistics Working Papers 2006/3, OECD Publishing.
    18. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Lerner, Josh, 2010. "The Financing of R&D and Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 609-639, Elsevier.
    19. Garen, John E, 1985. "Worker Heterogeneity, Job Screening, and Firm Size," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(4), pages 715-739, August.
    20. Delmar, Frederic & Davidsson, Per & Gartner, William B., 2003. "Arriving at the high-growth firm," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 189-216, March.
    21. Bos, J.W.B. & Stam, E., 2011. "Gazelles, industry growth and structural change," Research Memorandum 018, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    22. Frédéric Delmar & Johan Wiklund & Per Davidsson, 2006. "Entrepreneurship and the Growth of Firms," Post-Print hal-01892801, HAL.
    23. Frédéric Delmar & Johan Wiklund & Per Davidsson, 2006. "Entrepreneurship and the Growth of Firms," Post-Print hal-01892798, HAL.
    24. Lazear, Edward P & Rosen, Sherwin, 1990. "Male-Female Wage Differentials in Job Ladders," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(1), pages 106-123, January.
    25. Stewart C. Myers, 2001. "Capital Structure," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 81-102, Spring.
    26. ., 1998. "Growth," Chapters, in: Heinz D. Kurz & Neri Salvadori (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Classical Economics, volume 0, chapter 67, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    27. Assar Lindbeck & Dennis J. Snower, 2001. "Insiders versus Outsiders," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 165-188, Winter.
    28. Robert K. Kazanjian & Robert Drazin, 1989. "An Empirical Test of a Stage of Growth Progression Model," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(12), pages 1489-1503, December.
    29. Dean Shepherd & Johan Wiklund, 2009. "Are we Comparing Apples with Apples or Apples with Oranges? Appropriateness of Knowledge Accumulation across Growth Studies," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 33(1), pages 105-123, January.
    30. Andreas Rauch & Michael Frese & Andreas Utsch, 2005. "Effects of Human Capital and Long–Term Human Resources Development and Utilization on Employment Growth of Small–Scale Businesses: A Causal Analysis1," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(6), pages 681-698, November.
    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


    Cited by:

    1. Leland D. Crane, 2014. "Firm Dynamics and Assortative Matching," Working Papers 14-25, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    2. Neil Lee, 2014. "What holds back high-growth firms? Evidence from UK SMEs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 183-195, June.
    3. Alessandro Arrighetti & Andrea Lasagni, 2013. "Assessing the Determinants of High-Growth Manufacturing Firms in Italy," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 245-267, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alex Coad & Sven-Olov Daunfeldt & Dan Johansson & Karl Wennberg, 2014. "Whom do high-growth firms hire?," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 23(1), pages 293-327, February.
    2. Eva Christine Erhardt, 2021. "Measuring the persistence of high firm growth: choices and consequences," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 451-478, January.
    3. 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.
    4. Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov & Elert, Niklas & Johansson, Dan, 2010. "The economic contribution of high-growth firms: Do definitions matter?," HUI Working Papers 35, HUI Research.
    5. Deschryvere, Matthias, 2008. "High Growth Firms and Job Creation in Finland," Discussion Papers 1144, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    6. Besnik A. Krasniqi & Sameeksha Desai, 2016. "Institutional drivers of high-growth firms: country-level evidence from 26 transition economies," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 1075-1094, December.
    7. Sven-Olov Daunfeldt & Niklas Elert & Dan Johansson, 2014. "The Economic Contribution of High-Growth Firms: Do Policy Implications Depend on the Choice of Growth Indicator?," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 337-365, September.
    8. Alex Coad & Werner Hölzl, 2012. "Firm Growth: Empirical Analysis," Chapters, in: Michael Dietrich & Jackie Krafft (ed.), Handbook on the Economics and Theory of the Firm, chapter 24, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. José Miguel Giner & María Jesús Santa-María & Antonio Fuster, 2017. "High-growth firms: does location matter?," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 75-96, March.
    10. Yannis Caloghirou & Ioannis Giotopoulos & Alexandra Kontolaimou & Aggelos Tsakanikas, 2022. "Inside the black box of high-growth firms in a crisis-hit economy: corporate strategy, employee human capital and R&D capabilities," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 1319-1345, September.
    11. Erhardt, Eva Christine, 2018. "Firm performance after high growth: A comparison of absolute and relative growth measures," MPRA Paper 88077, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Agustí Segarra & Mercedes Teruel, 2014. "High-growth firms and innovation: an empirical analysis for Spanish firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 805-821, December.
    13. Dan Johansson & Sven-Olov Daunfeldt, 2011. "What explains the presence of High-growth firms in industries?," ERSA conference papers ersa10p1500, European Regional Science Association.
    14. Sven-Olov Daunfeldt & Niklas Elert & Dan Johansson, 2011. "Industrial Variation of High-Growth Firms," ERSA conference papers ersa10p1658, European Regional Science Association.
    15. Stefano Bianchini & Giulio Bottazzi & Federico Tamagni, 2017. "What does (not) characterize persistent corporate high-growth?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 633-656, March.
    16. Bjuggren, Carl Magnus & Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov & Johansson, Dan, 2010. "Ownership and High-Growth Firms," Ratio Working Papers 147, The Ratio Institute, revised 29 Sep 2010.
    17. Heli Koski & Mika Pajarinen, 2013. "The role of business subsidies in job creation of start-ups, gazelles and incumbents," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 195-214, June.
    18. Jun Du & Yama Temouri, 2015. "High-growth firms and productivity: evidence from the United Kingdom," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 123-143, January.
    19. Stefano Bianchini & Giulio Bottazzi & Federico Tamagni, 2017. "What does (not) characterize persistent corporate high-growth?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 633-656, March.
    20. Sven-Olov Daunfeldt & Niklas Elert & Dan Johansson, 2016. "Are high-growth firms overrepresented in high-tech industries?," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 25(1), pages 1-21.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gazelles; firm growth; rapid firm growth; high-impact firms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:hhs:ratioi:0169. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 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: Martin Korpi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ratiose.html .

    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.