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Making Bad Decisions: firm size and investment under uncertainty

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Author Info
Alexander Cobham

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Abstract

This paper presents a 'real options' model of investment under uncertainty, which incorporates the assumption of a financial market characterised by asymmetric information and which can explain the stylised facts of firm growth. The decision-making situation faced by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) features much greater constraints on the ability to gather information in order to reduce uncertainty about their investment opportunities, compared with that faced by large companies (LCs). This necessarily causes relatively poor decision-making by SMEs, and explains their substantial death rates.

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Paper provided by Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford in its series QEH Working Papers with number qehwps39.

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Handle: RePEc:qeh:qehwps:qehwps39

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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.:
  1. Brouwer, Maria, 1998. " Firm Size and Efficiency in Innovation: Comment," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 391-93, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Hellmann, Thomas & Stiglitz, Joseph, 2000. "Credit and equity rationing in markets with adverse selection," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 281-304, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Menkveld, A J & Thurik, A R, 1999. " Firm Size and Efficiency in Innovation: Reply," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 97-101, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicolás S., 1945-, 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Working papers 1523-84., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management. [Downloadable!]
  5. Luís M B Cabral & José Mata, 2003. "On the Evolution of the Firm Size Distribution: Facts and Theory," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1075-1090, September. [Downloadable!]
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  6. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Sangeeta Pratap & Silvio Rendón, 1996. "Firm Investment in Imperfect Capital Markets: A Structural Estimation," Economics Working Papers 274, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Mar 1998. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Abel, Andrew B, 1983. "Optimal Investment under Uncertainty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(1), pages 228-33, March.
  9. Hartman, Richard, 1972. "The effects of price and cost uncertainty on investment," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 258-266, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Hall, Bronwyn H, 1987. "The Relationship between Firm Size and Firm Growth in the U.S. Manufacturing Sector," Journal of Industrial Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(4), pages 583-606, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Alexander Cobham, . "The Financing and Technology Decisions of SMEs: I. Finance as a Determinant of Investment," QEH Working Papers qehwps24, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford. [Downloadable!]
  12. Greenwald, Bruce & Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1984. "Informational Imperfections in the Capital Market and Macroeconomic Fluctuations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(2), pages 194-99, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. McDonald, Robert & Siegel, Daniel, 1986. "The Value of Waiting to Invest," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 101(4), pages 707-27, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Jovanovic, Boyan, 1982. "Selection and the Evolution of Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(3), pages 649-70, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Cabral, Luis, 1995. "Sunk Costs, Firm Size and Firm Growth," Journal of Industrial Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(2), pages 161-72, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Alan Carruth & Andy Dickerson & Andrew Henley, 1998. "What Do We Know About Investment Under Uncertainty?," Studies in Economics 9804, Department of Economics, University of Kent. [Downloadable!]
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  17. Alexander Cobham, . "The Financing and Technology Decisions of SMEs: II. Technology and Policy," QEH Working Papers qehwps25, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford. [Downloadable!]
  18. Cho, Yoon Je, 1986. "Inefficiencies from Financial Liberalization in the Absence of Well-Functioning Equity Markets," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 18(2), pages 191-99, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Allen N. Berger & Anthony Saunders & Joseph M. Scalise & Gregory F. Udell, 1997. "The effects of bank mergers and acquisitions on small business lending," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1997-28, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
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  20. Kadapakkam, Palani-Rajan & Kumar, P. C. & Riddick, Leigh A., 1998. "The impact of cash flows and firm size on investment: The international evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 293-320, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Evans, David S, 1987. "The Relationship between Firm Growth, Size, and Age: Estimates for 100 Manufacturing Industries," Journal of Industrial Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(4), pages 567-81, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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(explanations, 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.)

  1. Cobham, Alex, 2001. "EMU, Monetary Policy and the Role of Financial Constraints," EIFC - Technology and Finance Working Papers 6, United Nations University, Institute for New Technologies. [Downloadable!]
  2. Alexander Cobham, . "Capital Account Liberalisation and Poverty," QEH Working Papers qehwps70, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford. [Downloadable!]
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