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A stochastic model of firm growth

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  • Bottazzi, Giulio
  • Secchi, Angelo

Abstract

Recently from analyses on different databases the tent-shape of the distribution of firm growth rates has emerged as a robust and universal characteristic of the time evolution of corporates. We add new evidence on this topic and we present a new stochastic model that, under rather general assumptions, provides a robust explanation for the observed regularity.

Suggested Citation

  • Bottazzi, Giulio & Secchi, Angelo, 2003. "A stochastic model of firm growth," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 324(1), pages 213-219.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:324:y:2003:i:1:p:213-219
    DOI: 10.1016/S0378-4371(02)01889-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. John Sutton, 1997. "Gibrat's Legacy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 40-59, March.
    2. Bottazzi, Giulio & Dosi, Giovanni & Lippi, Marco & Pammolli, Fabio & Riccaboni, Massimo, 2001. "Innovation and corporate growth in the evolution of the drug industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 19(7), pages 1161-1187, July.
    3. L. A. N. Amaral & S. V. Buldyrev & S. Havlin & H. Leschhorn & P. Maass & M. A. Salinger & H. E. Stanley & M. H. R. Stanley, 1997. "Scaling behavior in economics: I. Empirical results for company growth," Papers cond-mat/9702082, arXiv.org.
    4. Giulio Bottazzi & Elena Cefis & Giovanni Dosi, 2002. "Corporate growth and industrial structures: some evidence from the Italian manufacturing industry," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 11(4), pages 705-723, August.
    5. Giulio Bottazzi & Angelo Secchi, 2002. "On the Laplace Distribution of Firms Growth Rates," LEM Papers Series 2002/20, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    6. Amaral, L.A.N. & Gopikrishnan, P. & Plerou, V. & Stanley, H.E., 2001. "A model for the growth dynamics of economic organizations," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 299(1), pages 127-136.
    7. S. V. Buldyrev & L. A. N. Amaral & S. Havlin & H. Leschhorn & P. Maass & M. A. Salinger & H. E. Stanley & M. H. R. Stanley, 1997. "Scaling behavior in economics: II. Modeling of company growth," Papers cond-mat/9702085, arXiv.org.
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    Cited by:

    1. Lu, Jinfeng & Dimov, Dimo, 2023. "A system dynamics modelling of entrepreneurship and growth within firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(3).
    2. Giulio Bottazzi & Angelo Secchi, 2003. "Common Properties and Sectoral Specificities in the Dynamics of U.S. Manufacturing Companies," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 23(3_4), pages 217-232, December.
    3. Hernan Mondani & Petter Holme & Fredrik Liljeros, 2014. "Fat-Tailed Fluctuations in the Size of Organizations: The Role of Social Influence," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(7), pages 1-9, July.
    4. G. Dosi & M. C. Pereira & M. E. Virgillito, 2018. "On the robustness of the fat-tailed distribution of firm growth rates: a global sensitivity analysis," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 13(1), pages 173-193, April.
    5. Alex Coad & Max Planck, 2012. "Firms as Bundles of Discrete Resources – Towards an Explanation of the Exponential Distribution of Firm Growth Rates," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 38(2), pages 189-209.
    6. Giovanni Dosi & Marco Faillo & Luigi Marengo, 2003. "Organizational Capabilities, Patterns of Knowledge Accumulation and Governance Structures in Business Firms. An Introduction," LEM Papers Series 2003/11, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    7. F. Clementi & M. Gallegati, 2005. "Pareto's Law of Income Distribution: Evidence for Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States," Papers physics/0504217, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2006.
    8. Manas, Arnaud, 2009. "French butchers don't do quantum physics," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 103(2), pages 101-106, May.
    9. Jerker Denrell & Christina Fang & Chengwei Liu, 2015. "Perspective—Chance Explanations in the Management Sciences," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(3), pages 923-940, June.
    10. Fioretti, Guido, 2007. "The production function," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 374(2), pages 707-714.
    11. Giovanni Dosi & Alessio Moneta & Elena Stepanova, 2019. "Dynamic increasing returns and innovation diffusion: bringing Polya Urn processes to the empirical data," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(4), pages 461-478, April.
    12. Tomasz Kozubowski & Saralees Nadarajah, 2010. "Multitude of Laplace distributions," Statistical Papers, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 127-148, January.
    13. Aziza Garsaa & Nadine Levratto, 2015. "Do labor tax rebates facilitate firm growth? An empirical study on French establishments in the manufacturing industry, 2004–2011," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 613-641, October.

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