IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/sbusec/v41y2013i3p733-755.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The role of employees for post-entry firm growth

Author

Listed:
  • Andreas Koch
  • Jochen Späth

    ()

  • Harald Strotmann

Abstract

While the majority of existing studies on the determinants of post-entry firm growth focus on the role of the founders or on the impact of firm-specific characteristics, possible effects of the characteristics of a start-up’s workforce have been widely neglected to date. In this paper we examine the role of initial worker and job characteristics (e.g., qualification, age, workload, marginal employment) of start-ups for their post‐entry employment growth. The analyses are based upon a capacious panel dataset comprising a representative 50 % sample of establishments in Germany. Our empirical results show that, inter alia, high-skilled and young workers are conducive to growth in terms of both the number of employees and full-time equivalents. With respect to flexible work forms, however, establishments using part-time employment show higher post‐entry growth only in terms of total hours worked, but a significantly lower growth with respect to the number of employees. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Andreas Koch & Jochen Späth & Harald Strotmann, 2013. "The role of employees for post-entry firm growth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 733-755, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:41:y:2013:i:3:p:733-755
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-012-9456-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11187-012-9456-6
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wagner, Joachim, 1994. "The Post-entry Performance of New Small Firms in German Manufacturing Industries," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 141-154, June.
    2. Mata, Jose, 1996. "Markets, entrepreneurs and the size of new firms," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 89-94, July.
    3. Parrotta, Pierpaolo & Pozzoli, Dario & Pytlikova, Mariola, 2010. "Does Labor Diversity Affect Firm Productivity?," Working Papers 10-12, University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Department of Economics.
    4. Niels Bosma & Mirjam van Praag & Roy Thurik & Gerrit de Wit, 2004. "The Value of Human and Social Capital Investments for the Business Performance of Startups," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 227-236, October.
    5. Michael Lokshin, 2006. "Difference-based semiparametric estimation of partial linear regression models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 6(3), pages 377-383, September.
    6. Michael Dahl & Toke Reichstein, 2007. "Are You Experienced? Prior Experience and the Survival of New Organizations," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(5), pages 497-511.
    7. Thierry Lallemand & François Rycx, 2009. "Are Older Workers Harmful for Firm Productivity?," De Economist, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 273-292, September.
    8. Garnsey, Elizabeth, 1998. "A Theory of the Early Growth of the Firm," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(3), pages 523-556, September.
    9. Mata, Jose & Machado, Jose A. F., 1996. "Firm start-up size: A conditional quantile approach," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 1305-1323, June.
    10. Pekka Ilmakunnas & Seija Ilmakunnas, 2011. "Diversity at the Workplace: Whom Does it Benefit?," De Economist, Springer, vol. 159(2), pages 223-255, June.
    11. Sandra Gottschalk & Michaela Niefert, 2013. "Gender differences in business success of German start-up firms," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 18(1), pages 15-46.
    12. Christian Grund & Niels Westergaard-Nielsen, 2008. "Age structure of the workforce and firm performance," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 29(5), pages 410-422, August.
    13. Robinson, Peter M, 1988. "Root- N-Consistent Semiparametric Regression," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(4), pages 931-954, July.
    14. 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.
    15. Evans, David S, 1987. "The Relationship between Firm Growth, Size, and Age: Estimates for 100 Manufacturing Industries," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 567-581, June.
    16. Schnabel, Claus & Kohaut, Susanne & Brixy, Udo, 2008. "Employment stability of entrants in newly founded firms: a matching approach using linked employer-employee data from Germany," Discussion Papers 56, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    17. Yuji Honjo, 2004. "Growth of new start-up firms: evidence from the Japanese manufacturing industry," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(4), pages 343-355.
    18. P.A. Geroski & José Mata & Pedro Portugal, 2003. "Founding Conditions and the Survival of New Firms," Working Papers w200301, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    19. Böheim, René & Stiglbauer, Alfred & Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf, 2009. "On the persistence of job creation in old and new firms," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 105(1), pages 17-19, October.
    20. Annemarie Künn-Nelen & Andries de Grip & Didier Fouarge, 2013. "Is Part-Time Employment Beneficial for Firm Productivity?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 66(5), pages 1172-1191, October.
    21. Raimund Krumm & Harald Strotmann, 2013. "The impact of regional location factors on job creation, job destruction and employment growth in manufacturing," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 33(1), pages 23-48, February.
    22. Colombo, Massimo G. & Grilli, Luca, 2005. "Founders' human capital and the growth of new technology-based firms: A competence-based view," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 795-816, August.
    23. Audretsch, David B. & Mata, Jose, 1995. "The post-entry performance of firms: Introduction," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 413-419, December.
    24. Timothy Dunne & Mark J. Roberts & Larry Samuelson, 1989. "The Growth and Failure of U. S. Manufacturing Plants," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 104(4), pages 671-698.
    25. Helena Persson, 2004. "The Survival and Growth of New Establishments in Sweden, 1987-1995," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 423-440, October.
    26. Ron Boschma & Rikard Eriksson & Urban Lindgren, 2009. "How does labour mobility affect the performance of plants? The importance of relatedness and geographical proximity," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 169-190, March.
    27. Spyros Arvanitis, 2005. "Modes of labor flexibility at firm level: Are there any implications for performance and innovation? Evidence for the Swiss economy," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press, vol. 14(6), pages 993-1016, December.
    28. Bernd Fitzenberger & Aderonke Osikominu & Robert Völter, 2006. "Imputation Rules to Improve the Education Variable in the IAB Employment Subsample," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 126(3), pages 405-436.
    29. Harald Strotmann & Andreas Koch, 2005. "The Impact of Functional Integration and Spatial Proximity on the Post-entry Performance of Knowledge Intensive Business Service Firms," IAW Discussion Papers 18, Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW).
    30. Gimmon, Eli & Levie, Jonathan, 2010. "Founder's human capital, external investment, and the survival of new high-technology ventures," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 1214-1226, November.
    31. Giuseppe De Luca, 2008. "SNP and SML estimation of univariate and bivariate binary-choice models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 8(2), pages 190-220, June.
    32. Daniel A. Levinthal, 1997. "Adaptation on Rugged Landscapes," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(7), pages 934-950, July.
    33. Geroski, P. A., 1995. "What do we know about entry?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 421-440, December.
    34. Harald Strotmann, 2007. "Entrepreneurial Survival," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 87-104, January.
    35. Richard Ericson & Ariel Pakes, 1995. "Markov-Perfect Industry Dynamics: A Framework for Empirical Work," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 62(1), pages 53-82.
    36. Veronique Schutjens & Erik Stam, "undated". "The Fragile Success of Team Start-ups," Papers on Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy 2005-17, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy Group.
    37. Cameron,A. Colin & Trivedi,Pravin K., 2008. "Microeconometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9787111235767.
    38. Rusty Tchernis, 2010. "Measuring Human Capital And Its Effects On Wage Growth," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 362-387, April.
    39. Gallant, A Ronald & Nychka, Douglas W, 1987. "Semi-nonparametric Maximum Likelihood Estimation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(2), pages 363-390, March.
    40. Adonis Yatchew, 1998. "Nonparametric Regression Techniques in Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(2), pages 669-721, June.
    41. Jovanovic, Boyan, 1982. "Selection and the Evolution of Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(3), pages 649-670, May.
    42. Uwe Cantner & Maximilian Goethner & Michael Stuetzer, 2010. "Disentangling the Effects of New Venture Team Functional Heterogeneity on New Venture Performance," Jena Economic Research Papers 2010-029, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    43. Hethey, Tanja & Schmieder, Johannes F., 2010. "Using worker flows in the analysis of establishment turnover : evidence from German administrative data," FDZ Methodenreport 201006_en, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    44. Andreas Koch & Jochen Spaeth, 2009. "New Firms---Different Jobs? An Inquiry into the Quality of Employment in Start-ups and Incumbents," IAW Discussion Papers 50, Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW).
    45. Cooper, Arnold C. & Gimeno-Gascon, F. Javier & Woo, Carolyn Y., 1994. "Initial human and financial capital as predictors of new venture performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 9(5), pages 371-395, September.
    46. Bates, Timothy, 1990. "Entrepreneur Human Capital Inputs and Small Business Longevity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 72(4), pages 551-559, November.
    47. Yuji Honjo, 2004. "Growth of new start-up firms: evidence from the Japanese manufacturing industry," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 21-32.
    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. Fackler, Daniel, 2014. "Establishment survival in East and West Germany: A comparative analysis," Discussion Papers 90, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    2. repec:kap:sbusec:v:49:y:2017:i:4:d:10.1007_s11187-017-9858-6 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Fackler, Daniel & Schnabel, Claus, 2013. "Survival of spinoffs and other startups: First evidence for the private sector in Germany, 1976-2008," Discussion Papers 84, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    4. Daniel Fackler & Claus Schnabel & Alexandra Schmucker, 2016. "Spinoffs in Germany: characteristics, survival, and the role of their parents," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 93-114, January.
    5. Rocha, Vera & van Praag, Mirjam C. & Folta, Timothy B. & Carneiro, Anabela, 2016. "Entrepreneurial Choices of Initial Human Capital Endowments and New Venture Success," IZA Discussion Papers 9919, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Start-ups; Post-entry performance; Firm growth; Human capital; Marginal employment; Germany; D22; J21; J24; L25; L26; M13;

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • L10 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - General
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance

    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:kap:sbusec:v:41:y:2013:i:3:p:733-755. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Sonal Shukla) or (Rebekah McClure). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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 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.

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.