IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/apeclt/v23y2016i5p369-372.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

High-growth versus declining firms: the differential impact of human capital and R&D

Author

Listed:
  • Micheline Goedhuys
  • Leo Sleuwaegen

Abstract

We provide evidence that both human capital and R&D increase the likelihood that a firm will be a high-growth firm in the industry. However, different from human capital, being an R&D active firm also increases the probability of substantial decline or failure, underscoring the risky nature of innovation. Quantile regression results show that, different from R&D, human capital is growth-enhancing for all firms, hence also those located in the lower quantiles of the distribution of growth rates across firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Micheline Goedhuys & Leo Sleuwaegen, 2016. "High-growth versus declining firms: the differential impact of human capital and R&D," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(5), pages 369-372, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:apeclt:v:23:y:2016:i:5:p:369-372
    DOI: 10.1080/13504851.2015.1076139
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/13504851.2015.1076139
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/13504851.2015.1076139?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

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

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Matthias Deschryvere, 2014. "R&D, firm growth and the role of innovation persistence: an analysis of Finnish SMEs and large firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 767-785, December.
    2. 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.
    3. Mariana Mazzucato & Stuart Parris, 2015. "High-growth firms in changing competitive environments: the US pharmaceutical industry (1963 to 2002)," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 145-170, January.
    4. Pelin Demirel & Mariana Mazzucato, 2012. "Innovation and Firm Growth: Is R&D Worth It?," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 45-62, January.
    5. Coad, Alex & Rao, Rekha, 2008. "Innovation and firm growth in high-tech sectors: A quantile regression approach," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 633-648, May.
    6. Segarra Blasco, Agustí, 1958- & Teruel, Mercedes, 2014. "High-growth firms and innovation: an empirical analysis for Spanish firms," Working Papers 2072/228402, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    7. Micheline Goedhuys & Leo Sleuwaegen, 2010. "High-growth entrepreneurial firms in Africa: a quantile regression approach," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 31-51, January.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. Dirk Czarnitzki & Julie Delanote, 2013. "Young Innovative Companies: the new high-growth firms?," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 22(5), pages 1315-1340, October.
    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. Zouaghi, Ferdaous & Sánchez, Mercedes & Martínez, Marian García, 2018. "Did the global financial crisis impact firms' innovation performance? The role of internal and external knowledge capabilities in high and low tech industries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 92-104.
    2. Alex Coad & Agustí Segarra-Blasco & Mercedes Teruel, 2021. "A bit of basic, a bit of applied? R&D strategies and firm performance," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 46(6), pages 1758-1783, December.
    3. Alex Coad & Stjepan Srhoj, 2020. "Catching Gazelles with a Lasso: Big data techniques for the prediction of high-growth firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 541-565, October.
    4. Isabel Martínez Martín & Miguel Sánchez Galindo & César Pérez López & Rosa Santero Sánchez, 2019. "Evaluación del impacto del programa Redes de Innovación al Servicio de la Competitividad (RISC)," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 229(2), pages 59-86, June.
    5. Garcia Martinez, Marian & Zouaghi, Ferdaous & Garcia Marco, Teresa & Robinson, Catherine, 2019. "What drives business failure? Exploring the role of internal and external knowledge capabilities during the global financial crisis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 441-449.
    6. Osman S Kiratli, 2023. "Loving globalization: High-growth enterprises and public opinion on globalization in Europe," European Union Politics, , vol. 24(2), pages 286-306, June.
    7. Caterina Santi & Pietro Santoleri, 2017. "Exploring the link between innovation and growth in Chilean firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 445-467, August.
    8. Raysa Geaquinto Rocha & João J. Ferreira, 2022. "Gazelles (High-Growth) Companies: a Bibliometric Science Map of the Field," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(4), pages 2911-2934, December.
    9. Silviano Esteve-Pérez & Fabio Pieri & Diego Rodriguez, 2021. "Coping with high decline: firms’ resilience to adversity," DEM Working Papers 2021/08, Department of Economics and Management.
    10. Ivan Miroshnychenko & Alfredo De Massis & Danny Miller & Roberto Barontini, 2021. "Family Business Growth Around the World," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(4), pages 682-708, July.
    11. Ivana Mijatovic & Milica Maricic & Ana Horvat, 2019. "The Factors Affecting the Environmental Practices of Companies: The Case of Serbia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-17, October.
    12. Hyunseog Chung & Soomin Eum & Chulung Lee, 2019. "Firm Growth and R&D in the Korean Pharmaceutical Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-19, May.

    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. Goedhuys-Degelin M.D.L. & Sleuwaegen L., 2015. "Human capital, innovation and the distribution of firm growth rates," MERIT Working Papers 2015-013, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    2. Coad, Alex & Segarra, Agustí & Teruel, Mercedes, 2016. "Innovation and firm growth: Does firm age play a role?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 387-400.
    3. SooGeun Ahn & Jeewhan Yoon & YoungJun Kim, 2018. "The innovation activities of small and medium-sized enterprises and their growth: quantile regression analysis and structural equation modeling," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 316-342, April.
    4. Diego F. Grijalva & Valeria Ayala & Paúl A. Ponce & Yelitza Pontón, 2018. "Does firm innovation lead to high growth? Evidence from Ecuadorian firms," Revista Cuadernos de Economia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, FCE, CID, vol. 37(75), pages 697-726, May.
    5. Başak Dalgıç & Burcu Fazlıoğlu, 2021. "Innovation and firm growth: Turkish manufacturing and services SMEs," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(3), pages 395-419, September.
    6. Grillitsch, Markus & Schubert, Torben & Srholec, Martin, 2019. "Knowledge base combinations and firm growth," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 234-247.
    7. Hyunseog Chung & Soomin Eum & Chulung Lee, 2019. "Firm Growth and R&D in the Korean Pharmaceutical Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-19, May.
    8. Suzanne Mawson, 2018. "Customer perceived value in high growth firms," Revista Cuadernos de Economia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, FCE, CID, vol. 37(75), pages 755-778, December.
    9. David Audretsch & Alex Coad & Agustí Segarra, 2014. "Firm growth and innovation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 743-749, December.
    10. Markéta Šeligová, 2016. "The Effects of R&D Intensity and Tax Incentives on Firms Growth of PIGS Countries," European Financial and Accounting Journal, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2016(2), pages 53-67.
    11. Alessandro Spiganti, 2020. "Can Starving Start‐ups Beat Fat Labs? A Bandit Model of Innovation with Endogenous Financing Constraint," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 122(2), pages 702-731, April.
    12. Agustí Segarra-Blasco & Mercedes Teruel & Elisenda Jové-Llopis, 2018. "High-growth firms in European countries: The role of innovation," Revista Cuadernos de Economia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, FCE, CID, vol. 37(75), pages 637-808, January.
    13. Farasat A. S. Bokhari & Franco Mariuzzo & Anna Rita Bennato, 2021. "Innovation and growth in the UK pharmaceuticals: the case of product and marketing introductions," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 603-634, June.
    14. Marco Capasso & Tania Treibich & Bart Verspagen, 2015. "The medium-term effect of R&D on firm growth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 39-62, June.
    15. Daniele Moschella & Federico Tamagni & Xiaodan Yu, 2019. "Persistent high-growth firms in China’s manufacturing," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 573-594, March.
    16. Alex Coad & Nanditha Mathew & Emanuele Pugliese, 2017. "What's good for the goose ain't good for the gander: cock-eyed counterfactuals and the performance effects of R&D," LEM Papers Series 2017/21, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    17. 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.
    18. Pietro Santoleri, 2020. "Innovation and job creation in (high-growth) new firms [An international cohort comparison of size effects on job growth]," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 29(3), pages 731-756.
    19. Swati Agrawal & Poonam Singh & Mainak Mazumdar, 2021. "Innovation, Firm Size and Ownership: A Study of Firm Transition in India," International Journal of Global Business and Competitiveness, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 15-27, June.
    20. Hannu Littunen & Timo Tohmo & Esa Storhammar, 2021. "Innovation among SMEs in Finland: The impact of stakeholder engagement and firm-level characteristics," Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, Fundacja Upowszechniająca Wiedzę i Naukę "Cognitione", vol. 17(4), pages 157-196.

    More about this item

    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:taf:apeclt:v:23:y:2016:i:5:p:369-372. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAEL20 .

    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.