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High-growth firms: Not so vital after all?

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High-growth firms have received considerable interest recently since they create most of the new jobs in the economy. The purpose of our paper is to investigate the characteristics of high-growth firms prior to their growth period, and whether these characteristics differ across industries. Using data on a large sample of limited liability firms in Sweden for the period 2007-2010, we find that high-growth firms do not have the characteristics that we typically associate with successful firms. On the contrary, our results indicate that high-growth firms have low profits and a weak financial position. This might explain why studies have found that high-growth firms are seldom capable of sustaining their high growth rates in subsequent periods, and thus question policies that are targeted towards these companies.

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  • Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov & Halvarsson, Daniel & Mihaescu, Oana, 2015. "High-growth firms: Not so vital after all?," Ratio Working Papers 263, The Ratio Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0263
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    Cited by:

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    2. Florian Léon, 2022. "The elusive quest for high-growth firms in Africa: when other metrics of performance say nothing," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 225-246, January.
    3. Nilsson, Helena, 2020. "IKEA entry - Effects on firms in retail and hospitality," HFI Working Papers 11, Institute of Retail Economics (Handelns Forskningsinstitut).
    4. 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.
    5. Schneck, Stefan & Werner, Arndt & Wolter, Hans-Jürgen, 2021. "A replication study on growth paths of young firms: Evidence from German administrative data," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 16(C).
    6. Nebojša Stojčić & Ivan-Damir Anić & Tonći Svilokos, 2021. "The entrepreneurial gains from market integration in the new EU member states," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1-20, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Entrepreneurship; Firm growth; Gazelles; High-growth firms; High-impact firms; Innovation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance

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