PublicationArticle (with peer review)

High-Growth Firms: Not So Vital After All?

Abstract

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 initially have low profits and a weak financial position. This might explain why studies have found that so few high-growth firms are capable of sustaining their high growth rates in subsequent periods, and thus question policies that are targeted towards these companies.
Related content: Working paper No. 263

Daunfeldt, S-O., Halvarsson, D., & Mihaescu, O. (2016). High-Growth Firms: Not So Vital After All?International Review of Entrepreneurship, 14(4), paper no. 1541.

Details

Author: Daunfeldt, S-O., Halvarsson, D., & Mihaescu, O.
Publication year: 2016
Published in: International Review of Entrepreneurship

Related

Ph.D.
Daniel Halvarsson
+460760184541daniel.halvarsson@ratio.se
Associate Researcher
Sven-Olov Daunfeldt
+46702957284sven-olov.daunfeldt@huiresearch.se

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