The aim of this conference was to bring together researchers in different fields dealing with firm growth. In this quickly growing area of research, there is a big need for interdisciplinary communication. We therefore invited young scholars, including graduate students, in economics, economic history, entrepreneurship, management, sociology, statistics, psychology, and related disciplines to submit proposals for a two-day colloquium/workshop held in Stockholm August 12-14 2010. In addition to ordinary paper sessions, there were two plenary sessions and two dinners.
One plenary lecture wasl given by Professor David Audretsch. His research focuses on the links between entrepreneurship, government policy, innovation, economic development and global competitiveness. David has over one hundred scholarly articles in leading academic journals and he is the author of the books Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth and The Entrepreneurial Society. David has been recognized as being among the 60 most important economists of all time and he is also cofounder and co-editor of Small Business Economics. The other plenary lecture was given by Dr Alex Coad. Alex received his Ph.D from Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne in 2007. He has since then published several papers on firm growth in well-renowned academic journals. His book The Growth of Firms – A Survey of Theories and Empirical Evidence was released in 2009.
Papers dealing with the following areas was particularly welcome:
• The role of high-growth firms
• Determinants of the growth of firms
• Growth ambitions and attitudes towards growth
• Firm growth and the characteristics of the entrepreneur
• The persistence of firm growth
• Barriers to growth
• Post-entry performance
• Firm growth in a historical perspective
• Innovation and firm growth
