Are high-growth firms overrepresented in high-tech industries?

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Abstract: It is frequently argued that policymakers should target high-tech firms, i.e., firms with high R&D intensity, because such firms are considered more innovative and therefore potential fast-growers. This argument relies on the assumption that the association among high-tech status, innovativeness and growth is actually positive. We examine this assumption by studying the industry distribution of high-growth firms (HGFs) across all 4-digit NACE industries, using data covering all limited liability firms in Sweden during the period 1997-2008. The results of fractional logit regressions indicate that industries with high R&D intensity, ceteris paribus, can be expected to have a lower share of HGFs than can industries with lower R&D intensity. The findings cast doubt on the wisdom of targeting R&D industries or subsidizing R&D to promote firm growth. In contrast, we find that HGFs are overrepresented in knowledge-intensive service industries, i.e., service industries with a high share of human capital. Terms of use: Documents in

Myth-busting and entrepreneurship policy: the case of high growth firms

“…Despite significant academic and policy interest in technology-based or 'high tech' firms , the empirical evidence emphasises that HGFs are not synonymous with high tech industries (Brännback et al 2011;Vanacker and Manigart 2010;Daunfeldt et al 2015b). This is not to say that some high-tech firms will not eventually become HGFs -this is clearly not the case, especially in dynamic regional economies with strong levels of entrepreneurship and institutional conditions to promote technology companies such as Cambridge or London in the UK.…”

“…Many of these firms are found in traditional industries, such as construction and manufacturing, as well as business and personal services. A number of studies have identified that HGFs are overrepresented in services compared to other sectors (Henrekson and Johansson 2010), especially knowledgeintensive services (Daunfeldt et al 2015b). The wide distribution of HGFs across different sectors, combined with the lack of a link between HGFs and high-tech sectors, holds for most countries (Bleda et al 2013) and thus it is important to emphasise the sectoral heterogeneity of HGFs.…”

High-growth firms: does location matter?

“…The latest studies have been all conducted before the onset of the current economic crisis and, moreover, the most recent studies (Daunfeldt et al 2015;Segarra and Teruel 2014) do not completely cover the initial years of the economic crisis. Due to a lack of evidence, this study tries to enhance the knowledge about the location and performance of HGF during a period characterised by an intense decline of the economic activity and high rates of unemployment.…”

Promoting High-Growth Entrepreneurship in Peripheral Regions: a Critique of Government Sponsored Venture Capital Funds

“…However, this assumption is not supported by empirical evidence Daunfeldt et al, 2015). HGFs are heterogeneous in terms of sector and also size, age and location.…”