Science Park Location and New Technology-Based Firms in Sweden – Implications for Strategy and Performance

One logical way to assess the performance of Science Parks is to compare the performance of their firms to similar firms not located there. A total of 273 new technology-based firms (NTBFs) were surveyed, of which 134 were on a Science Park and 139 were not on a park. There were significant differences in the means of strategy dimensions between the on-Park and off-Park firms. It can be seen that the NTBFs who located in Science Parks showed significantly greater emphasis on firm characteristics as innovation ability, competitor- and market-orientation, sales and employment growth, high profits etc. The differences indicates a slight advantage for the Science Park firms. The off-Park sample reported proximity to other firms to be of higher importance than the on-Park sample in their choice of location. However, these differences do not show any clear pattern, making it difficult to understand if NTBFs who locate on Science Parks are systematically looking for something different in their location.     

Growth of New Technology-Based Firms: Which Factors Matter?

This paper deals with the explanation of variations in the growth between New Technology-based Firms (NTBFs) and non-innovative firm foundations. Based on theoretical models explaining the growth of firms, hypotheses on potential determinants are derived. The regression results indicate strong correlations between the growth rate on the one hand and firm-specific, founder-specific as well as external factors on the other. These factors influence the growth rates of innovative and non-innovative young firms in different ways. Furthermore, based on the results of multivariate regressions, NTBFs achieve on average higher growth rates than non-innovative firm foundations. Moreover, the net employment effect of those NTBFs founded in 1989/90 is positive. This does not hold for non-innovative young firms, in which the number of jobs destroyed by closures and shrinking firms is larger than the number of new jobs in growing and expanding firms.     

Entrepreneurship and survival over the business cycle: how do new technology-based firms differ?

We investigate the survival performance of new technology-based firms (NTBFs) over the business cycle and compare them against other entrepreneurial firms. Our data comprise the entire population of entrepreneurial firms entering the Swedish economy from 1991 to 2002, which we follow until 2007. Discrete-time duration models are employed to investigate whether the business cycle impacts differently on the survival likelihood of NTBFs vis-à-vis other entrepreneurial firms. Our main findings are three. First, NTBFs generally experience a lower hazard rate compared to other entrepreneurial firms, which is interpreted as a sign of their high ‘quality.’ Second, all entrepreneurial firms are sensitive to and follow a pro-cyclical pattern of survival likelihood over the business cycle. Three, when comparing NTBFs with the broader group of other entrepreneurial firms, we find that NTBFs are more sensitive to business cycle fluctuations. The above results come with a qualification, though. The sensitivity during the business cycle mainly pertains to self-employed NTBFs. Also, NTBFs’ higher survivability is only linked to not being characterized as self-employed.     

Strategic partnering between new technology based firms and large established firms in the biotechnology and micro-electronics industries in Belgium

There is an increased emphasis on New Technology Based Firms (NTBFs) and on Strategic Partnerships. The number of strategic partnerships between large, established firms and NTBFs has multiplied over the past few years, due to a growing trend towards technological and marketing relationships between large and small firms. In this contribution, the strategic — predominantly technology —partnering (also referred to as interfirm technology cooperation) experiences of a small number of Belgian NTBFs in the biotechnology and micro-electronics industries will be analysed. The analysis presented here derives from the regionspecific technology policies in Belgium.A multiple case study design was chosen to develop an understanding of the impact of strategic partnering on New Technology Based Firm-survival and growth in Belgium. To improve the reliability of conclusions in the research presented here, a small number of cases will be investigated for the construction of a theoretical model.     

Employment Generation Potential of New, Technology-Based Firms During a Recessionary Period: The Case of Finland

This article analyzes the employment generation potential of new, technology-based firms during a recessionary period. The empirical data is from Finland, a country that was hit particularly hard by the economic recession between years 1990 and 1993. In spite of the recession, the number of NTBFs (new, technology-based firms) rose by 17% from 1986 to 1993. In traditional manufacturing industry branches, the overall employment fell by as much as 33% during the same period. Alternative hypotheses to explain the increase in the importance of NTBFs are presented and discussed in the light of research findings. Both flexible specialization and recession-push hypotheses receive support in the empirical data.     

Science Parks and the Performance of New Technology-Based Firms: A Review of Recent U.K. Evidence and an Agenda for Future Research

Science parks were established to stimulate the formation and development of new technology-based firms (NTBFs). Despite the potential importance of these institutions as a mechanism for generating technological spillovers and employment growth, there has been little systematic analysis of their impact on NTBFs. In this paper, we review some recent evidence comparing the performance of firms located on and off U.K. science parks. This preliminary evidence suggests that the "returns" to being located on a science park are negligible. We conjecture that these results may be due to imprecise estimates of these returns and may also be masking important differences in the returns to different types of science parks. In addition, we outline an agenda for additional research on the effects of these institutions on NTBF performance.     

Characterising Euro Area Multinationals

This study uses firm‐level data on a large sample of European manufacturing firms to investigate the links between opening up foreign affiliates and firms’ productivity. The analysis is guided by recent theoretical models of international trade with firm heterogeneity. The paper finds that while only a small share of euro area firms locate affiliates abroad, these firms account for over‐proportionally large shares of output, employment and profits in their home countries. They have higher survival rates and their productivity growth is also higher. The strongest contribution is by productivity growth of existing firms with a multinational status rather than entry into the multinational status. Finally, there are performance premia for multinationals with a large number of affiliates abroad relative to those with a small number.     

Multinational Enterprises and Foreign Direct Investment: Introduction

This study uses firm‐level data on a large sample of European manufacturing firms to investigate the links between opening up foreign affiliates and firms’ productivity. The analysis is guided by recent theoretical models of international trade with firm heterogeneity. The paper finds that while only a small share of euro area firms locate affiliates abroad, these firms account for over‐proportionally large shares of output, employment and profits in their home countries. They have higher survival rates and their productivity growth is also higher. The strongest contribution is by productivity growth of existing firms with a multinational status rather than entry into the multinational status. finally, there are performance premia for multinationals with a large number of affiliates abroad relative to those with a small number.     

Foreign Firms and Chinese Employment

This paper examines the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on employment in the Chinese manufacturing sector. As one of the world's largest recipients of FDI, China has arguably benefited from foreign multinational enterprises in various respects. However, one of the main challenges for China, and other developing countries, is job creation, and the effect of FDI on employment is uncertain. The effect depends on the amount of jobs created within foreign firms as well as the effect of FDI on employment in domestic firms. We analyse FDI and employment in China using a large sample of manufacturing firms for the period 1998–2004. Our results show that FDI has positive effects on employment growth. The relatively high employment growth in foreign firms is associated with their firm characteristics and their high survival rate. Employment growth is also relatively high in private domestic Chinese firms. There also seems to be a positive indirect effect of FDI on employment in private domestically‐owned firms, presumably caused by spillovers.     

How to Design Public Venture Capital Funds: Empirical Evidence from South Korea

This study examines the effects of several features of government‐managed, sponsored venture capital (VC), and private VC funds on overall VC investments in new technology‐based firms (NTBFs) during two developmental stages (i.e., growth and restructuring) in South Korean VC market and suggests hints for designing effective government VC programs. Our results from data on 463 funds in the period 1995–2005 indicate the factors bearing a positive effect on VC investments targeted to NTBFs. Such factors are the fund specialization focusing on certain industrial sectors, performance‐sensitive compensation for venture capitalists in private and government VC funds.     

The role of contractual governance flexibility in realizing the outcomes of key customer relationships

An entrepreneurial firm's relationships with customers, suppliers, investors, universities, and other organizations have a significant and long-lasting impact on the survival and success of the firm. Yet, little research has focused on how the management of these relationships influences outcomes for entrepreneurial firms.This paper focuses on the customer relationships of new, technology-based firms (NTBFs). We aim to contribute to the literature on the governance of exchange relationships between NTBFs and their customers. Further, in so doing, we seek to explore the implications of such governance for the performance of new firms.Because of their small size, their “liabilities of newness,” and their highly specialized, knowledge-intensive resources, NTBFs are able to maintain only a limited number of close customer relationships. Consequently, NTBFs often become highly dependent on one or a few of their customers. In this study, we focus on the relationships between NTBFs and their single largest customers. We refer to the customer that accounts for the highest proportion of an NTBF's total revenue as the “key customer.”Strategic management literature, resource dependence theory, and transaction cost economics emphasize the risks associated with being dependent on an exchange relationship, focusing on the opportunistic use of power by the exchange partner. These perspectives suggest that firms can minimize their external dependencies and protect themselves against opportunism through the use of contracts. The present paper expands this view by also examining how flexibility in exchange governance may unlock potential benefits or dampen potential dangers that an NTBF faces in its commitment to its single largest customer, e.g., sharing the costs and risks of R&;D with the customer, improving the reputation of the NTBF, and realizing savings in sales and marketing costs. We examine the extent to which the realization of the potential positive and negative outcomes of a high level of dependence are moderated by the flexibility of the exchange partners' attitudes toward contractual agreements. The research question that we seek to answer is: Does the manner in which a contractual agreement is implemented affect the outcomes of a customer relationship for an NTBF at high levels of exchange dependence on the key customer?We develop a set of hypotheses that examines how the governance of the key customer relationship affects the NTBF's new product development, reputation, and sales costs when exchange dependence on the key customer is high. We use the term “contractual governance flexibility” to refer to the extent to which the exchange partners are willing to adjust to changes in the relationship instead of relying on the contract. We test the hypotheses with survey data from 195 NTBFs in the UK. The results of regression analyses reveal that contractual governance flexibility moderates the relationship between exchange dependence and outcomes. In relationships with a high level of exchange dependence, greater contractual governance flexibility was associated with greater new product development and sales cost advantages. No such benefits were realized for relationships in which exchange partners relied heavily on the contract.These findings are important because they suggest that by relaxing formal contractual mechanisms governing a relationship, NTBFs can derive benefits from key customer relationships that are characterized by a high level of dependence. Our findings suggest that at high levels of exchange dependence on key customers, NTBFs can benefit when greater contractual governance flexibility is present. Our data indicated that, interestingly, NTBFs tend to do just the opposite: at higher levels of exchange dependence, NTBFs are inclined to rely increasingly on the contract. By so doing, they may fail to realize the potential benefits of the relationships, such as gaining access to complementary resources and reducing costs. These outcomes, which may be derived from dependent exchange relationships by means of contractual governance flexibility, can have a significant influence on the long-term development and competitive advantage of an entrepreneurial firm.     

Offshoring,Plant Survival and Employment Growth

This paper empirically investigates the effects of offshoring on plant survival and employment growth using data on the Danish manufacturing plants during the period 1995–2006. To control for the potential endogeneity of the offshoring decision, the paper uses instrumental variables and propensity score‐matching approaches. The data allow me to control for the heterogeneity between the units by using firm‐level offshoring activities in different regions and performing the empirical analysis on plantlevel aggregation, which is shown to be of crucial importance. Using firm as a unit of observation, the effect of offshoring is, if any, very small. However, using plant as a unit of observation, there are strong indications that offshoring plays a much larger role for the extensive and intensive margin of adjustments. The results reveal that plants survival prospect is higher if the main offshoring is located in high‐wage countries; lower if it is located in low‐wage countries; and not affected if it is located in medium‐wage countries. Finally, the results also reveal that depending on where the main offshoring is located, the growth rate of low‐skilled employment is 2 to 8 per cent lower in plants of offshoring firms.     

The Growth,Decline and Survival of Small Businesses: An Exploratory Study of Life Cycles*

Using U.S. Census Bureau special tabulations, we follow a cohort of small (single‐establishment) firms formed in 1992 and a cohort of fast growers to 2002 to track their employment changes. Explorative findings showed growing firms as generally a constant share of the economy with a minor business cycle effect, growing firms outnumbering decliners, new firms not growing much, and fast growers in a given year tending to revert to the mean in the following year. The findings are presented as an opening statement, but are far from final salvo into the discussion of small‐firm growth.     

Small and Medium Enterprises in Thailand: Recent Trends

This paper reviews the evolution of small and medium firms in Thailand in recent years. It shows that such firms did not preserve their share of total employment during the period 1987–96; indeed, their share fell from 60% to 52% over this period. Much of this decline was felt in the category of very small firms (with less than 10 workers). This aspect is explored further by looking at small firm employment shares in three sub-periods of varying overall economic growth rates. It is found that when overall economic growth is high, the share of small firms tends to contract possibly because many small firms become medium in size and others disband because their owners can find more remunerative employment in larger firms. In slower growth periods, the employment share of small firms appears to rise probably because larger firms may be taking in less new workers or even laying off workers. The paper also calculates productivity measures (technical efficiency and total factor productivity) and shows that different measures give different rankings by size of firm.     

Employment Creation in Small Technological and Design Innovators in the U.K. during the 1980s

This paper provides rare empirical evidence on employment creation by innovative small firms in the U.K. over the eleven years between 1980 and 1991. Drawing on a database of firms which were recognised as having introduced important innovations, the paper examines the extent of employment growth in these companies and compares their growth with that discovered by other studies of small firms in the U.K. This shows that the innovative firms have grown at a significantly faster average rate than small firms generally. Some of the factors associated with employment change in small firms are assessed. This shows that the initial size, age, sector of activity and type of innovation introduced by the firms were all associated with differences in their average rate of growth. The employment created was, however, highly concentrated in a few firms, but even the fastest growing of these companies (directly) created hundreds rather than thousands of new jobs over the period of analysis.     

A High‐Growth Firm Contingency Test of the Formalization‐Performance Relationship

The effect of formalization in high‐growth firms' performance is still unclear. We propose that formal commitment‐based human resource practices contribute positively to the financial performance of established high‐growth firms but have little effect on emergent ones. Using a sample of 101 Portuguese high‐growth firms (2006–2009 period), we tested the effect of formal HR practices during the high‐growth period in their financial results two years later (2011). Our results suggest that adopting a formal performance appraisal and a formal R&D function contributed positively for the performance of only established firms, while adopting a formal training activity negatively affected the performance of only emergent firms.     

The Shadow of Death – An Emperical Analysis of the Pre-Exit Performance of New German Firms

This paper makes an empirical contribution to the confirmation of the stylized fact that the performance of firms deteriorates in the years before exit. For this reason it is evaluated whether market exits differ significantly in their employment development in the years before market drop-out compared to surviving firms that have been selected using a non-parametric matching approach. The comparison of the employment growth rates among both groups reveals that the matched surviving firms experience higher growth rates compared to their exiting counterparts up to three years before market exit. Moreover, differences exist between Eastern and Western Germany due to various reasons.     

Employment change in independent owner-managed high-technology firms in Great Britain

There is a growing volume of literature that points to the potential for small technology-based firms to achieve substantial employment growth. As a direct consequence of such work this sector of any economy has attracted increasing attention from national and local Governments concerned with finding ways of revitalising economically deprived localities and creating employment opportunities. This paper provides up-to-date empirical evidence surrounding the ability of small high-technology firms to create additional jobs in Great Britain. In addition, key founder and business characteristics are isolated which are significantly associated with employment change in growing high-technology firms over the 1986 to 1992 period. With respect to factors influencing these high levels of employment growth, a high firm size (in 1986) was found to act positively on employment growth, as was a graduate level education for the key founder. On the finance side firms which had access to and used a multiplicity of sources of start-up finance tended to grow faster. Futher, on the basis of our results we would suggest (and recommend) a Government policy which at the firm level actively encourages high-technology firm start-ups (who record higher rates of survival than firms in more conventional sectors) as well as providing support for existing high-technology firms who have already demonstrated the inclination and ability to grow in employment size.     

Founders’ human capital and the performance of UK new technology based firms

This paper investigates the role of entrepreneurs?? general and specific human capital on the performance of UK new technology based firms using a resource based approach to the entrepreneurship theory. The effect of entrepreneurial human capital on the performance of NTBFs is investigated using data derived from a survey of 412 firms operating in both high-tech manufacturing and the services sectors. According to the resource based theory it is found that specific human capital is more important for the performance of NTBFs in relation to general. More specifically individual entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial teams with high levels of formal business education, commercial, managerial or same sector experience are found to have created better performing NTBFs. Finally it is found that the performance of a NTBF can improve through the combination of heterogeneous but complementary skills, including, for example, technical education and commercial experience or managerial technical and managerial commercial experience.     

Knowledge spillovers and high-impact growth: Comparing local and foreign firms in the UK

This paper is concerned with entrepreneurial high-impact firms, which are firms that generate ‘both’ disproportionate levels of employment and sales growth, and have high levels of innovative activity. It investigates differences in the influence of knowledge spillovers on high-impact growth between foreign and local firms in the UK. The study is based on an analysis of data from UK Innovation Scoreboard on 865 firms, which were divided into ‘high-impact firms’ (defined as those achieving positive growth in both sales and employment) and low-impact firms (negative or no growth in sales or employment). More precisely, the paper investigates the influence of knowledge spillovers on high-impact growth of foreign and local firms, from regional, sectoral and firm size perspectives. The findings suggest that (1) firms’ access to regional knowledge spillovers (from businesses and higher education institutions) is more significantly associated with high-impact growth of local firms in comparison to foreign firms; (2) because knowledge spillovers are more likely to occur in high-tech sectors (compared to low-tech sectors), firms in high-tech sectors are more associated with high-impact growth. Nonetheless, the relationship is stronger for local firms compared to foreign firms; (3) because small firms have greater need for knowledge spillovers (relative to large firms), there is a negative relationship between firm size and high-impact growth, but the negative relationship is greater for UK firms in comparison to foreign firms. Implications are drawn for policy and research.