Firm growth and barriers to growth among small firms in India

Empirical work on micro and small firms focuses on developed countries, while existing work on developing countries is all too often based on small samples taken from ad hoc questionnaires. The census data we analyze here are fairly representative of small business structure in India. Consistent with findings from prior research on developed countries, size and age have a negative impact on firm growth in the majority of specifications. Enterprises managed by women have lower expected growth rates. Proprietary firms face lower growth on the whole, especially if they are young firms. Exporting has a positive effect on firm growth, especially for young firms and for female-owned firms. Although some small firms are able to convert know-how into commercial success, we find that many others are unable to translate it into superior growth.     

Gibrat’s law and persistence of growth in Greek manufacturing

This study makes use of a sample of Greek manufacturing firms during 1995–2001 in order to analyze Gibrat’s law. We find Gibrat’s law is rejected for the total sample of firms, since persistence of growth plays a key role. The classification of firms in size and age groups, however, yields more interesting results: Gibrat’s law is rejected for micro, small, and young firms, since an inverse relationship between firm growth and initial firm size is found along with a persistence of growth rates in subsequent periods. In contrast, Gibrat’s law is accepted for medium, large, and old firms, implying that the growth patterns of these categories follow a random walk and do not tend to persist in subsequent periods.     

Foreign firm characteristics,labour market restrictions and FDI spillovers: Evidence from Moldova

This paper investigates how productivity spillovers from foreign to domestic firms are affected by foreign firm characteristics and labour market conditions in Moldova. We use firm-level administrative panel data and annual survey region-sector indicators of labour market conditions in 2005–2014. Baseline regressions show that domestic firms benefit from backward FDI spillovers, while we find no evidence of horizontal or forward spillovers. Spillover effects are heterogeneous and depend on the ownership structure and age of foreign firms. Domestic firms in upstream sectors benefit from both wholly foreign-owned companies (WFOC) and joint ventures (JV). However, JVs need less time in the market for positive spillovers to materialise, while WFOCs only lead to larger spillover effects when they are older. In regions and sectors where firms experience fewer labour market restrictions, backward FDI spillovers are larger. Interacting foreign firm characteristics with labour market restrictions, we find that spillovers through the labour market channel materialise only for older FDI, regardless of ownership type. The results are in line with our expectation that WFOCs need more time than JVs to develop linkages with local suppliers and lead to spillovers through this channel. Moreover, in developing countries labour market restrictions reduce labour mobility and consequently, the size of FDI spillovers across industries.     

Technical efficiency and productivity growth of entrant firms in the retail sector in Spain

This paper analyses efficiency and productivity growth in relation to size, and age and for both entrant and incumbent firms using a birth cohort approach for the period 1995–2003 for two sectors, non-specialized shop (521) and specialized shop (524) three-digit NACE. On the one hand, our results indicate the existence of statistically significant differences among entrant and incumbent firms by size. Also, we found differences according to the start up size in relation to membership of the birth cohort and activity sectors. On the other hand, productivity growth shows that, in general, the larger entrants in the non-specialized sector obtained higher productivity than did small firms. This phenomenon was not observed in the specialized sector, where firms worsened in productivity in most of the cohorts and we did not find significant differences in productivity growth between large and small firms. Efficiency changes tend to be a positive contributor to total factor productivity change, but technical change tends to be a negative contributor for both sectors. A deeper analysis of the efficiency changes (catching up) has shown that these improvements are generally attributed to pure technical efficiency and the scale.     

The hidden hand and the license raj to An evaluation of the relationship between age and the growth of firms in India

The study that this article reports on considers the consequences of nationally variable macroinstitutional environments, and the implications of major alterations in such environments, on organizational level behavior and performance. Specifically, it examines the relationship between firm age and growth for a large sample of Indian firms using contemporary data. Firms are classified as falling into three specific categories: those incorporated, or born, prior to 1956; those incorporated between 1956 and 1980; and those incorporated after 1980.Each of these selected periods defines and denotes specific policy regimes affecting Indian industry. These policy regimes have been dictated by the national macroinstitutional environmental considerations that were in existence for the Indian economy. No significant relationship is established between the age variable and growth for firms incorporated prior to 1956, while a negative relationship is established between the age variable and growth for firms incorporated between 1956 and 1980. These were the years when the command and control industrial policy regime, popularly known as the “license raj,” was in operation in India. Conversely, for firms incorporated after 1980 when market forces began to be encouraged, and the “hidden hand” started becoming visible to some degree in the Indian context, the age and growth relationship is established to be positive.The evidence suggests that entrepreneurial behavior is an extremely important feature of contemporary Indian industry. Recent anecdotes about Indian firms, particularly in the information technology sector, suggest that there has been a resurgence of industrial activity in the country. These beliefs are well borne out by the large-scale empirical analysis that this article reports on. The younger Indian firms, those which have not been imprinted by the taints of a command and control regime, are going to drive India's industrial progress forward. The “hidden hand” is alive and well in India.Conversely, older firms, which might seem to possess a stock of capabilities developed over time, are going to find that these are unlikely to be readily deployable in the future. Older firms might have had the attributes that led to corporate success in an environment where rent seeking was the norm. In the present milieu, such abilities are not conducive to corporate progress. In particular, the “license raj” firms have no capability to succeed, as shown by the negative age and growth relationship.Additionally, the relationship between size and the growth of Indian firms is found to be negative. This suggests that a process of industrial fragmentation may be taking place in Indian industry, with small firms growing faster than larger firms and reducing the importance of larger firms in Indian industry. This has important implications for the future competitiveness of Indian industry.     

Diversification patterns and survival as firms mature

We focus on the relationship between age and diversification patterns of German machine tool manufacturers in the post-war era. We distinguish between ‘minor diversification’ (adding a new product variation within a familiar submarket) and ‘major diversification’ (expanding the product portfolio into new submarkets). Our analysis reveals four main insights. First, we observe that firms have lower diversification rates as they grow older, and that eventually diversification rates even turn negative for old firms on average (where negative diversification corresponds to exit from certain product lines). Second, we find that product portfolios of larger firms tend to be more diversified. Third, with respect to consecutive diversification activities, quantile autoregression plots show that firms experiencing diversification in one period are unlikely to repeat this behavior in the following year. Fourth, survival estimations reveal that diversification activities reduce the risk of exit in general and to a varying degree at different ages. These results are interpreted using Penrosean growth theory.     

Do firms’ growth rates depend on firm size?

The empirical literature dealing with corporate growth does not in general give support to Gibrat??s Law stating that the expected increase in firm size is proportionate to its initial size, leaving their growth rates independent of size. Using a relatively large and representative sample of approximately 2,500 Danish firms representing all industries, we have evaluated the validity of Gibrat??s Law over the period 1990?C2004. The present analysis addresses this question by applying econometric methods to test Gibrat??s Law and correcting for problems related to autocorrelation. The empirical findings of our study do not generally support Gibrat??s Law, but in contrast to the results of earlier studies, the analysis reveals that firms?? growth rates are more likely to be positively related to firm size.     

Technological spillovers from multinational firms

This paper aims to identify genuine technological spillovers from multinational firms (MNEs). To this end, we use data on R&D from MNEs to measure spillovers, while most of the existing literature uses output to measure the foreign presence in an industry (what we call output-based spillovers). In line with the existing literature, we distinguish between horizontal spillovers (i.e., intra-industry linkages) and vertical spillovers (i.e., backward—or downstream—and forward—or upstream—inter-industry linkages). Our results show that the three types of technological spillovers from MNEs are positive, with the horizontal spillovers the larger ones, followed by backward spillovers. The effect of forward spillovers is much smaller in magnitude. Moreover, we find that not controlling for industry size (i.e., technological spillovers from all firms in an industry) leads to underestimating both horizontal and backward spillovers from MNEs, and to overestimating forward spillovers from MNEs. Finally, we find that the distinction between technological and output-based spillovers is of great relevance. The size of backward technological spillovers is approximately 44% of the size of output-based backward spillovers, while for horizontal spillovers both types of spillovers are quite similar. Importantly, output-based forward spillovers are negative while technological forward spillovers are positive.     

The Size and Growth of UK Manufacturing and Service Firms

This paper investigates the relationship between firm size and growth for UK manufacturing and services over the period 1991 to 1995. We test for size effects on growth, using models which incorporate the influences of previous growth and industry membership. The results from the analysis suggest that for both manufacturing and services, small firms tend to grow faster than larger firms. The growth of manufacturing firms appears to persist over time, whereas this is not the case for service firms. Small firms tend to have more variable growth rates than their larger counterparts in manufacturing and services. This suggests that large firms may enjoy advantages associated with diversified operations which make them less susceptible to periods of extremely high or low 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.     

Firm Shutdown During the Financial and the Sovereign Debt Crises: Empirical Evidence from Portugal

This paper examines Portuguese firms’ survival over the business cycle and investigates whether the effect of firm size varies across the phases of the cycle and with the type of shock associated with periods of economic contraction. Our results show that smaller firms are more likely to shut down than larger firms. Within each size band, however, we found that during the two crises examined, micro firms experienced hazards of closing (relative to large firms) at least similar to those observed in the pre-crisis period, while medium-sized firms were found to have been more vulnerable during the financial crisis period but showed more resilience during the sovereign debt crisis. The results suggest that during the sovereign debt crisis, firms faced a higher probability of closing than they did during the financial crisis.     

Arriving at the high-growth firm

This study explores heterogeneity in how firms have achieved high growth. Using the population of all firms in Sweden with more than 20 employees in existence in 1996 (N=11,748), we analyzed their development for each year of the previous 10 years (1987 to 1996). From this population of all firms in Sweden, multiple criteria were used to define a sample of high-growth firms (n=1501). Using 19 different measures of firm growth (such as relative and absolute sales growth, relative and absolute employee growth, organic growth vs. acquisition growth, and the regularity and volatility of growth rates over the 10-year period), we identified seven different types of firm growth patterns. These patterns were related to firm age and size as well as industry affiliation. Implications for research and practice are offered.     

Technical performance and firm size: Analysis of patents and publications of U.S. firms

This study focuses on the scientific output of firms of different sizes in different industries in the U.S. Both patents, and papers and publications are used as measures of technical output. Data from two samples of firms, one consisting of 225 large firms (annual sales at least $250 million and minimum annual R&D budget of $1 million) and the other consisting of 248 small and medium sized firms (annual sales between $10 to $200 million and annual R&D budget at least $10 thousand) have been presented here. The study shows that determinants of R&D expenditure are different in firms of different sizes. For the large firms, R&D expenditure depends on net income as well as its size, measured in terms of annual sales. For small size firms, R&D expenditure is closely related with sales, rather than the net income. For large firms, R&D expenditure is related to both sales and income, the latter being more important than the former. The two output measures, patents and papers are correlated, but the correlation is not a very strong one for small firms. Patent and papers are correlated significantly with both R&D expenditure as well as annual sales. The firm's growth is not linked with patents. On the contrary, there is a negative relationship between patent and R&D growth and patent and income growth in the case of small firms. Papers are not linked with growth variables for small firms. Finally, this study confirms the hypothesis that small firms are more productive in innovation than the large firms. Small firms are more efficient than their larger competitors in terms of patents and papers per million dollars of R&D expenditure.     

Glass Houses? Market Reactions to Firms Joining the UN Global Compact

We examine market reactions to publicly held multinational firms announcing their affiliation with the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). The UNGC is a voluntary initiative to support four areas of United Nations viz. Human Rights, Labor, Environmental, and Anti-Corruption. Because firms must file annual Communication on Progress (COP) reports toward these initiatives, we argue this creates a differentiating transparency of interest to stakeholders. Using a sample of 175 global firms, we find support to the theory for joining the UNGC. Returns differ markedly, however, between multinational firms headquartered in the United States (negative) and Europe (positive). We also find that failing to complete the annual COP generates a negative market reaction.     

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.     

Exports,firm size,and firm dynamics

This paper explores the relationships between exports, firm size, and firm dynamics. It is based on a unique longitudinal data set collected at the establishment level, covering some 7000 manufacturing German firms. We present stylized facts on exports and firm size, showing that the probability that a firm is an exporter increases with firm size; however, there are many successful exporters among small firms, and non-exporters among larger firms, too, while most of the exports are from the top size groups of firms. An econometric study shows a picture that is consistent with theoretical considerations: The impact of firm size on exports is positive but decreasing, while human capital intensity, domestic market share, and advanced technology all have a positive influence on the export performance of a firm. Firm growth and export performance are positively related, as is expected from a model of a price-discriminating monopolist.     

Survival of new firms in the Brazilian franchising segment: an empirical study

This paper investigates the survival patterns of Brazilian franchising firms for the period 1994–1999. First, we considered the (percentage) survival of newly created franchisors in the following years. Survival functions were obtained by means of the Kaplan–Meier estimator for the selected sectors and they indicated sharp declines in the survival rates over time but with differential patterns across sectors. Finally, an econometric analysis based on the Cox proportional hazard model considered the explanatory variables pertaining to size, age and support regarding the legal aspects, location choice and training. The evidence indicates that the supports provided by the franchisor have a positive impact on the probability of survival of new firms, whereas there is partial evidence favoring a positive effect of firm size on survival.     

The Positive Effect of Motivation and International Orientation on SME Growth

This empirical study on small and medium‐sized enterprise growth investigates the relationship between motivation for growth, international orientation, and subsequent performance by following 247 firms over 11 years. Using a combination of regression analysis and structural equation modeling, the authors find the international orientation of the firm to be a consistent predictor of growth in revenue and exports. The authors also find the international orientation of the firm to be closely interrelated with motivation for growth: Firms with managers and owners having a strong motivation for growth tend also to have managers with high international orientation and display superior growth both domestically and abroad. Whereas motivation seems independent of past performance, it has a profound positive influence on the growth in revenue. Moreover, the findings reveal that some firms are able to sustain high growth rates over an extended period of time. The study supports the contention that some firms are able to systematically outperform the rest.     

Disentangling the effects of organizational capabilities, innovation and firm size on SME sales growth

This paper focuses on certain drivers of SME sales growth related to knowledge and innovation. Building on the dynamic capabilities literature, we test whether two organizational capabilities (external sourcing and employee involvement in renewal activities) predict sales growth, and if so, whether such effects are mediated by process and/or product innovation. Based on survey data from a panel study of Dutch SMEs, and controlling for several firm characteristics (firm size, sector, age and family business), we conclude that external sourcing has direct effects on both product and process innovation, with an indirect effect (mediated by process innovation) on sales growth. In line with our hypothesis development, we also find that employee involvement, while positively affecting process innovation, has a negative effect on sales growth. Firm size moderates the effects of two of the variables (external sourcing and product innovation) on sales growth, with more positive effects found for the smallest firms, results supporting the nimbleness (versus resource-based) view.