Determinants of Small firm survival and growth

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Cressy
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Small Firm ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Firm Growth ◽  
Firm Survival ◽  
Business Growth ◽  
Growth And Survival ◽  
Industrial Economics ◽  
Survival And Growth ◽  
Definition Of

Many excellent surveys of the literature on business growth and survival have appeared in the last decade. This article focuses on small firm literature on survival and growth, drawing on largely non-size-specific surveys only when the intersection between their subject matter and that of small firm growth and survival is significant. The focus is moreover primarily on testable or tested theories, implying a neglect of theory, however intrinsically interesting, which offers no (immediately) testable or tested implications. It is important to note at the outset that the industrial economics literature in general has a rather disparate definition of the term ‘small firm’ from the small business literature as located in the small business journals.

Small Business Growth Characteristics

1981 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 33-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Calvin M. Boardman ◽  
Jon W. Bartley ◽  
Richard L. Ratliff
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Small Firm ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Inflation Rate ◽  
Growth Characteristics ◽  
Business Growth ◽  
Is Success ◽  
Small Business Growth ◽  
Financial Characteristics ◽  
Is Failure

Financial characteristics are presented for small firms whose sales increased at a rate greater than the inflation rate over the period 1974–1979. It is noted that these characteristics differ somewhat depending on whether they were a retailer, manufacturer or wholesaler. A growing small firm is generally characterized as one which increases its leverage, decreases its liquidity and incurs a heavy investment in operational assets. Interestingly, it is also shown that these same characteristics, if taken to extremes, are typical of the failed companies in the sample. The reward of growth is success; the risk of growth is failure.

Industrial Research and Firm Size, Survival, and Growth in American Manufacturing, 1921–1946: An Assessment

1983 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 953-980 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Mowery
Keyword(s):  
Firm Size ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Firm Growth ◽  
Industrial Research ◽  
Large Firms ◽  
Research Activity ◽  
Growth And Survival ◽  
Survival And Growth ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

The literature on the development of American industrial research suggests that during the twentieth century large firms “dominated” industrial research, and reaped the majority of the benefits from such activity. This paper utilizes new data to analyze both the relationship between firm size and research employment and the impact of research activity on firm growth and survival during 1921–1946. The results suggest that large firms were no more research-intensive than were small firms during the 1921–1946 period. Research activity significantly enhanced the probability of firms' survival among the ranks of the 200 largest manufacturing firms during 1921–1946. Research employment also improved the growth performance of both large and small firms during 1933–1946.

Adopting ICT in the Mompreneurs Business

2011 ◽  
pp. 17-34
Author(s):  
Yvonne Costin
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Small Firm ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Firm Growth ◽  
Business Transactions ◽  
Effectiveness And Efficiency ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Stakeholder Requirements

It is advocated that the role of technology is instrumental in determining the effectiveness and efficiency of where, when and how business transactions are undertaken to meet stakeholder requirements in a competitive manner. However, research by the Small Business Forum (2006) suggest the use and application of ICT in small firms overall is poor where entrepreneurs do not capitalise sufficiently on the benefits of ICT. To succeed and grow, mompreneurs’ businesses should be using ICT as a backbone for the business in an integrated manner. The objective of this chapter is to examine the adoption and application of ICT in the mompreneurs business and challenges encountered in its effective use. A specific emphasis is placed on the issue of ICT and its use by the mompreneur in undertaking business transactions and as a means of facilitating small firm growth.

Alternative Theories of Small-Firm Growth: A Critical Review

1988 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 1365-1383 ◽  
Author(s):  
P N O'Farrell ◽  
D M W N Hitchens
Keyword(s):  
Small Firm ◽  
Stochastic Models ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Firm Growth ◽  
Spatial Dimension ◽  
Manufacturing Firm ◽  
Industrial Economics ◽  
Economics Literature ◽  
Growth And Change ◽  
Alternative Theories

This paper contains a review of alternative theories which have been developed in order to explain growth and change in the small manufacturing firm. Models of small-firm growth derived within the industrial economics literature are evaluated together with stage models of growth and stochastic models. Social and psychological perspectives on growth are reviewed and the spatial dimension is also considered. We argue that most previous theories of small-firm growth place too little emphasis upon the difficulties which small owner-managed firms have in meeting the competitive requirements of the marketplace.

The First Two Years: Problems of Small Firm Growth and Survival

1962 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 279
Author(s):  
F. Desales Powell ◽  
Kurt B. Mayer ◽  
Sidney Goldstein
Keyword(s):  
Small Firm ◽  
Firm Growth ◽  
Growth And Survival

Strategic Entrepreneurial Orientation and Small Business Growth

2014 ◽  
pp. 180-203
Author(s):  
João J. Ferreira ◽  
Mário L. Raposo ◽  
Cristina I. Fernandes
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Small Business ◽  
Entrepreneurial Orientation ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Firm Growth ◽  
Small Companies ◽  
Business Growth ◽  
Strategic Factors ◽  
Competitive Aggressiveness ◽  
Small Business Growth

This chapter aims to define a coherent theoretical framework enabling a broader understanding of the strategic entrepreneurial orientation (SEO) and to evaluate their effects on small firm growth. A sample made up of 211 small Portuguese firms from various different sectors of activity was surveyed by questionnaire. The results demonstrate how the life-cycle of companies, their resources, capacities, motivations and surrounding environment all influence the SEO of small companies. The empirical evidence shows how SEO, and across four specific dimensions – proactiveness, innovativeness, risk taking and competitive aggressiveness, clearly impacts on the growth of these small firms. The study contributes both theoretically (through advancing knowledge on the field of strategic factors for small business growth) and practically (when designing support policies strategically orientated towards small firms).

Adopting ICT in the Mompreneurs Business

2013 ◽  
pp. 322-339
Author(s):  
Yvonne Costin
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Small Firm ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Firm Growth ◽  
Business Transactions ◽  
Effectiveness And Efficiency ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Stakeholder Requirements

It is advocated that the role of technology is instrumental in determining the effectiveness and efficiency of where, when and how business transactions are undertaken to meet stakeholder requirements in a competitive manner. However, research by the Small Business Forum (2006) suggest the use and application of ICT in small firms overall is poor where entrepreneurs do not capitalise sufficiently on the benefits of ICT. To succeed and grow, mompreneurs’ businesses should be using ICT as a backbone for the business in an integrated manner. The objective of this chapter is to examine the adoption and application of ICT in the mompreneurs business and challenges encountered in its effective use. A specific emphasis is placed on the issue of ICT and its use by the mompreneur in undertaking business transactions and as a means of facilitating small firm growth.

scholarly journals Strategic Entrepreneurial Orientation and Small Business Growth

Economics ◽  
2015 ◽  
pp. 145-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
João J. Ferreira ◽  
Mário L. Raposo ◽  
Cristina I. Fernandes
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Small Business ◽  
Entrepreneurial Orientation ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Firm Growth ◽  
Small Companies ◽  
Business Growth ◽  
Strategic Factors ◽  
Competitive Aggressiveness ◽  
Small Business Growth

This chapter aims to define a coherent theoretical framework enabling a broader understanding of the strategic entrepreneurial orientation (SEO) and to evaluate their effects on small firm growth. A sample made up of 211 small Portuguese firms from various different sectors of activity was surveyed by questionnaire. The results demonstrate how the life-cycle of companies, their resources, capacities, motivations and surrounding environment all influence the SEO of small companies. The empirical evidence shows how SEO, and across four specific dimensions – proactiveness, innovativeness, risk taking and competitive aggressiveness, clearly impacts on the growth of these small firms. The study contributes both theoretically (through advancing knowledge on the field of strategic factors for small business growth) and practically (when designing support policies strategically orientated towards small firms).

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