IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ecorec/v97y2021i318p350-364.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Drives High Growth? Characteristics of Australian Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Omer Majeed
  • Antonio Balaguer
  • David Hansell
  • Luke Hendrickson
  • Abasi Latcham
  • Tessa Satherley

Abstract

Using firm‐level data, we analyse the patterns, innovation characteristics and determinants of turnover high‐growth firms (HGFs) in Australia. We find most HGFs do not stay in the high‐growth phase for long, and following the Global Financial Crisis the proportion of HGFs has declined. For HGFs, the results suggest that innovation in goods and services has a much greater impact on turnover growth than for the average firm. For all firms, innovations in goods and services and marketing, and business focus on innovation contribute to turnover growth. Finally, HGFs generate greater returns on investment in research and development than slower growing firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Omer Majeed & Antonio Balaguer & David Hansell & Luke Hendrickson & Abasi Latcham & Tessa Satherley, 2021. "What Drives High Growth? Characteristics of Australian Firms," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 97(318), pages 350-364, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:97:y:2021:i:318:p:350-364
    DOI: 10.1111/1475-4932.12612
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-4932.12612
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1475-4932.12612?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elizabeth Garnsey & Erik Stam & Paul Heffernan, 2006. "New Firm Growth: Exploring Processes and Paths," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 1-20.
    2. Gert Bijnens & Jozef Konings, 2020. "Declining business dynamism in Belgium," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 54(4), pages 1201-1239, April.
    3. Magnus Henrekson & Dan Johansson, 2010. "Gazelles as job creators: a survey and interpretation of the evidence," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 227-244, September.
    4. Alex Coad & Sven-Olov Daunfeldt & Daniel Halvarsson, 2018. "Bursting into life: firm growth and growth persistence by age," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 55-75, January.
    5. P. A. Geroski & José Mata & Pedro Portugal, 2010. "Founding conditions and the survival of new firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 510-529, May.
    6. Michael Dietrich & Jackie Krafft (ed.), 2012. "Handbook on the Economics and Theory of the Firm," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13623.
    7. Michael Dietrich & Jackie Krafft, 2012. "Handbook on the Economics and Theory of the Firm," Post-Print halshs-01378625, HAL.
    8. Davis, Steven J & Haltiwanger, John & Schuh, Scott, 1996. "Small Business and Job Creation: Dissecting the Myth and Reassessing the Facts," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 297-315, August.
    9. Alex Coad & Werner Hölzl, 2012. "Firm Growth: Empirical Analysis," Chapters, in: Michael Dietrich & Jackie Krafft (ed.), Handbook on the Economics and Theory of the Firm, chapter 24, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), 2010. "Handbook of the Economics of Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    11. Cohen, Wesley M., 2010. "Fifty Years of Empirical Studies of Innovative Activity and Performance," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 129-213, Elsevier.
    12. Scott Shane, 2009. "Why encouraging more people to become entrepreneurs is bad public policy," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 141-149, August.
    13. Konings, Jozef & Bijnens, Gert, 2018. "Declining Business Dynamism," CEPR Discussion Papers 12615, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Albert Bravo-Biosca & Chiara Criscuolo & Carlo Menon, 2016. "What drives the dynamics of business growth?," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 31(88), pages 703-742.
    15. Ross Brown & Suzanne Mawson & Colin Mason, 2017. "Myth-busting and entrepreneurship policy: the case of high growth firms," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(5-6), pages 414-443, May.
    16. Alex Coad & Sven-Olov Daunfeldt & Werner Hölzl & Dan Johansson & Paul Nightingale, 2014. "High-growth firms: introduction to the special section," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 23(1), pages 91-112, February.
    17. Bianchini, Stefano & Pellegrino, Gabriele, 2019. "Innovation persistence and employment dynamics," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(5), pages 1171-1186.
    18. Simon Parker & David Storey & Arjen Witteloostuijn, 2010. "What happens to gazelles? The importance of dynamic management strategy," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 203-226, September.
    19. John Haltiwanger & Ron S. Jarmin & Javier Miranda, 2013. "Who Creates Jobs? Small versus Large versus Young," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(2), pages 347-361, May.
    20. Coad, Alex & Frankish, Julian & Roberts, Richard G. & Storey, David J., 2013. "Growth paths and survival chances: An application of Gambler's Ruin theory," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 615-632.
    21. Sven-Olov Daunfeldt & Niklas Elert & Dan Johansson, 2014. "The Economic Contribution of High-Growth Firms: Do Policy Implications Depend on the Choice of Growth Indicator?," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 337-365, September.
    22. Fabiana Moreno & Alex Coad, 2015. "High-Growth Firms: Stylized Facts and Conflicting Results," SPRU Working Paper Series 2015-05, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Siddarth Roche & Sizhong Sun & Riccardo Welters, 2022. "Do Financial Constraints Reduce Process Innovation? Evidence from Australian Firms," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 98(323), pages 335-353, December.
    2. André Waal & Enny Kraaijveld, 2022. "Learnings from a successful transformation to a high-performance organization: a longitudinal case study," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(11), pages 1-20, November.
    3. Omer Majeed, 2023. "The Role of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Economic Growth," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 99(326), pages 459-461, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Silviano Esteve-Pérez & Fabio Pieri & Diego Rodriguez, 2022. "One swallow does not make a summer: episodes and persistence in high growth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(3), pages 1517-1544, March.
    2. Erhardt, Eva, 2017. "Who persistently creates jobs? Absolute versus relative high-growth firms," MPRA Paper 79307, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Kovács, Olivér, 2020. "Gazellák az iparpolitika tükrében, I [Gazelles and industrial policy, Part 1]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(1), pages 54-87.
    4. Erhardt, Eva Christine, 2018. "Firm performance after high growth: A comparison of absolute and relative growth measures," MPRA Paper 88077, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Freel, Mark & Gordon, Ian, 2020. "On the consequences of firm growth," MPRA Paper 111200, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Suzanne Mawson, 2018. "Customer perceived value in high growth firms," Revista Cuadernos de Economia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, FCE, CID, vol. 37(75), pages 755-778, December.
    7. Alex Coad, 2022. "Lumps, Bumps and Jumps in the Firm Growth Process," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 18(4), pages 212-267, April.
    8. Ramy El-Dardiry & Benedikt Vogt, 2022. "How far Do gazelles run? Growth Patterns of Regular Firms, High Growth Firms and Startups," CPB Discussion Paper 432, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    9. Yannis Caloghirou & Ioannis Giotopoulos & Alexandra Kontolaimou & Aggelos Tsakanikas, 2022. "Inside the black box of high-growth firms in a crisis-hit economy: corporate strategy, employee human capital and R&D capabilities," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 1319-1345, September.
    10. Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov & Halvarsson, Daniel & Mihaescu, Oana, 2015. "High-growth firms: Not so vital after all?," HUI Working Papers 114, HUI Research.
    11. Michel Dumont & Chantal Kegels, 2016. "Working Paper 06-16 - Young Firms and Industry Dynamics in Belgium," Working Papers 1606, Federal Planning Bureau, Belgium.
    12. Besnik A. Krasniqi & Sameeksha Desai, 2016. "Institutional drivers of high-growth firms: country-level evidence from 26 transition economies," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 1075-1094, December.
    13. Sven-Olov Daunfeldt & Daniel Halvarsson, 2015. "Are high-growth firms one-hit wonders? Evidence from Sweden," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 361-383, February.
    14. Sven-Olov Daunfeldt & Niklas Elert & Dan Johansson, 2016. "Are high-growth firms overrepresented in high-tech industries?," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 25(1), pages 1-21.
    15. Eva Christine Erhardt, 2022. "Prevalence and Persistence of High-Growth Entrepreneurship: Which Institutions Matter Most?," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 297-332, June.
    16. Eva Christine Erhardt, 2021. "Measuring the persistence of high firm growth: choices and consequences," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 451-478, January.
    17. Sarra Kouada & Bénédicte Aldebert & Serge Amabile, 2018. "L’hypercroissance des start-up n’est pas un long fleuve tranquille : rôle et place des structures d’accompagnement ?," Post-Print halshs-01943501, HAL.
    18. Friesenbichler, Klaus S. & Hoelzl, Werner, 2022. "Firm-growth and Functional Strategic Domains: Exploratory evidence for differences between frontier and catching-up economies," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    19. Bianchini, Stefano & Pellegrino, Gabriele, 2019. "Innovation persistence and employment dynamics," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(5), pages 1171-1186.
    20. Demir, Robert & Wennberg, Karl & McKelvie, Alexander, 2016. "The Strategic Management of High-Growth Firms: A Review and Theoretical Conceptualization," Ratio Working Papers 273, The Ratio Institute.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:97:y:2021:i:318:p:350-364. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/esausea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.