IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbioec/v21y2019i2d10.1007_s10818-018-09282-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A critical human group size and firm size distributions in industries

Author

Listed:
  • Christian Cordes

    (University of Bremen)

  • Tong-Yaa Su

    (University of Bremen)

  • Pontus Strimling

    (Stockholm University)

Abstract

Initially taking a theoretical stance, this paper relates firm-level processes and size distributions of firms at the industry level. An analytically tractable model explores how firm growth, exit, and spinoff activity in combination with systematically appearing growth crises in organizational development translate into specific firm size distributions (FSDs). Based on anthropological, social-psychological, and economic evidence on the effects of increasing group size on performance, the model features a critical organizational size that triggers growth crises. These processes generate size distributions of firms including different right-skewed distributions observed in the empirical literature and self-reinforcing spinoff processes that affect an industry’s FSD.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Cordes & Tong-Yaa Su & Pontus Strimling, 2019. "A critical human group size and firm size distributions in industries," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 123-144, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbioec:v:21:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s10818-018-09282-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s10818-018-09282-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10818-018-09282-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10818-018-09282-w?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giulio Bottazzi & Alex Coad & Nadia Jacoby & Angelo Secchi, 2011. "Corporate growth and industrial dynamics: evidence from French manufacturing," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(1), pages 103-116.
    2. Jovanovic, Boyan & MacDonald, Glenn M, 1994. "The Life Cycle of a Competitive Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(2), pages 322-347, April.
    3. de Wit, Gerrit, 2005. "Firm size distributions: An overview of steady-state distributions resulting from firm dynamics models," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 23(5-6), pages 423-450, June.
    4. Steven Klepper & Sally Sleeper, 2005. "Entry by Spinoffs," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(8), pages 1291-1306, August.
    5. Klepper, Steven, 2010. "The origin and growth of industry clusters: The making of Silicon Valley and Detroit," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 15-32, January.
    6. Simon Gachter & Ernst Fehr, 2000. "Cooperation and Punishment in Public Goods Experiments," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(4), pages 980-994, September.
    7. Witt, Ulrich & Schwesinger, Georg, 2013. "Phylogenetic footprints in organizational behavior," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 90(S), pages 33-44.
    8. Alex Coad, 2009. "The Growth of Firms," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13424.
    9. Fogler, H. Russell & Radcliffe, Robert C., 1974. "A Note on Measurement of Skewness," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(3), pages 485-489, June.
    10. Guido Buenstorf & Steven Klepper, 2009. "Heritage and Agglomeration: The Akron Tyre Cluster Revisited," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(537), pages 705-733, April.
    11. Emin Dinlersoz & Glenn MacDonald, 2009. "The Industry Life-Cycle of the Size Distribution of Firms," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 12(4), pages 648-667, October.
    12. Klepper, Steven, 1997. "Industry Life Cycles," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 6(1), pages 145-181.
    13. Cordes, Christian & Richerson, Peter J. & Schwesinger, Georg, 2010. "How corporate cultures coevolve with the business environment: The case of firm growth crises and industry evolution," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 465-480, December.
    14. Rafael Rob & Peter Zemsky, 2002. "Social Capital, Corporate Culture, and Incentive Intensity," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 33(2), pages 243-257, Summer.
    15. Gueth, W. & van Damme, E.E.C., 1994. "Information, strategic behavior and fairness in ultimatum bargaining : An experimental study," Other publications TiSEM 84951aae-31ab-46fc-85f5-3, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    16. Christensen, Clayton M., 1993. "The Rigid Disk Drive Industry: A History of Commercial and Technological Turbulence," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 67(4), pages 531-588, January.
    17. Michael S. Dahl & Christian Ø.R. Pedersen & Bent Dalum, 2003. "Entry by Spinoff in a High-tech Cluster," DRUID Working Papers 03-11, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.
    18. Kenney, Martin & von Burg, Urs, 1999. "Technology, Entrepreneurship and Path Dependence: Industrial Clustering in Silicon Valley and Route 128," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 8(1), pages 67-103, March.
    19. Bresnahan,Timothy & Gambardella,Alfonso (ed.), 2004. "Building High-Tech Clusters," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521827225, September.
    20. Luís M B Cabral & José Mata, 2003. "On the Evolution of the Firm Size Distribution: Facts and Theory," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1075-1090, September.
    21. Utterback, James M. & Suarez, Fernando F., 1993. "Innovation, competition, and industry structure," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 1-21, February.
    22. Elena Cefis & Orietta Marsili & Hans Schenk, 2009. "The effects of mergers and acquisitions on the firm size distribution," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 1-20, February.
    23. David Card & Alexandre Mas & Jesse Rothstein, 2008. "Tipping and the Dynamics of Segregation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(1), pages 177-218.
    24. Ulrich Witt, 2007. "Firms as Realizations of Entrepreneurial Visions," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(7), pages 1125-1140, November.
    25. Lorenzo Caliendo & Ferdinando Monte & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, 2015. "The Anatomy of French Production Hierarchies," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 123(4), pages 809-852.
    26. Pedro Gil & Fernanda Figueiredo, 2013. "Firm size distribution under horizontal and vertical innovation," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 129-161, January.
    27. Growiec, Jakub & Pammolli, Fabio & Riccaboni, Massimo & Stanley, H. Eugene, 2008. "On the size distribution of business firms," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 207-212, February.
    28. Vining, Daniel Jr., 1976. "Capacity expansion and its implications for the size distribution of firms : Some remarks on a recent paper by L. Hjalmarsson," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 281-285, April.
    29. Ijiri, Yuji & Simon, Herbert A, 1974. "Interpretations of Departures from the Pareto Curve Firm-Size Distributions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(2), pages 315-331, Part I, M.
    30. Kaushik Mukhopadhaya, 2003. "Jury Size and the Free Rider Problem," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 24-44, April.
    31. Elinor Ostrom, 2000. "Collective Action and the Evolution of Social Norms," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 137-158, Summer.
    32. Langlois, Richard N, 1998. "Personal Capitalism as Charismatic Authority: The Organizational Economics of a Weberian Concept," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 7(1), pages 195-213, March.
    33. Giulio Bottazzi & Angelo Secchi, 2003. "Common Properties and Sectoral Specificities in the Dynamics of U.S. Manufacturing Companies," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 23(3_4), pages 217-232, December.
    34. Christophe Boone & Glenn R. Carroll & Arjen van Witteloostuijn, 2004. "Size, differentiation and the performance of Dutch daily newspapers," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 13(1), pages 117-148, February.
    35. Christian Cordes & Peter Richerson & Georg Schwesinger, 2014. "A corporation’s culture as an impetus for spinoffs and a driving force of industry evolution," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 689-712, July.
    36. Steven Klepper, 2002. "The capabilities of new firms and the evolution of the US automobile industry," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 11(4), pages 645-666, August.
    37. Segarra, Agustí & Teruel, Mercedes, 2012. "An appraisal of firm size distribution: Does sample size matter?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 314-328.
    38. Toke Reichstein & Morten Berg Jensen, 2005. "Firm size and firm growth rate distributions--The case of Denmark," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 14(6), pages 1145-1166, December.
    39. Stanley, Michael H. R. & Buldyrev, Sergey V. & Havlin, Shlomo & Mantegna, Rosario N. & Salinger, Michael A. & Eugene Stanley, H., 1995. "Zipf plots and the size distribution of firms," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 453-457, October.
    40. Hawawini, Gabriel A., 1980. "An Analytical Examination of the Intervaling Effect on Skewness and Other Moments," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(5), pages 1121-1127, December.
    41. Witt, Ulrich, 2000. "Changing Cognitive Frames--Changing Organizational Forms: An Entrepreneurial Theory of Organizational Development," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 9(4), pages 733-755, December.
    42. Klepper, Steven, 1996. "Entry, Exit, Growth, and Innovation over the Product Life Cycle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 562-583, June.
    43. Fariba Hashemi, 2000. "An evolutionary model of the size distribution of firms," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 10(5), pages 507-521.
    44. Gallegati, M. & Palestrini, A., 2010. "The complex behavior of firms' size dynamics," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 69-76, July.
    45. Arthur J. Robson & Hillard S. Kaplan, 2003. "The Evolution of Human Life Expectancy and Intelligence in Hunter-Gatherer Economies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 150-169, March.
    46. Audretsch, David B & Mahmood, Talat, 1994. "Firm Selection and Industry Evolution: The Post-entry Performance of New Firms," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 243-260, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Christian Cordes & Tong-Yaa Su & Pontus Strimling, 2015. "Going Through a Crisis: Firm Devekopment and Firm SIze Distributions," Papers on Economics and Evolution 2015-06, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    2. Christian Cordes & Peter Richerson & Georg Schwesinger, 2014. "A corporation’s culture as an impetus for spinoffs and a driving force of industry evolution," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 689-712, July.
    3. Cordes, Christian & Richerson, Peter J. & Schwesinger, Georg, 2010. "How corporate cultures coevolve with the business environment: The case of firm growth crises and industry evolution," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 465-480, December.
    4. Segarra, Agustí & Teruel, Mercedes, 2012. "An appraisal of firm size distribution: Does sample size matter?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 314-328.
    5. Buenstorf, Guido & Costa, Carla, 2018. "Drivers of spin-off performance in industry clusters: Embodied knowledge or embedded firms?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 663-673.
    6. Alex Coad, 2007. "Firm Growth: a Survey," Post-Print halshs-00155762, HAL.
    7. Guido Buenstorf, 2007. "Evolution on the Shoulders of Giants: Entrepreneurship and Firm Survival in the German Laser Industry," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 30(3), pages 179-202, May.
    8. Jakub Growiec & Fabio Pammolli & Massimo Riccaboni, 2020. "Innovation and Corporate Dynamics: A Theoretical Framework," Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, vol. 12(1), pages 1-45, March.
    9. Lina Cortés & Juan M. Lozada & Javier Perote, 2019. "Firm size and concentration inequality: A flexible extension of Gibrat’s law," Documentos de Trabajo de Valor Público 17205, Universidad EAFIT.
    10. Christian Cordes, 2019. "The promises of a naturalistic approach: how cultural evolution theory can inform (evolutionary) economics," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 1241-1262, September.
    11. Ron Boschma, 2015. "Do spinoff dynamics or agglomeration externalities drive industry clustering? A reappraisal of Steven Klepper’s work," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 24(4), pages 859-873.
    12. Guido Buenstorf, 2017. "Schumpeterian Incumbents and Industry Evolution," Economic Complexity and Evolution, in: Andreas Pyka & Uwe Cantner (ed.), Foundations of Economic Change, pages 283-297, Springer.
    13. Avnimelech, Gil & Teubal, Morris, 2006. "Creating venture capital industries that co-evolve with high tech: Insights from an extended industry life cycle perspective of the Israeli experience," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 1477-1498, December.
    14. Guido Buenstorf, 2007. "Creation and Pursuit of Entrepreneurial Opportunities: An Evolutionary Economics Perspective," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 323-337, April.
    15. Guido Buenstorf, 2006. "Perception and pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities: an evolutionary economics perspective," Papers on Economics and Evolution 2006-01, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    16. Thomas Brenner & Matthias Duschl, 2014. "Modelling Firm and Market Dynamics - A Flexible Model Reproducing Existing Stylized Facts," Working Papers on Innovation and Space 2014-07, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography.
    17. Lina M Cortés & Juan M Lozada & Javier Perote, 2021. "Firm size and economic concentration: An analysis from a lognormal expansion," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(7), pages 1-21, July.
    18. Junho Na & Jeong-dong Lee & Chulwoo Baek, 2017. "Is the service sector different in size heterogeneity?," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 12(1), pages 95-120, April.
    19. Cordes, Christian & Richerson, Peter J. & McElreath, Richard & Strimling, Pontus, 2008. "A naturalistic approach to the theory of the firm: The role of cooperation and cultural evolution," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 125-139, October.
    20. Rajshree Agarwal & Barry L. Bayus, 2002. "The Market Evolution and Sales Takeoff of Product Innovations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(8), pages 1024-1041, August.

    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:kap:jbioec:v:21:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s10818-018-09282-w. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.