IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/sbusec/v57y2021i3d10.1007_s11187-020-00350-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Firm size and growth barriers: a data-driven approach

Author

Listed:
  • Johan Karlsson

    (Örebro University)

Abstract

This article aims to capture the relationship between perceived growth barriers and firm size. This aim is pursued by developing a novel data-driven identification strategy that assigns firm size groups based on their statistical relationships to perceived growth barriers. The analysis is undertaken using data for approximately 44,000 Swedish SMEs (0–249 employees) for 2011, 2014, and 2017. The results suggest that small firms typically face constraints on equity financing, whereas larger firms face barriers regarding competition and recruitment. As a benchmark, the performance of the developed method is compared with prevailing strategies that use ad hoc firm size groups. The findings show that ad hoc groups fail to accurately capture size thresholds at which firms incur barriers, and they yield a consistently lower model fit compared with the method proposed here. Consequently, there may be a need for methodological rethink in the field regarding the treatment of firm size.

Suggested Citation

  • Johan Karlsson, 2021. "Firm size and growth barriers: a data-driven approach," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1319-1338, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:57:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1007_s11187-020-00350-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-020-00350-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11187-020-00350-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11187-020-00350-y?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. Anders Bornhäll & Sven-Olov Daunfeldt & Niklas Rudholm, 2017. "Employment protection legislation and firm growth: evidence from a natural experiment," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 26(1), pages 169-185.
    2. Marco Cucculelli & Valentina Peruzzi & Alberto Zazzaro, 2019. "Relational capital in lending relationships: evidence from European family firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 277-301, January.
    3. N. Berger, Allen & F. Udell, Gregory, 1998. "The economics of small business finance: The roles of private equity and debt markets in the financial growth cycle," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(6-8), pages 613-673, August.
    4. Michael Anyadike-Danes & Carl-Magnus Bjuggren & Sandra Gottschalk & Werner Hölzl & Dan Johansson & Mika Maliranta & Anja Myrann, 2015. "An international cohort comparison of size effects on job growth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 821-844, April.
    5. Levy, Brian, 1993. "Obstacles to Developing Indigenous Small and Medium Enterprises: An Empirical Assessment," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 7(1), pages 65-83, January.
    6. 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.
    7. Philip McCann & Raquel Ortega-Argilés, 2016. "Smart specialisation, entrepreneurship and SMEs: issues and challenges for a results-oriented EU regional policy," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 537-552, April.
    8. Blandina Oliveira & Adelino Fortunato, 2006. "Firm Growth and Liquidity Constraints: A Dynamic Analysis," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 139-156, October.
    9. Per Davidsson & Frédéric Delmar & Johan Wiklund, 2006. "Entrepreneurship and the Growth of Firms," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3971.
    10. Ken Clark & Stephen Drinkwater & Catherine Robinson, 2017. "Self-employment amongst migrant groups: new evidence from England and Wales," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 1047-1069, April.
    11. Cristiana Donati, 2016. "Firm growth and liquidity constraints: evidence from the manufacturing and service sectors in Italy," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(20), pages 1881-1892, April.
    12. Alex Coad & Stjepan Srhoj, 0. "Catching Gazelles with a Lasso: Big data techniques for the prediction of high-growth firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-25.
    13. Michael Dietrich & Jackie Krafft (ed.), 2012. "Handbook on the Economics and Theory of the Firm," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13623.
    14. Grossmann, Volker, 2007. "Firm size and diversification: Multiproduct firms in asymmetric oligopoly," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 51-67, February.
    15. Estefanía Palazuelos & Ángel Herrero Crespo & Javier Montoya Corte, 2018. "Accounting information quality and trust as determinants of credit granting to SMEs: the role of external audit," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 861-877, December.
    16. Michael Dietrich & Jackie Krafft, 2012. "Handbook on the Economics and Theory of the Firm," Post-Print halshs-01378625, HAL.
    17. Peter J. Buckley & Mark Casson, 2010. "Edith Penrose’s Theory of the Growth of the Firm and the Strategic Management of Multinational Enterprises," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: The Multinational Enterprise Revisited, chapter 11, pages 277-300, Palgrave Macmillan.
    18. Audretsch, David B. & Elston, Julie Ann, 2002. "Does firm size matter? Evidence on the impact of liquidity constraints on firm investment behavior in Germany," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 1-17, January.
    19. Paul Robson & Bernard Obeng, 2008. "The Barriers to Growth in Ghana," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 30(4), pages 385-403, April.
    20. Flora Wang, 2016. "What are the biggest obstacles to growth of SMEs in developing countries? - A picture emerging from an enterprise survey," Working Papers IES 2016/09, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised May 2016.
    21. Ciccone, Antonio & Hall, Robert E, 1996. "Productivity and the Density of Economic Activity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 54-70, March.
    22. Krugman, Paul, 1991. "Increasing Returns and Economic Geography," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 483-499, June.
    23. Brett Anitra Gilbert & David B. Audretsch & Patricia P. McDougall, 2004. "The Emergence of Entrepreneurship Policy," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 22(3_4), pages 313-323, April.
    24. Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirgüç‐Kunt & Vojislav Maksimovic, 2005. "Financial and Legal Constraints to Growth: Does Firm Size Matter?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 137-177, February.
    25. Yao Wang, 2016. "What are the biggest obstacles to growth of SMEs in developing countries? – An empirical evidence from an enterprise survey," Borsa Istanbul Review, Research and Business Development Department, Borsa Istanbul, vol. 16(3), pages 167-176, September.
    26. Alex Coad, 2018. "Firm age: a survey," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 13-43, January.
    27. Lina Aldén & Mats Hammarstedt, 2016. "Discrimination in the Credit Market? Access to Financial Capital among Self-employed Immigrants," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(1), pages 3-31, February.
    28. Cenni, Stefano & Monferrà, Stefano & Salotti, Valentina & Sangiorgi, Marco & Torluccio, Giuseppe, 2015. "Credit rationing and relationship lending. Does firm size matter?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 249-265.
    29. Kristina Nyström & Gulzat Elvung, 2014. "New firms and labor market entrants: Is there a wage penalty for employment in new firms?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 399-410, August.
    30. Delmar, Frederic & Davidsson, Per & Gartner, William B., 2003. "Arriving at the high-growth firm," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 189-216, March.
    31. Beck, Thorsten & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, 2006. "Small and medium-size enterprises: Access to finance as a growth constraint," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 2931-2943, November.
    32. Henrekson, Magnus & Johansson, Dan, 1999. "Institutional Effects on the Evolution of the Size Distribution of Firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 11-23, February.
    33. Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & María Pería, 2011. "Bank Financing for SMEs: Evidence Across Countries and Bank Ownership Types," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 39(1), pages 35-54, April.
    34. Frédéric Delmar & Johan Wiklund & Per Davidsson, 2006. "Entrepreneurship and the Growth of Firms," Post-Print hal-01892801, HAL.
    35. Frédéric Delmar & Johan Wiklund & Per Davidsson, 2006. "Entrepreneurship and the Growth of Firms," Post-Print hal-01892798, HAL.
    36. Coad, Alex & Segarra, Agustí & Teruel, Mercedes, 2013. "Like milk or wine: Does firm performance improve with age?," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 173-189.
    37. Per Davidsson & Frédéric Delmar & Johan Wiklund, 2006. "Entrepreneurship and the Growth of Firms," Post-Print hal-02298077, HAL.
    38. Audretsch, David B. & Elston, Julie Ann, 2002. "Does firm size matter? Evidence on the impact of liquidity constraints on firm investment behavior in Germany," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 1-17, January.
    39. Fredrik W. Andersson & Dan Johansson & Johan Karlsson & Magnus Lodefalk & Andreas Poldahl, 2018. "The characteristics of family firms: exploiting information on ownership, kinship, and governance using total population data," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 539-556, October.
    40. Alex Coad & Jaganaddha Tamvada, 2012. "Firm growth and barriers to growth among small firms in India," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 383-400, September.
    41. John O. Okpara, 2011. "Factors constraining the growth and survival of SMEs in Nigeria," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 34(2), pages 156-171, January.
    42. Neil Lyee & Marc Cowling, 2015. "Do Rural Firms Perceive Different Problems? Geography, Sorting, and Barriers to Growth in UK SMEs," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 33(1), pages 25-42, February.
    43. Neil Lee, 2014. "What holds back high-growth firms? Evidence from UK SMEs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 183-195, June.
    44. Beck, T.H.L. & Demirgüc-Kunt, A. & Martinez Peria, M., 2011. "Banking financing for SME's : Evidence across countries and bank ownership types," Other publications TiSEM c4d491c9-2cc6-40f6-ad55-a, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    45. Tjur, Tue, 2009. "Coefficients of Determination in Logistic Regression Models—A New Proposal: The Coefficient of Discrimination," The American Statistician, American Statistical Association, vol. 63(4), pages 366-372.
    46. Neil Lee & Davide Luca, 2019. "The big-city bias in access to finance: evidence from firm perceptions in almost 100 countries," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 199-224.
    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. Nguyen Cong Thanh & Nguyen Hoang Hai & Nguyen Hoang Phu & Minh Ly Duc, 2024. "“Shall Absolute Power Corrupt Absolutely?†: A Perspective From Financial Constraints and Earnings Quality Under Government Control," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(3), pages 21582440241, July.
    2. N. A. Kravchenko & A. T. Yusupova & A. I. Ivanova & M. A. Yagolnitser, 2024. "Location, Technological Level, and Partnerships as Conditions for Company Growth," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 306-315, June.
    3. Bermpei, Theodora & Karadimitropoulou, Aikaterini & Triantafyllou, Athanasios & Alshalahi, Jebreel, 2023. "Does commodity price uncertainty matter for the cost of credit? Evidence from developing and advanced economies," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    4. Julie Ann Elston & Alois Weidinger, 2023. "An empirical examination of firm growth in the MENA region through the lens of Gibrat’s law," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 121-131, January.
    5. Stojčić, Nebojša & Dabić, Marina & Musteen, Martina, 2024. "With a little help from my friends: Institutional obstacles, networking, and SME exporting in emerging European and Asian economies," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(3).
    6. Luis Javier Garcia-Martinez & Sascha Kraus & Matthias Breier & Andreas Kallmuenzer, 2023. "Untangling the relationship between small and medium-sized enterprises and growth: a review of extant literature," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 455-479, June.

    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Maks Tajnikar & Nina Ponikvar & Petra Došenovič Bonča, 2016. "Characteristics Of Firms With Different Types Of Growth: The Case Of Slovenia," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 61(208), pages 27-48, January -.
    5. Segarra Blasco, Agustí, 1958- & Teruel, Mercedes, 2010. "Are small firms more sensitive to financial variables?," Working Papers 2072/151623, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    6. Jun Du & Yama Temouri, 2015. "High-growth firms and productivity: evidence from the United Kingdom," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 123-143, January.
    7. José Miguel Giner & María Jesús Santa-María & Antonio Fuster, 2017. "High-growth firms: does location matter?," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 75-96, March.
    8. Heli Koski & Mika Pajarinen, 2013. "The role of business subsidies in job creation of start-ups, gazelles and incumbents," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 195-214, June.
    9. Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov & Elert, Niklas & Johansson, Dan, 2010. "The economic contribution of high-growth firms: Do definitions matter?," HUI Working Papers 35, HUI Research.
    10. 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.
    11. Deschryvere, Matthias, 2008. "High Growth Firms and Job Creation in Finland," Discussion Papers 1144, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    12. Autio, Erkko & Rannikko, Heikki, 2016. "Retaining winners: Can policy boost high-growth entrepreneurship?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 42-55.
    13. Agustí Segarra & Mercedes Teruel, 2014. "High-growth firms and innovation: an empirical analysis for Spanish firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 805-821, December.
    14. Delmar, Frédéric & Wallin, Jonas & Nofal, Ahmed Maged, 2022. "Modeling new-firm growth and survival with panel data using event magnitude regression," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(5).
    15. T. Vanacker, 2009. "A Longitudinal Study on the Impact of Venture Capital Firm Heterogeneity on Portfolio Company Growth," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 09/552, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. Dan Johansson & Sven-Olov Daunfeldt, 2011. "What explains the presence of High-growth firms in industries?," ERSA conference papers ersa10p1500, European Regional Science Association.
    19. Iñaki Peña & José Luis González Pernía & Mario Davide Parrilli, 2012. "Learning Modes, Types of Innovation and Economic Performance," Working Papers 2012R01, Orkestra - Basque Institute of Competitiveness.
    20. 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.

    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:sbusec:v:57:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1007_s11187-020-00350-y. 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.