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Did firm age, experience, and access to finance count? SME performance after the global financial crisis

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Listed:
  • Marc Cowling

    (Brighton Business School)

  • Weixi Liu

    (University of Bath School of Management)

  • Ning Zhang

    (University of the West of England)

Abstract

This paper examines the relationships between firm age and entrepreneurs experience on SME performance after the 2008/09 global financial crisis. We find that in general the crisis had a long-lasting scarring effect on the SME sector, but there is evidence of some recovery in performance. Interestingly, the well-established, and negative, firm age-growth relationship still holds, but entrepreneurial experience did not have any substantive effects on small business performance. Our findings suggest that the severity of the crisis meant that previous entrepreneur experiences had little value in this unique and uncertain environment. However, young firms still accounted for a disproportionately high share of growth, especially among the fastest growing firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Marc Cowling & Weixi Liu & Ning Zhang, 2018. "Did firm age, experience, and access to finance count? SME performance after the global financial crisis," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 77-100, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joevec:v:28:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s00191-017-0502-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s00191-017-0502-z
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Firm age; Entrepreneurs experience; Job dynamics; Sales dynamics; Financial crisis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship

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