IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/indinn/v20y2013i6p563-584.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Growth in Knowledge-Intensive Business Services: Evidence from Lombardy

Author

Listed:
  • Nicoletta Corrocher
  • Lucia Cusmano
  • Camilla Lenzi

Abstract

This paper studies the growth patterns in knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) in Lombardy on the basis of original firm-level survey data. The aim is to investigate in particular the role of and interplay between age and size of firms and the modes of innovation in the process of growth. Our findings indicate that younger firms tend to outperform incumbents for sales growth and that larger firms tend to grow more than smaller companies. However, the effects of firm size and age vary substantially according to the firm's specific pattern of innovation. In particular, highly innovative firms tend to outperform competitors regardless of their age or size, while for conservative KIBS, size is a prerequisite for growth. Investment in human capital and the service distribution network are important drivers of competition for growing KIBS.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicoletta Corrocher & Lucia Cusmano & Camilla Lenzi, 2013. "Growth in Knowledge-Intensive Business Services: Evidence from Lombardy," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(6), pages 563-584, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:indinn:v:20:y:2013:i:6:p:563-584
    DOI: 10.1080/13662716.2013.833376
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/13662716.2013.833376
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/13662716.2013.833376?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. Alex Coad, 2007. "Firm Growth: a Survey," Post-Print halshs-00155762, HAL.
    2. Orietta Marsili, 2001. "The Anatomy and Evolution of Industries," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2272.
    3. Schivardi, Fabiano & Torrini, Roberto, 2004. "Threshold effects and firm size: the case of firing costs," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 19956, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. John C. Haltiwanger & Ron S. Jarmin & Javier Miranda, 2010. "Who Creates Jobs? Small vs. Large vs. Young," NBER Working Papers 16300, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Muller, Emmanuel & Doloreux, David, 2007. "The key dimensions of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) analysis: a decade of evolution," Working Papers "Firms and Region" U1/2007, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    6. Enrico Santarelli (ed.), 2006. "Entrepreneurship, Growth, and Innovation," International Studies in Entrepreneurship, Springer, number 978-0-387-32314-5, June.
    7. Marco Bettiol & Eleonora Di Maria & Roberto Grandinetti, 2013. "The Evolution of KIBS between Standardization and Customization: The Rise of Combinatory KIBS," DRUID Working Papers 13-08, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.
    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. Mihai CIOC & Minodora URSACESCU, 2015. "The Impact Of Eu Grant Support On Innovative Entrepreneurship:Characteristics Of Innovative Start-Ups And Spin-Offs At National Level," Proceedings of the INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 9(1), pages 209-215, November.
    2. Malgorzata Zieba, 2013. "Knowledge-Intensive Business Services (Kibs) And Their Role In The Knowledge-Based Economy," GUT FME Working Paper Series A 7, Faculty of Management and Economics, Gdansk University of Technology.

    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. Besstremyannaya, Galina & Dasher, Richard & Golovan, Sergei, 2022. "Quantifying heterogeneity in the relationship between R&D intensity and growth at innovative Japanese firms: A quantile regression approach," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 67, pages 27-45.
    2. Michael Anyadike-Danes & Mark Hart, 2018. "All grown up? The fate after 15 years of a quarter of a million UK firms born in 1998," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 45-76, January.
    3. 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.
    4. Lawless, Martina, 2013. "Age or Size? Determinants of Job Creation," Research Technical Papers 02/RT/13, Central Bank of Ireland.
    5. Martina Lawless, 2014. "Age or size? Contributions to job creation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(4), pages 815-830, April.
    6. Meghana Ayyagari & Asli Demirguc-Kunt & Vojislav Maksimovic, 2021. "Are large firms born or made? Evidence from developing countries," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 191-219, June.
    7. Canarella, Giorgio & Miller, Stephen M., 2018. "The determinants of growth in the U.S. information and communication technology (ICT) industry: A firm-level analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 259-271.
    8. Schneck, Stefan & Werner, Arndt & Wolter, Hans-Jürgen, 2021. "A replication study on growth paths of young firms: Evidence from German administrative data," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 16(C).
    9. Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov & Lang, Åsa & Macuchova, Zuzana & Rudholm, Niklas, 2011. "Firm Growth in the Retail and Wholesale Trade Sectors – Evidence from Sweden," HUI Working Papers 50, HUI Research.
    10. Lunardi, José T. & Miccichè, Salvatore & Lillo, Fabrizio & Mantegna, Rosario N. & Gallegati, Mauro, 2014. "Do firms share the same functional form of their growth rate distribution? A statistical test," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 140-164.
    11. Michael Peneder, 2003. "Industry Classifications: Aim, Scope and Techniques," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 109-129, March.
    12. Lu, Jinfeng & Dimov, Dimo, 2023. "A system dynamics modelling of entrepreneurship and growth within firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(3).
    13. Pedro Valadas Monteiro, 2016. "The role of knowledge-intensive service activities on inducing innovation in co-opetition strategies: lessons from the maritime cluster of the Algarve region," International Journal of Management and Enterprise Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 15(1), pages 78-95.
    14. Duygan-Bump, Burcu & Levkov, Alexey & Montoriol-Garriga, Judit, 2015. "Financing constraints and unemployment: Evidence from the Great Recession," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 89-105.
    15. Caroline Freund & Martha Denisse Pierola, 2015. "Export Superstars," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(5), pages 1023-1032, December.
    16. J. David Brown & John S. Earle, 2012. "Do SBA Loans Create Jobs? Estimates from Universal Panel Data and Longitudinal Matching Methods," Working Papers 12-27, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    17. Poschke, Markus, 2013. "The Decision to Become an Entrepreneur and the Firm Size Distribution: A Unifying Framework for Policy Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 7757, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. William Gale & Samuel Brown, 2013. "Small Business, Innovation, and Tax Policy: A Review," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 66(4), pages 871-892, December.
    19. Ryan A. Decker & Pablo N. D'Erasmo & Hernan Moscoso Boedo, 2016. "Market Exposure and Endogenous Firm Volatility over the Business Cycle," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(1), pages 148-198, January.
    20. Aghion, Philippe & Akcigit, Ufuk & Howitt, Peter, 2014. "What Do We Learn From Schumpeterian Growth Theory?," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 515-563, Elsevier.

    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:taf:indinn:v:20:y:2013:i:6:p:563-584. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CIAI20 .

    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.