The demography of manufacturing firms (1911–1971)

4.4. Conclusions The dynamic of size distribution highlights three very interesting statistical inter-industrial regularities. Firstly, the dynamic distribution of the major firms shows a convergence towards the bottom of the size distribution, i.e. these firms grow but, the absolute size does not grow much because the firms that reach the highest stages recede. In fact, the entire universe of firms shows an extended series of leaping frogs, namely of firms that in the different phases, move many positions forward in the ranking of size classes, but also jump backwards, i.e. they do not remain stable. Secondly, the analysis of survival, carried out phase by phase for the entire universe of firms with regard to life-cycle and technological regime, presents a few interesting regularities. The first is the major rate of mortality, in general, of small firms, which is higher in mature sectors and in the high tech ones. The major firms also encounter greater risks in high-tech sectors, like, for example, Olivetti, while they have a greater life expectancy in the mature low-tech sectors. A third interesting characteristic is the fact that, in the Italian system of firms, there are no small and medium size firms in mature, high-tech sectors, and therefore the niche firm described in recent literature is missing. This permits us to exclude the possibility that the phenomenon has deep historical roots and to affirm that it is rather a result of one of the surprises of the 1970s.