IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cbr/cbrwps/wp234.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

High Tech Businesses in the UK: performance and niche markets

Author

Listed:
  • Thelma Quince
  • Hugh Whittaker

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of a survey of 237 high tech small and medium sized businesses based in the UK. The survey is part of an ongoing comparative study of high tech small businesses in the UK and Japan. The paper describes the growth, innovative activity and market structure of businesses studied. Based on characteristics of the businesses and their CEOs five 'types' of high tech small business are identified. Differences between the types of business in respect of market structure, competitive advantages and limitations suggest fundamental differences in 'niche' markets. At one extreme are niche markets in which the technology is embodied in the person: the scientific or technical expert, at the other niche markets in which the technology is embodied in the product or service product. Implications for innovation, growth and policy associated with these differences are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Thelma Quince & Hugh Whittaker, 2002. "High Tech Businesses in the UK: performance and niche markets," Working Papers wp234, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    • Handle: RePEc:cbr:cbrwps:wp234
    Note: PRO-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/cbrwp234/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alan Hughes & Eric Wood, 1999. "Rerthinking Innovation Comparisons between Manufacturing and Services: The Experience of the CBR SME Surveys in the UK," Working Papers wp140, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    2. Evans, David S, 1987. "Tests of Alternative Theories of Firm Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 95(4), pages 657-674, August.
    3. Carree, Martin & Klomp, Luuk, 1996. "Small Business and Job Creation: A Comment," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 317-322, August.
    4. Hugh Whittaker, 1999. "Entrepreneurs as Co-Operative Capitalists: High Tech CEOs in the UK," Working Papers wp125, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    5. Acs,Zoltan J. & Carlsson,Bo & Karlsson,Charlie (ed.), 1999. "Entrepreneurship, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and the Macroeconomy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521621052, September.
    6. Baldwin, John & Picot, Garnett, 1995. "Employment Generation by Small Producers in the Canadian Manufacturing Sector," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 7(4), pages 317-331, August.
    7. Goss, Ernie & Vozikis, George S, 1994. "High Tech Manufacturing: Firm Size, Industry and Population Density," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 6(4), pages 291-297, August.
    8. Steven J. Davis & John C. Haltiwanger & Scott Schuh, 1998. "Job Creation and Destruction," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262540932, April.
    9. M Kitson & J Michie & M Quinn, 2001. "Markets, Competition, Cooperation and Innovation," Working Papers wp212, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    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. Catherine Armington & Alicia Robb & Zoltan J Acs, 1999. "Measures Of Job Flow Dynamics In The U.S.," Working Papers 99-1, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    2. Zoltan J Acs & Catherine Armington, 1999. "Job Flow Dynamics in the Service Sector," Working Papers 99-14, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    3. Alfred R Nucci, 1996. "Business Failure In The 1992 Establishment Universe Sources Of Population Heterogeneity," Working Papers 96-13, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    4. Zoltan J Acs & Catherine Armington, 2003. "Endogenous Growth and Entrepreneurial Activity in Cities," Working Papers 03-02, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    5. Zoltan J. Acs & Catherine Armington, 2008. "Employment Growth and Entrepreneurial Activity in Cities," Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, chapter 25, pages 353-369, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2711-2805 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Oznur Ozdamar & Eleftherios Giovanis & Sahizer Samuk, 2020. "State business relations and the dynamics of job flows in Egypt and Turkey," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(4), pages 519-558, December.
    8. Jozef Konings & Olga Kupets & Hartmut Lehmann, 2002. "Gross Job Flows in Ukraine: Size, Ownership and Trade Effects," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 521, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    9. Baldwin, John R. Jarmin , Ron S. Tang, Jianmin, 2002. "L'importance accrue des producteurs plus petits dans le secteur de la fabrication : comparaison Canada-États-Unis," Série de documents de recherche sur l'analyse économique (AE) 2002003f, Statistics Canada, Direction des études analytiques.
    10. Sakai, Koji & Uesugi, Iichiro & Watanabe, Tsutomu, 2010. "Firm age and the evolution of borrowing costs: Evidence from Japanese small firms," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1970-1981, August.
    11. Mulligan, Robert F., 2004. "Fractal analysis of highly volatile markets: an application to technology equities," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 155-179, February.
    12. Geurts, Karen & Van Biesebroeck, Johannes, 2016. "Firm creation and post-entry dynamics of de novo entrants," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 59-104.
    13. Harabi, Najib & Meyer, Rolf, 1999. "Die neuen Selbständigen. Eine empirische Analyse für die Schweiz [The New Self-employed: An Empirical Analysis from Switzerland]," MPRA Paper 4417, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Giuliano Guerra & Roberto Patuelli, 2016. "The Role of Job Satisfaction in Transitions into Self–Employment," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(3), pages 543-571, May.
    15. Lee, Yoonsoo, 2008. "Geographic redistribution of US manufacturing and the role of state development policy," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 436-450, September.
    16. Joshua Drucker, 2009. "Trends in Regional Industrial Concentration in the United States," Working Papers 09-06, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    17. Szerb, László & Ulbert, József & Varga, Attila & Bodor, Éva & Acs, Zoltan J., 2004. "Az új vállalkozások hatásai nemzetközi összehasonlításban. A Global Entrepreneurship Monitor kutatás, 2001-2003 [The effect of new ventures compared internationally]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(7), pages 679-698.
    18. Blandina Oliveira & Adelino Fortunato, 2006. "Testing Gibrat's Law: Empirical Evidence from a Panel of Portuguese Manufacturing Firms," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 65-81.
    19. J. Konings & H. Lehmann & M.E. Schaffer, 1996. "Job Creation and Job Destruction in a Transition Economy: Ownership, Firm Size," CERT Discussion Papers 9611, Centre for Economic Reform and Transformation, Heriot Watt University.
    20. P. Geroski, 1998. "An Applied Econometrician's View of Large Company Performance," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 13(3), pages 271-294, June.
    21. D'Erasmo, Pablo, 2006. "Investment and firm dynamics," MPRA Paper 3598, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Apr 2007.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    high technology small firms; innovation; niche markets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:cbr:cbrwps:wp234. 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: Ruth Newman (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk .

    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.