Innovation and growth potential: managing investment in middle market companies

In recent years, economic growth has turned into a key challenge for both public politics and private actors thus leading to extensive discussions about growth determinants. Innovation early stood out as one of the main growth driver. Nevertheless, despite of prolific empirical economic studies, correlation tests between innovation and growth remains inconclusive. Based on recent management researches findings, my research aims at investigating new factors to explain these empirical discrepancies as well as the link between investment and innovation policies. It will be conducted in partnership with Bpifrance, a state-owned organism backing national public policies by assisting companies through different types of investments. Bpifrance provide an appropriate field of research as its main mission is to ensure firms forthcoming competitiveness through investment, growth and innovation. Beyond a better understanding of the growth trajectories, I expect to develop new management devices for investors such as Bpifrance, whose aim is to identify how to better contribute to the firms' and the national economic growth. My research focuses on middle market companies, a single category hiding a large diversity of innovation and growth patterns. As the focus on middle market companies is fairly new, little is known about their specific innovative capabilities and growth potential, thus making it hard for public actors to tailor appropriate policies. Both theoretical and managerial findings are expected among which a better understanding of the determinants of growth and the role of innovation capabilities in firms' growth trajectories; original growth and investments models with parameters linked to the description of innovation capabilities; and devices to steer the adjusted investment strategies.