IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/cesisp/0337.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Influence of Diversity on the Formation, Survival and Growth of New Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Backman, Mikaela

    (Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies (CESIS), Jönköping International Business School, Centre for Entrepreneurship and Spatial Economics (CEnSE), & Royal Institute of Technology (KTH))

  • Kohlhase, Janet

    (University of Houston)

Abstract

Our paper investigates how diversity of the labor force influences the rate of new firm formation and the performance of new firms in urban areas. A diversified labor force within the firm and in the external environment influences the formation, survival and growth of firms. We explore these issues with both aggregate data at the municipal level and individual data at the firm level for the years 1993-2010. We measure diversity using entropy measures that account for a wider range of differences than is typically used. Our empirical analysis finds a positive influence of diversity of the labor force on the rate of new firm formation at the municipal level. At the level of an individual firm, we find that the diversity of the firm’s labor force is positively associated with the survival and growth of new firms. Our results add to the literature on the workings of agglomeration economies through variations in human capital, information spillovers and innovation.

Suggested Citation

  • Backman, Mikaela & Kohlhase, Janet, 2013. "The Influence of Diversity on the Formation, Survival and Growth of New Firms," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 337, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0337
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://static.sys.kth.se/itm/wp/cesis/cesiswp337.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marcus Berliant & Masahisa Fujita, 2008. "Knowledge Creation As A Square Dance On The Hilbert Cube," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1251-1295, November.
    2. Sam Youl Lee & Richard Florida & Zoltan J. Acs, 2008. "Creativity and Entrepreneurship: A Regional Analysis of New Firm Formation," Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, chapter 13, pages 171-182, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Marcus Berliant & Masahisa Fujita, 2009. "Dynamics of knowledge creation and transfer: The two person case," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 5(2), pages 155-179, June.
    4. Robert Petrunia, 2008. "Does Gibrat’s Law Hold? Evidence from Canadian Retail and Manufacturing Firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 201-214, February.
    5. Jacquemin, Alexis P & Berry, Charles H, 1979. "Entropy Measure of Diversification and Corporate Growth," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(4), pages 359-369, June.
    6. Karlsson, Charlie & Backman, Mikaela, 2008. "Human Capital and New Firm Formation," CISEG Working Papers Series 1, Jönköping International Business School, Centre for Innovation Systems, Entrepreneurship and Growth.
    7. Evans, David S & Jovanovic, Boyan, 1989. "An Estimated Model of Entrepreneurial Choice under Liquidity Constraints," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(4), pages 808-827, August.
    8. Martin Andersson & Urban Gråsjö, 2009. "Spatial dependence and the representation of space in empirical models," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 43(1), pages 159-180, March.
    9. Audretsch, D.B. & Fritsch, M., 1993. "A Note on the Measurement of Entry Rates," Papers 93-5, Bergakademie Freiberg Technical University - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    10. C. Praag & Peter Versloot, 2007. "What is the value of entrepreneurship? A review of recent research," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 351-382, December.
    11. David Audretsch & Dirk Dohse & Annekatrin Niebuhr, 2010. "Cultural diversity and entrepreneurship: a regional analysis for Germany," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 45(1), pages 55-85, August.
    12. Mercedes Teruel-Carrizosa, 2010. "Gibrat’s law and the learning process," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 34(4), pages 355-373, May.
    13. Davis, Steven J & Haltiwanger, John & Schuh, Scott, 1996. "Small Business and Job Creation: Dissecting the Myth and Reassessing the Facts," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 297-315, August.
    14. Martin Andersson & Florian Noseleit, 2011. "Start-ups and employment dynamics within and across sectors," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 461-483, May.
    15. Ciccone, Antonio & Hall, Robert E, 1996. "Productivity and the Density of Economic Activity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 54-70, March.
    16. Merlin M. Hackbart & Donald A. Anderson, 1975. "On Measuring Economic Diversification," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 51(4), pages 374-378.
    17. Shaoming Cheng & Huaqun Li, 2012. "New firm formation facing cultural and racial diversity," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 91(4), pages 759-774, November.
    18. Martin Andersson & Sierdjan Koster, 2011. "Sources of persistence in regional start-up rates--evidence from Sweden," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 179-201, January.
    19. Catherine Armington & Zoltan J. Acs, 2008. "The Determinants of Regional Variation in New Firm Formation," Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, chapter 18, pages 224-243, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    20. Durlauf, Steven N. & Quah, Danny T., 1999. "The new empirics of economic growth," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 4, pages 235-308, Elsevier.
    21. Koen Frenken & Frank G. van Oort & Thijs Verburg & Ron A. Boschma, 2004. "Variety and regional economic growth in the Netherlands," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 0502, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Dec 2004.
    22. Andr�s Rodr�guez-Pose & Vassilis Tselios, 2012. "Individual Earnings and Educational Externalities in the European Union," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(1), pages 39-57, February.
    23. André Stel & Kashifa Suddle, 2008. "The impact of new firm formation on regional development in the Netherlands," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 31-47, January.
    24. Börje Johansson & Johan Klaesson & Michael Olsson, 2002. "Time distances and labor market integration," Papers in Regional Science, Springer;Regional Science Association International, vol. 81(3), pages 305-327.
    25. Börje Johansson & Rune Wigren, 1996. "Production Milieu and Competitive Advantages," Advances in Spatial Science, in: David F. Batten & Charlie Karlsson (ed.), Infrastructure and the Complexity of Economic Development, chapter 0, pages 187-211, Springer.
    26. Rafael E. De Hoyos & Vasilis Sarafidis, 2006. "Testing for cross-sectional dependence in panel-data models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 6(4), pages 482-496, December.
    27. Koen Frenken & Frank Van Oort & Thijs Verburg, 2007. "Related Variety, Unrelated Variety and Regional Economic Growth," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(5), pages 685-697.
    28. Annekatrin Niebuhr, 2010. "Migration and innovation: Does cultural diversity matter for regional R&D activity?," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(3), pages 563-585, August.
    29. Stephen Hymer & Peter Pashigian, 1962. "Firm Size and Rate of Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70(6), pages 556-556.
    30. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    31. Hall, Bronwyn H, 1987. "The Relationship between Firm Size and Firm Growth in the U.S. Manufacturing Sector," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 583-606, June.
    32. David F. Batten & Charlie Karlsson (ed.), 1996. "Infrastructure and the Complexity of Economic Development," Advances in Spatial Science, Springer, number 978-3-642-80266-9.
    33. Vinod Sutaria & Donald A. Hicks, 2004. "New firm formation: Dynamics and determinants," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 38(2), pages 241-262, June.
    34. Ajit Singh & Geoffrey Whittington, 1975. "The Size and Growth of Firms," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 42(1), pages 15-26.
    35. Parker,Simon C., 2006. "The Economics of Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521030632, September.
    36. Pierre Desrochers, 2001. "Local Diversity, Human Creativity, and Technological Innovation," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 369-394.
    37. Börje Johansson & Johan Klaesson & Michael Olsson, 2003. "Commuters’ non-linear response to time distances," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 315-329, November.
    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. Genevieve Giuliano & Sanggyun Kang & Quan Yuan, 2019. "Agglomeration economies and evolving urban form," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 63(3), pages 377-398, December.
    2. Sam Tavassoli & Viroj Jienwatcharamongkhol, 2016. "Survival of entrepreneurial firms: the role of agglomeration externalities," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(9-10), pages 746-767, October.

    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. Mikaela Backman & Janet E. Kohlhase, 2022. "Labor force diversity and new firm formation," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 68(1), pages 9-28, February.
    2. Backman, Mikaela & Karlsson, Charlie, 2013. "Who says life is over after 55? Entrepreneurship and an aging population," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 325, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    3. Mikaela Backman, 2013. "Who says life is over after 55? - New firm formation and an ageing population," ERSA conference papers ersa13p58, European Regional Science Association.
    4. Backman, Mikaela, 2013. "Banks and New Firm Formation," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 301, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    5. Niklas Elert, 2014. "What determines entry? Evidence from Sweden," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 53(1), pages 55-92, August.
    6. Backman, Mikaela & Palmberg, Johanna, 2015. "Contextualizing small family firms: How does the urban–rural context affect firm employment growth?," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 247-258.
    7. Backman, Mikaela & Gabe, Todd & Mellander, Charlotta, 2016. "Effects of Human Capital on the Growth and Survival of Swedish Businesses," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 46(1).
    8. Sofia Wixe, 2015. "The Impact of Spatial Externalities: Skills, Education and Plant Productivity," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(12), pages 2053-2069, December.
    9. Mikaela Backman, 2014. "Human capital in firms and regions: Impact on firm productivity," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(3), pages 557-575, August.
    10. Martin Andersson & Florian Noseleit, 2011. "Start-ups and employment dynamics within and across sectors," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 461-483, May.
    11. Mikaela Backman & Maureen Kilkenny, 2014. "Diversified experience, benefits to the individual and the firm," ERSA conference papers ersa14p18, European Regional Science Association.
    12. Burhan Can Karahasan, 2014. "The Spatial Distribution Of New Firms:Can Peripheral Areas Escape From The Curse Of Remoteness?," Romanian Journal of Regional Science, Romanian Regional Science Association, vol. 8(2), pages 1-28, DECEMBER.
    13. Andersson, Martin & Noseleit, Florian, 2008. "Start-Ups and Employment Growth - Evidence from Sweden," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 155, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    14. Mauricio Oyarzo & Gianni Romani & Miguel Atienza & Marcelo Lufin, 2015. "Spatio-temporal persistence of municipal rates of business start-ups in Chile," Documentos de Trabajo en Economia y Ciencia Regional 61, Universidad Catolica del Norte, Chile, Department of Economics, revised Jul 2015.
    15. Colombelli, Alessandra & D'Ambrosio, Anna & Meliciani, Valentina & Francesco Quatraro,, 2016. "Explaining the industrial variety of newborn firms: The role of cultural and technological diversity," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 201606, University of Turin.
    16. Fritsch, Michael, 2013. "New Business Formation and Regional Development: A Survey and Assessment of the Evidence," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 9(3), pages 249-364, February.
    17. Michael Wyrwich, 2014. "Ready, set, go! Why are some regions entrepreneurial jump starters?," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 53(2), pages 487-513, September.
    18. Shaoming Cheng & Huaqun Li, 2012. "New firm formation facing cultural and racial diversity," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 91(4), pages 759-774, November.
    19. Roberto Basile & Roberta Capello & Andrea Caragliu, 2012. "Technological interdependence and regional growth in Europe: Proximity and synergy in knowledge spillovers," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 91(4), pages 697-722, November.
    20. Gavin Reid & Zhibin Xu, 2012. "Generalising Gibrat: using Chinese evidence founded on fieldwork," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 1017-1028, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Diversity; labor force; education; occupation; industry; new firms; formation; survival; growth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C31 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models; Quantile Regressions; Social Interaction Models
    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - 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:hhs:cesisp:0337. 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: Vardan Hovsepyan (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cekthse.html .

    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.