IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/cesisp/0339.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Exploration of Wisdom Ages: Firm survival

Author

Listed:
  • Backman, Mikaela

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

  • Karlsson, Charlie

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

Abstract

Studies confirm a tendency where elder individuals are more prone to become entre¬preneurs. Their motives are numerous ranging from feeling social included to maintain the same income level. Interesting as such, this paper contributes to the existing literature by taking this one step further and examine the surviving of new and existing firms that are run by elder individuals (one-em¬ployee firms) or have a high share of elderly individuals. Elderly individuals are defined as those above the age of 55 or 64. The results show that the average marginal effect on the prob-ability of survival from individuals above 55 and 64 differs across firm size. Elderly individuals negatively influence the survival of smaller firms (below ten employees). For larger firms the negative effect from elderly individuals is smaller, zero or even positive. Exploring the data, we find that “elderly firms”, defined as firms that have a majority of employees above the age of 55 or above the age of 64, have a lower survival rate and lower average number of employees but a higher value added per employee.

Suggested Citation

  • Backman, Mikaela & Karlsson, Charlie, 2013. "Exploration of Wisdom Ages: Firm survival," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 339, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0339
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://static.sys.kth.se/itm/wp/cesis/cesiswp339.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mata, Jose & Portugal, Pedro, 1994. "Life Duration of New Firms," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3), pages 227-245, September.
    2. Sjoerd Beugelsdijk & Niels Noorderhaven, 2005. "Personality Characteristics of Self-Employed; An Empirical Study," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 159-167, March.
    3. Niels Bosma & Mirjam van Praag & Roy Thurik & Gerrit de Wit, 2004. "The Value of Human and Social Capital Investments for the Business Performance of Startups," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 227-236, October.
    4. Gartner, William B. & Starr, Jennifer A. & Bhat, Subodh, 1999. "Predicting new venture survival: An analysis of "anatomy of a start-up." cases from Inc. Magazine," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 215-232, March.
    5. Richard Desjardins & Arne Jonas Warnke, 2012. "Ageing and Skills: A Review and Analysis of Skill Gain and Skill Loss Over the Lifespan and Over Time," OECD Education Working Papers 72, OECD Publishing.
    6. Werner Bönte & Oliver Falck & Stephan Heblich, 2009. "The Impact of Regional Age Structure on Entrepreneurship," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 85(3), pages 269-287, July.
    7. Thurik, A. Roy & Carree, Martin A. & van Stel, André & Audretsch, David B., 2008. "Does self-employment reduce unemployment?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 673-686, November.
    8. Blanchflower, David G & Oswald, Andrew J, 1998. "What Makes an Entrepreneur?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(1), pages 26-60, January.
    9. Kihlstrom, Richard E & Laffont, Jean-Jacques, 1979. "A General Equilibrium Entrepreneurial Theory of Firm Formation Based on Risk Aversion," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(4), pages 719-748, August.
    10. Douglas Holtz-Eakin & David Joulfaian & Harvey S. Rosen, 1994. "Entrepreneurial Decisions and Liquidity Constraints," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 25(2), pages 334-347, Summer.
    11. Lorraine Uhlaner & Roy Thurik, 2010. "Postmaterialism Influencing Total Entrepreneurial Activity Across Nations," Springer Books, in: Andreas Freytag & Roy Thurik (ed.), Entrepreneurship and Culture, chapter 0, pages 301-328, Springer.
    12. Gilly, Mary C & Zeithaml, Valarie A, 1985. "The Elderly Consumer and Adoption of Technologies," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 12(3), pages 353-347, December.
    13. Arjan Ruis & Gerard Scholman, 2012. "Ageing and entrepreneurship," Scales Research Reports H201206, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    14. Robinson, Peter B. & Sexton, Edwin A., 1994. "The effect of education and experience on self-employment success," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 141-156, March.
    15. Larson, Andrea, 1991. "Partner networks: Leveraging external ties to improve entrepreneurial performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 173-188, May.
    16. Veronique A.J.M. Schutjens & Egbert Wever, 2000. "Determinants of new firm success," Papers in Regional Science, Springer;Regional Science Association International, vol. 79(2), pages 135-153.
    17. Martin Andersson & Steven Klepper, 2013. "Characteristics and performance of new firms and spinoffs in Sweden," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 22(1), pages 245-280, February.
    18. Dunn, Thomas & Holtz-Eakin, Douglas, 2000. "Financial Capital, Human Capital, and the Transition to Self-Employment: Evidence from Intergenerational Links," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(2), pages 282-305, April.
    19. 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.
    20. Peter Zwan & Roy Thurik & Ingrid Verheul & Jolanda Hessels, 2016. "Factors influencing the entrepreneurial engagement of opportunity and necessity entrepreneurs," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 6(3), pages 273-295, December.
    21. Thomas Dunn & Douglas Holtz-Eakin, 1996. "Financial Capital, Human Capital, and the Transition to Self-Employment:Evidence from Intergenerational Links," NBER Working Papers 5622, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Carroll, Robert & Holtz-Eakin, Douglas & Rider, Mark & Rosen, Harvey S, 2000. "Income Taxes and Entrepreneurs' Use of Labor," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(2), pages 324-351, April.
    23. Giacomin, Olivier & Janssen, Frank & Guyot, Jean-luc & Lohest, Olivier, 2011. "Opportunity and/or necessity entrepreneurship? The impact of the socio-economic characteristics of entrepreneurs," MPRA Paper 29506, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    24. Aldrich, Howard E. & Cliff, Jennifer E., 2003. "The pervasive effects of family on entrepreneurship: toward a family embeddedness perspective," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 573-596, September.
    25. Beate Rotefoss & Lars Kolvereid, 2005. "Aspiring, nascent and fledgling entrepreneurs: an investigation of the business start-up process," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 109-127, March.
    26. Michael Hout & Harvey Rosen, 2000. "Self-Employment, Family Background, and Race," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 35(4), pages 670-692.
    27. Forbes, Daniel P., 2005. "Are some entrepreneurs more overconfident than others?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 623-640, September.
    28. Evans, David S & Leighton, Linda S, 1989. "Some Empirical Aspects of Entrepreneurship," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(3), pages 519-535, June.
    29. Alberto Arias & Inaki Pena, 2010. "The effect of entrepreneurs' motivation and the local economic environment on young venture performance," International Journal of Business Environment, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 3(1), pages 38-56.
    30. Leora Friedberg, 2003. "The Impact of Technological Change on Older Workers: Evidence from Data on Computer Use," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 56(3), pages 511-529, April.
    31. Bates, Timothy, 1995. "Self-employment entry across industry groups," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 143-156, March.
    32. Jenny Meyer, 2011. "Workforce age and technology adoption in small and medium-sized service firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 305-324, October.
    33. Borghans, L. & ter Weel, B.J., 2002. "Do older workers have more trouble using a computer than younger workers?," ROA Research Memorandum 1E, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    34. Joachim Wagner & Rolf Sternberg, 2004. "Start-up activities, individual characteristics, and the regional milieu: Lessons for entrepreneurship support policies from German micro data," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 38(2), pages 219-240, June.
    35. Roy Thurik & Ingrid Verheul & Isabel Grilo & Reena Bhola, 2006. "Explaining engagement levels of opportunity and necessity entrepreneurs," Scales Research Reports H200610, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    36. Gangaram Singh & Alex DeNoble, 2003. "Early Retirees As the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 27(3), pages 207-226, July.
    37. Phillip Kim & Howard Aldrich & Lisa Keister, 2006. "Access (Not) Denied: The Impact of Financial, Human, and Cultural Capital on Entrepreneurial Entryin the United States," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 5-22, August.
    38. Andrew Henley, 2005. "Job Creation by the Self-employed: The Roles of Entrepreneurial and Financial Capital," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 175-196, September.
    39. Paull Weber & Michael Schaper, 2004. "Understanding The Grey Entrepreneur," Journal of Enterprising Culture (JEC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 12(02), pages 147-164.
    40. Ingrid Verheul & Linda van Mil, 2008. "What Determines the Growth Ambition of Dutch Early-Stage Entrepreneurs?," Scales Research Reports H200811, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    41. Heiko Bergmann & Rolf Sternberg, 2007. "The Changing Face of Entrepreneurship in Germany," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 205-221, March.
    42. Parker,Simon C., 2006. "The Economics of Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521030632, January.
    43. P. Mueller, 2006. "Entrepreneurship in the Region: Breeding Ground for Nascent Entrepreneurs?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 41-58, August.
    44. BodenJR., Richard J. & Nucci, Alfred R., 2000. "On the survival prospects of men's and women's new business ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 347-362, July.
    45. Birley, Sue, 1985. "The role of networks in the entrepreneurial process," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 107-117.
    46. 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.
    47. Audretsch, David B, 1991. "New-Firm Survival and the Technological Regime," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(3), pages 441-450, August.
    48. Teemu Kautonen & Erno Tornikoski & Ewald Kibler, 2011. "Entrepreneurial intentions in the third age: the impact of perceived age norms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 219-234, September.
    49. Jan de Kok & Ingrid Verheul & Abdelfatah Ichou, 2010. "New Firm Performance: Does the Age of Founders Affect Employment Creation?," Scales Research Reports H201015, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    50. Weinberg, Bruce A., 2004. "Experience and Technology Adoption," IZA Discussion Papers 1051, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    51. C. M. Van Praag & J. S. Cramer, 2001. "The Roots of Entrepreneurship and Labour Demand: Individual Ability and Low Risk Aversion," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 68(269), pages 45-62, February.
    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Backman, Mikaela & Karlsson, Charlie, 2020. "Age of managers and employees – Firm survival," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 15(C).
    4. Nadia Simoes & Nuno Crespo & Sandrina B. Moreira, 2016. "Individual Determinants Of Self-Employment Entry: What Do We Really Know?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 783-806, September.
    5. Verheul, Ingrid & Thurik, Roy & Grilo, Isabel & van der Zwan, Peter, 2012. "Explaining preferences and actual involvement in self-employment: Gender and the entrepreneurial personality," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 325-341.
    6. Peter van der Zwan & Ingrid Verheul & Roy Thurik & Isabel Grilo, 2009. "Entrepreneurial Progress: Climbing the Entrepreneurial Ladder in Europe and the US," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 09-070/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 17 Mar 2010.
    7. Román, Concepción & Congregado, Emilio & Millán, José María, 2013. "Start-up incentives: Entrepreneurship policy or active labour market programme?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 151-175.
    8. Verheul, I. & Thurik, A.R. & Grilo, I., 2008. "Explaining Preferences and Actual Involvement in Self-Employment: New Insights into the Role of Gender," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2008-003-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    9. Zara Daghbashyan & Björn Hårsman, 2014. "University choice and entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(4), pages 729-746, April.
    10. Robert W. Fairlie & Alicia Robb, 2007. "Families, Human Capital, and Small Business: Evidence from the Characteristics of Business Owners Survey," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 60(2), pages 225-245, January.
    11. Junfu Zhang & Zhong Zhao, 2015. "Social-family network and self-employment: evidence from temporary rural–urban migrants in China," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-21, December.
    12. Magnus Lofstrom, 2013. "Does self-employment increase the economic well-being of low-skilled workers?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 933-952, May.
    13. José María Millán & Emilio Congregado & Concepción Román, 2010. "Determinants of Self-Employment Dynamics and their Implications on Entrepreneurial Policy Effectiveness," Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, Departamento de Economía, issue 72, pages 45-76.
    14. Traikova, Diana, 2013. "Determinants of non-farm entrepreneurial intentions in a transitional context: Evidence from rural Bulgaria," Studies on the Agricultural and Food Sector in Transition Economies, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), volume 72, number 72, September.
    15. Robert W. Fairlie & Alicia M. Robb, 2008. "Race and Entrepreneurial Success: Black-, Asian-, and White-Owned Businesses in the United States," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026206281x, December.
    16. Kameliia Petrova, 2012. "Part-time entrepreneurship and financial constraints: evidence from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 473-493, September.
    17. Francesco Campanella & Maria Della Peruta & Manlio Del Giudice, 2013. "The Role of Sociocultural Background on the Characteristics and the Financing of Youth Entrepreneurship. An Exploratory Study of University Graduates in Italy," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 4(3), pages 244-259, September.
    18. Cho, In Soo, 2011. "Do Gender Differences in Risk Preferences Explain Gender Differences in Labor Supply, Earnings or Occupational Choice?," Staff General Research Papers Archive 34651, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    19. Mikaela Backman & Charlie Karlsson, 2016. "Determinants of self-employment among commuters and non-commuters," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(4), pages 755-774, November.
    20. P. Köllinger & M. Minniti, 2006. "Not for Lack of Trying: American Entrepreneurship in Black and White," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 59-79, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ageing; firm survival; employer-employee matched data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • R30 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - 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:0339. 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.