Is firm growth proportional? An appraisal of firm size distribution

The aim of this paper is to shed light on the phenomenon of firm growth, analyzing the evolution of young firms within some selected industries. We find that the firm size distribution is fairly skewed to the right during the infancy stage, whereas it converges towards a more symmetric distribution, via selection mechanisms, with the passing of time.

Industry Dynamics and the Distribution of Firm Sizes: A Non-Parametric Approach

The aim of this paper is to analyze the evolution of the size distribution of young firms within some selected industries, trying to assess the empirical implications of different models of industry dynamics: the model of passive learning (Jovanovic 1982), the model of active learning (Ericson and Pakes, 1995), and the evolutionary model (Audretsch, 1995). We use a non-parametric technique, the Kernel density estimator, applied to a data set from the Italian National Institute for Social Security (INPS), consisting in 12 cohorts of new manufacturing firms followed for 6 years. Since the patterns of convergence to the limit distribution are different between industries, we conclude that the model of passive learning is consistent with some of them, the active exploration model with others, the evolutionary model with all of them.Cohorts; Gibrats Law; Kernel; Industry Dynamics; Non-parametric; Shakeouts.

Patterns of new firm survival and growth in the italian financial intermediation industry

This paper studies the post-entry evolution of two cohorts of entrants in the Italian financial intermediation industry. Using a comprehensive longitudinal database, it analyses the link between duration and growth of each newborn firm and its start-up size, as well as a series of industry-specific characteristics. It emerges that not only did regulatory reform in 1990 result in a process of branch proliferation and industry consolidation, but it also set in motion a pre-entry selection mechanism and rendered life after entry for newborn firms more difficult. Conversely, before completion of the regulatory reform, in 1989, entry was possible even for very small firms, and larger new entrants were able to resist longer periods of bad performance than their smaller counterparts before being forced to exit the market, and this independently of the features of spatial and structural competition

The Post-entry Size Adjustment of New small Firms

The hypothesis underlined in this paper is that apart from infant mortality there is another relevant phenomenon taking place within new-born Small Business Enterprises (SBEs) in the period immediately after entry; namely that the smaller ones among them, having entered with a marked sub-optimal scale,adjust their size towards the mean size exhibited by larger SBEs. In the paper this hypothesis is tested using a cohort of 1,570 new firms, and applying a Gibrat-like specification with sample selection. The hypothesis of a size adjustment by smaller new entrants immediately after entry is confirmed in most selected industries in Italian manufacturing; more specifically, surviving smaller new SBEs show higher rates of growth in the first year (in one case in the first two) immediately after start-up, while they converge towards the average rate of growth of the whole cohort of new SBEs in the following years.-

R&S e competitività internazionale in Europa: un'analisi settoriale

Scopo di questo lavoro è quello di indagare la relazione fra dinamica della R&S e dinamica delle esportazioni nei quattro principali paesi dell'Unione Europea: Francia, Germania, Italia e Regno Unito. La stima di un modello panel a effetti fissi (Least Squares Dummy Variables) per l'industria manifatturiera nel suo complesso e per quattordici settori all'interno di questa in riferimento al periodo 1981-92 evidenzia una relazione positiva e significativa tra variazione della quota di R&S di ciascun paese considerato sulla R&S totale dei paesi OCSE e variazione della quota di esportazioni di ognuno di essi sulle esportazioni totali dei paesi OCSE. In particolare, questa relazione è più forte nelle industrie dei Mezzi di trasporto, dei Prodotti chimici e farmaceutici, dei Prodotti alimentari, bevande e tabacchi, della Carta, stampa e editoria. La relazione è invece non significativa nel caso dell'industria dei Prodotti, tessili, dell'abbigliamento e delle calzature. Alla luce di questa evidenza, trova conferma l'ipotesi secondo la quale il vantaggio/svantaggio competitivo delle nazioni è associato in gran parte delle industrie alla loro capacità innovativa. The purpose is to explain the relation between the dynamics of R&D expenditures and that of exports in the four largest EU countries: France, Germany, Italy, and United Kingdom. Estimation of a fixed effects (Least Squares Dummy Variable) panel model for manufacturing as a whole and for fourteen (two digit) industries in manufacturing over the 1981-1992 period points out a positive and significant relation between variation in the share of R&D by each of the relevant countries on total R&D by all OECD countries and variation in the share of export by each of the relevant countries on total exports by OECD countries. In particular, this relation is stronger in Motor vehicles & equipment, Chemicals & pharmaceuticals, Mechanical engineering, Food, beverages & tobacco, paper & printing, whereas it turns out to be of scant significance for Textiles, clothing & footwear. In the light of these findings, further support is forthcoming to the hypothesis that the competitive advantage/disadvantage of nations is strongly connected to their innovative capability

R&S e Competitivita' internazionale nell'industria manifatturiera europea: un'analisi settoriale

The purpose is to explain the relation between the dynamics of R&D expenditures and that of exports in the four largest EU countries: France, Germany, Italy, and United Kingdom. Estimation of a fixed effects (Least Squares Dummy Variable) panel model for manufacturing as a whole and for fourteen (two digit) industries in manufacturing over the 1981-1992 period points out a positive and significant relation between variation in the share of R&D by each of the relevant countries on total R&D by all OECD countries and variation in the share of export by each of the relevant countries on total exports by OECD countries. In particular, this relation is stronger in Motor vehicles & equipment, Chemicals & pharmaceuticals, Mechanical engineering, Food, beverages & tobacco, paper & printing, whereas it turns out to be of scant significance for Textiles, clothing & footwear. In the light of these findings, further support is forthcoming to the hypothesis that the competitive advantage/disadvantage of nations is strongly connected to their innovative capability

The survival of family firms: the importance of control and family ties

The aim of this paper is to analyze the survival patterns of a group of family firms which have already spent at least twenty-five years in the market. To this end, we use the Kaplan-Meier product limit estimator supplemented with qualitative information gathered by direct observation and discussions with entrepreneurs. The main findings of the paper are that small family firms which have reached their thirtieth year in the market face a very high risk of sudden exit, increasing with firm age. Further control carried out by means of interviews with entrepreneurs identifies problems connected with succession as one of the main causes of the decision to close down

The Diffusion of E-commerce at the Firm Level: Theoretical Implications and Empirical Evidence.

As a specific institution of distributive trades, e-commerce displays similarities with retail stores and mail ordercompanies. As well as providing theoretical support for the assumption that e-commerce is a way to sell certain goods and services at prices potentially lower than those of traditional distributive channels, this paper analyses its inter-firm diffusion among a sample of firms (mostly SMEs) in Italy. The paper has three main purposes. Firstly, it challenges the view of e-commerce as a “technological revolution”, by pointing out its nature as a costminimizing marketing channel. In particular, it shows how, under certain circumstances, e-commerce is a source of transaction cost advantages analogous to those yielded by mail order business. Secondly, the paper identifies the circumstances under which e-commerce sales might achieve a significant level of penetration among those SMEs that would otherwise incur high costs in organizing a proprietary distributive channel. Thirdly, the paper employs a unique data set of Italian manufacturing, service, and hospitality firms (nearly 90% of them with fewer than 100 employees) to estimate a diffusion model based on the logistic curve. According to the estimates, by the fourth quarter of 2003 nearly 50% of the population of firms in the geographical area surveyed will have introduced e-commerce among their marketing channels

Industry Dynamics and the Distiribution of Firm Sizes: A Non-Parametric Apporoach.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the evolution of the size distribution of young firms within some selected industries, trying to assess the empirical implications of different models of industry dynamics: the model of passive learning (Jovanovic 1982), the model of active learning (Ericson and Pakes, 1995), and the evolutionary model (Audretsch, 1995). We use a non-parametric technique, the Kernel density estimator, applied to a data set from the Italian National Institute for Social Security (INPS), consisting in 12 cohorts of new manufacturing firms followed for 6 years. Since the patterns of convergence to the limit distribution are different between industries, we conclude that the model of passive learning is consistent with some of them, the active exploration model with others, the evolutionary model with all of them

Does globalization reduce poverty? Some empirical evidence for the developing countries

In this paper we address a key issue in the current debate on economic development: the effect of globalization on poverty. We review the empirical evidence on the relationship between globalization (broadly defined) and within-country poverty in the Developing Countries (DCs). To measure globalization we use, among others, standard indices of trade openness, financial openness and privatization. To measure poverty we use both indices of relative and absolute poverty averaged over five and ten years. The use of relative poverty indices enables inquiry into a different dimension of poverty and provides additional information with respect to previous research. Both descriptive statistics and econometric analysis are used to sketch a few stylized facts in a very complex framework of relationships