Zum Zusammenhang zwischen Größe und Wachstum bei Gründungen - Empirische Ergebnisse für West-Deutschland

The present paper deals with the question whether 'Gibrat's law' is applicable to firms founded between 1989 and 1996 within the Western German manufacturing sector or not. The underlying assumption is that size of a firm has no in uence on its growth. Growth is rather determined by a process of random in uences. Within the context of the econometric analyses conducted in the present study, firms are subdivided into innovative and non-innovative young firms. A method introduced in Chesher (1979) is used to explore 'Gibrat's law' in order to examine the influence of firm size on growth. Moreover we test whether the growth process of firms remains stable over time or not. This so-called 'persistence of growth'-hypothesis implies that growth in one period has an impact on growth in the following period. Using data from the ZEW-Foundation Panel (West), 'Gibrat's law' is rejected for the group of innovative as well as for the group of non-innovative young firms in all periods examined. This confirms the results of a number of empirical studies over the last years, indicating that smaller firms have larger growth potential than larger ones. --Young Innovative Firms,New Technology-based Firms (NTBFs),Employment Growth,Gibrat's Law

Regionale Verteilung technologieorientierter Unternehmensgründungen

During the last years more and more discussions came up about the contribution of technology-oriented and technology-intensive industries for the economic development and employment. This paper examines the foundation dynamic and the regional clustering of various technology-oriented sectors in West-Germany from 1983 until 1993 on the basis of a firm specific data set from the greatest German Credit Rating Agency (Verband der Vereine Creditreform, VVC). The development of the number of foundations in various technology-intensive industries show high growth rates during the early eighties and after reunification in 1989. On the other side it becomes obvious that there's a severe decline in these sectors after 1991. Another result is that a regional clustering of new technology-based firms becomes obvious. This clustering can be recognised in and around the big areas of industrial concentration like Munich and the Ruhr Valley

Firm formation in high-tech industries: empirical results for Germany

During the last years more and more discussions came up about the contribution of technology-oriented and technology-intensive industries for the economic development and employment. The estimates of the determinants of the regional number of firm formations point out differences between the regions due to different categories: the attractiveness of the county (e.g. infrastructure), the regional endowment with human capital indicated by the location of R&D facilities comprising universities, technical colleges, non-universitary institutes, private R&D, and the regional industry and employment structure. One very surprising finding is that there is no impact of the R&D activities in private firms on the regional number of firm formations in technology intensive industries. However, positive significant effects can be found concerning the regional endowment with e.g. universities depending on the field of specialisation

Zum Zusammenhang zwischen Größe und Wachstum bei Gründungen - Empirische Ergebnisse für West-Deutschland

Wachsen kleine Unternehmen schneller als große hinsichtlich ihrer Beschäftigtenzahl? Trifft dies zu, so könnte sich z.B. eine spezielle Förderung dieser Unternehmen in Form von Subventionen, Bereitstellung von zusätzlichem Risikokapital, Beratungsleistungen zu geringen oder keinen Kosten (vgl. Wagner 1992) positiv auf den derzeit angespannten Arbeitsmarkt auswirken. Besonderes Augenmerk sollte dabei auf die Gruppe technologieorientierter Unternehmensgründungen (TOU) gelegt werden. In zahlreichen empirischen Analysen konnte gezeigt werden, daß TOU im Vergleich zu sonstigen Unternehmensgründungen des Verarbeitenden Gewerbes überdurchschnittliche Wachstumsraten verzeichnen (vgl. Oakey 1993, Licht und Nerlinger 1998, Storey und Tether 1998). Der neue Aspekt dieser Untersuchung besteht in der Fokussierung auf junge Unternehmen, die nicht älter als fünf Jahre sind und nach Wissen der Autoren bisher noch nicht Ziel dieser Art von Analysen waren. Weiterhin wird eine Differenzierung zwischen TOU und nicht-technologieorientierten Unternehmensgründungen vorgenommen. Somit können Aussagen zu Unterschieden im Wachstumsverhalten dieser beiden Unternehmensgruppen gemacht werden. Ob die angesprochenen unterschiedlichen Wachstumspotentiale zum Teil mit "Gibrat's law" zu erklären sind, soll im Rahmen dieser Arbeit beleuchtet werde

Beschäftigungsdynamik in jungen innovativen Unternehmen: Empirische Ergebnisse für West-Deutschland

Die Ergebnisse der multivariaten Analysen zur Beschäftigungsdynamik und dem Wachstumspotential junger innovativer Unternehmen lassen erkennen, daß junge innovative Unternehmen signifikant höhere Wachstumsraten erzielen als junge Unternehmen mit traditionellen Produkten. Die Abschätzung der Beschäftigungseffekte auf Basis von in den Jahren 1989 und 1990 gegründeten Unternehmen zeigt darüber hinaus, daß in der Kohorte innovativer Unternehmen aufgrund der im Vergleich zu nicht-innovativen Unternehmen höheren Überlebenswahrscheinlichkeit die ursprüngliche Beschäftigung ausgebaut wird, während die Beschäftigung in der Kohorte nicht-innovativer Unternehmen erheblich unter das Ausgangsniveau zurückfällt. Insgesamt gesehen gehen lediglich von den innovativen Unternehmen des Verarbeitenden Gewerbes nachhaltige positive Beschäftigungseffekte aus, die jedoch aufgrund ihrer geringen Zahl die Arbeitsplatzverluste in den Gründungskohorten nicht-innovativer Unternehmen nicht kompensieren können

New Technology-Based Firms in Germany: A Survey of the Recent Evidence

The Importance and Contribution of new technology-based Firms (NTBFs) to long term economic development is at the center of a controversial debate. This paper provides an overview of the current status of research on various issues concerning NTBFs in Germany. The issues covered include the incidence of start-ups firms in Germany's technology-intensive sectors and their regional clustering. The review also shows that NTBFs play an important role with regard to the transfer, adoption and diffusion of technology. The public support and policy initiatives for new technology-based firms in Germany are also discussed

Growth determinants of start-ups in Eastern Germany: a comparison between innovative and non-innovative firms

This empirical analysis deals with the determinants of growth and the explanation of variations in the growth between innovative and non-innovative start-ups. Based on theoretical models explaining the growth of firms, hypotheses on potential determinants are formulated. The regression results indicate strong correlations between the growth rate on the one side and firmspecific, founder-specific as well as external factors on the other side. These factors influence the growth rates of innovative and non-innovative young firms in different ways. It becomes obvious that large and mature firms have smaller growth rates than small and young innovative as well as non-innovative firms. Moreover, other firm-specific characteristics like legal form and formal links to other firms from Western industrialised countries have an impact on the development of start-ups. With respect to founder-specific characteristics, positive effects can be derived from the human capital of the founder(s). This holds especially for technological disciplines whereas business knowledge plays a minor role. In addition to firm and founder characteristics, locationspecific factors controlling for agglomeration effects and the industry structure in the Eastern German counties have an impact on growth. Comparing annual growth rates of start-ups, innovative start-ups grow on average faster than non-innovative start-ups. --New Technology-based Firms,Employment Growth,Determinants of Growth

Technologieorientierte Industrien und Unternehmen: Alternative Definitionen

During the last years more and more discussions came up about the contribution of technology-oriented and technology-intensive industries for employment and economic development. One reason for some of the contradictory evaluations of technology-intensive industries can be attributed to different conceptual definitions of technology and high-technology. This paper examines various definitions of high-technology, ranging from input factors, output factors, mixed input-output factors. subjective evaluations to definitions, based on employment or turnover growth. After characterizing the advantages and disadvantages of each factor, relevant definitions of high-technology are then discussed in detail. One finding of this overview is, that there's a huge mass of definitions which make more or less sense, depending on the underlying data, definitions and thresholds

Growth determinants of start ups in Eastern Germany: A comparision between innovative and non-innovative firms

This empirical analysis deals with the determinants of growth and the explanation of variations in the growth between innovative and non-innovative start-ups. Based on theoretical models explaining the growth of firms, hypotheses on potential determinants are formulated. The regression results indicate strong correlations between the growth rate on the one side and firmspecific, founder-specific as well as external factors on the other side. These factors influence the growth rates of innovative and non-innovative young firms in different ways. It becomes obvious that large and mature firms have smaller growth rates than small and young innovative as well as non-innovative firms. Moreover, other firm-specific characteristics like legal form and formal links to other firms from Western industrialised countries have an impact on the development of start-ups. With respect to founder-specific characteristics, positive effects can be derived from the human capital of the founder(s). This holds especially for technological disciplines whereas business knowledge plays a minor role. In addition to firm and founder characteristics, locationspecific factors controlling for agglomeration effects and the industry structure in the Eastern German counties have an impact on growth. Comparing annual growth rates of start-ups, innovative start-ups grow on average faster than non-innovative start-ups

Growth determinants of start-ups in Eastern Germany: a comparison between innovative and non-innovative firms

This empirical analysis deals with the determinants of growth and the explanation of variations in the growth between innovative and non-innovative start-ups. Based on theoretical models explaining the growth of firms, hypotheses on potential determinants are formulated. The regression results indicate strong correlations between the growth rate on the one side and firmspecific, founder-specific as well as external factors on the other side. These factors influence the growth rates of innovative and non-innovative young firms in different ways. It becomes obvious that large and mature firms have smaller growth rates than small and young innovative as well as non-innovative firms. Moreover, other firm-specific characteristics like legal form and formal links to other firms from Western industrialised countries have an impact on the development of start-ups. With respect to founder-specific characteristics, positive effects can be derived from the human capital of the founder(s). This holds especially for technological disciplines whereas business knowledge plays a minor role. In addition to firm and founder characteristics, locationspecific factors controlling for agglomeration effects and the industry structure in the Eastern German counties have an impact on growth. Comparing annual growth rates of start-ups, innovative start-ups grow on average faster than non-innovative start-ups