Innovation and Corporate Dynamics: A Theoretical Framework

Abstract

We provide a detailed analysis of a model of innovation and corporate dy- namics that encompasses the Gibrat’s Law of Proportionate Effect and the Simon growth process as particular instances. The predictions of the model are derived in terms of (i) firm size distribution, (ii) the distribution of firm growth rates, and (iii-iv) the relationships between firm size and the mean and variance of firm growth rates. We test the model against data from the worldwide pharmaceutical industry and find its predictions to be in good agreement with empirical evidence on all four dimensions.Business firm size; firm growth distribution; GibratÕ Law; Pareto distribution; lognormal distribution, size-variance relationship.