Entrepreneurship and the Growth of Firms

by Per Davidsson, Frédéric Delmar, Johan Wiklund

Overview

What characterizes the phenomenon of (small) firm growth, and how can it best be studied? Why and how do firms grow - and why don't they? Is firm growth externally determined or the result of managers' visions and actions? What are the different paths that firms follow in order to achieve high growth? Is growth evidence of entrepreneurship - and is growth always desirable?

In this book, three leading scholars have integrated some of their most important research in order to answer these questions on firm growth. The result is a volume that builds on studies of many thousands of firms in several different projects. It offers deep insights into the firm growth phenomenon and how it can be studied.

This research-based study promises to be a valuable resource for academics and students focussing on business and management, and, more specifically, entrepreneurship. Researchers who aspire to design and conduct further studies leading to deeper and better established insights into firm growth will also find the book invaluable, as will those who encourage and assist firm growth as part of their profession.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781845425753
Publisher:	Edward Elgar Publishing
Publication date:	12/27/2006
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Per Davidsson, Director, Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research and Professor of Entrepreneurship, Queensland University of Technology, Australia and Jönköping International Business School, Sweden, Frédéric Delmar, Professor, EMLYON Business School, France and Research Institute of Industrial Economics, Sweden and Johan Wiklund, The Al Berg Chair and Professor of Entrepreneurship, Whitman School of Management, Syracuse University, US

Table of Contents

Contents: 1. Introduction Part I: The Conceptual and Empirical Complexity of the Firm Growth Phenomenon 2. Entrepreneurship as Growth: Growth as Entrepreneurship 3. Conceptual and Empirical Challenges in the Study of Firm Growth 4. Measuring Growth: Methodological Considerations and Empirical Results Part II: Growth Aspirations and Motivation 5. Firm Size Expectations of Nascent Entrepreneurs 6. What Do They Think and Feel About Growth? An Expectancy–Value Approach to Small Business Managers’ Attitudes Toward Growth Part III: Patterns and Determinants of Actual Growth 7. The Sustainability of the Entrepreneurial Orientation–Performance Relationship 8. High-Growth Firms and Their Contribution to Employment: The Case of Sweden 1987–96 9. Arriving at the High-Growth Firm Index

Editorial Reviews

'Understanding firm growth can be viewed as the Holy Grail by academics as well as policymakers and practitioners. Entrepreneurship and the Growth of Firms is an authoritative, analytical and scholarly integration of theoretical, definitional and methodological debates. Building on their innovative doctoral studies, Davidsson, Delmar and Wiklund provide a fresh and insightful review of the knowledge base relating to the firm growth phenomenon. They critique studies that explore long laundry lists of factors presumed to "explain" firm growth. The following pertinent research questions are explored within multivariate statistical frameworks: "how do firms grow" and "why do firms grow"? The profound contribution of this book is that we find in one place a discussion of the theoretical, definitional, measurement, analytical as well as policy and practitioner issues relating to firm growth and performance. The nice blend of theory, practice and appropriate interpretation of empirical results will be well received by a broad spectrum of readers. Drawing upon their experience, the authors suggest pitfalls that should be avoided when replicating and extending firm growth studies, and they provide useful directions to explore firm growth at several levels of analysis.'

Paul Westhead

'Three of the leading experts on business growth offer a comprehensive and interesting coverage of the inter-relationship between entrepreneurship and firm growth from a perspective developed over 16 years of researching the topic. Although individually and collectively their work has already had a substantial impact on the field, I found this collection of works to provide both an in-depth discussion of important aspects of firm growth within a broader context.'

Dean A. Shepherd

'This fine collection of papers written in the famous Swedish scholarly tradition is a 'must read' for theorists and practitioners interested in the main engine of economic growth, entrepreneurship.'

Roy Thurik

'This comprehensive academic study will have most relevance for researchers, teachers and students interested in business management in general and entrepreneurship in particular. The book contains a wealth of empirical detail and many suggestions for further research.'

Economic Outlook and Business Review