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Identifying High-Growth Firms

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Abstract
This paper investigates the role(s) of high-growth firms (HGFs) in the robust growth-rate distribution. HGFs are identified as firms for which the growth-rate distribution exhibits power-law decay. In contrast to the traditional means of identifying HGFs, a distributional approach eliminates the need to specify an arbitrary growth rate or percentage share. The latter approach is illustrated by the growth-rate distribution for Swedish data on incorporated firms at the aggregate level and at the 2-digit industry level. The empirical results indicate that a power law is sometimes present in the growth-rate distribution and suggest that HGFs are rarer than previously thought.

Suggested Citation

  • Halvarsson, Daniel, 2013. "Identifying High-Growth Firms," Ratio Working Papers 215, The Ratio Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:ratioi:0215
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    High-growth firms; Gazelles; Firm growth-rate distribution; Laplace distribution; Power law;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance

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