Julian Kahl The Determinants of Firm Growth in High-Technology Industries

About this book

The formation and growth of high-technology firms is widely regarded as a critical source of competitive advantage for advanced economies. These science and technology-based ventures give rise to important technological innovations opening up new industry segments and challenging existing technological paradigms thus making an important contribution to macroeconomic growth. While the importance of high-technology firms for technological progress and economic growth in knowledge-based economies is well-documented, the determinants that shape the growth of these businesses remain unclear. In particular, firm growth has often been examined in isolation of the network interactions as well as the regional and institutional environment in which firms are embedded.

This study integrates organizational, spatial, relational and institutional determinants in the examination of firm growth in the German biotechnology industry using multilevel regression modeling as well as quantitative and qualitative network analysis. The main results of this study indicate that alongside firm-internal factors, various external factors including network structure and adaptability, the regional economic context and the state of the institutional environment simultaneously affect firm growth. The findings provided in this study thus suggest that an integrative, multidimensional perspective provides a more complete understanding of the complex phenomenon of firm growth.