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Firm growth and innovation

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Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increase in empirical and theoretical work that addresses the role of innovation as one of the main sources of firm growth. The purpose of this special issue is to strengthen the role played by innovation as a determinant of firm growth. Despite the emergence of a vast empirical literature on whether innovative firms grow more quickly in terms of sales and employees, a number of crucial questions and answers remain. While a large number of applied papers observe a positive link between innovation and firm growth, the complexity of R&D activities, together with the diversity of innovation strategies and the multiplicity of growth modes, requires a multidimensional approach to examine the contribution of innovations on firm growth. To shed light on the link between firm’ growth and innovation sources, we organized a meeting of leading scholars of firm’ growth and innovation. The papers of this special issue were presented at the workshop on ‘Firm growth and innovation’ held on 28 and 29 June, 2012, in Tarragona, Spain. The papers that compose this special issue deal in depth with innovation activity, firm growth and the interaction between firm growth and innovation.

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Papers from the workshop

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  • Coad, A., & Guenther, C. (2014). Processes of firm growth and diversification: Theory and evidence. Small Business Economics. doi:10.1007/s11187-014-9566-4

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  • Segarra, A., & Teruel, M. (2014). High-growth firms and innovation: An empirical analysis for Spanish firms. Small Business Economics. doi:10.1007/s11187-014-9563-7

  • Triguero, A., Cuerva. M., & Córcoles, D. (2014). Persistence of innovation and firm’s growth: Evidence from a panel of SME and large Spanish manufacturing firms. Small Business Economics.doi:10.1007/s11187-014-9562-8

  • van Stel, A., Millán, J. M., & Román, C. (2014). Investigating the impact of the technological environment on survival chances of employer entrepreneurs. Small Business Economics. doi:10.1007/s11187-014-9565-5

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Development Strategies, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

    David B. Audretsch

  2. SPRU – Science and Technology Policy Research, BMEc, University of Sussex, Jubilee Building 379, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9SL, UK

    Alex Coad

  3. Department of Business and Management, Aalborg University, Fibigerstræde 4, 9220, Aalborg Ø, Denmark

    Alex Coad

  4. RATIO Institute, P.O. Box 3203, 10364, Stockholm, Sweden

    Alex Coad

  5. Research Group of Industry and Territory, Department of Economics – CREIP, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Av. Universitat, 1, 43204, Reus, Spain

    Agustí Segarra

Authors
  1. David B. Audretsch
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  2. Alex Coad
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  3. Agustí Segarra
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Correspondence to Agustí Segarra.

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Audretsch, D.B., Coad, A. & Segarra, A. Firm growth and innovation. Small Bus Econ 43, 743–749 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-014-9560-x

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