@techreport{Stam2005Firms,
abstract = {This paper explores and explains the emergence and growth of new firms in the knowledge
economy. The resource-based view, capabilities approach, and evolutionary economics are used
as a foundation for a developmental approach. The development of the firm is conceptualized in
terms of processes that include opportunity recognition, resource mobilization, resource
generation and resource accumulation, which lead to the development of competences and capital
in a base made up of productive, commercial and financial resources. Problems originating within
or outside the firm may deplete the productive, commercial and asset base, leading to turning
points in the life course of these firms. These have negative consequences when problems are not
solved, but positive consequences when they lead to new solutions and the development of new
competence.
The empirical study shows that even in an elite sample of young fast-growing firms, most firms
face turning points in their life course, and thus do not grow in a continuous way. The study
shows that quantitative growth indicators do not always reveal growth problems that have been
faced by new firms. Some problems do not negatively affect the employment growth of the firm,
and other problems are solved before growth stagnates. The qualitative analysis shows that young
firms are almost always in disequilibrium: there is almost never a perfect match between the
constituents of their resource base, between input resources and requirements for expansion. This
explains why continuous growth is so unlikely. Although every firm seems to grow in a unique
manner, there is evidence for the presence of a limited set of necessary mechanisms for the
growth of (new) firms, which work out in particular ways given the specific context and history
of these firms.},
author = {Erik Stam and Elizabeth Garnsey},
copyright = {http://www.econstor.eu/dspace/Nutzungsbedingungen},
keywords = {D21; M13; L23; D92; M21; 330; New firms; firm growth; theory of the firm; resource based view; firm life course; organizational crises; knowledge economy; Unternehmensgr\"{u}ndung; Lebenszyklus; Unternehmenswachstum; Informationsgesellschaft},
language = {eng},
number = {0505},
title = {New Firms Evolving in the Knowledge Economy; problems and solutions around turning points},
type = {Papers on economics & evolution},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10419/20024},
year = {2005}
}
