Perspectives on the Longitudinal Analysis of New Firm Growth

New firm growth has been a major theme in the fields of entrepreneurship, small business economics, strategic management and industrial organization. Most studies have focused on the explanation of performance using cross-sectional data and/or have assumed that growth is an uninterrupted process. However, longitudinal growth studies have shown that continuous growth is the exception rather than the rule. In order to really understand the process of new firm growth longitudinal empirical studies are needed. In this workshop the latest perspectives on the longitudinal analysis of new firm growth will be discussed. The workshop aims to accumulate knowledge on the conceptual and methodological foundations of the study of new firm growth.

Preliminary programme:

Wednesday 18 May:

10.00-10.30: Introduction

(Erik Stam - Erasmus U Rotterdam/U Utrecht/Max Planck Institute Jena)

10.30-11.30: New Firm Growth: Exploring processes and paths (Elizabeth Garnsey - University of Cambridge)

13.00-14.00: A typology of the growth trajectories of start-up firms (Mahamadou Biga Diambeidou & Benoît Gailly - Université Catholique de Louvain)

14.00-15.00: The growth of new firms in the Netherlands 1994-2004 (Ron Kemp - EIM Zoetermeer)

15.30-16.30: Sustainable firm growth as a process (Leif Melin - Jönköping International Business School)

Thursday 19 May:

9.00-10.00: Dynamic management strategies and continued growth of firms

(David Storey - University of Warwick)

10.30-11.30: Knowledge accumulation in growth studies: The consequences of methodological choices (Johan Wiklund - Jönköping International Business School)