Small Firm Growth
Small Firm Growth
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DOI：
10.1561/0300000029
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发表时间：
2010-01-01
影响因子：
2.8
通讯作者：
Naldi, Lucia
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Davidsson, Per;Achtenhagen, Leona;Naldi, Lucia
我们回顾和讨论关于小企业成长的文献，目的是为关于这一重要现象的新研究提供一个有用的有利位置。我们首先讨论概念和方法问题，这些问题代表了研究增长的人的关键选择，并且使比较以前研究的结果具有挑战性。对过去研究的实质性回顾分为四个部分，分别代表两个较小和两个较大的文献。后者的第一个重点是小企业成长的内部和外部驱动因素。在这里，我们发现已经学到了很多东西，并且可以做出许多有价值的概括。然而，我们也得出结论，更多的同类研究不太可能产生太多结果。虽然互动和非线性效应可能值得追求，但不太可能找到任何新的重要增长动力或强大的线性主要效应。第二个“大”文献涉及组织生命周期或发展阶段。虽然这种方法因毫无根据的决定论和薄弱的经验主义而受到当之无愧的批评，但它解决了高度实际和理论相关性的问题，研究人员不应回避。我们认为，随着基本假设的改变和实证设计的改进，对增长的组织和管理后果的研究是一个重要的研究方向。在这一点上，我们与一个“较小”的文献重叠，即关注增长影响的研究。我们认为，研究往往假设成长等于成功。相反，我们主张将增长作为影响更根本目标的中间变量，其影响方式应该仔细审查，而不是假设。第二个“小”文献区分了不同的增长模式或形式，包括有机增长与基于收购的增长，以及国际扩张。我们注意到，增长模式是增长文献中一直在研究的一个重要主题，而在其他研究分支中，它的某些方面可能已经得到了深入的研究，但主要不是从增长的角度进行的。在最后一节中，我们详细阐述了研究小企业成长的方法。我们指出，对于那些超越增长驱动因素的研究人员来说，机会是丰富的。在这些研究中，增长被视为一种假设无疑反映成功的同质现象，而是将增长视为一个过程和多维现象，以及增长与更基本的结果之间的关系。
We review and discuss the literature on small firm growth with an intention to provide a useful vantage point for new research studies regarding this important phenomenon. We first discuss conceptual and methodological issues that represent critical choices for those who research growth and which make it challenging to compare results from previous studies. The substantial review of past research is organized into four sections representing two smaller and two larger literatures. The first of the latter focuses on internal and external drivers of small firm growth. Here we find that much has been learnt and that many valuable generalizations can be made. However, we also conclude that more research of the same kind is unlikely to yield much. While interactive and non-linear effects may be worth pursuing it is unlikely that any new and important growth drivers or strong, linear main effects would be found. The second 'large' literature deals with organizational life cycles or stages of development. While deservedly criticized for unwarranted determinism and weak empirics this type of approach addresses problems of high practical and also theoretical relevance, and should not be shunned by researchers. We argue that with a change in the fundamental assumptions and improved empirical design, research on the organizational and managerial consequences of growth is an important line of inquiry. With this, we overlap with one of the 'smaller' literatures, namely studies focusing on the effects of growth. We argue that studies too often assume that growth equals success. We advocate instead the use of growth as an intermediary variable that influences more fundamental goals in ways that should be carefully examined rather than assumed. The second 'small' literature distinguishes between different modes or forms of growth, including, e.g., organic versus acquisition-based growth, and international expansion. We note that modes of growth are an important topic that has been under studied in the growth literature, whereas in other branches of research aspects of it may have been studied intensely, but not primarily from a growth perspective. In the final section we elaborate on ways forward for research on small firm growth. We point at rich opportunities for researchers who look beyond drivers of growth, where growth is viewed as a homogenous phenomenon assumed to unambiguously reflect success, and instead focus on growth as a process and a multi-dimensional phenomenon, as well as on how growth relates to more fundamental outcomes.