Hanna Rydehell

Empirical exploration of a cohort of new technology-based firms in Sweden: what happens to them during their early years?: Frontiers in European Entrepreneurship Research

This chapter contributes to the current understanding of new technologybased firm growth. We find a surprisingly high survival rate (70 per cent) for the 2006 cohort of NTBFs at the end of 2014 and this rate is much higher than those reported in previous studies. Additionally, we find that very few firms experience high-growth during their first seven years (0.6 to 3 per cent from the cohort) and that, among the high-growth firms, employment growth and sales growth are highly correlated. To address the challenges of measuring growth for new and small firms, we show the potential usefulness of the kink-point approach. Researchers can use this approach to capture much of the growth excluded in other measures, for example, the OECD measure.

Effects of internal and external resource dimensions on the business performance of new technology-based firms

This study examines the effects of new technology-based firms (NTBFs) internal and external resources on their early business performance. Based on a large unique dataset of 401 newly started NTBFs, we find that founders’ business experience and their firms’ proximity to other firms positively affect early business performance. Growth orientation is found to be negatively related to business performance, which might suggest a certain level of over-optimism among entrepreneurs with aspiration to grow fast.