Knowledge flows in high-impact firms: How does relatedness influence survival, acquisition and exit?

Jonathan Borggren, Rikard H. Eriksson and Urban Lindgren

No 1512, Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) from Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography

Abstract: Following the impact on regional renewal and employment ascribed to rapidly growing firms (high-impact firms, HIFs), this paper argues that little is still known in economic geography and business studies today regarding the mechanisms influencing growth of such firms and, hence, the potential impact on regional employment. The aim of this paper is thus to explore how the qualitative content of skills (i.e. the degree of similarity, relatedness and unrelatedness) recruited to a firm during a period of fast growth influences its future success. Our findings, based on a sample of 1,589 HIFs in the Swedish economy, suggest that it is not only the number of people employed that matters in aiding the understanding of the future destiny of the firms –"but also, more importantly, it is the scope of the skills recruited and their proximity to related industries.

Keywords: high-impact firms; skills; relatedness; labor flows (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L25 R12 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-05, Revised 2015-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-cse, nep-ent, nep-geo, nep-sbm and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:egu:wpaper:1512

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