A cautionary note on using the Eurostat-OECD definition of high-growth firms

Sven-Olov Daunfeldt, Daniel Halvarsson and Dan Johansson
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Daniel Halvarsson: The Ratio Institute, Postal: P.O. Box 3203 , SE-103 64, Stockholm , Sweden

No 65, HUI Working Papers from HUI Research

Abstract: Recent studies have suggested that most firms do not grow, and that a small number of high-growth firms create most new jobs. High-growth firms have therefore attracted an increasing amount of attention from researchers and policymakers. However, there is no uniform definition of what constitutes a high-growth firm in the literature. Eurostat and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently recommended that high-growth firms should be defined as firms with at least ten employees in the start-year and annualized employment (or sales) growth exceeding 20% during a 3-year period. This definition would exclude almost 95% of surviving firms in Sweden and about 40% of new private jobs during 2005-2008. We therefore advise caution in using this definition.

Keywords: High-growth firms; high-impact firms; gazelles; OECD definition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L22 L25 L26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 10 pages
Date: 2012-04-19
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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