On Firm Growth in Networks

Massimo Riccaboni () and Fabio Pammolli ()

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: This paper is explorative in nature. Based on an empirical analysis of two different industrial settings (life sciences, LS; information and communication technologies, ICT), it investigates network growth and firm growth in networks. We find a remarkable correspondence between a few fundamental findings of the ‘old’ stochastic approach to the analysis of firm internal growth, and empirically observed patterns of firm external growth through collaborative agreements. We show that scale-free behavior in real-world industrial networks can be accounted for by a general and parsimonious model, originally developed by Herbert Simon in 1955, based on entry and proportional growth. However, relevant departures from the stochastic benchmark are revealed that cannot be ascribed to the effect of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and growth autocorrelation. Moreover, different regimes of growth are found to be at work in the life sciences for originators versus developers of new business opportunities, reflecting the fact that growth is driven by specialization and division of labor in the processes of generation and attraction/development of technological opportunities.

Keywords: Firm growth; Network growth; Biotechnology; Information and communication technologies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D85 L14 L63 L65 O32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001-10-04, Revised 2001-11-12
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Published in Research Policy 8-9.31(2002): pp. 1405-1416

Downloads: (external link)
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/15964/1/MPRA_paper_15964.pdf original version (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: On firm growth in networks (2002)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:15964

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany Ludwigstraße 33, D-80539 Munich, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Joachim Winter ().