Learning from Failure: Organizational Mortality and the Resource-based View

Stewart Thornhill and Raphael Amit

Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series from Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch

Abstract:

This paper examines the factors underlying firm failure, and compares the failure mechanisms for young firms against those of older organizations. This paper suggests that there are systematic differences between the determinants of firm failure for firms that fail early in life and those that fail after having successfully negotiated the early liabilities of newness and adolescence. Data from 339 Canadian corporate bankruptcies confirm that younger firms fail because of inadequacies in managerial knowledge and financial management abilities. On the other hand, older firms are more likely to fail because of an inability to adapt to environmental change.

Keywords: Business performance and ownership; Entry; exit; mergers and growth; Financial statements and performance; Labour; Small and medium-sized businesses; Workplace organization; innovation; performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003-08-08
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/11F0019M2003202 (application/pdf)

Related works:
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:stc:stcp3e:2003202e

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series from Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Mark Brown ().