Under-Capitalization and Other Factors that Influence the Survival of Young Italian Companies
Abstract
Start-ups or young companies are susceptible to a variety of general pressures, as well as specific, and this phenomenon affects companies across the spectrum due to the shared characteristics common to all. This paper approaches some factors that influence the survival of companies in the first stage of life (with case studies and data referring to the first five years of operation) and presents the variables that may influence a company’s survival, such as: operational and financial risks, total assets, share capital, business sector and geographical area. To this aim, our concentration pinpointed the 5-year survival rates of Italian companies throughout 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. Our analysis points out as the capitalization and the geographical area influence the chance to survive of the Italian companies.References
Stinchcombe, A.L., Social structure and organizations, in: March, J.P., (Ed.), Handbook of organizations (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1965).
Strotmann H, Entrepreneurial survival, Small Business Economics, vol.28, n.1, 2007, 87-104.
Fackler D., Schnabel C., Wager J. (2012), Establishment exits in Germany: the role of size and age, Small Business Economics, vol.41, Issue 3, 683-700.
Hall, B. H., The relationship between firm size and firm growth in the U.S. manufacturing sector, The Journal of Industrial Economics, 35(4), 1987, 583-606.
Evans, D. S., The relationship between firm growth, size and age: estimates for 100 manufacturing industries, The Journal of Industrial Economics, 35(4), 1987, 567-581.
Dun and Bradstreet, Business failure record: 1986 final/1987 preliminary. (New York: Dun and Bradstreet Corporation, 1988).
Dunne, T., Roberts, M. J., & Samuelson, L., The growth and failure of U.S. manufacturing plants, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 104(4), 1989, 671-698.
Knaup A.E., Survival and longevity in the business employment dynamics data, Monthly Labor Review, 2005, 50-56.
Knaup A.E., Piazza M.C., Business Employment Dynamics Data: Survival and Longevity, Monthly Labor Review, 2007, 3-10.
Author, 2015.
Author, 2015.
Author, 2017.
Damodaran A., Valuing young, start-up and growth companies: Estimation issues and Valuation Challenges (Stern School of Business, New York University, 2009).
Aldrich H.E., Auster E., Even dwarfs started small: Liabilities of size and age and their strategic implications, Research in Organizational Behaviour, n.8, 1986,165-198.
Esteve-Pérez S., Sanchis Llopis A., Llopis J.A., The determinants of survival of Spanish manufacturing firms, Review of Industrial Organization, vol.25, n.3, 2004, 251-273
Cefis E., Marsili O., Survivor: The role of innovation in firms’ survival, Research Policy, n. 35, 2006, 626-641.
Abowd, J.M., Mckinney, K.L., & Vilhuber, L., The link between human capital, mass layoffs and firm deaths, in T. Dunne, J.B. Jensen & M.J. Roberts (Eds.), Producer dynamics-new evidence from micro data. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009) 447-472.
Carreira C., Silva, F., No deep pockets: Some stylized empirical results on firms’ financial constraints, Journal of Economic Surveys, n. 24, 2010, 731-753.
Ansoff, H.I., Avner, J., Brandenburg, R., Portner, F. & Radosevich, R., Does planning pay? The effect of planning on success of acquisition in American firms, Long Range Planning, 3(2), 1970, 2-7.
Bracker, J., Keats, B. & Pearson, J., Planning and financial performance among small firms in a growth industry, Strategic Management Journal, 9, 1988, 591-603.
Bracker, J., Pearson, J., Planning and financial performance of small, mature firms, Strategic Management Journal, 7, 1986, 503-522
Grinyer. P., Al-Bazzaz. S. & Yasai-Ardekani, M., Towards a contingency theory of corporate planning: Findings in 48 U.K. companies, Strategic Management Journal, 7, 1986, 3-28.
Ramanujam, V., Venkatraman, N. & Camillus, J., Multi-objective assessment of effectiveness of strategic planning: A discriminant analysis approach, Academy of Management Journal, 29, 1986, 347-372.
Haswell, S., Holmes, S., Estimating the small business failure rate: A reappraisal, Journal of Small Business Management, 27 (July), 1989, 68-74.
Venkataraman S., Van de Ven A.H., Buckeye J., Hudson R., Starting up in turbulent environment: A process model of failure among firms with high customer dependence, Journal of Business Venturing, 5, 1990, 277-296.
Buttà C., La genesi dell'impresa (Milano, FrancoAngeli, 1995).
Buttà C., Elementi per una concettualizzazione del processo genetico, Sinergie, 61/62, 2003, 71-95.
Davis A., Olson Eric M., Critical competitive strategy issues every entrepreneur should consider before going into business, Business Horizons, Vol. 51, Issue 3, May-June, 2008, 211-221.
Author, 2011.
Author, 2017.
Author, 2018.
Santarelli E., Klomp L., Thurik R.A., Gibrat’s Law: An overview of the empirical literature, in E. Santarelli (Ed.), Entrepreneurship, growth, and innovation (New York: Springer, 2006) 41-73.
Geroski P.A., Mata J., Portugal P., Founding conditions and the survival of new firms, Strategic Management Journal, n. 31, 2010, 510-529
Child J., Organization structure, environment and performance: The role of strategic choice, Sociology, n. 6, 1972, 2-22.
Kirzner I.M., Perception opportunity and profit (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979)
Carland, J. W., Hoy, F., Boulton, W. R., & Carland, J. A. C.. Differentiating entrepreneurs from small business owners: A conceptualization. in Entrepreneurship (Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer, 2007) 73-81.
The Academy of Management Review, 9 (2), Apr., 1984, 354-359.
Gartner W.B., A Conceptual framework for describing the phenomenon of new venture creation, Academy of Management Review, 10(4), Oct., 1985, 696-706.
Katz J.A., Gartner, W.B., Properties of emerging organization, Academy of Management Review, 13 (3), 1988, 429-441.
Miles R.E., Snow C.C., Meyer A.D., Coleman H.Jr., Organizational strategy, structure and process, in Quinn J.B., Mintzberg H., James R.M., The strategy process (Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1988).
Storer D.J., Entrepreneurship and new firm (Routledge, 1988)
Shaver K., Scott L., Person, process, choice: The psychology of new venture creation, Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 16(2), 1991, 23-45.
Åstebro T., Bernhardt I., Start-up financing, owner characteristics, and survival, Journal of Economics and Business, 55, 2003, 303–319.
Birley S., Female entrepreneurs: Are they really different? Journal of Small Business Management, 27 (1), 1989, 32-37.
Brush C.G., Research of women business owners: Past trends, a new perspective and future directions, Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice 16 (4), 1992, 5-30.
Weick K.E., The social psychology of organizing (New York: Random House, 1972).
Sandberg W.R., New venture performance: The role of strategy and industry structure (Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1986).
Bird B.J., Demographic approaches to entrepreneurship: The role of experience and background. Advances in Entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence, and Growth, 1, 1993, 11-48.
Chandler G.N., Hanks S.H., Founder competence, the environment and venture performance. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 18 (3), 1994, 77-90.
Rasmussen, E.A and SÇ¿rheim R., Action-based entrepreneurship education, Technovation, (26), 2006, 185-194.
Brockhaus R.H., Risk taking propensity of entrepreneurs, Academy of Management Journal, 23 (3), 1980, 509-520.
Cressy R., Why do most firms die young? Small Business Economics, 26, 2006, 103-116
Cacciotti, G., Hayton, J.C., Fear and entrepreneurship: A review and research agenda, International Journal of Management Reviews, 17 (2), 2015, 165-190.
Cacciotti, G., Hayton, J.C., Mitchell, J.R., Giazitzoglu, A., A reconceptualization of fear of failure in entrepreneurship, Journal of Business Venturing, vol. 31, n.3, 2016, 302-325.
Kollmann T., Stöckmann C, Kensbock Julia M., Fear of failure as a mediator of the relationship between obstacles and nascent entrepreneurial activity-An experimental approach, Journal of Business Venturing, 32, 2017, 280-301.
Brockhaus R.H. and Horwitz P.S., The psychology of the entrepreneur, in D.L. Sexton and R.W. Smilor, (Eds.), The Art and the Science of Entrepreneurship (Cambridge, MA: Ballinger, 1986) 25-48.
Gatewood J., Shaver K.S., Gartner W.B., A longitudinal cognitive factors influencing start-up behaviours and success at venture creation, Journal of Business Venturing, 10, 1995, 371-391.
Gartner W.B., Who is an entrepreneur? Is the wrong question, American Journal of Small Business 12(4), 1988,11-32.
Bygrave, W.D., The entrepreneurship paradigm (II): Chaos and catastrophes among quantum jump, Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 14 (2), 1989, 7-30.
Timmons J., New venture creation, 3rd ed. (Homewood, IL: R.D. Irwin, 1990)
Vesper K.H., New venture strategies (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990)
Longsworth E.K., The anatomy of a start-up (Boston: Inc. Publishing, 1991)
Van de Ven A.H., Poole M.S., Explaining development and change in organizations, Academy of Management Review, 20 (3), 1995, 510- 540.
Carter N., Gartner B., Reynolds P., Exploring start-up event sequences, Journal of Business Venturing,11 (3), 1996, 151-166.
Van de Ven A.H., Engleman R.M., Event- and outcome-driven explanations of entrepreneurship, Journal of Business Venturing, 19, 2004, 343-358.
Delmar F., Shane S., What firm founders do: A longitudinal study of the startup process, in William D. Bygrave, Candida G. Brush, Per Davidsson, & James Fiet (Ed.), Frontier of Entrepreneurship Research, (Babson Park, MA: Babson College, 2002)
Liao J., Welsch H., Wee-Liang Tan, Venture gestation paths of nascent entrepreneurs: Exploring the temporal patterns, Journal of High Technology Management Research, 16, 2005, 1-22.
Author, 2013.
Mintzberg H., The nature of managerial work (New York: Harper & Row, 1973).
Dubini P., Schillaci C. E., L’influsso delle variabili ambientali nella decisione di avviare una nuova impresa, in G. Lorenzoni, A. Zenoni (eds.), Gli studi sull’imprenditorialità in Italia, (Roma: Bulzoni, 1988) 80-110.
Moore J.F., Business ecosystems and the view from the firm, The Antitrust Bulletin, 51 (1), (2006) 31-75.
Adner R., Kapoor, R., Value creation in innovation ecosystems: How the structure of technological interdependence sffects firm performance in new technology generations, Strategic Management Journal, 31, 2010, 306-333.
Moss Kanter R., Can America compete? Strategies for economic revival, Harvard Magazine, 2012.
Biggadike R.C., Corporate diversification: Entry, strategy and performance (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1976).
Miller A., Camp B., Exploring determinants of success in corporate ventures, Journal of Business Venturing, 1, 1985, 87-105.
Cooper A.C., G.E, Willard, C.Y. Woo, Strategies of high-performing new and small firms: A re-examination of the niche concept, Journal of Business Venturing, 1 (3), 1986, 247-260.
Cooper A.C., Challenges in predicting new firm performance, Journal of Business Venturing, 8 (3), 1993, 241-254.
Sandberg W.R., New venture performance: The role of strategy and industry structure (Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1986).
McDougall P. Robinson, Jr. R., De Nisi, A., Modelling new venture performance: An analysis of new venture strategy, Industry structure, and venture origin. Journal of Business Venturing. 7, 1992, 267-289.
Chang, S.J., Venture capital financing, strategic alliances, and the initial public offering of Internet startups. Journal of Business Venturing, 19 (5), 2004, 721-741.
Cannice, M.V., Getting in on the university business plan competition circuit, Entrepreneur.com, Oct., 2004.
Wen C.T., Chen, Y.W., The innovation process of entrepreneurial teams in dynamic business plan competition: from sense-making perspective, International Journal of Technology Management, 39 (3/4), 2007, 346-363.
Russell R., Atchison M., Brooks R., Business plan competitions in tertiary institutions: Encouraging entrepreneurship education. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 30 (2), 2008, 123-138.
Bell J., Student business plan competitions: Who really does have access? in Small Business Institute National Conference Proceedings, 34 (1), 2010, 18-25.
Ross L. W., Byrd K.A., Business plan competitions: Start-up “idols†and their twenty-first century launch pads, Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 11 (4), 2011, 53-64.
Ruisi M., The role of business competitions in the processes of defining and launching a new venture. Cases of companies involved in the “Start Cup†Palermo and grown inside the academic incubator ARCA, in Nicolò D. (Ed.) Startups and start-up ecosystems: Theories, models and case studies in the Mediterranean area (Craiova, Romania: ASERS Publishing, University of Craiova Printing House, 2015).
Dagnino G., The academic incubator as a fluid mosaic: An ecological interpretative framework, in Nicolò D. (Ed.) Startups and start-up ecosystems: Theories, models and case studies in the Mediterranean area (Craiova, Romania: ASERS Publishing, University of Craiova Printing House, 2015).
Cox D.R., Partial likelihood, Biometrika, n.62, n.2, 1975, 269-276.
Lancaster T., Econometric methods for duration of unemployment, Econometrica, 47, 1979, 939-56.
Lancaster T., The analysis of transition data (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990).
Heckman J.J., Singer B., A method for minimizing the impact of distributional assumptions in economic model for duration data, Econometrica, 52, 1984, 271-320.
Kaplan, E. L.; Meier, P., Nonparametric estimation from incomplete observations, Journal of American Statistical Association, vol.53, N.282, 1958, 457-481
Bland, K. M., Altman, D. G., The logrank test. British Medical Journal, vol.328, 7447, 2004: 1073.
Gehan, E. A., Thomas, D. G. (), The performance of some two-sample tests in small samples with and without censoring, Biometrika, 56, 1969, 127-32.
Tarone, RE, Ware, J., On distribution-free tests for equality of survival distributions. Biometrika, 64, 1977, 156-160.