Entrepreneurs' Human Capital and the Start-Up Size of New Technology-Based Firms
Author | : Massimo G. Colombo |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : |
Release | : 2013 |
ISBN-10 | : OCLC:1290719012 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 (12 Downloads) |
Download or read book Entrepreneurs' Human Capital and the Start-Up Size of New Technology-Based Firms written by Massimo G. Colombo and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper investigates the determinants of the start-up size of new technology-based firms. While previous empirical studies generally focussed on industry-specific variables, we draw attention to the characteristics of founders, notably their human capital. In the empirical section, we consider a sample of 391 young Italian firms operating in high-tech industries in both manufacturing and services. The econometric estimates confirm the explanatory power of the industry-specific effects highlighted by previous work. In addition, they indicate that the human capital of founders figures prominently in explaining the firms' start-up size. Furthermore, the specific component of human capital associated with industry-specific professional knowledge and managerial and entrepreneurial experiences is found to have a greater positive impact on the initial firm size than the generic component, proxied by education and general (i.e., non-industry-specific) working experience.