Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T16:15:55.018Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Small Firms and Jobs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2020

P.E Hart
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

How important are small firms as sources of new jobs? Research by Gallagher and Doyle, reported in British Business (1986) suggests that they are disproportionately important: in terms of employment small firms in the UK were found to be growing more quickly than large firms. In this note we examine their evidence. We conclude that their case is not proven, although there are features of recent experience which may point in that direction.

Type
Articles
Information
National Institute Economic Review , Volume 121 , August 1987 , pp. 60 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © 1987 National Institute of Economic and Social Research

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

(1)

This note is based on a discussion paper by Hart (1987).

References

Doyle, J.R. and Gallagher, C.C. (1986), ‘The size-distribution, potential for growth, and contribution to job generation of firms in the UK, 1982-84’, Research Report no.7, Department of Industrial Management, University of Newcastle.Google Scholar
Dun and Bradstreet Limited, Guide to Key British Enterprises.Google Scholar
Dunne, T., and Roberts, M.J. (1986), ‘Measuring firm entry, growth, and exit with Census of Manufactures data’, mimeo, Department of Economics, Pennsylvania State University.Google Scholar
Dunne, T.Roberts, M.J. and Samuelson, L. (1986), ‘The impact of plant failure on employment growth in the US manufacturing sector’, mimeo, Department of Economics, Pennsylvania State University.Google Scholar
Evans, D.S. (1987a), ‘Tests of alternative theories of firm growth’, Journal of Political Economy, forthcoming.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, D.S. (1987b), ‘The relationship between firm growth, size and age: estimates for 100 manufacturing industries’, Journal of Industrial Economics, forthcoming.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallagher, C.C. and Doyle, J.R. (1986a), ‘Small firms-net job generators’, British Business, 17 October 1986, pp.36–8.Google Scholar
Gallagher, C.C. and Doyle, J.R. (1986b), ‘Job generation research: a reply to Storey and Johnson’, International Small Business Journal, vol. 4, no.4, pp.47–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ganguly, P. (1985), UK Small Business Statistics and International Comparisons, London, Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Hart, P.E. (1987), ‘Job generation and size of firm’, National Institute Discussion Paper, no.125.Google Scholar
Hart, P.E. and Prais, S.J. (1956), ‘The analysis of business concentration: a statistical approach’, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Part A, no.119, pp. 150–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kumar, M.S. (1984), Growth, Acquisition and Investment, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Prais, S.J. (1976), The Evolution of Giant Firms in Britain: A Study of the Growth of Concentration in Manufacturing Industry in Britain 1909-70, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Singh, A. (1971), Take-overs, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Singh, A. and Whittington, G. (1968), Growth, Profitability and Valuation, Occasional Paper no.7, Department of Applied Economics, University of Cambridge.Google Scholar
Stewart, H. and Gallagher, C.C. (1986), ‘Business death and firm size in the UK’, International Small Business Journal, vol. 4, no.1, pp.42–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Storey, D.J. and Johnson, S. (1987), Are Small Firms the Answer to Unemployment?, London, Employment Institute.Google Scholar
Wederwang, F. (1965), Development of a Population of Firms, Oslo, Universitetsforlaget.Google Scholar