Young Firms' Growth in High-Tech Sectors: The Role of Founders' Human Capital

25 Pages Posted: 16 Aug 2005

See all articles by Massimo G. Colombo

Massimo G. Colombo

Politecnico di Milano

Luca Grilli

Polytechnic University of Milan - Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering

Date Written: July 2005

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze empirically the relation between the human capital of the founding team and the growth of new technology-based firms through the estimates of econometric models. For this purpose, we take advantage of a new data set relating to a sample composed of 391 Italian young firms that operate in high-tech industries in both manufacturing and services. In particular, due to a detailed description of the personal characteristics of firms' founders, we are able to disentangle the "wealth" and "entrepreneurial ability" effects of human capital. We also investigate the nature of the synergies that eventually arise from the presence within the founding team of complementary industry-specific professional skills.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, new technology-based firms, firms' growth, founders' human capital

JEL Classification: M13, L25, O33

Suggested Citation

Colombo, Massimo G. and Grilli, Luca, Young Firms' Growth in High-Tech Sectors: The Role of Founders' Human Capital (July 2005). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=772965 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.772965

Massimo G. Colombo (Contact Author)

Politecnico di Milano ( email )

Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32
20113 Milan
Italy

Luca Grilli

Polytechnic University of Milan - Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering ( email )

Via Lambruschini 4C - building 26/A
Milano, 20156
Italy

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