Definitions of start-up growth variables
| Category | Code | Variable Name | Definition/Illustrative variables |
|---|---|---|---|
| D: Dependent variables | D1 | Generic growth | Categorical variables using likert-type scales: High-growth/low-growth firm (yes/no), gazelle/non-gazelle firm (yes/no) |
| D2 | Profit | Gross profits, operating profits, profit margins, return on sales, return on assets, return on equity, net income, value added, market capitalization | |
| D3 | Sales | Sales growth (both absolute and relative), revenue, turnover, consolidated turnover, gross revenue, logarithmic transformations frequently used | |
| D4 | Size | Increase in number of employees (both absolute and relative), frequent use of logarithmic transformations | |
| D5 | Other growth dimensions | Increased market share, company market value, and company assets; alternatively, size of the product portfolio, number of new product lines | |
| E: Individual- and team-related drivers | E1 | Gender and other personal characteristics | Background of the owner (e.g. founder, chief executive officer, entrepreneur): Age, gender, marital status, kinship, nationality, ethnicity, social origins, immigrant status, education, qualifications, income, intelligence (practical, analytical, creative); alternatively, characteristics of the whole founding team |
| E2 | Social and professional networks | Social and professional network of the owner (and synonyms), social capital, networking skills, social intelligence, relational capability, social competency | |
| E3 | Entrepreneurial experience | General competency, opportunities for recognition of ability, organizational skills, entrepreneurial experience, business management experience, entrepreneurial capabilities, international business experience | |
| E4 | Entrepreneurial orientation | Entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial style, management style, leadership style, personal values, risk propensity, sales orientation, international entrepreneurial orientation, tenacity, proactivity, passion | |
| E5 | Education | Educational background, level of education, schooling, human capital of the entrepreneur | |
| E6 | Industry experience | Experience in the sector, familiarity and skills in the same (or similar) industry, specialized know-how, technical skills | |
| E7 | Managerial expertise | Managerial ability, managerial skills, management capabilities, expertise | |
| E8 | Marketing expertise | Marketing, operational marketing, distribution, commercial experience of the owner, founder, and founding team | |
| E9 | Motivation, vision, and self-efficacy | Personal motivations, vision goals of the owner (and synonyms), reasons/motivation for starting the business, self-efficacy, self-organization, leadership effectiveness of the owner | |
| E10 | R&D expertise | Technical expertise/ability, research experience of the owner (and synonyms) | |
| E11 | Team size, heterogeneity, and cohesion | Size of the founding team, top management team size, size of the board of directors, team cohesion, age homogeneity, background homogeneity, functional balancing, joint commitment | |
| E12 | Growth attitude | Growth attitude, growth intention, growth motivation, willingness to grow, growth ambition, growth orientation, growth expectations, goals of the entrepreneur (and synonyms) | |
| E13 | Financial and control expertise | Financial competence, control competences of the owner (and synonyms) | |
| E14 | Founder who is also a manager | Involvement of the founder (owner or other synonyms) in management of the firm, proportion of founders in the top management team | |
| M: Marketing- and strategy-related drivers | M1 | Business model | Business model configuration, business model innovation, business model adaptation, ability to reorganize and change part(s) of the business model |
| M2 | Business planning | Prescience of a business plan, description of the key features of the business idea, formal planning of the start-up process, business idea and strategy, start-up preparation activities, planning horizon of the firm | |
| M3 | Differentiation | Differentiation strategy, product differentiation, level of differentiation and ways to obtain it (e.g. specialty products, customer service, premium price, value for money) | |
| M4 | Diversification | Diversification strategy, degree of product and process diversification, level of diversification, product breadth, product diversity | |
| M5 | Internationalization | Geographic scope, foreign sales in total sales, degree of internationalization, number of export markets, number of foreign clients | |
| M6 | Low-cost strategy | Low-cost strategy, focus on cost and efficiency, aggressive pricing, cost leadership | |
| M7 | Generic strategies | Strategic variety, venture strategy, blue ocean strategy, strategic orientation (prospector, defender, analyser, reactor), explorative or exploitative strategy | |
| M8 | Marketing planning and intensity | Firm marketing activities, such as advertising, promotional activities, market information acquisition, market information processing, market analysis, market study, sales planning | |
| M9 | Innovation | Level or rate of innovation in the firm, technological level of products, number of new products, level of technological knowledge, process innovation, technical innovation, radicalness of innovation | |
| M10 | Focus and niche strategy | Focus strategy, niche strategy, niche market, narrow scope, stability of initial focus | |
| M11 | Growth mode and strategy | Growth mode (organic, acquisition, partnership), growth mode in foreign markets (acquisition, green field, brown field), growth strategy (shaping the market, value based, profit vs survival) | |
| C: Context-related drivers | C1 | University | Co-operation with universities, university partnership, R&D collaboration with universities |
| C2 | Science parks | Location of the start-up in a scientific park, distance from the nearest science park, collaboration with science parks | |
| C3 | Government financial support | Financial support from public organizations, subsidies, assistance | |
| C4 | Industrial districts and clustering | Belonging to an industrial cluster or district, distance from an industrial cluster, industrial density, concentration index | |
| C5 | Non-government financial support | Financial support from non-public organizations, venture capitalists support, bank support, non-governmental firms investments, founds from industry sources | |
| C6 | Business incubators | Access to business incubator centres services, assistance and coaching by incubators, characteristics of the incubator (size, technology, market, sales, public, private), incubation model | |
| C7 | Financial system | Level of development of the financial system, credit constraints, capital availability, banks concentration, interest rates | |
| C8 | Legal and normative system | Level of regulation of the economy, institutions and labour market; presence or lack of effective laws; level of corruption; unfair competition; complexity of procedures to start a company | |
| C9 | Taxation | Level of taxation of entrepreneurial income, tax rate for firms or start-ups, availability of tax shields, fiscal evasion | |
| C10 | Location | Population density, start-up concentration, employment levels, technological development level, macroeconomic indicators, dynamism, available infrastructures, economic level, location dummies (country, region, urban, rural) | |
| I: Industry and market-related drivers | I1 | Competition intensity | Market dynamism or competition, level of technological competition, competition intensity, hostility |
| I2 | Environmental dynamism | Environment and market stability, market dynamism, market turbulence, uncertainty level, market fluctuations, globalization | |
| I3 | Market attractiveness | Market attractiveness, market potential, market growth rate, market magnificence, market shocks | |
| I4 | Market complexity and heterogeneity | Market simplicity, market complexity, market heterogeneity | |
| I5 | Product and market maturity | Product maturity, market maturity, pioneering role, first-mover advantage | |
| I6 | Economies of scale in industry | Capital requirements, number (and/or percentage) of large companies in the industry, average industry scale and size in the industry | |
| I7 | Industry growth rate | Industry growth rate, industry life cycle, industry munificence, profitability in the industry | |
| I8 | Industry complexity | Industry dynamism, technological and marketing complexity of the industry, level of density in the industry, average failure rate in the industry, exit rate in the industry | |
| I9 | Industry type (high-tech/low-tech, service/manufacturing) | Industry, sector (SIC/NACE code), level of technology in manufacturing (low/high tech), other categories (i.e. manufacturing/services, knowledge poor/knowledge-intensive, profit/nonprofit) | |
| R: Firm-level resources and capabilities | R1 | Financial resources and capabilities | Financial resources, available capital, cash (or liquidity), funding available to the firm (or to the entrepreneur), borrowing power, capability to attract external funding at different stages of the start-up process (e.g. at IPO) |
| R2 | Firm age | Firm age (years since the firm was founded) | |
| R3 | Legitimacy | Firm legal form (e.g. limited liability, public company), firm reputation, legitimacy (cognitive, regulative, normative) | |
| R4 | Firm type | Firm ownership structure and type (family, spin-off, university spin-off, part of group, joint-venture, MBO, domestic, multinational, independent, corporate venture, subsidiary, affiliated, franchising, single-site, multi-site, state owned) | |
| R5 | Learning and innovation capabilities | Product innovation capabilities, process innovation capabilities, ability to manage innovation, ability (and rapidity) to respond to the market, creativity, continuous improvement ability, organizational learning ability, training efforts of the workforce | |
| R6 | IPR | Patents, trademarks, copyrights, IPR enforcement and protection processes | |
| R7 | Marketing capabilities | Ability to manage marketing activities, such as brand management, deployment of marketing policies, marketing expertise (of the firm), sales skills/capabilities | |
| R8 | Networking capabilities | Capability to develop business contacts (also internationally), strategic networking capability, formal/informal networking capability, breath, depth and intensity of interactions with partners | |
| R9 | Organizational structure and capabilities | Organizational structure, organizational capability, organizational resources, spare resources, governance, decision-making speed, degree of formalization of organizational control, formal/informal information processing, internal communication processes, leanness, management systems | |
| R10 | Alliances | Number of alliances, collaborations, and cooperation agreements; other forms of cooperation with partners for multiple purposes (R&D, commercial, technological); size of partners' portfolio | |
| R11 | R&D investment | Level of R&D, R&D intensity and investment, percentage of employees in R&D | |
| R12 | Supply chain | Integration with suppliers (in various activities, including new product development), resources sourcing effectiveness, supply chain practices | |
| R13 | Technological capabilities | Technological resources and capabilities (including the use of advanced and specialized technology,) technological knowledge, investments in machineries, production planning and control systems | |
| R14 | VC support | Venture capital availability, support and financing received from venture capital | |
| R15 | Human resources and capabilities | Human capital, gender balance, level of education, average age, personnel involved in R&D activities (in %), wages and benefits, tenure contracts (in %), human resource management practices, capability to attract and recruit skilled and talented personnel | |
| R16 | Customers and customer relations | Weak and strong social ties and connections with customers, customer relationship management, client retention, collaboration with customers and users, early availability of customers, proportion of high-status customers | |
| R17 | E-commerce and ICT | E-commerce use, rate of adoption of ICT | |
| S: Past performance | S1 | Generic growth | Past growth express in generic or categorical terms, level and rate of past growth, growth of assets, market share growth, growth stage of the firm |
| S2 | Profit | Past level of profitability expressed in various ways, including net income, gross profit, ROA, ROI, EBITDA, sales per employee, profit ratio, labour productivity, net value added per employee | |
| S3 | Sales | Past sales, past revenues (or turnover and sales), sales growth | |
| S4 | Size | Past number of workers (or employees, or headcounts), past growth of workers | |
| S5 | Indebtedness, risk, and leverage | Past debt ratio, riskiness, leverage ratio, short- and long-term debts, equity ratio, level of indebtedness, previous liquidity and cash flow problems |
| Category | Code | Variable Name | Definition/Illustrative variables |
|---|---|---|---|
| D: Dependent variables | D1 | Generic growth | Categorical variables using likert-type scales: High-growth/low-growth firm (yes/no), gazelle/non-gazelle firm (yes/no) |
| D2 | Profit | Gross profits, operating profits, profit margins, return on sales, return on assets, return on equity, net income, value added, market capitalization | |
| D3 | Sales | Sales growth (both absolute and relative), revenue, turnover, consolidated turnover, gross revenue, logarithmic transformations frequently used | |
| D4 | Size | Increase in number of employees (both absolute and relative), frequent use of logarithmic transformations | |
| D5 | Other growth dimensions | Increased market share, company market value, and company assets; alternatively, size of the product portfolio, number of new product lines | |
| E: Individual- and team-related drivers | E1 | Gender and other personal characteristics | Background of the owner (e.g. founder, chief executive officer, entrepreneur): Age, gender, marital status, kinship, nationality, ethnicity, social origins, immigrant status, education, qualifications, income, intelligence (practical, analytical, creative); alternatively, characteristics of the whole founding team |
| E2 | Social and professional networks | Social and professional network of the owner (and synonyms), social capital, networking skills, social intelligence, relational capability, social competency | |
| E3 | Entrepreneurial experience | General competency, opportunities for recognition of ability, organizational skills, entrepreneurial experience, business management experience, entrepreneurial capabilities, international business experience | |
| E4 | Entrepreneurial orientation | Entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial style, management style, leadership style, personal values, risk propensity, sales orientation, international entrepreneurial orientation, tenacity, proactivity, passion | |
| E5 | Education | Educational background, level of education, schooling, human capital of the entrepreneur | |
| E6 | Industry experience | Experience in the sector, familiarity and skills in the same (or similar) industry, specialized know-how, technical skills | |
| E7 | Managerial expertise | Managerial ability, managerial skills, management capabilities, expertise | |
| E8 | Marketing expertise | Marketing, operational marketing, distribution, commercial experience of the owner, founder, and founding team | |
| E9 | Motivation, vision, and self-efficacy | Personal motivations, vision goals of the owner (and synonyms), reasons/motivation for starting the business, self-efficacy, self-organization, leadership effectiveness of the owner | |
| E10 | R&D expertise | Technical expertise/ability, research experience of the owner (and synonyms) | |
| E11 | Team size, heterogeneity, and cohesion | Size of the founding team, top management team size, size of the board of directors, team cohesion, age homogeneity, background homogeneity, functional balancing, joint commitment | |
| E12 | Growth attitude | Growth attitude, growth intention, growth motivation, willingness to grow, growth ambition, growth orientation, growth expectations, goals of the entrepreneur (and synonyms) | |
| E13 | Financial and control expertise | Financial competence, control competences of the owner (and synonyms) | |
| E14 | Founder who is also a manager | Involvement of the founder (owner or other synonyms) in management of the firm, proportion of founders in the top management team | |
| M: Marketing- and strategy-related drivers | M1 | Business model | Business model configuration, business model innovation, business model adaptation, ability to reorganize and change part(s) of the business model |
| M2 | Business planning | Prescience of a business plan, description of the key features of the business idea, formal planning of the start-up process, business idea and strategy, start-up preparation activities, planning horizon of the firm | |
| M3 | Differentiation | Differentiation strategy, product differentiation, level of differentiation and ways to obtain it (e.g. specialty products, customer service, premium price, value for money) | |
| M4 | Diversification | Diversification strategy, degree of product and process diversification, level of diversification, product breadth, product diversity | |
| M5 | Internationalization | Geographic scope, foreign sales in total sales, degree of internationalization, number of export markets, number of foreign clients | |
| M6 | Low-cost strategy | Low-cost strategy, focus on cost and efficiency, aggressive pricing, cost leadership | |
| M7 | Generic strategies | Strategic variety, venture strategy, blue ocean strategy, strategic orientation (prospector, defender, analyser, reactor), explorative or exploitative strategy | |
| M8 | Marketing planning and intensity | Firm marketing activities, such as advertising, promotional activities, market information acquisition, market information processing, market analysis, market study, sales planning | |
| M9 | Innovation | Level or rate of innovation in the firm, technological level of products, number of new products, level of technological knowledge, process innovation, technical innovation, radicalness of innovation | |
| M10 | Focus and niche strategy | Focus strategy, niche strategy, niche market, narrow scope, stability of initial focus | |
| M11 | Growth mode and strategy | Growth mode (organic, acquisition, partnership), growth mode in foreign markets (acquisition, green field, brown field), growth strategy (shaping the market, value based, profit vs survival) | |
| C: Context-related drivers | C1 | University | Co-operation with universities, university partnership, R&D collaboration with universities |
| C2 | Science parks | Location of the start-up in a scientific park, distance from the nearest science park, collaboration with science parks | |
| C3 | Government financial support | Financial support from public organizations, subsidies, assistance | |
| C4 | Industrial districts and clustering | Belonging to an industrial cluster or district, distance from an industrial cluster, industrial density, concentration index | |
| C5 | Non-government financial support | Financial support from non-public organizations, venture capitalists support, bank support, non-governmental firms investments, founds from industry sources | |
| C6 | Business incubators | Access to business incubator centres services, assistance and coaching by incubators, characteristics of the incubator (size, technology, market, sales, public, private), incubation model | |
| C7 | Financial system | Level of development of the financial system, credit constraints, capital availability, banks concentration, interest rates | |
| C8 | Legal and normative system | Level of regulation of the economy, institutions and labour market; presence or lack of effective laws; level of corruption; unfair competition; complexity of procedures to start a company | |
| C9 | Taxation | Level of taxation of entrepreneurial income, tax rate for firms or start-ups, availability of tax shields, fiscal evasion | |
| C10 | Location | Population density, start-up concentration, employment levels, technological development level, macroeconomic indicators, dynamism, available infrastructures, economic level, location dummies (country, region, urban, rural) | |
| I: Industry and market-related drivers | I1 | Competition intensity | Market dynamism or competition, level of technological competition, competition intensity, hostility |
| I2 | Environmental dynamism | Environment and market stability, market dynamism, market turbulence, uncertainty level, market fluctuations, globalization | |
| I3 | Market attractiveness | Market attractiveness, market potential, market growth rate, market magnificence, market shocks | |
| I4 | Market complexity and heterogeneity | Market simplicity, market complexity, market heterogeneity | |
| I5 | Product and market maturity | Product maturity, market maturity, pioneering role, first-mover advantage | |
| I6 | Economies of scale in industry | Capital requirements, number (and/or percentage) of large companies in the industry, average industry scale and size in the industry | |
| I7 | Industry growth rate | Industry growth rate, industry life cycle, industry munificence, profitability in the industry | |
| I8 | Industry complexity | Industry dynamism, technological and marketing complexity of the industry, level of density in the industry, average failure rate in the industry, exit rate in the industry | |
| I9 | Industry type (high-tech/low-tech, service/manufacturing) | Industry, sector (SIC/NACE code), level of technology in manufacturing (low/high tech), other categories (i.e. manufacturing/services, knowledge poor/knowledge-intensive, profit/nonprofit) | |
| R: Firm-level resources and capabilities | R1 | Financial resources and capabilities | Financial resources, available capital, cash (or liquidity), funding available to the firm (or to the entrepreneur), borrowing power, capability to attract external funding at different stages of the start-up process (e.g. at IPO) |
| R2 | Firm age | Firm age (years since the firm was founded) | |
| R3 | Legitimacy | Firm legal form (e.g. limited liability, public company), firm reputation, legitimacy (cognitive, regulative, normative) | |
| R4 | Firm type | Firm ownership structure and type (family, spin-off, university spin-off, part of group, joint-venture, MBO, domestic, multinational, independent, corporate venture, subsidiary, affiliated, franchising, single-site, multi-site, state owned) | |
| R5 | Learning and innovation capabilities | Product innovation capabilities, process innovation capabilities, ability to manage innovation, ability (and rapidity) to respond to the market, creativity, continuous improvement ability, organizational learning ability, training efforts of the workforce | |
| R6 | IPR | Patents, trademarks, copyrights, IPR enforcement and protection processes | |
| R7 | Marketing capabilities | Ability to manage marketing activities, such as brand management, deployment of marketing policies, marketing expertise (of the firm), sales skills/capabilities | |
| R8 | Networking capabilities | Capability to develop business contacts (also internationally), strategic networking capability, formal/informal networking capability, breath, depth and intensity of interactions with partners | |
| R9 | Organizational structure and capabilities | Organizational structure, organizational capability, organizational resources, spare resources, governance, decision-making speed, degree of formalization of organizational control, formal/informal information processing, internal communication processes, leanness, management systems | |
| R10 | Alliances | Number of alliances, collaborations, and cooperation agreements; other forms of cooperation with partners for multiple purposes (R&D, commercial, technological); size of partners' portfolio | |
| R11 | R&D investment | Level of R&D, R&D intensity and investment, percentage of employees in R&D | |
| R12 | Supply chain | Integration with suppliers (in various activities, including new product development), resources sourcing effectiveness, supply chain practices | |
| R13 | Technological capabilities | Technological resources and capabilities (including the use of advanced and specialized technology,) technological knowledge, investments in machineries, production planning and control systems | |
| R14 | VC support | Venture capital availability, support and financing received from venture capital | |
| R15 | Human resources and capabilities | Human capital, gender balance, level of education, average age, personnel involved in R&D activities (in %), wages and benefits, tenure contracts (in %), human resource management practices, capability to attract and recruit skilled and talented personnel | |
| R16 | Customers and customer relations | Weak and strong social ties and connections with customers, customer relationship management, client retention, collaboration with customers and users, early availability of customers, proportion of high-status customers | |
| R17 | E-commerce and ICT | E-commerce use, rate of adoption of ICT | |
| S: Past performance | S1 | Generic growth | Past growth express in generic or categorical terms, level and rate of past growth, growth of assets, market share growth, growth stage of the firm |
| S2 | Profit | Past level of profitability expressed in various ways, including net income, gross profit, ROA, ROI, EBITDA, sales per employee, profit ratio, labour productivity, net value added per employee | |
| S3 | Sales | Past sales, past revenues (or turnover and sales), sales growth | |
| S4 | Size | Past number of workers (or employees, or headcounts), past growth of workers | |
| S5 | Indebtedness, risk, and leverage | Past debt ratio, riskiness, leverage ratio, short- and long-term debts, equity ratio, level of indebtedness, previous liquidity and cash flow problems |
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