PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to test whether performance differences between labour‐managed (LOFs) and mercantile (PCFs) firms are due to the measures used in the comparison, rather than to their distinct capital‐ownership configurations.Design/methodology/approachTests for the equality of two means and two variances of a variety of performance measures were used to ascertain whether differences between LOFs and PCFs firms are due to the measures used in the comparison, rather than to their distinct capital‐ownership configurationsFindingsThe indicators analyzed do not provide either type of organizational structure a definite superiority in either short‐economic performance or in short‐term profitability and the profitability indicators assign as good a chance of survival to LOFs as to PCFs of similar size, even if the analysis of their respective debt structures indicates some clear limitations on their growth prospects.Practical implicationsThe paper stresses the importance of using proper measures of the performance of LOFs, to avoid a common practice of being short‐changed in their evaluation of their economic performance, profitability, return of labour and financial structure.Originality/valueThe study will be useful to the worker‐owners of the LOFs and to those evaluating their performance, such as lenders, regulators, other public officials and the like.

El crecimiento empresarial ha sido ampliamente señalado en la literatura académica como una variable relevante a nivel económico como generadora de empleo y bienestar. Recientemente también se ha considerado la influencia de las empresas de alto crecimiento y gacelas. Este trabajo tiene por objetivo abordar el crecimiento empresarial desde el punto de vista teórico, estableciendo su impacto, como variable multidimensional, de diversos factores empresariales como tamaño, edad, región y ciclo económico, a partir de la evidencia resultante de la revisión de literatura llevada a cabo. Además, se muestran algunos aspectos que contribuyen al crecimiento de las empresas en Colombia.

No abstract

This paper tests for differences in the managerial performance of micro and small firms, classified by capital‐ownership configuration, be they labor‐owned or participatory capitalist firms. Measures of managerial performance comprise indices of economic performance, profitability, financial structure, worker remuneration, and solvency. Explanators of these differences include the age of the firm, its economic sector of operations, its capital‐ownership configuration and an ordinal measure of strategic risk. The evidence rejects Gibrat's law of proportional effects, in favor of the life cycle hypothesis. It also leads to inconclusive short‐term effects and to a nondifferential role of the type of key capital‐ownership configuration in a firm's long‐term prospects.

No abstract