The survival of the fastest: Unveiling the determinants of Unicorns and Gazelles’ early success

Cristofaro, Matteo; Abatecola, Gianpaolo; Giannetti, Federico; Zannoni, Anastassia

doi:10.1016/j.scaman.2024.101335

Scandinavian Journal of Management

2024

DOI: 10.1016/j.scaman.2024.101335

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The survival of the fastest: Unveiling the determinants of Unicorns and Gazelles’ early success

Matteo Cristofaro,

Gianpaolo Abatecola,

Federico Giannetti

et al.

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2024

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Cited by 2 publications

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Identifying high-growth firms in five European countries: micro firms vs. larger firms

Rico-Belda,

Cabrer-Borrás

2024

EJMBE

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PurposeThis study uses an extensive sample of firms from Germany, France, UK, Portugal and Spain with the aim of obtaining conclusive results on the determinants that drive a firm to be high-growth firm (HGF). This sample includes micro firms, which are not generally considered in the literature. There are several reasons to take them into account: not excluding an important part of the business fabric, the results can be extrapolated, the study can show if micro firms also present high growth and if there are differences in the factors that determine the probability of being an HGF between both segments of firms.Design/methodology/approachA multivariate dynamic model of binary choice is used to analyse the probability of a company being classified as high growth. Then, with the Blinder and Oaxaca decomposition, the differences in the probability of being an HGF between micro firms and non-micro firms are studied.FindingsThe results show that HGFs demonstrate persistence, and younger firms are more likely to be HGFs. Micro firms also register high growth, although they are less dynamic and show a negative differential with respect to larger firms as highlighted by the characteristic component.Originality/valueIn some countries, such as Spain and Portugal, micro firms predominate, and these tend to be less dynamic, so to identify how to improve business dynamics, the factors that limit the growth of this type of company must first be determined. In this paper, in line with Acs and Mueller (2008), we therefore include firms with less than ten employees so as not to exclude an important part of the business fabric and to ascertain whether this type of firm also shows high growth.

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Identifying high-growth firms in five European countries: micro firms vs. larger firms

Rico-Belda,

Cabrer-Borrás

2024

EJMBE

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The Unicorn Phenomenon: An Embeddedness-Based View of Influencing Factors

Hammoda,

Küttim

2024

TalTech Journal of European Studies

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Unicorns are a special breed of an entrepreneurial phenomenon that is gaining increased attention from theoretical and practical perspectives. This emerging niche, however, lacks structurization and sufficient investigation of the development of a unicorn firm. The article aims to investigate the factors influencing the emergence and growth of unicorns, using embeddedness as a theoretical framework. It follows a systematic review of empirical articles investigating the unicorn phenomenon based on a search in Scopus and Web of Science databases. A total of 17 articles were qualified and reviewed in depth for descriptive information and the factors impacting unicorns. The findings confirm that the unicorn phenomenon is a new entrant in entrepreneurship research, with the first study published in 2017. Most of the empirical work relied on secondary data to analyze this phenomenon, with a split of geographical focus between the leading countries (US and China) and the developing ones. The identified influencing factors were analyzed and organized into three levels: context, firm, and individual. They highlight the necessary elements in an entrepreneurship ecosystem, a company’s business and operating models, and the characteristics of founders and unicorns’ leaders for supporting the development of a potential unicorn. This study extends the concept of embeddedness to this special breed of companies and provides insights for ambitious entrepreneurs who want to grow their companies to a unicorn status and to policymakers on providing an enabling environment to attract startups and promote entrepreneurship.

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The survival of the fastest: Unveiling the determinants of Unicorns and Gazelles’ early success

Cited by 2 publications

References 117 publications

Identifying high-growth firms in five European countries: micro firms vs. larger firms

Identifying high-growth firms in five European countries: micro firms vs. larger firms

The Unicorn Phenomenon: An Embeddedness-Based View of Influencing Factors

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