DOES SIZE OF INNOVATIVE FIRMS AFFECT THEIR GROWTH PERSISTENCE?

This study tests the theory of firms' proportionate growth on an original balanced panel ofSpanish innovative firms. It offers a novel comparative empirical analysis of the persistence ofinnovative firms' growth by examining serial correlations in their employment, sales andinnovative sales growth rates over the years 2002-2009. The main objective is to verify whetherinnovative SMEs and large innovative firms experience differences in their growth patterns. Tothis end, a semi-parametric quantile regression approach is adopted. Our empirical resultswidely confirm that there is a significant impact of firm size on both growth per se and itspersistence. In particular, the results suggest that notwithstanding the remarkable growthpotential of innovative SMEs, the persistence of their growth paths is the challenge. This resultshould be kept in mind when using mere company size as a marker for targeting policy support,especially when it comes to targeting innovative companies.