Growth expectations of business owners:impact of human capital, firm characteristics and environmental transition

Abstract

This paper presents an empirical study based on a survey of 399 owners of small and medium size companies in Lithuania. Applying bivariate and ordered probit estimators, we investigate why some business owners expect their firms to expand, while others do not. Our main findings provide evidence that SME owner's generic and specific human capital matter. Those with higher education and 'learning by doing' attributes, either through previous job experience or additional entrepreneurial experience, expect their businesses to expand. The expectations of growth are positively related to exporting and non-monotonically to enterprise size. In addition, we analyse the link between the perceptions of constraints to business activities and growth expectations and find that the factors, which are perceived as main business barriers, are not necessary those which are associated with reduced growth expectations. In particular, perceptions of both corruption and of inadequate tax systems seem to affect growth expectations the most.

Divisions: College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School > Economics, Finance & Entrepreneurship
Uncontrolled Keywords: corruption,employment,human capital,SME,taxes
Last Modified: 26 Dec 2023 09:54
Date Deposited: 23 Apr 2013 13:06
Full Text Link: http://discover ... 521/1/17521.pdf
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PURE Output Type: Working paper
Published Date: 2005
Authors: Aidis, Ruta
Mickiewicz, Tomasz (ORCID Profile 0000-0001-5261-5662)

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License: Creative Commons Attribution


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