High-Growth Enterprises: What Governments Can Do to Make a Difference

To help answer these questions, this report presents findings from two new research studies: (1) reports from 15 countries that provide interesting insights into the operations of and challenges faced by high-growth enterprises; (2) a policy survey by the OECD Working Party on SMEs and Entrepreneurship, which reviewed more than 340 programmes that policy makers in 24 countries have put in place to support the growth of enterprises.


The spectacular success of several well-known new ventures in technological fields, which in little more than a decade have jumped from the state of start-ups to that of top international businesses, has pointed to innovation as a key factor in the high growth of firms. These high-growth enterprises often drive job creation and innovation, so policy makers are increasingly making such companies a key focus. Specifically, how can government policy foster the creation of more high-growth enterprises; what are the growth factors, and how can they be leveraged; what are the appropriate ways to provide such support?

Table of contents
Executive summary
Part I. Addressing the needs of high-growth enterprises.
Chapter 1. What powers high-growth enterprises?
Introduction
Overview of empirical literature
Chapter 2. Factors that drive high enterprise growth: Evidence from the country studies
Introduction
Key findings
Summary of findings
Chapter 3. Government policies to support high-growth enterprises
The WPSMEE Policy Survey
Concluding remarks and policy recommendations
Part II. Country studies on high-growth enterprises
Chapter 4. High-growth SMEs in Latin America's service sector: Six case studies
SMEs, entrepreneurship, and the innovation context in Latin America
Dynamic entrepreneurship in Latin America
A qualitative approach to HGSMES in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)
Concluding remarks and policy recommendations
Chapter 5. High-growth firms in Switzerland: Analysis of 11 firms
Introduction
Case studies of 11 businesses
High-growth firms and employment growth
Conclusions
Chapter 6. Process innovation: Driver of enterprise growth in the Czech Republic
Introduction
Methodology
Overview of the sample
Analysis and results
Conclusions
Chapter 7. Strong customer/supplier relationships: A key to enterprise growth in Japan .
Introduction
Empirical hypotheses
Data and variables
Empirical approach and results
Interviews with HGSMEs
Conclusions
Chapter 8. Finland: Intellectual asset management among high-growth SMEs
Introduction
Survey Data
Innovation activity and HGSMEs
Managing and protecting IA
Summary of the use of protection practices
Chapter 9. Financing growth and innovation in France
Introduction
How many firms are innovative or high-growth?
An assessment of the financial constraint
A system based on complementarity
Financing and Proximity
Innovative and high-growth SMEs policies in France: A strong commitment of the state
A structural framework: From individual support to a collective dynamic
Chapter 10. The financing of innovative firms in Canada
Introduction
Data
Results
Summary and conclusions
Chapter 11. Are innovation firms at a credit disadvantage? The evidence from Italy*
Introduction
Research design
Results of the econometric estimates
Conclusions