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This 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.

A 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.

The 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.

In 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.

由於高速增長的公司被發現較其對手享有較大的競爭優勢,故它們成為促使就業機會會異常地淨增的推動器。這些公司在這方面的能力,成為廣泛研究的課題。本文擬就這課題的探討作出一點貢獻。

研究的方法是透過把研究焦點集中於一個何謂高速增長公司的更廣泛的定義,而該定義之所以更廣泛,是因為它納入高速增長的微型公司。研究人員以 Birch-Schreyer 指數把公司分類為高速增長。本研究旨在評定高速增長的公司在廣義上是否受賦予可把其區別於低增長公司的獨特特點。為達到這個目標,研究人員使用二元選擇的多元動態模型,去分析一間公司會被分類為高速增長的機率,繼而以 Blinder-Oaxaca 分解方法,去探討微型公司會被分類為高速增長的機率,與非微型公司的機率兩者之間的差異。

研究結果顯示、高速增長的公司展示了毅力; 而且，年輕的公司更有可能成為高速增長的公司。研究結果亦顯示、雖然根據特徵成份所強調,微型公司的活力不及較大的公司; 而且,微型公司展示負面的差分,唯它們也躋身高速增長公司的行列。

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the determinants of the survival of Spanish companies.

Two approaches are used and they are complementary. The first approach analyses the determinants of survival probability. For this purpose, a binary choice model is built and estimated using a sample of companies from the main economic sectors taken from the SABI database. Likewise, the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition is applied to quantify the difference between companies with employees and without employees and the proportion of this difference that owes to observed factors or unobserved factors. Finally, the second approach is a survival analysis carried out through the Cox proportional hazard model that identifies the determinants of the duration of business activity.

The results of the empirical analysis show that companies without employees present less favourable conditions for survival at all stages of their evolution than companies with employees.

The contribution of this study to the empirical literature consists in analysing the difference between companies with and without employees. Due to the structure of Spanish companies, this aspect and the determinants of such difference are essential for policymakers to increase the survival for companies.