Sustainable university entrepreneurship: revisiting firm growth patterns

Abstract

Previous research on the firm growth of the university spin-offs (USOs) and itsdrivers yields inconclusive results. Recently, the literature on the high-growth firms(HGFs) has relied on regression quantile methods to study how the effects of growthdeterminants may differ along the firm growth distribution. This study builds a bridgebetween the two strands of literature by exploring how firm-specific characteristicsmay shape sales and employment growth patterns of USOs. To this end, it appliespanel data quantile regression models in a sample of 531 Spanish USOs over theperiod of 2001–2013. The results show that the growth drivers not only differbetween employment growth and sales growth but also along the growthdistributions