Understanding Long-Run Growth and Survival of High-Tech Ventures

Despite the importance of high technology firms to the UK’s economy, relatively little is known about factors contributing to these firms’ long-run growth and survival. We examine these factors using a unique longitudinal dataset combining two waves of detailed surveys of 345 UK high tech firms and performance and survival data. We explore factors contributing to the performance and survival of these firms. Our results show that long-term survival rates are near two thirds for the firms in our sample, and that performance within the sample is skewed by a limited number of high performing firms. Overall we conclude that the early strategic decisions made by firms have long-run impacts on their survival and growth, and we suggest that policy measures targeted at shortfalls faced by these firms may have positive long-term consequences