Fast-growing firms in Russia: characteristics and growth factors

The paper summarizes the characteristics of fast-growing companies and analyzes the factors of their growth. In Russia, in the post-crisis period, 2475 fast-growing companies (FGC) were identified, the vast majority of them were small businesses. Their average age is 15 years. They provided more than 30% of the absolute growth of the sampled firms. 82,5% of all FGC belonged to manufacturing, trade, services and construction, and their share was higher in manufacturing and financial activities. The share of high-tech companies in the number and revenue of FGC is only slightly higher than in the entire sample, which disproves the generally accepted thesis about their high proportion in new sectors. In 10 leading regions with the largest agglomerations of the country, about 50% of the total number of FGC was concentrated, which is also slightly higher than the concentration for the whole sample — 47,6%. For the development of FGC, the increase in current assets was of particular importance, which could be due to post-crisis capacity utilization. Growth was provided by increasing longterm obligations. At the same time, the increase in the size of the firm led to a drop in growth and exclusion from DBK, although during the same period, the age and size of firms were positively influenced for the entire sample, which contradicts previous studies. The latter can be explained in part by the characteristics of the sample, where there are no young microfirms, and can be associated with voluntary restrictions on the growth of small companies with the aim of avoiding taxation, state policy to support large enterprises and their large financial capabilities. For the growth of FGC in 2009-2013. the status of a public company and access to foreign markets as opposed to a general sample of firms are not significant. Although the share of exporting companies for the whole sample is about 7,6%, and for the FGC sample — 31,2%. Regional conditions were not significant with a correct assessment

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Fast-growing firms in Russia: characteristics and growth factors

References

Authors

Zemtsov Stepan Petrovich

Maskaev Alexander Fedorovich