Ability matching and survival of start-ups

Arbeitspapier

In this paper, I analyse how the survival of new firms is affected by the average ability level in the founding team, the team size, team members' homogeneity with respect to ability, and team members' heterogeneity with respect to education. As a theoretical basis, I apply the O-ring theory (Kremer (1993)). Using a rich employer-employee data set on the whole population of Danish firms founded in 1998, I find that the average ability level in a team and the team size have positive effects on firm survival. Having a team at all is the most crucial factor for the probability of survival of young firms. The degree of homogeneity with respect to ability and the degree of heterogeneity with respect to educations have no effect on the survival probability.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: ZEW Discussion Papers ; No. 09-041

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights ; Firm Performance: Size, Diversification, and Scope ; Entrepreneurship ; New Firms; Startups
• Subject: Entrepreneurship ; firm survival ; O-ring theory ; start-ups ; Unternehmensgründung ; Unternehmensentwicklung ; Gruppenarbeit ; Qualifikation ; Kompetenz ; Persönlichkeitspsychologie ; Dänemark

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Müller, Bettina
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW)
• (where): Mannheim
• (when): 2009

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/27765
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET