Impact of institutions on emerging European high-growth firms

Purpose: Based on the multi-faceted nature of high-growth firms (HGFs) and the significant investments by governments to make the business environment more conducive to firm growth, the effects of changing institutions impacting on HGFs has not been explored in any great detail. While the authors have a very clear understanding of the spatial variations of HGFs and their firm characteristics in various advanced countries, the authors are lacking such insights for emerging countries. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach: Given the growth prospects and economic reforms, the authors chose emerging Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries as the research context. Utilising a cross-country panel data set spanning 11 countries, the authors investigate the share of HGFs across these countries and further examine how changes in institutions impact firms to become HGFs. The authors frame the arguments around three institutional dimensions, namely corruption, investment climate and bureaucratic quality. Findings: The findings suggest that the rates of HGFs are significantly higher in emerging CEE countries as compared with those in developed countries. Second, the results show that an improvement in a country’s institutional environment impacts positively on the likelihood of firms becoming HGFs. Among the three measures of institutions, bureaucratic quality seems to have the largest positive impact as compared with corruption and investment climate. Originality/value: The authors contribute to the literature by presenting the share of HGF across 11 emerging CEE countries and estimating how changes in institutions impact on firms becoming HGFs for the period 2000-2013.