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Uncertainty and Growth of the Firm

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Abstract

Using data from a survey of 1,097 small and medium-sized non-listed Dutch firms we investigate the relation between growth of the firm and uncertainty. We focus on the impact of sales uncertainty on various types of investment. We find that sales uncertainty, measured by the conditional variance, has a mixed impact on various investment decisions. We include an analysis of the relevance of financial structure and firm size on the growth-uncertainty relation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, University of Groningen, The Netherlands

    Robert Lensink & Elmer Sterken

  2. Department of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 800, 9700, AV, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Paul van Steen

Authors
  1. Robert Lensink
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  2. Paul van Steen
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  3. Elmer Sterken
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Correspondence to Robert Lensink.

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Lensink, R., Steen, P.v. & Sterken, E. Uncertainty and Growth of the Firm. Small Bus Econ 24, 381–391 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-005-7121-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-005-7121-z

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