Tj. Dean et al., DIFFERENCES IN LARGE AND SMALL FIRM RESPONSES TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT - STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS FROM A COMPARATIVE-ANALYSIS OF BUSINESS FORMATIONS, Strategic management journal, 19(8), 1998, pp. 709-728
Despite growing recognition of some strategic advantages held by small
firms, little comparative research has been performed on the advantag
es and disadvantages accruing to firm size. In order to delineate the
differential responses of small and large businesses to their environm
ental context, we perform a comparative analysis of the impact of indu
stry structural characteristics on the formation of large and small bu
sinesses in a large sample of U.S. manufacturing industries from 1977
to 1987. The results suggest that small business possess certain resou
rces that allow them to overcome some barriers which create greater di
fficulties for their larger counterparts, as well as allow small busin
esses to exploit certain industry opportunities more readily than larg
er ones. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.