Table 1.
Review of empirical studies on distinct exit routes
| Author | Exit route | Major determinants | Sample | Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balcaen et al. (2012) | B, M, V | Firm (cash flow, leverage, debt, age), Industry (dummies) | 6118 firms (firms less than 5 years old excluded), 1998–2000, Belgium. | Binomial nested logit |
| Buehler et al. (2006) | B, M (S) | Firm (size, age), Region (dummies), Industry (dummies) | 54,750 firms (13.6 employees), 1995–2000, Switzerland. | Continuous-time duration |
| Cefis and Marsili (2011) | C, M (S) | Firm (product and process innovation, size, group affiliation, patent application, entrepreneurial-firm dummy), Industry (low or high-tech dummy) | 3203 firms (young ones within 5 years: 8%), 1996–2003, the Netherlands. | Multinomial logit |
| Cefis and Marsili (2012) | C, M, R (S) | Firm (product and process innovation, age, size), Industry (Pavitt’s categories) | 3275 firms (118.2 employees, 28.7 years), 1996–2003, the Netherlands. | Multinomial logit and cloglog. |
| Cotei and Farhat (2018) | M (S) | Founder (education, work experience, gender), Firm (positive employment growth, serial entrepreneur, R&D, dummy for patent, trademark or copyright), Industry (dummies) | 3140 firms (created in 2004), 2005–2011, the USA. | Multinomial logit |
| Esteve-Pérez et al. (2010) | C, M (S) | Firm (size, age, labor productivity, price-cost margins, R&D, advertising), Industry (low, medium or high-tech dummy) | 2998 firms (257.5 employees, 23.9 years), 1990–2000, Spain. | Continuous-time duration |
| Fontana and Nesta (2009) | C, M (S) | Firm (technology frontier, R&D intensity, size, age) | 121 firms (470–480 employees), 1990–2005, worldwide LAN switching industry. | Multinomial logit and cloglog |
| Grilli et al. (2010) | C, M (S) | Firm (size, age), Industry (dummies) | 13,574 firms (1 or 2 employees, 0 to 13 years), 1983–2006, Italy. | Continuous and discrete-time duration (cloglog) |
| Harhoff et al. (1998) | B, V (S) | Firm (size, ownership, diversification, legal status), Industry (dummies) | 10,902 firms (276 employees, 19 years), 1989–1994, West Germany. | Continuous-time duration |
| Honjo and Kato (2019) | B, M (S) | Firm (initial debt finance (size/ratio), initial equity finance (size/ratio), dummy for minimum capital requirement regulation), Industry (dummies) | 16,185 firms (joint-stock companies, less than 100 employees), 1995–2011, Japan | Continuous-time duration |
| Kato and Honjo (2015) | B, M, V (S) | Founder (educational level/field, age, gender), firm (paid-in capital, age, legal status), Region (unemployment rate), Industry (HHI, growth, capital intensity, low- vs. high-tech sector) | 7868 firms (less than 100 employees, 0 to 12 years), 1997–2004, Japan. | cloglog and random-effects cloglog |
| Mata et al. (2007) | B, V (S) | Firm (size, age, debt, bank relationship, foreign ownership, worker’s wages, worker’s schooling), Industry (dummies) | 413,586 observations (14.8 years), 1995–2000, Portugal. | Multinomial logit |
| Ponikvar et al. (2018) | B, M, V (S) | Firm (financial conditions, size, age, labor productivity, fixed asset ratio), region (dummies), Industry (dummies) | 55,810 firms (7.8 employees, 10.2 years), 2006–2012, Slovenia. | Multinomial probit |
| Schary (1991) | B, M, V (S) | Firm (debt, cash flow, other financial characteristics) | 61 firms, 1924-1940, New England textile industry. | Ordered logit and multinomial logit |
| Wagner and Cockburn (2010) | D, M (S) | Firm (age at IPO, size, total assets, patent application, patent citation), Industry (dummies) | 356 firms, (5.9 years), 1998–2005, US Internet-related industries. | Continuous-time duration |
| Wennberg et al. (2010) | Harvest/distress liquidation and sale, (S) | Founder (Entrepreneurial/industry experience, education, gender, outside job, age), Firm (size, ownership by the parent firm, reinvestment), Industry (dummies) | 1735 firms (3 employees, 4.5 years), 1995–2002, Sweden. | Multinomial logit |
Note:(1) B bankruptcy, M mergers and/or acquisitions, V voluntary liquidation, C closure, R restructuring, D divestiture, S survival. (2) S in parentheses—(S)—means that the base outcome of the estimated model is “survival.” (3) Firm, Industry, and Region indicate firm-, industry-, and region-specific variables, respectively. (4) In the fourth column (“Sample”), the sample average in firm size (number of employees) and/or firm age (years after start-up/foundation) are presented in parentheses