Identifying Gazelles : Expert Panels vs. Surveys as a Means to Identify Firms with Rapid Growth Potential
A business plan competition is conducted to test whether survey instruments or panel judges are able to identify the fastest growing firms. Participants submitted six- to eight-page business plans and defended them before a three- or four-judge pan...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/04/26251934/identifying-gazelles-expert-panels-vs-surveys-means-identify-firms-rapid-growth-potential http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24221 |
| Summary: | A business plan competition is conducted
to test whether survey instruments or panel judges are able
to identify the fastest growing firms. Participants
submitted six- to eight-page business plans and defended
them before a three- or four-judge panel. Applicants are
surveyed shortly after they applied and one and two years
after the competition. Follow-up surveys are used to
construct measures of enterprise growth and baseline surveys
and panel scores to construct measures of enterprise growth
potential. A survey measure of ability correlates strongly
with future growth, but the panel scores add to predictive
power even after controlling for ability and other survey
variables. The survey questions have more power to explain
the variance in growth. Participants presenting before the
panel were given a chance to win customized management
training. Fourteen months after the training, there is no
positive effect of the training on growth of the business. |
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