OECD WORKSHOP ON THE
MEASUREMENT OF THE HIGH-GROWTH
ENTERPRISES
THE IDENTIFICATION OF HG ENTERPRISES
The Italian case
Paris, November 19, 2007
Identification of HG
Let Nxx be the active population in year xx,
reference year
(xx=2005)
Step1: a merge by identification code of the
population Nxx and Nxx-1 to xx-3
→ AA=N2002 ∩ N2003 ∩ N2004 ∩ N2005
Step2: we exclude the real births in xx-3 i.e.
Rb(2002) from AA, then
Poten_population=AA-Rb(2002)
Comparing distributions
Potential population AA versus Active population N
By size class
N2005
0
1
N2002
2-4
5-9
10-14
AA2005
15-19
20+
AA2002
0%
20%
40%
60%
Dissimilarity index : Nxx versus AA
z NAA
1 K
  | f Ni  f AAi | 0.05
2 i 1
80%
100%
Calculated by
nace&size
Potential population AA
Empl2005
empl2002
0
1
2-4
5-9
10-14
15-19
20+
Total
0
1672471
111596
43514
6503
1479
526
851
1836940
1
70794
149104
68222
5597
789
204
224
294934
2-4
25676
44242
201802
43417
3432
689
633
319891
5-9
6621
3551
25942
88183
18540
2557
1448
146842
10-14
2311
716
2230
11952
28572
8252
2959
56992
15-19
986
239
552
1517
6002
9991
5903
25190
1997
370
653
1076
1825
3896
48402
58219
1780856
309818
342915
158245
60639
26115
60420
2739008
20+
Total
Size threshold : 10 or more employees in the
beginning
Step3: If employees(2002) ≥ 10
→ reference for HG =140,401 for year 2005
Growth threshold : 20% per annum
Step4: HG are obtained applying to the population of
reference (step 3) the following rules to employees and
to turnover:
HG_empl - yes
IF
[empl(2005)/empl(2002)] ≥ 1.728
HG_tur - yes
IF
[turnover(2005)/turnover(2002)] ≥ 1.728
Growth measured by employees or turnover
hg_turnovr
hg_empl
no
No
yes
total
0
8262
(59%)
8262
(59%)
yes
2749
(20%)
3022
(22%)
5771
(41%)
Total
2749
(20%)
11284
(80%)
14033
Ratio= HG/pop_ref_hg= 14033/140401 *100= 10.0%
HG by type of growth (employees or/and turnover) by
sector of activity (%)
Tot
K74
K72
K70.71.73
J
hg_tur
I
hg_emp
hg_both
H
G
F
D
C+E
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Growth by events
Step5: HG can grow because events of takeover.
Takeover from units that cease
Takeover from units that transfer activity
Looking for such events in the period 2002-2005, we have
identified 979 (7%) of HG with events.
By excluding such events we obtain the “pure” HG,
Nace empl_02
empl_03 empl_04 empl_05 date of event HG_dip
4512
335
376
480
541
200407 .
3430
26
31
36
189
200501 Y
7230
1556
1533
1436
2873
200501 Y
HG_tur Tur_02 Tur_05
Y
45766 113639
.
37631 31173
Y
148118 312504
HG*= 13054
Ratio*= HG*/pop_ref_hg= 13054/140401 *100= 9.3%
Empl_02_ Empl_04_i
id1
d1
411
243
206
172
1767
1566
HG: with or without events?(1)
HG with events and “pure HG”, by sector of activity (%)
40.0
35.0
30.0
HG
HG* pure
25.0
20.0
15.0
10.0
5.0
74
K
72
K
J
70
.7
1.
73
K
I
H
G
F
D
C
+E
0.0
HG: with or without events?(2)
hgeve
hg_empl
.
.
.
Y
.
Y
Y
.
Y
Y
Y
Y
Total
sub_HG_pure
hg_tur
Y
.
Y
Y
.
Y
_FREQ_
7961
2485
2608
301
264
414
14033
13054
empl(2002) empl(2005)
average
48.2
55.3
25.9
57.8
38.3
98.8
253.8
305.9
84.3
198.1
111.0
454.4
HG : Turnover and employment Growth rates by size and sectors
Sector
size_class
Industry
10-14
15-19
20+
10-14
15-19
20+
10-14
15-19
20+
10-14
15-19
20+
Construction
Trade
Services
Total
Enterprises
2034
958
2195
1419
544
814
837
353
766
1387
672
2054
14033
empl_02
23,802
15,939
160,922
16,367
9,002
41,804
9,783
5,866
69,562
16,219
11,179
311,678
692,124
empl_05
40,928
25,369
238,819
25,345
14,129
61,654
19,017
11,554
129,485
31,061
23,060
554,004
1,174,425
Turnover_02 Turnover_05
4698193
3207346
44395225
2074931
1355835
8611734
5398630
3002411
33647696
2400627
4205122
28127045
141124795
10360214
7339735
103518126
4687596
2854768
18058326
10565335
5874710
73235754
7667780
7473291
192895109
444530744
GROWTH
empl
tur
72.0
59.2
48.4
54.9
57.0
47.5
94.4
97.0
86.1
91.5
106.3
77.7
69.7
120.5
128.8
133.2
125.9
110.6
109.7
95.7
95.7
117.7
219.4
77.7
585.8
215.0
Gazelle
It is that subset of HG that are real births in xx-5 and xx-4.
For xx=2005 gazelles are obtained by merging the
real births 2000 and the real births 2001
with HG by identification code
Step1: potential gazelle are identified as the potential
population of HG born in 2000 and 2001
(the subset of real births in 2000 and 2001 surviving in 2005,
with employees(2002) ≥10)
Gazelle
NACE
C+E
D
F
G
H
I
J
K70.71.73
K72
K74
Total
poten_gazelle %
54
2462
1390
888
485
694
64
70
258
977
7342
0.74
33.53
18.93
12.09
6.62
9.45
0.87
0.95
3.51
13.31
100.00
gazelle
17
483
348
173
70
214
19
18
53
283
1678
%
1.01
28.78
20.74
10.31
4.17
12.75
1.13
1.07
3.16
16.87
100.00
Gazelle %
Gazelle/
Without
poten_gaz
events
17
1.05
31.5
464
28.75
19.6
343
21.25
25.0
163
10.1
19.5
68
4.21
14.4
207
12.83
30.8
18
1.12
29.7
17
1.05
25.7
47
2.91
20.5
270
16.73
29.0
1614
100
22.9
Working in progress
Changing Growth threshold
45.00
40.00
35.00
30.00
15%
25.00
20%
25%
20.00
30%
15.00
40%
10.00
5.00
74
K
72
K
J
70
.7
1.
73
K
I
H
G
F
D
C
+E
0.00
Working in progress
Alternative bases for measurements
Varying threshold of growth
BIRCH index
m=(xt1-xt0) xt1/xt0
where xt1=employees(2005)
xt0=employees(2002)
HG by Birch are:
the AA having m>=m[90%] OR m>=m[95%] of the
distribution in the whole economy
Working in progress
ENTERPRISES
1
2-4
5-9
10-14
15-19
20+
Total
GROWTH empl.
GROWTH turn.
5%
10%
5%
10%
5%
10%
2962
3292
1647
1003
660
5162
14726
6814
7299
3652
1987
1378
8342
29472
1104.6
650.8
396.3
260.1
204.0
47.4
60.0
726.4
417.4
256.6
178.1
137.1
43.4
57.5
204.4
180.4
144.8
130.2
54.1
39.6
45.1
160.2
142.1
115.8
103.2
53.9
37.3
43.0
Problem: which base to be used as reference population?
AA size [1+] ?
AA=902068
Working in progress
Comparison between HG and Birch top 10%
14%
18%
HG & Birch
HG only
Birch only empl<10
20%
48%
Birch only empl>=10