Working Paper: NBER ID: w23320
Authors: Kathryn L. Shaw; Anders Sørensen
Abstract: Serial entrepreneurs, who open more than one business, are found to have higher sales and higher productivity than novice entrepreneurs, who open one business. Using panel data on entrepreneurs and their firms from Denmark for 2001-2013, the serial entrepreneur has 67% higher sales than the novice, but also opens firms that are larger in terms of the initial capital and labor, and thus is 39% more productive. There are subsets of firms that perform especially well – serial entrepreneurs that hold a portfolio of overlapping ongoing firms perform the best, as do those that open as limited liability firm rather than proprietorships. Female serial entrepreneurs do as well as male serial entrepreneurs relative to the performance of novices of their own genders. The second firms of the serial entrepreneurs also stay in business longer than the first (and only) firms of the novices.
Keywords: serial entrepreneurs; productivity; novice entrepreneurs; Denmark
JEL Codes: G24; J24; L26; M13
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| serial entrepreneurs (M13) | higher sales (M31) |
| serial entrepreneurs (M13) | higher productivity (O49) |
| initial capital and labor (E22) | higher productivity (O49) |
| serial entrepreneurs (M13) | more productive portfolio management (G11) |
| female serial entrepreneurs (M13) | comparable performance to male serial entrepreneurs (L26) |
| serial entrepreneurs' second businesses (M13) | longer survival rates (C41) |
| serial entrepreneurs (M13) | performance advantages across industries and educational backgrounds (D29) |