This article presents an analysis of the growth patterns of the worldwide top 200 firms in the pharmaceutical industry. A test of the Gibrat's Law of Proportionate Effect is performed and we find, in line with previous literature, a violation concerning the variance of growth. Using...

This paper employs an original dataset for 146 US metropolitan areas to test some propositions that characterize two different models of organizing firms and industries: the managerial firm, epitomized by the work of Alfred Chandler, and the entrepreneurial system, recently highlighted by many...

We present empirical evidence on diversification patterns in Italian manufacturing firms and detect a robust relationship between firm size and diversification levels, with an elasticity of diversification that does not depend on firm size and is well below unity. Diversification does not lead...

This paper aims to investigate the effect of knowledge characteristics on the total factor productivity of firms developing drugs in the pharmaceutical industry. We decompose knowledge into knowledge associated with the technological firm portfolio and knowledge related to R&D projects, which...

In this work we analyze the relationship between the patterns of firm diversification, if any, across product lines and across bodies of innovative knowledge, proxied by the patent classes where the firm is present. Putting it more emphatically we investigate the relationship between "what a...

Economic growth and development of a country involves accumulation of knowledge and dynamic capabilities (Cimoli et al., 2009). Past research has begun to investigate the capability accumulation and macro-economic development of countries and sectors (Dosi et al., 1990), also by means of...