First there were "gazelles," and now there are "high-impact" firms. Building on the influential work that identified fast-growing gazelle firms and their importance to economic health, a new study drills down a little farther to gauge the importance to regional economies of so-called high-impact firms. While gazelles are businesses whose sales have at least doubled over the last four years, high-impact firms combine rapid sales growth with brisk job growth. It's these firms that account for nearly all employment and revenue growth in the national economy, the study concludes.
Greater Cincinnati ranked well in the percentage of such firms doing business here. The Cincinnati metro region ranked 17th among large metropolitan regions in its percentage of high- impact firms, with 2,160 of them, or 2.33 percent of all companies. Hamilton County ranked second among medium-sized counties (behind Pima County, Ariz.), with 1,059 high-impact firms, or 2.58 percent.
The study's sponsors urged policy makers to find ways to support and promote the growth of high-impact firms. "State policy makers would be wise to consider how their policies can encourage such firms," says Chad Moutray, chief economist for the SBA's Office of Advocacy.
Writer: David Holthaus
Source: John McDowell, U.S. Small Business Administration.
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