Do Small Firms Provide a Better Training Ground for Entrepreneurs?
Entrepreneurial Roundtable
September 18, 2006, 6:30 PM - 8:45 PM
Research by Damon Phillips shows that entrepreneurs from small firms perform better as entrepreneurs than those from large companies. Professor Phillips discusses the possible reasons for this finding and its possible implications for would-be entrepreneurs.
Read the event coverage about and watch a video from the presentation!
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Where
Illinois Institute of Technology
Wheaton Campus
First Floor -- Room 166
201 East Loop Road
Wheaton, Illinois
Driving Directions: See map
Who
Damon J. Phillips
Associate Professor of Organizations and Strategy and Neubauer Family Faculty Fellow
University of Chicago Graduate School of Business
Program
6:30 - 7:15 p.m: Networking
7:15 - 8:45 p.m: Program
If you leave downtown Chicago by 6:20, you will not miss any of the program.
Registration
Register Online
Register via Email
Register by Phone: 630-527-8552, ext. 303 (Mary Brown)
Please register by 4:00 p.m. on day of event
Questions
Bill Wentz (XP-57), '88
630.527.8552, ext. 304
Event Details
A number of studies have shown that people working at small firms are more likely to become entrepreneurs. A key question, however, is whether the experience and skills acquired in smaller firms better prepare people to be entrepreneurs.
Damon Phillips and Jesper Sorensen of MIT�s Sloan School of Management sought to answer that question by examining the relationship between the size of an entrepreneur�s prior employer and the entrepreneur�s success in running his own business. Their finding: entrepreneurs coming from small businesses have better performance than those coming from larger companies, whether measured by failure rate or self-employment income in the first year. Success rates are also significantly higher when the entrepreneur starts his new company in the same industry as his prior employer.
Professor Phillips� research certainly raises important issues for individuals who seek to have their own business. Why do small firms appear to be better training grounds than large corporations for entrepreneurs? Is it more important to success that entrepreneurs have broad experience spanning all aspects of business rather than in-depth knowledge in a few areas? Do small businesses tend to offer more opportunities for employees to take greater responsibility or to up-grade their skills? Is the difference between working for large and small firms less important if the entrepreneur moves to an entirely different industry to start his new business?
Speaker Profiles
Damon J. Phillips
Associate Professor of Organizations and Strategy and Neubauer Family Faculty Fellow, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business
Professor Philips has his Ph.D. from Stanford University, an M.S. in aeronautics fromm MIT and a B.S. in Physics from Morehouse College.
