SMEs and the economic growth: A comparative study of clustering techniques in SMEs data analysis
- Authors: Mardaneh, Karim
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Conference Proceedings: 57th ICSB World Conference
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Regional economic planning of small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) requires a thorough understanding of the industry structure and the size of business. The main body of the literature regarding SMEs is focused on formation and growth, as well as success and failure (Dejardin & Fritsch, 2010). Some studies have considered clustering regional areas based on functional specialisation but only a few studies have considered industry structure and the size of business (Okamuro, 2006). This area of study may require large data sets and sophisticated clustering techniques, which have not been used in SMEs research. Using the Australian data and a large data set for regional (non-metropolitan) areas, this current study attempts to investigate the relationship between the economic growth of geographical areas with the industry structure and size of the businesses within those areas. For this the study uses Ward’s, the k-means, global k-means, and the modified global k-means clustering algorithms to cluster the Statistical Local Areas (SLA), and compares the function of these algorithms to identify the algorithm that performs the clustering task of the SMEs data more efficiently. Resulting analysis of this comparative study demonstrates that the modified global k-means algorithm outperforms the other algorithms examined.
- Description: E1
Industry type and business size on economic growth: Comparing Australia's Regional and Metropolitan areas
- Authors: Mardaneh, Karim
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings
- Relation: 56th Annual ICSB World Conference; Back to the Future - Changes in Perspectives of Global Entrepreneurship and Innovation,Stockholm, Sweden, 15-18 June, 2011
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: While the main body of literature regarding small-to-medium enterprises is focused on formation and growth, there is insufficient research about the role of both (a) firm size and (b) location on economic growth. The role of firm size and industrial structure on economic growth has been examined by some researchers. Pagano (2003) and Pagano and Schivardi (2000) identified a positive association between average firm size and growth and Carree and Thurik (1999) found evidence that the low number of large firms in an industry could lead to a higher value added growth. The current study attempts to investigate the impact of industry structure and businesses operating within these industries on economic growth. This paper uses “k-means” clustering algorithm to cluster Statistical Local Areas. Regression analysis is utilised to identify drivers of economic growth. Preliminary results suggest that size of business may act as a driver of economic growth but the impact could vary based on location.