Identifying high technology small firms: A sectoral analysis

This study explores the use of existing categorizations in classifying high and low technology firms such as the standard industrial classification (SIC). Such classifications tend to be applied to firms in a blanket fashion rather than on a systematic basis. This study uses both input and output approaches to identify high technology firms. The results indicate that electronics and IT/software firms meet the criteria for classification as high technology firms using both input and output criteria. The findings also indicate that distribution firms can also be categorized as high technology firms using the output approach only. Based on the analysis, we derived objective criteria for the classification of high technology firms. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.