Where do high-growth firms go?

Where do firms move? While there is plenty of past literature on this subject, studies have tended to focus on large manufacturing firms and their interregional movements. This paper proposes to analyze high-growth firms, which by definition generate a direct contribution to economic development, and their movements within an intrametropolitan area, specifically Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio. The past literature related to the neoclassical, behavioral, and institutional schools is reviewed. Each school produces a hypothesis: the neoclassical predicts movement to suburban areas, the behavior school to a nearby location, and the institutional school to places with higher vibrancy, such as downtown. The findings come with three distinct patterns of movements. In other words, the paper presents a complex reality in which all three hypotheses are partially supported, and no single theory is sufficient. Thus, we need to embrace a high level of heterogeneity among high-growth firms, which, despite their variety, can still provide more nuanced implications for economic and real estate developers, both in theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]