Title: French technology start-ups: how and why are they succeeding?

Authors: Diane Saty Kouamé; Silvester Ivanaj

Addresses: Schulich School of Business, York University, 111 Ian MacDonald Blvd, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada ' Department of Supply Chain and Information Systems Management, ICN Business School, 13, rue Michel Ney, 54000, Nancy, France

Abstract: In this paper, we explore the conditions in which technology start-ups in France can be successful. We collected data from 467 French technology start-ups. Based on the most significant criteria of success from literature, in terms of economic and financial performance, we perform a cluster analysis for identifying successful businesses and a binomial regression model to determine the success or failure factors, relating to venture capital funding and the attributes of the technology start-up. We found that successful French technology start-ups succeed in terms of economic performance, job creation, major investments, operating in the international market, developing additional export-facing strategies and using venture capital financing. Our findings provide support for the applicability of the financing decisions to enable success of high technologies start-ups in the France, especially the venture capital resources.

Keywords: France; technology start-ups; taxonomy; start-up success; start-up failure; financial performance; cluster analysis; venture capital funding; start-up attributes; economic performance; job creation; investment; export strategies.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2017.082908

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2017 Vol.30 No.4, pp.490 - 508

Received: 12 Oct 2015
Accepted: 25 Jan 2016
Published online: 15 Mar 2017 *

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