Discovering variables that affect the survival of young firms: an empirical survey on Italian companies

Young companies are very vulnerable to many causes of a general nature, which occur frequently because they are typical of their young age, and to specific causes, which are different in each company because they derive from the characteristics of each of them. This study aims to examine the relationship between the survival of companies in the first stage of life (assumed by the literature corresponding to the first five years of life) and some of the variables that influence the survival of businesses, such as: the operational and financial risk, total assets, the share capital, business sector and geographical area. To this purpose, the 5-year survival rates of Italian companies born in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 were examined.