A Model of Effective Factors for Sustainable Growth of New Technology-Based Firms in Developing Countries

The research examines the factors affecting the growth of new technology-based firms (NTBFs) in Iran as a developing country. The regional, economic, and social characteristics of developing countries are different from developed ones. In the research, 87 NTBFs that were able to pass the initial growth stage within 3 years are analyzed by structural equation modeling (SEM) method. The findings show that among the four dimensions of growth construct, corporate governance and environmental factors have the most effective role in the growth of NTBFs. In addition, business knowledge with path coefficient of 0.241 has the greatest impact on NTBFs growth. This explain that although environmental factors are very important for NTBFs, there are other factors which could be better managed by NTBFs to gain sustainable growth. Furthermore, findings reveal that if governance and managers make efforts to improve business knowledge among NTBFs, they are more likely to experience growth.