The spectacular success of several well-known new ventures in technological fields, which in little more than a decade have jumped from the state of start-ups to that of top international businesses, has pointed to innovation as a key factor in the high growth of firms.  These high-growth enterprises often drive job creation and innovation, so policy makers are increasingly making such companies a key focus. Specifically, how can government policy foster the creation of more high-growth enterprises; what are the growth factors, and how can they be leveraged; what are the appropriate ways to provide such support?

To help answer these questions, this report presents findings from two new research studies: (1) reports from 15 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and Tunisia) that provide interesting insights into the operations of and challenges faced by high-growth enterprises; (2) a policy survey by the OECD Working Party on SMEs and Entrepreneurship, which reviewed more than 340 programmes that policy makers in 24 countries have put in place to support the growth of enterprises. 

Some of this report’s findings may surprise: any firm can be a growth company; growth is almost always a temporary phase; high-growth small firms are funded mostly by debt, not equity. These and many more insights are summarised and analysed, providing policy makers with ideas on how to power growth at the firm level.

Executive summary
PART I. ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF HIGH-GROWTH ENTERPRISES
Chapter 1. What powers high-growth enterprises?
-Introduction
-Overview of empirical literature
Chapter 2. Factors that drive high enterprise growth: Evidence from the country studies
-Introduction
-Key findings
-Summary of findings
Chapter 3. Government policies to support high-growth enterprises
-The WPSMEE Policy Survey
-Concluding remarks and policy recommendations
PART II. COUNTRY STUDIES ON HIGH-GROWTH ENTERPRISES 
Chapter 4. High-growth SMEs in Latin America's service sector: Six case studies
-SMEs, entrepreneurship, and the innovation context in Latin America
-Dynamic entrepreneurship in Latin America
-A qualitative approach to HGSMES in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)
-Concluding remarks and policy recommendations
Chapter 5. High-growth firms in Switzerland: Analysis of 11 firms
-Introduction
-Case studies of 11 businesses
-High-growth firms and employment growth
-Conclusions
Chapter 6. Process innovation: Driver of enterprise growth in the Czech Republic
-Introduction
-Methodology
-Overview of the sample
-Analysis and results
-Conclusions
Chapter 7. Strong customer/supplier relationships: A key to enterprise growth in Japan
-Introduction
-Empirical hypotheses
-Data and variables
-Empirical approach and results
-Interviews with HGSMEs
-Conclusions
Chapter 8. Finland: Intellectual asset management among high-growth SMEs
-Introduction
-Survey Data
-Innovation activity and HGSMEs
-Managing and protecting IA
-Summary of the use of protection practices
Chapter 9. Financing growth and innovation in France
-IntroductionHow many firms are innovative or high-growth?
-An assessment of the financial constraint
-A system based on complementarity
-Financing and Proximity
-Innovative and high-growth SMEs policies in France: A strong commitment of the state
-A structural framework: From individual support to a collective dynamic
Chapter 10. The financing of innovative firms in Canada
-Introduction
-Data
-Results
-Summary and conclusions
Chapter 11. Are innovation firms at a credit disadvantage? The evidence from Italy
-Introduction
-Research design
-Results of the econometric estimates
-Conclusions