Performance of High-Technology Firms in a Peripheral Resource-Based Economy: Alberta,Canada

In the 1980s high technology moved into the forefront in regional development throughout North America and Europe as a leading strategy. The attraction of high technology more recently spilled over into the province of Alberta, a peripheral region in western Canada whose government is seeking to diversify its resource-based economy. This paper focused upon the performance of high technology firms measured by financial growth, R&D activity, employment created, and marketing. Data were drawn from a 100 percent survey of all identifiable high-tech firms which constituted the first academic inquiry into Alberta's high-technology development. Research hypotheses relating gross revenues and net profit to independent firms and subsidiaries, gross revenues to age of firm, and R&D activity to independent firms and subsidiaries were tested. The results indicate that Alberta's high technology sector is composed mainly of small independent firms in the early stages of growth. Widely divergent revenue and profit trends were found among all firms while 41 percent of the respondents received government assistance to fund R&D programs. A young high-technology base is reflected further in the small size of the labor force although three out of four firms created jobs between 1980 and 1984. Marketing was a key area of performance identified by respondent firms as companies attempted to diversify away from local markets. Overall, the systematic policies of support by the Alberta government were found to assist the growth of the high-tech industry. Whether or not this growth will be sufficient to substantially diversify this resource-based economy in a peripheral Canadian region remains to be seen. Further research, particularly in the area of job creation, is necessary to assess the impact of high-technology firms over a longer period.