The paper uses a range of primary-source empirical evidence to address the question: ‘why is it to hard to value intangible assets?’ The setting is venture capital investment in high technology companies. While the investors are risk specialists and financial experts, the entrepreneurs are...

This paper is inspired by articles in the last decade or so that have argued for more attention to theory, and to empirical analysis, within the well-known, and long-lasting, contingency framework for explaining the organisational form of the firm. Its contribution is to extend contingency...

Three tests of contingency theory are presented. The central hypothesis is that information system development is determined by contingencies. Data relate to the period 1994-98 for a sample of new Scottish micro firms. Contingency theory is tested by correlation, cluster and regression analysis....

This paper is designed to explore the nature of information system development in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), by appeal to three theories: contingency, agency and markets vs hierarchies. To address these theories empirically, use is made of new data which have been gathered from a...

We present a quantitative, dynamic analysis of coevolution in the new firm. Organisation is treated as a process, rather than a state, involving the simultaneous evolution of interacting systems within, and between, small firms and their environment. Our quantitative analysis uses...

This paper is an empirical investigation into the ways in which venture capitalists value (and invest in) high technology firms, focusing on financial reporting, risk disclosure and intangible assets. It is based on questionnaire returns from UK investors in diverse sectors, ranging from...