This paper addresses the choice between different exit routes of venture capitalists for a project yielding a quality-improving product innovation. We explicitly introduce product market characteristics into the analysis with the aim to identify their effects on the optimal exit strategy and on...

To be relevant to a firm a real option needs to fit into a theory of the firm explaining its existence, exercise conditions and value. We make a step toward an option based-theory of the firm by describing the emergence of a firm’s options and the strategic building of new competences for...

The financial systems in continental Europe are subject to profound changes in the institutions of market exchange. Banks traditionally holding close relationships with firms are substituted by non-bank institutional investors. The present paper examines whether this implies a substitution of...

The financial systems in continental Europe are subject to profound changes in the institutions of market exchange. Banks traditionally holding close relationships with firms are substituted by non-bank institutional investors. The present paper examines whether this implies a substitution of...

Transaction Costs Theory has been considered the 'new orthodoxy' in the theory of the firm, being this the very same reason for wide criticism by different schools of economic thought. However, there seems to be signs of complementarity between TCT and evolutionary approaches to the firm. Some...

In this paper, we focus on two barriers to entry that may hinder the formation of new firms: capital requirements and regulatory business cost. The contribution of this paper is twofold: we compare the availability of different types of financing sources to address the issue of capital...

Using a detailed sample made up of more than 20,000 investment rounds, we analyze the time to ‘IPO’, ‘trade sale’ and ‘liquidation’ for about 6,000 venture backed firms. We model these exit times using competing risks models. Biotech and internet firms have the fastest IPO exits....

Questo paper considera il venture capital come forma di finanziamento che si realizza in quegli ambienti dove i fallimenti di mercato causati da problemi informativi sono tali da non rendere possibile l'affermazione di altre istituzioni finanziarie, e dove questa si affermi come unica forma di...

Private equity funds of funds (FOFs) have become big business. Today, FOFs form 14% of new money raised. I test six explanations for the rise of FOFs. First, I find that FOFs do not generally deliver superior returns. They do, however, do well enough for the limited partners (LPs) that hire...