In a first step, we developed based on existing theoretical and empirical literature a series of hypotheses with respect to the relative importance of possible determinants of exploration and exploitation of knowledge in collaboration with universities and tested them on Swiss firm data. In a...

There is growing evidence that firms increasingly adopt open innovation practices. In this paper we investigate the impact of two such external knowledge acquisition strategies, buy and cooperate, on firm's product innovation performance. Taking a direct (productivity) approach, we test for...

In this paper, the parent firms' choice of FDI locations is analyzed based on a unique firm-level dataset for Swiss MNEs. The data allows a detailed characterization of parent companies, their foreign subsidiaries and the two-way trade flows between parent companies and foreign affiliates. In...

While previous studies on mergers and acquisitions (M&As) mostly relied on large firms, our study is based on a sample that includes all Swiss M&As that took place in the period 2006-2008, mostly of which have been SMEs. We investigate the firm characteristics that determine the innovation and...

This paper investigates the post-merger performance effects of mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Our study is based on a representative sample that includes all Swiss M&As that took place in the period 2006-2008. In contrast to previous studies in this field most of our M&As took place between...

In their introduction to the special issue of the Review of Economic Dynamics on Great Depressions of the 20th Century (Vol. 5, 2002), Timothy J. Kehoe and Edward C. Prescott argue that in the last few years great depressions have hit two rich countries: New Zealand and Switzerland. We briefly...