We present evidence on venture capitalists' (VCs) impact on turnover of executives for a sample of nearly 47,000 German high-tech start-ups between 1995 and 2004. We confirm that the presence of VCs increases the probability of a change in the initial executive team. Additionally, we take a...

This article explores the propensity to patent in the light of the disclosure effect. Unlike earlier approaches concerned with the patenting decision, we take into account that a disclosure effect may decrease the merits of patenting by facilitating inventing around the patent for competitors....

Die Ergebnisse der multivariaten Analysen zur Beschäftigungsdynamik und dem Wachstumspotential junger innovativer Unternehmen lassen erkennen, daß junge innovative Unternehmen signifikant höhere Wachstumsraten erzielen als junge Unternehmen mit traditionellen Produkten. Die Abschätzung der...

The present paper deals with the question whether 'Gibrat's law' is applicable to firms founded between 1989 and 1996 within the Western German manufacturing sector or not. The underlying assumption is that size of a firm has no influence on its growth. Growth is rather determined by a process...

Dem Neugründungsgeschehen in Dienstleistungsbranchen wird oft zugeschrieben, dass es einen wesentlichen Beitrag zum Strukturwandel zu einer wissensorientierten Wirtschaft leistet. Die hier vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die regionstypenspezifischen Unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten im...

This paper makes an empirical contribution to confirm the stylized fact that the performance of firms deteoriates in the years before exit. For this reason we evaluate whether market exits differ significantly in their employment development in the years before market drop-out compared to...

This paper seeks to empirically identify factors that influence the probability of beinga fast growingfirm in Eastern and Western Germany. Descriptive analyses have shown that most firms experience only small positive or negative employment growth or stagnate over time. The job generation...

This paper analyzes the medium-term growth performance of firms that exclusively received start-up assistance from programs administered by the Deutsche Ausgleichsbank (DtA), a state owned bank, within two years after startup. I apply a parametric selection approach that controls for two...

The sensitivity of innovation activities with respect to the business cycle is often assumed to be small. In this paper the hypothesis on cyclical dependence of innovation activities is tested for firms in the German manufacturing, and additionally for SMEs. To this end firms’ innovation...

Barriers to entry are regarded as major impediments to the working of markets. Entry must not necessarily actually take place - the perceived threat of entry may encourage incumbent firms to behave as if they are in a competitive market, even if they are not. We present empirical evidence on...