This paper investigates whether the local infrastructure favours entrepreneurial activities. Besides the physical and knowledge infrastructure we take into account a county’s broadband availability by building an index which accounts for county-related specificities. We find that broadband...

This paper analyzes how companies of immigrant entrepreneurs in knowledgeintensive industries differ from companies of native entrepreneurs with respect to start-up characteristics, firm survival and innovative performance. I focus on immigrants from the "recruitment countries" of south and...

The performance of young and newly founded firms depends largely to the human capital of the firm owner. The entrepreneur is therefore one of the main success factors for the firm. Yet entrepreneurs differ considerably in their background and characteristics. Particularly, founders’ individual...

Entrepreneurs are often faced with problems regarding start-up financing. But compared to novice entrepreneurs, experienced entrepreneurs should have both more knowledge and better contacts, which should potentially reduce the occurrence of problems and affect finance composition. However,...

Many entrepreneurs who close a business are actually willing to venture anew. However, to realize a restart is not only a matter of willingness on the part of the entrepreneur but also of its feasibility. Regarding the feasibility of a restart, the aspect of capital acquisition might be...

This paper analyzes empirically the determinants of new born firms' initial size. As survival prospects of young firms tend to be linked to a firm's start-up size, a better understanding of the factors influencing start-up size is crucial. Most of the rare literature on initial firm size focuses...

Im Zusammenhang mit den neuen "Basel-II"-Regelungen, die die Kreditvergabe an Unternehmen verändern, wächst das Interesse besonders kleiner und mittlerer Unternehmen an hybriden Finanzierungsinstrumenten. Diese Finanzierungsform wird auch als Mezzanine- Finanzierung bezeichnet. Je nach...

This paper analyzes the impact of taxes and lending conditions on the financial structure of multinationals’ foreign affiliates. The empirical analysis employs a large panel of affiliates of German multinationals in 26 countries in the period from 1996 until 2003. In accordance with the...

This paper analyzes the role of Thin-Capitalization rules for capital structure choice and investment decisions of multinationals. A theoretical analysis shows that the imposition of such rules tends to affect not only the leverage and the level of investment but also their tax-sensitivity. An...