The evaluation of consulting services is a widely, but controversially discussed issue. While there is obviously an increasing need for appropriate evaluation, there are critics questioning the applicability of evaluation methods as well as the motivation to assess. We provide a framework that...

The current study investigates a tripartite incentive contract between an innovator supplying an intellectual asset, a professional assigned to productive tasks, and a consulting firm specializing in matching ideas and professionalskills. A rather simple pure tripartite partnership implements...

We provide a theoretical justification for bi-sourcing, which refers to thesituation where a final goods producer buys an input from an outside supplier and alsoproduces it in-house. Bi-sourcing occurs if the marginal cost of producing the input inhouseis higher than the marginal cost of outside...

This paper shows how cognitive human dispositions that take effect at the level of an individualfirm’s corporate culture have repercussions on an industry’s evolution. In our theory, the latter isattributable to evolving corporate cultures coupled with changes in a firm’s...

Does entrepreneurial optimism affect business performance? Using a unique data setbased on repeated survey design, we investigate this relationship empirically. Ourmeasures of ‘optimism’ and ‘realism’ are derived from comparing the turnovergrowth expectations of 133 owners-managers with...

Informed capital is a crucial ingredient to a well-functioning market for start-upfinance, especially in times of difficult market conditions. For bank-basedsystems, the question regarding which investors actually supply informed capitalhas not yet been answered. To fill this gap, we conduct a...

We examine the role of spatial proximity for Venture Capital (VC) investments inGermany. The main database is a survey of 85 personal interviews withrepresentatives of different types of financial institutions. The analysis shows thatspatial proximity is far less important for VC investments...

This paper deals with the question of whether public venture capital (VC) isperforming its task properly, taking a look at how public VC companies’ selectionprocess, investment behavior, and consulting services reflect goals that differ fromthose of private VC firms. The results present...

We analyze the effect of industry, region and time on new-business survival rates by means of a multi-dimensional approach. The data relate to West German districts in the 1983-2000 period. The survival chances of start-ups tend to be relatively low in industries characterized by a high minimum...

We analyze the development of employment in start-up cohorts, which is the direct grossemployment effect of the new businesses. The data is for West Germany and covers the 1984-2002 period. While total employment in the cohorts remains above the initial level inmanufacturing, we find a...