The purpose of this study is to extend the current understanding of business divestiture by investigating its potential for triggering strategic reorientation. A divestiture involving strategic reorientation is here denoted as a strategic business exit, otherwise it is a status quopreserving...

Empirical research has shown tremendous productivity differences, even within narrowly defined industries. A great host of studies is explainsing this productivity disparity by factors such as idiosyncratic technology shocks, input price differences, management skills, or international trade....

Hidden Champions (HCs) are firms unknown to the wider public, but global leaders in the niche markets they serve. This paper looks at distinctive features of these firms, focusing on their dynamic capabilities. Employing a unique data base on German firms, we identify a representative sample of...

We focus on the relationship of age and diversification patterns of German machine tool manufacturers in the post war era. Based on trade journals we track the entire firm populations' product portfolio development throughout each firm's lifetime. We distinguish between "minor diversification"...

Several theoretical approaches to explaining economic growth focus on externalities arising from interactions between economic agents. A frequently discussed source of such externalities is regional diversity of the industry structure. A large number of empirical studies support the argument...

Competitive dynamics research has focused primarily on interactions between dyads of firms. Drawing on the awareness-motivation-capability framework and strategic group theory we extend this by proposing that firms' actions are influenced by perceived competitive pressure resulting from actions...

Die Studie erörtert Chancen und Risiken, die mit der Anwendung der Unternehmensführungsstrategie CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) verbunden sind. Eine Vielzahl an Gefahren in CSR-aktiven Unternehmen - darunter das Risiko des Greenwashings - werden identifiziert, systematisiert und...

This study is framed against the increasingly stringent environmental demands on the pulp and paper industry since the late-1980s to reduce water and air pollution, and the global economic slowdown of the early-1990s. The primary focus of this paper is an observation-based analysis conducted by...

Betriebliches Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement zielt auf einen verantwortungsvollen Umgang mit Ressourcen und auf die entsprechende Gestaltung der innerbetrieblichen Abläufe ab. Dabei nutzen Unternehmen, die nachhaltiges Wirtschaften mit strategischen Zielen verbinden und hierbei über das gesetzlich...

Recent research has led to the empirical regularity that firm growth rate distributions are heavy tailed. This finding implies that a few firms experience spectacular growth rates and decline, but that most firms have marginal growth rates. The literature on high growth firms shows that high...