This paper investigates the strategies, structures and performance of large Dutch firms in the period 1963-2003, and compares the results with those of other European companies. Did Dutch companies develop corporate strategies and structures comparable to other European companies in response to...

With their legal personhood, permanent capital with transferable shares, separation of ownership and management, and limited liability for both shareholders and managers, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and subsequently the English East India Company (EIC) are generally considered a major...

This paper evaluates investment strategies that exploit the deviations from theoretical price parity in a sample of 12 dual-listed companies (DLCs) in the period 1980--2002. We show that simple trading rules produce abnormal returns of up to almost 10% per annum adjusted for systematic risk,...

This paper is the introduction to the Business History special issue on European Business Models. The volume presents results of the international project about mapping European corporations, within the strategy, structure, ownership and performance (SSOP) framework. The paper describes the...

We investigate how competitive behavior affects the capital structure of a firm. Theory predicts that the impact of different types of output market uncertainty (in particular, unanticipated shocks in demand and costs) on a firm's leverage depends on the type of competition in an industry. We...