The present study explores the antecedents and consequences of vertical integration choices in the context of new product development using project-level data from the motion picture industry. I show that uncertain access to specialized complementary assets can generate market failures for...

Our paper tests a key prediction of property rights theory, specifically, that agents will respond to marginal incentives embedded in property rights when making non-contractible, revenue-enhancing investments. (Grossman and Hart, 1986; Hart and Moore, 1990). Using rich project-level data from the...

Using a large sample of diversified firms from 38 countries we investigate the influence of several national-level institutional factors or ‘institutional voids' on the value of corporate diversification. Specifically, we explore whether the presence of frictions in a country's capital...

Men are far more likely to start new ventures than women. Drawing on the hubris theory of entrepreneurship, we argue that one explanation of this gap is that women have lower susceptibility to hubris and higher levels of humility, the “male hubris-female humility effect.” Decreased hubris...

An important barrier to commercializing innovations is the availability of early-stage funding. Given the difficulties that new ventures face in attracting financing from angel investors, banks and venture capital funds, some entrepreneurs are tapping into large, online communities of...

Governments around the world have prioritized efforts to promote gender equity in the workplace, including at the very apex of the organization - the board. One tool that has been increasingly used by policymakers are gender quotas in boards. We examine how a governance practice, originally...

We show that the value of corporate diversification increased during the 2007–2009 financial crisis. Diversification gave firms both financing and investment advantages. First, conglomerates became significantly more leveraged relative to comparable focused firms. Second, conglomerates' access...