Around the world (with the U.S. and U.K. as exceptions) concentrated ownership structures and controlling shareholders are predominant even among listed firms. We provide novel empirical evidence how such controlling shareholders, in particular founding families, affect payout policy decisions....

Entrepreneurship education plays a crucial role in shaping the attitudes of students towards entrepreneurship as well as spurring the creation of future young companies. It is a crucial topic in any economy and increasingly becoming key on the agenda for universities around the world. In this...

Private equity funds and hedge funds are both alternative asset classes that are continuously growing in importance. Although they have different focuses, they share some characteristics. First of all, both have or allegedly have a significant impact on the economy as well as the financial...

Börsennotierte Familienunternehmen wirtschaften nachhaltiger und erfolgreicher als Nicht-Familienunternehmen. Dies zeigt sich an einem annähernd doppelt so hohen jährlichen Beschäftigungszuwachs und einem höheren Umsatz bei familiengeführten Unternehmen. Dabei gilt: Je höher der...

Goal structures in family firms seems of particular interest to the field as the overall orientation and the objectives of family firms are determined in an area of potential conflict between the two subsystems of firm and family. We asked shareholders of German family firms to rate the...

The impact of private equity firms on employment in their portfolio companies is a controversial topic widely discussed in academia and in practice in recent years. A large body of research has resulted from this debate. The studies are focused on different aspects of employment and are based on...

The paper analyzes internal factors which influence the use of equity - and mezzanine-based financing instruments in German privately held family firms. Based on a sample of 195 surveys of family firms, we investigate the impact of family specific goals and corporate governance structures on the...

We apply control rights theory to explain the structure and determinants of financial covenants in private equity backed leveraged buyouts. We analyze 130 German transactions from 2000 to 2008, covering about 40 percent of the LBO market during this period. We consider Germany to be a superior...