Many firm level studies rely on readily available databases as COMPUSTAT, based on published balance sheets. While bigger firms are quite reliable described in this data set, small and medium sized firms (SMEs) are not covered, bearing the danger that the conclusions might be biased. To include...

Based on data from the German Cost Structure Census from approximately 39,000 companies between the years of 1992 to 2003, we investigate how outsourcing activities affected the return on sales of companies. We find that outsourcing activities, particularly by large companies, significantly...

After 20 years of transition from an economy integrated in an exchange scheme of planned economies towards an open market economy based on the ideas of competition, we ask whether East German firms succeeded in finding their place in the international division of labour. We concentrate on the...