The present paper deals with the question whether 'Gibrat's law' is applicable to firms founded between 1989 and 1996 within the Western German manufacturing sector or not. The underlying assumption is that size of a firm has no influence on its growth. Growth is rather determined by a process...

We provide a survey of the main mechanisms of market selection used in economics. We gather them in three theoretical paradigms (rational equilibrium, Simonesque and evolutionary), that we try to reconcile in terms of underlying laws of selection. We show that the three paradigms have been...

First, it looks at the re-positioning of their main product markets that firms undertake in the early life cycle, in an attempt to best exploit their niche advantages. The market extent variables used are: local, regional, Scottish, national, and international. A transition probability approach...

Different market structures and value systems give insight into the changing environment in which companies operate. In this inaugural address the central question is: What is the influence of market structures on the scope of the firm?The objective is to give meaningful contributions to the...

Female and male entrepreneurs differ in the way they finance their businesses. This can be attributed to the type of business and the type of management and experience (indirect effect). Female start-ups may also experience other barriers based upon discriminatory effects (direct effect)....

This paper attempts to develop concepts of project and contract organization to predict the selection of contract type on infrastructure projects. Conventional wisdom is that at low risk fixed price contracts are best, moving to remeasurement and then cost plus as risk increases. We started...

The aim of the present short paper is to show that since the 1970s the world has changed considerably, and that this change has had consequences for the current policy debate on the determinants of economic growth. Our paper deals with some aspects of the recent scientific literature on the...

This chapter focuses on the gap between the speed of proliferation of theoretical and empirical contributions and the speed of accumulation of the acquired scientific knowledge regarding absorptive capacity. To contribute to narrowing this gap, we will in particular review the conceptual...