Empirical evidence shows that vertically integrated producers are more productive, bigger and are matched to better suppliers (with high productivity and size). I present a dynamic stochastic model of an industry with heterogeneous firms interacting as buyers and sellers, and market frictions...

We propose a theory to manage the uneasy relation between strategic choice, chance, and determinism (or inevitability). To do so, we locate arguments in intellectual history that have a clear bearing on this relation. We introduce and defend four conjectures that outline the relationship between...

Experience suggests that strategy entails some interplay of choice, chance, and determinism as causal elements. Specifically, strategy is predicated on causality, or the principle that strategic choices have causes as well as consequences. Yet our discipline lacks a fundamental theory of...

Der Zusammenschluss von Unternehmen trägt umfassend zur Dynamik der Unternehmenslandschaft bei und ist üblicherweise an die konjunkturelle Entwicklung gekoppelt. Bei Fusionen und Übernahmen unter Beteiligung deutscher Firmen haben sich Konjunktur und Zusammenschlüsse jedoch seit der...

We apply a multi-level approach to analyze simultaneously the effects of three groups of determinants on new firm formation: industry, location and change over time. The data is for West Germany and covers the 1983-97 period. Our analysis indicates that innovation activities and the...

We analyze the effect of industry, region, and time on new business survival rates by means of a multidimensional approach. The data relate to West German counties in the 1983-2000 period. Survival chances of start-ups tend to be relatively low in industries characterized by a high minimum...

In diesem Beitrag werden die Auswirkungen sektoraler, regionaler sowie betrieblicher Determinanten auf das Scheitern junger Betriebe mit Hilfe eines ökonometrischen Überlebensdauer-Ansatzes analysiert. Dabei findet ein accelerated failure time model mit zugrunde liegender log-logistischer...

We examine whether founders' backgrounds influence new firm survival in the early years after start-up. We develop hypotheses linking founders' back-grounds to pre-entry capabilities associated with entrepreneurial human capital, highlighting the cases of spin-offs and habitual entrepreneurs....

Based on an improved and extended database, the Establishment History Panel, we extend the analysis of Fritsch & Weyh (2006) by investigating the development of employment in German start-up co-horts for the period 1976 to 2004. We confirm the typical pattern of an initial increasing and then...

Considerable debate surrounds the concept of entrepreneurial opportunities. This paper contributes to the discussion by bringing in concepts and findings from evolutionary economics. It makes three points. First, adopting an evolutionary market process perspective sheds new light on the nature...