Venture Capitalists' Evaluations of Start-up Teams: Trade-offs, Knock-out Criteria, and the Impact of VC Experience

The start-up team plays a key role in venture capitalists' evaluations of venture proposals. Our findings go beyond existing research, first by providing a detailed exploration of VCs' team evaluation criteria, and second by investigating the moderator variable of VC experience. Our results reveal utility trade-offs between team characteristics and thus provide answers to questions such as "What strength does it take to compensate for a weakness in characteristic A?" Moreover, our analysis reveals that novice VCs tend to focus on the qualifications of individual team members, while experienced VCs focus more on team cohesion. Data was obtained in a conjoint experiment with 51 professionals in VC firms and analyzed using discrete choice econometric models. (author's abstract

Entrepreneurial Marketing

Entrepreneurship is one of the youngest disciplines in the area of business administration. Hence, there is a special need for literature that can be used in teaching and that can serve as a basis for research. This article reviews five textbooks and three research-oriented books on entrepreneurial marketing, which is regarded as one of the key areas of entrepreneurship. As the review shows, there is no textbook that covers all relevant aspects of entrepreneurial marketing in sufficient breadth and depth. Most books are dominated by contents from general marketing, despite the fact that emerging firms face some very specific challenges in their marketing activities. Our review of the research-oriented literature uncovers a need for more detailed studies that address distinct phenomena in entrepreneurial marketing. Thus, this new and vibrant field offers plenty of opportunities to generate important research findings

Finanzielle Entwicklung junger Wachstumsunternehmen

One of the biggest difficulties for founders of new ventures is to raise capital for their entrepreneurial endeavors. Based on a discussion of several models of firm development, this paper analyses the financing requirements of young growth companies and describes which sources of financing are available to these firms at different stages of their development. Special emphasis is put on venture capital financing, as this form of financing is particularly suited for young firms with a high potential for growth and value generation. A discussion of the challenges which these firms face when they want to control their financial development concludes this paper

Retrospektive Analyse eines Patientenkollektivs mit infrainguinalen Bypassverschlüssen – Wechselbeziehungen von Bypassmaterial, Ischämiegrad und distalem Anschlusssegment

Hintergrund und Ziele Unter Berücksichtigung des Hintergrundes einer immer älter werdenden Bevölkerung kommt es im Rahmen der Behandlung von Patienten mit peripherer arterieller Verschlusskrankheit immer häufiger zur Notwendigkeit der Behandlung von Patienten mit Bypassverschlüssen und somit auch zu Revisionsoperationen. Das Ziel dieser Studie besteht darin, den weiteren Verlauf von Patienten mit einem infrainguinalen Bypassverschluss zu untersuchen. Patienten und Methoden Für die retrospektive Single-Center-Studie wurden alle Patienten, die im Zeitraum von 2008 bis 2019 aufgrund eines akuten oder chronischen Bypassverschlusses im Universitätsklinikum Erlangen behandelt wurden, betrachtet. Alle perioperativen Daten zur primären Bypassanlage sowie zur Revisionsoperation wurden dokumentiert und statistisch ausgewertet. Ein besonderer Fokus lag dabei auf dem verwendeten Bypassmaterial, dem Ischämiegrad und dem distalen Anschlusssegment. Die Ergebnisse wurden mit der Literatur verglichen und anschließend diskutiert. Ergebnisse und Beobachtungen Insgesamt wurden 158 (102 Männer, 56 Frauen) Patienten mit infrainguinalem Bypassverschluss eingeschlossen. Bei der primären Bypassanlage wurde bei 57 % der Patienten die V. saphena magna als Material verwendet und bei 41,8 % ein Kunststoffbypass. Nach Bypassverschluss trat in 47 % der Fälle eine akute Extremitätenischämie auf, 53 % der Patienten wiesen eine chronische Ischämie auf. Es trat signifikant häufiger eine akute Ischämie auf, wenn synthetisches Material bei der primären Bypassanlage verwendet wurde (p=0,016). Zudem musste die distale Anastomose im Falle einer Revisionsoperation bei Kunststoffbypässen signifikant weiter distal angelegt werden (p=0,014). Schlussfolgerung Diese Studie zeigt, dass der Verschluss eines infrainguinalen Kunststoffbypasses im Vergleich mit Venentransplantaten zu einer signifikant höheren Rate von akuten Ischämien führt. Außerdem musste bei einer Revisionsoperation von Kunststoffbypässen zumeist distaler anastomosiert werden. Beide Aspekte sollten bei der Wahl des Bypassmaterials bereits bei der Primäroperation für Revaskularisationen berücksichtigt werden

Knowledge Acquisition Activities, Prior Knowledge and Experience & the Survival of New Firms

Knowledge acquisition activities occurring may be just as critical to firm survival as pre-existing knowledge and experience, because knowledge acquisition activities enable the augmentation of existing knowledge and the exploration and pursuit of new strategic directions. Drawing from organization theory and entrepreneurship theory, we examine two important sets of knowledge acquisition activities: knowledge acquired through planning and knowledge acquired through learning by doing. We examine the direct impact of these activities on the survival of new firms and examine the extent to which planning and learning by doing can compensate for low prior knowledge and/or management experience. We find that while learning by doing promotes firm survival and can compensate, planning deters firm survival and can not compensate

Die Rolle des Corporate Foresight im Innovationsprozess: Ziele, Ausgestaltung und Erfahrungen am Beispiel der Siemens AG

This article focuses on activities of corporate foresight that constitute one of the core elements of strategic innovation management. Hence, corporate foresight plays a crucial role for the mid- to longterm competitiveness of firms. It typically comprises the stages of idea generation to idea selection. Forecasting activities are of particular importance to corporate foresight as they allow detecting future trends and discontinuities such as technology shocks. Though there is much theoretical knowledge on corporate foresight activities, there is only little empirical evidence that shows how these activities are actually conducted in practice. Using the example of the Siemens AG, this article reveals how corporate foresight is professionally implemented in this company, which goals are pursued with it and what kind of experiences have been made so far. In particular, the motivation of all employees who are engaged in this process and the general acceptance of the foresight process have been key to its success