538 research outputs found
European deposit insurance scheme and bank board composition
This paper investigates whether bank corporate governance can play a role in the aggregate risk score assigned to individual banks by regulators. We exploit regulatory changes at the European level and a fixed-effects model to reduce endogeneity issues. We contribute to the existing literature on bank corporate governance by showing that board age significantly increases bank risk. This may indicate that boards formed by older members are more entrenched and can also be less dynamic. Board size and gender composition of the board are risk-neutral
The role of venture capital in the emerging entrepreneurial finance ecosystem: future threats and opportunities
The last decade has seen the emergence of alternative sources of
early-stage finance, which are radically changing and reshaping the
start-up eco-system. These include incubators, accelerators, science
and technology parks, university-affiliated seed funds, corporate
seed funds, business angels \u2013 including \u201csuper-angels\u201d, angel
groups, business angel networks and angel investment funds \u2013
and both equity- and debt-based crowdfunding platforms. In parallel
with this development, large financial institutions that have
traditionally invested in late-stage and mature companies, have
increasingly diversified their investment portfolios to \u201cget into the
venture game\u201d, in some cases, through the traditional closed-end
funds model and, in other cases through direct investments and coinvestments
alongside the closed-end funds. This paper reviews the
main features, investment policies and risk-return profiles of the
institutional and informal investors operating in the very early
stage of the life cycle of entrepreneurial firms. It concludes that
traditional closed-end venture capital funds continue to play an
important role in early stage finance because of their unique competences
(e.g. screening, negotiating and monitoring) in what has
become a wider and more complex financing ecosystem
Does corporate governance really matter for firms performance? Evidence from Italian IPOS market
During recent years, corporate governance has received an increasing attention in the academic debate due to several scandals in financial world and consequent changes in the regulatory framework. Through this paper, we aim to take part in the stimulating debate about the relation between corporate governance and performance. Previous literature on this topic provided a solid theoretical framework for our research. This paper contributes to this investigation with an analysis of the Italian market, by the examination of the relation between the market performance of Italian IPOs and their governance structure. In particular, we find evidence of a positive relation between governance, which we measured by a new and original governance index made by 40 provisions, and IPOs performance occurred in the Italian market during period 1998-2008
The role of venture capital and private equity for innovation and development of SMEs : evidence from Italian puzzle
Numerous studies have discussed that even if fundamental for innovation and
economic growth, SMEs are often financially more constrained than large firms.
Therefore, venture capitalists are often the only available sources of financing to
small and young companies. Through the analysis of a database that includes 160
funding deals signed in Italy, we research for empirical evidence of the
determinants and effects of VC and PE investments. We find that VC and PE
funds are more likely to finance younger and smaller firms. We confirm the
presence of the certification effect under new circumstances applying to SMEs
Emerging trends in entrepreneurial finance
The emergence of new sources of financing in the aftermath of the financial crisis has
substantially increased the funding options available to new entrepreneurial ventures.
Technology parks, startup incubators and accelerators, business angels and angel investment
organizations, equity crowdfunding platforms, venture capital funds, corporate
seed funds and institutional investors directly investing in new ventures, have significantly
increased the menu of funding channels, in many cases by leveraging the
disrupting effects of Fintech companies and the emergence of internet-based segments
of the capital market. As a consequence, a new financing eco-system for new ventures
has emerged in recent years that has significant implications for both investors and
entrepreneurs, impacting on entrepreneurial growth paths and creating new policy
challenges at both the national and global scales. The substantially larger set of funding
channels has not only been instrumental in the unprecedented growth in the number of
early stage companies but has also raised new questions that have challenged scholars
and practitioners and policymakers alike. Idiosyncratic risk-return profiles and investment
philosophies, unorthodox investment practices, innovative value-adding contributions
to portfolio companies ventures and structurally different exit options are some of
the areas that require urgent investigation.
The first \u201cEmerging Trends in Entrepreneurial Finance\u201d Conference, 1\u20132 June 2017 organized
by the Stevens School of Business, the University of Piemonte Orientale and the Editors
of Venture Capital: an International Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance at the Stevens Institute of
Technology (Hoboken, NJ, USA) with the sponsorship of Hanlon Financial Systems Center and
the Stevens Venture Center, aimed at gathering world-class scholars in the field of entrepreneurial
finance to stimulate a debate on the evolution of the financing ecosystem for new
ventures. From the close to 75 submissions, of which 16 were accepted for presentation. the
Guest Editors of this special Issue have selected six outstanding papers that address crucial
topics and recent developments
What drives the active involvement in business angel groups? The role of angels' decision-making style, investment-specific human capital and motivations
This paper sheds light over the operations and internal structure of business angel groups (BAGs), a leading actor inside the informal venture capital industry, due to its capability to build cognitive resources and shared competencies that are eventually provided to funded ventures alongside equity capital. We develop a framework based on the role of business angels' decision-making style, human capital and motivation as major determinants of their active involvement in the many different activities performed by angel groups, either investment related activities or group management activities. Our empirical analysis relies on a novel survey-based dataset containing qualitative and quantitative information provided by the members of two large and rather homogeneous business angel groups located in France and in Italy. Results show that business angels with a control-oriented decision-making style tend to be more actively involved in key angel group activities. Human capital built through investment experience, retirement status, as well as initial motivation to join an angel group are also significant drivers of angel involvement in several key BAG activities
A Cascade Neural Network Architecture investigating Surface Plasmon Polaritons propagation for thin metals in OpenMP
Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) confined along metal-dielectric interface
have attracted a relevant interest in the area of ultracompact photonic
circuits, photovoltaic devices and other applications due to their strong field
confinement and enhancement. This paper investigates a novel cascade neural
network (NN) architecture to find the dependance of metal thickness on the SPP
propagation. Additionally, a novel training procedure for the proposed cascade
NN has been developed using an OpenMP-based framework, thus greatly reducing
training time. The performed experiments confirm the effectiveness of the
proposed NN architecture for the problem at hand
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