META-ANALYTIC EVIDENCE ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRODUCT DIVERSIFICATION STRATEGIES AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

Auf Basis meta-analytischer Integration von 82,742 empirischen Befunden aus 104 publizierten Studien testen wir die weitverbreitete Theorie, dass Produktdiversifikationsstrategien den finanziellen Erfolg von Unternehmen beeinflussen. Wir unterscheiden dabei explizit Korrelationen, die lediglich eine Assoziation suggerieren, von Korrelationen, die es erlauben, auf Kausalität zu schließen. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Sequenz der Variablenmessung sowie die Multidimensionalität der Variablenkonstrukte empirisch beobachtete Zusammenhänge zwischen Diversifikationsstrategien und Erfolg stark beeinflussen. Unter anderem zeigt die Analyse, dass verwandte und unverwandte Diversifikation lediglich mit simultan gemessenem- und nicht mit zeitlich verzögertem bilanz- und markt-basiertem Unternehmenserfolg signifikant korrelieren. Vor diesem Hintergrund stellt diese Studie vormalige metaanalytische Ergebnisse sowie Teile der vorherrschenden Theorie zu Erfolgseffekten von Diversifikationsstrategien in Frage. Des weiteren bietet unsere Studie wichtige Hinweise für das Design der Mess-Strategien zukünftiger Forschung in diesem Themenkreis.Corporate Strategy, Financial Performance, Meta-Analysis, Product Diversification

INTERNATIONALIZATION OF GERMAN COMPANIES INTO THE CHINESE MARKET - AN EVENT STUDY ON THE CONSEQUENCES ON FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE FROM A RBV PERSPECTIVE

After its economic opening in 1978, China has become more and more attractive for foreign direct investments and has developed into a strong internationalization target for other countries. This study analyzes the internationalization-performance relationship of German companies entering the Chinese market. The analysis is carried out for a sample of 257 announcements of the internationalization of German firms into China between 1978 and 2005. The event study methodology is used to measure the German stock market reaction to this event in order to enable a conclusion on the creation or destruction of share-holder value of German firms internationalizing into China.Internationalization, market entry, China, financial performance

Contraction Mechanisms in Composite Active Actin Networks

Simplified in vitro systems are ideally suited for studying the principle mechanisms of the contraction of cytoskeletal actin systems. To shed light on the dependence of the contraction mechanism on the nature of the crosslinking proteins, we study reconstituted in vitro active actin networks on different length scales ranging from the molecular organization to the macroscopic contraction. Distinct contraction mechanisms are observed in polar and apolar crosslinked active gels whereas composite active gels crosslinked in a polar and apolar fashion at the same time exhibit both mechanisms simultaneously. In polar active actin/fascin networks initially bundles are formed which are then rearranged. In contrast, apolar cortexillin-I crosslinked active gels are bundled only after reorganization of actin filaments by myosin-II motor filaments

Nucleation-induced transition to collective motion in active systems

While the existence of polar ordered states in active systems is well established, the dynamics of the self-assembly processes are still elusive. We study a lattice gas model of self-propelled elongated particles interacting through excluded volume and alignment interactions, which shows a phase transition from an isotropic to a polar ordered state. By analyzing the ordering process we find that the transition is driven by the formation of a critical nucleation cluster and a subsequent coarsening process. Moreover, the time to establish a polar ordered state shows a power-law divergence

Steric regulation of tandem calponin homology domain actin-binding affinity.

Tandem calponin homology (CH1-CH2) domains are common actin-binding domains in proteins that interact with and organize the actin cytoskeleton. Despite regions of high sequence similarity, CH1-CH2 domains can have remarkably different actin-binding properties, with disease-associated point mutants known to increase as well as decrease affinity for F-actin. To investigate features that affect CH1-CH2 affinity for F-actin in cells and in vitro, we perturbed the utrophin actin-binding domain by making point mutations at the CH1-CH2 interface, replacing the linker domain, and adding a polyethylene glycol (PEG) polymer to CH2. Consistent with a previous model describing CH2 as a steric negative regulator of actin binding, we find that utrophin CH1-CH2 affinity is both increased and decreased by modifications that change the effective "openness" of CH1 and CH2 in solution. We also identified interface mutations that caused a large increase in affinity without changing solution "openness," suggesting additional influences on affinity. Interestingly, we also observe nonuniform subcellular localization of utrophin CH1-CH2 that depends on the N-terminal flanking region but not on bulk affinity. These observations provide new insights into how small sequence changes, such as those found in diseases, can affect CH1-CH2 binding properties

Tow-Photon Polymerization (2PP) enables 3D microsystems for Pharmatechnology

Two-photon polymerization(2PP) is a process for three-dimensional (3D) micro-and Nano structuring based on the locally controlled curing of liquid precursors (light-sensitive resins) by photochemical triggered polymerization. In this decade, will be hearing a lot about this technic being applied to pharmaceutical applications like fabricating 3D microchannels for nanoparticle precipitation, nano-porous membranes and scaffolds for cell culturing, biomimetic organ-on-chip systems. This paper presents 2pp applied microsystems for continuously generating lipid nanoparticles which are one of the most important drug carrier system. The most important advantages of 2pp is manufacturing 3D shapes that is not possible with lithographic micro and nano fabrication technologies. Also, it will be shown how 2pp fabricated microchannel can be integrated with continuous size measurement by flowDLS for the feed-back controlled generation of nanoparticles

Micro- and Macrorheological Properties of Isotropically Cross-linked Actin Networks

Cells make use of semi-flexible biopolymers such as actin or intermediate filaments to control their local viscoelastic response by dynamically adjusting the concentration and type of cross-linker molecules. The microstructure of the resulting networks mainly determines their mechanical properties. It remains an important challenge to relate structural transitions to both the molecular properties of the cross-linking molecules and the mechanical response of the network. This can be achieved best by well-defined in vitro model systems in combination with microscopic techniques. Here, we show that with increasing concentrations of the cross-linker HMM (heavy meromyosin) a transition in the mechanical network response occurs. At low cross-linker densities the network elasticity is dominated by the entanglement length of the polymer, while at high HMM densities the cross-linker distance determines the elastic behavior. Using microrheology the formation of heterogeneous networks is observed at low cross-linker concentrations. Micro- and macrorheology both report the same transition to a homogeneous cross-linked phase. This transition is set by a constant average cross-linker distance. Thus, the micro- and macromechanical properties of isotropically cross-linked in vitro actin networks are determined by only one intrinsic network parameter.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure