SME Loan Pricing and Lending Relationships in Germany: A New Look

Strong lending relationships between banks and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a key role in the bank-based financial system of Germany. So far, they have been mainly described by the notion of an housebank and transactional features of long-term bank-customer relationships. The present paper takes a new look by considering also interactional variables which try to measure social relations between loan officer and firm manager. We find that these variables do affect loan pricing, but that their influence varies according to firm age and housebank status.Banking, Relationship Lending, Small Business Finance

Scale Economics, Market Power, and Pricing Behavior Evidence from German Newspaper and Magazine Publishing

The anomalous inverse concentration-price relationship observed by some researchers in the newspaper market has been attributed to scale economies. In this paper we suggest that the newspaper's (or magazine's) "double-product" feature (i.e., news supplied to readers and advertising space supplied to advertisers) is the main source of this anomaly. In a simple oligopoly model it is shown how a profit-maximizing publisher takes advantage of that feature. Empirically an inverse concentration-price relationship may arise if double-product pricing is not controlled for. Regression results for a cross-section of 222 German Newspapers and magazines corroborate the theoretical implications.Scale Economics, Advertising, Concentration, Pricing Behavior

Why should support schemes for renewable electricity complement the EU emissions trading scheme?

In virtually all EU Member States, the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is complemented by support schemes for electricity generation from renewable energy sources (RES-E). This policy mix has been subject to strong criticism. It is mainly argued that RES-E schemes contribute nothing to emissions reduction and undermine the cost-effectiveness of the EU ETS. Consequently, many scholars suggest the abolition of RES-E schemes. However, this conclusion rests on quite narrow and unrealistic assumptions about the design and performance of markets and policies. This article provides a systematic and comprehensive review and discussion of possible rationales for combining the EU ETS with RES-E support schemes. The first and most important reason may be restrictions to technology development and adoption. These may be attributed to the failure of markets as well as policies, and more generally to the path dependency in socio-technical systems. Under these conditions, RES-E schemes are required to reach sufficient levels of technology development. In addition, it is highlighted that in contrast to the EU ETS RES-E support schemes may provide benefits beyond mitigating climate change. --EU Emissions Trading System,market failure,path dependency,policy failure,policy mix,renewable energies,subsidies

Do Lending Relationships Matter? Evidence from Bank Survey Data in Germany

Strong lending relationships between banks and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a key role in the bank-based financial system of Germany. So far, they have been mainly described by the notion of a housebank and transactional features of long-term bank-customer relationships. In contrast, the present paper also considers interactional variables which try to measure social relations between loan officer and firm manager. Using bank survey data, the relationship and interaction variables prove to affect loan prices, collateral requirements and credit availability.

Does the Governed Corporation Perform Better? Governance Structures and Corporate Performance in Germany

The paper investigates the impact of corporate governance on the performance of 361 German corporations over the time period 1991 to 1996. We find ownership concentration to affect profitability significantly negatively. Representation of owners on the board of executive directors does not make a difference. The profitability-ownership concentration relation depends on both stock market exposure and the location of control rights. The negative effect of ownership concentration can be traced back to family- or foreign-owned non-quoted firms as well as quoted firms with different large shareholders. A positive impact of ownership concentration on profitability, supportive of managerial discretion and agency theories, shows up for quoted firms which have financial institutions as large shareholders. Our results imply that (1) the presence of large shareholders does not necessarily enhance profitability, and (2) the high degree of ownership concentration seems to be a sub-optimal choice for many of the tightly held German corporations.

Definition des inneren Membranproteoms von Pseudomonas aeruginosa mit besonderem Fokus auf kleine Proteine

P. aeruginosa is a facultatively anaerobically living bacterium using oxygen or N oxides as terminal electron acceptors. Previous studies used this bacterium to define the anaerobic respiration complex and surprisingly, interactions and dynamics of proteins that are involved in the electron transport chain under aerobic and anaerobic conditions are little understood and were focused on in the recent ten years. Thus, proteogenomic analyses contributed greatly to the understanding of protein complex formation and assembly. However, proteins smaller than 101 aa (SP100) were neglected so far. In this work, inner membrane associated proteins from cells shifted from aerobic to anaerobic and back to aerobic conditions were analyzed using two complementary approaches followed by LC-MS/MS analyses to get insight in the dynamics of proteins that are known and predicted to be involved in respiration. Moreover, for the identification of SP100, two different databases were developed covering intergenic regions and all possible six reading frames, respectively. This way, 76 of 91 proteins known to be involved in aerobic and anaerobic respiration of P. aeruginosa were identified. Furthermore, changes in the composition of the terminal oxidases comprising complex IV of the respiratory chain were observed. Here, the cbb3 oxidases Cco1 and Cco2 diminished under denitrifying conditions and the aa3 and bo3 oxidases Cox and Cyo were present. Furthermore, shifting back to aerobic conditions resulted in an increase of different cbb3 oxidase subunits than before. These findings supported the modular setup of the cbb3 oxidases in P. aeruginosa. Additionally, 69 SP100 were identified of which the four proteins namely PA0522, PA0526, PA1052a and PA2453 displayed similar expression profiles to proteins involved in anaerobic respiration and thus might be associated with respiratory complexes. Among the 69 SP100 were 14 that were not present in the current annotation of P. aeruginosa. Here, transcriptional analyses for three SP100 were performed. Overall, one might be involved in the LPS synthesis of P. aeruginosa, one showed involvement in cobalt transport and one displayed strong evidence for a regulatory protein involved in expression of type 4 fimbriae.P. aeruginosa ist ein fakultativ anaerobes Bakterium, das Sauerstoff oder N-Oxide als terminale Elektronenakzeptoren verwendet. Die Wechselwirkungen und die Dynamik der Proteine, die an der Elektronentransportkette unter aeroben und anaeroben Bedingungen beteiligt sind, sind bisher wenig verstanden und wurden in den letzten zehn Jahren schwerpunktmäßig untersucht. Durchgeführte proteogenomische Analysen trugen wesentlich zum Verständnis von Proteinkomplexen bei, wobei jedoch Proteine mit weniger als 101 aa (SP100) bisher vernachlässigt wurden. In dieser Arbeit wurden periphere und integrale Proteine der inneren Membran aus Zellen, die unter verschiedenen Sauerstoffkonzentrationen kultiviert wurden, mit zwei komplementären Ansätzen präpariert und massenspektrometrisch analysiert. Des Weiteren wurden Datenbanken erstellt, um bisher nicht annotierte kleine Proteine vorherzusagen und zu identifizieren. Mittels des Pepper Algorithmus wurden offene Leserahmen für die identifizierten, nicht annotierten SP100 ermittelt und charakterisiert. Insgesamt wurden 76 Proteine identifiziert, die an der aeroben und anaeroben Atmung von P. aeruginosa beteiligt sind. Unter anaeroben Bedingungen war eine Zunahme der Menge der denitrifizierenden Proteine zu beobachten. Darüber hinaus wurden Veränderungen in der Zusammensetzung der terminalen Oxidasen, die zum Komplex IV der Atmungskette gehören, beobachtet. Hier nahmen die cbb3-Oxidasen Cco1 und Cco2 unter anaeroben, denitrifizierenden Bedingungen ab, gleichzeitig wurde eine deutliche Zunahme der aa3- und bo3-Oxidasen Cox und Cyo unter diesen Bedingungen beobachtet. Ein Wechsel zu aeroben Bedingungen führte zu einem Anstieg von cbb3-Oxidase Untereinheiten, welche unter anaeroben Bedingungen wenig abundant waren. Diese Beobachtungen weisen auf einen modularen Aufbau der cbb3-Oxidasen in P. aeruginosa hin. Darüber hinaus wurden 69 SP100 identifiziert, von denen die vier Proteine PA0522, PA0526, PA1052a und PA2453 ähnliche Expressionsprofile wie Proteine aufweisen, die an der anaeroben Atmung beteiligt sind. Das lässt die Vermutung zu, dass die Aktivität dieser Proteine in Verbindung zur Atmungskette steht. Unter den 69 SP100 waren 14, die in der aktuellen Annotation des Genoms von P. aeruginosa nicht berücksichtigt wurden. Erste Analysen der Proteine 6frt_14524, igr2243 und 6frt_26594 geben erste Hinweise auf eine Beteiligung an der LPS Synthese, am Kobalttransport bzw. an der Regulation der Typ 4 Fimbrien in P. aeruginosa

What does it take to be a star? The role of performance and the media for German soccer players

We test existing superstar theories for the German soccer league. We use various measures for individual players’ performance and media presence to analyze whether performance and popularity can explain salaries and superstars in soccer. Moreover, we argue that quantile regression technique should be applied to analyze superstar phenomena instead of OLS used hitherto.Superstars, soccer, quantile regressions, Rosen, Adler

Entrepreneurial ecosystems: a dynamic lifecycle model

The concept of entrepreneurial ecosystems has been used as a framework to explain entrepreneurial activities within regions and industrial sectors. Despite the usefulness of this approach, the concept is under-theorized, especially with regard to the evolution of entrepreneurial ecosystems. The current literature is lacking a theoretical foundation that addresses the development and change of entrepreneurial ecosystems over time and does not consider the inherent dynamics of entrepreneurial ecosystems that lead to their birth, growth, maturity, decline, and re-emergence. Taking an industry lifecycle perspective, this paper addresses this research gap by elaborating a dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystem lifecycle model. We propose that an ecosystem transitions from an entrepreneurial ecosystem, with a focus on new firm creation, towards a business ecosystem, with a core focus on the internal commercialization of knowledge, i.e., intrapreneurial activities, and vice versa. Our dynamic model thus captures the oscillation that occurs among entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs through the different phases of an ecosystem’s lifecycle. Our dynamic lifecycle model may thus serve as a starting point for future empirical studies focusing on ecosystems and provide the basis for a further understanding of the interrelatedness between and co-existence of new and incumbent firms

Entrepreneurial Human Capital, Complementary Assets, and Takeover Probability

Gaining access to technologies, competencies, and knowledge is observed as one of the major motives for corporate mergers and acquisitions. In this paper we show that a knowledge-based firm’s probability of being a takeover target is influenced by whether relevant specific human capital aimed for in acquisitions is directly accumulated within a specific firm or is bound to its founder or manager owner. We analyze the incentive effects of different arrangements of ownership in a firm’s assets in the spirit of the Grossman-Hart-Moore incomplete contracts theory of the firm. This approach highlights the organizational significance of ownership of complementary assets. In a small theoretical model we assume that the entrepreneur’s specific human capital, as measured by the patents they own, and the physical assets of their firm are productive only when used together. Our results show that it is not worthwhile for an acquirer to purchase the alienable assets of this firm due to weakened incentives for the initial owner. Regression analysis using a hand collected dataset of all German IPOs in the period from 1997 to 2006 subsequently provides empirical support for this prediction. This paper adds to previous research in that it puts empirical evidence to the Grossman-Hart-Moore framework of incomplete contracts or property rights respectively. Secondly, we show that relevant specific human capital that is accumulated by a firm’s founder or manager owner significantly decreases that firm’s probability of being a takeover target.ownership structure, property rights, mergers & acquisitions