The Link Between Firms? Innovation Decision and the Business Cycle: An Empirical Analysis

The sensitivity of innovation activities with respect to the business cycle is often assumed to be small. In this paper the hypothesis on cyclical dependence of innovation activities is tested for firms in the German manufacturing, and additionally for SMEs. To this end firms? innovation decisions are considered. The decision to innovate in one period is modelled via a first-order Markov chain approach. The results suggest that the patterns in innovative behavior are linked to the business cycle. --Innovation,Business Cycle,Panel Model,Markov Chains

A Test of the Quality of Concentration Indices

Theory predicts a positive relationship between market concentration and profitability in most scenarios. In empirical work, however, this relation is frequently not found or only a weak connection is observed. We compare the performance of concentration and market share variables, which are generated on the basis of the official industry classification, with information collected directly from firms. Information from companies on the number of competitors, their relative size and the intensity of price competition is highly significant in explaining profit levels, while none of the concentration indices performs well. Hence, the poor quality of industry data is responsible for the loose connection that is usually found between concentration and profitability. --Concentration Indices,Profitability,Discrete Regression Models

Barriers to Entry and Profitability

Barriers to entry are regarded as major impediments to the working of markets. Entry must not necessarily actually take place - the perceived threat of entry may encourage incumbent firms to behave as if they are in a competitive market, even if they are not. We present empirical evidence on effects of perceived threat of entry on profitability. Using information from managers about how they assess the existence of entry barriers a strong impact of these assessments on profitability is confirmed. The number and the relative size of competitors also exert considerable effects. We find no statistically significant relation between the perceived threat of entry and the actual number of firms if the size of the relevant market is taken into account. --Barriers to Entry,Profitability,Discrete Regression Models

You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs: the impact of venture capitalists on executive turnover

We present evidence on venture capitalists? (VCs) impact on turnover of executives for a sample of nearly 47,000 German high-tech start-ups between 1995 and 2004. We confirm that the presence of VCs increases the probability of a change in the initial executive team. Additionally, we take a closer look on the subsample of venturebacked firms. We find that a small distance between the VCs and the companies they finance and a larger total stake in the company owned by VCs increase the probability of changes in the initial executive teams. --Venture Capital,Executive Turnover

The propensity to patent with vertically differentiated products: An empirical investigation

This paper empirically investigates a firm's propensity to patent. It thereby builds on a theoretical model on a firms' patenting decision in a market with vertically differentiated products. We deduce and empirically test several hypotheses from the theoretical results regarding patenting and rival's market entry decision presented in Zaby (2009). Our main finding is that in industries which are characterized by easy-to-use knowledge spillover, the technological lead of the inventor is reduced to such an extent that the propensity to patent increases. Furthermore, the intensity of patent protection has a delaying impact on rival's market entry. --patenting decision,secrecy,disclosure requirement,patent height,vertical product differentiation

Money for novelty : The role of venture capital investments for innovation in young technology-based firms

This paper examines the role of venture capital on a firm's innovation activities by using a data set of German technology-based firms founded between 1996 and 2005. Innovation is proxied by patent counts and an index of innovativeness which reflects the degree to which a young firm has developed new technologies based on its own or external resources. The results show that VC financing has a positive impact on both patenting and innovativeness, even if we account for endogeneity of VC financing

The propensity to patent with horizontally differentiated products: An empirical investigation

In this paper we empirically investigate the theoretical results obtained in Zaby (2009). From the theoretical model, which introduces the decision to patent into a setting with horizontally differentiated products we deduce several hypotheses and test these empirically. We find that the propensity to patent increases when market entry costs decrease. Furthermore, if the disclosure requirement linked to a patent has an impact, the propensity to patent decreases with the strength of the disclosure effect. --patenting decision,secrecy,disclosure requirement,market entry,horizontal product differentiation

The Link Between Firms' Innovation Decision and the Business Cycle: An Empirical Analysis

The sensitivity of innovation activities with respect to the business cycle is often assumed to be small. In this paper the hypothesis on cyclical dependence of innovation activities is tested for firms in the German manufacturing, and additionally for SMEs. To this end firms' innovation decisions are considered. The decision to innovate in one period is modelled via a first-order Markov chain approach. The results suggest that the patterns in innovative behavior are linked to the business cycle

The effect of broadband infrastructure on entrepreneurial activities: The case of Germany

This paper investigates whether the local infrastructure favours entrepreneurial activities. Besides the physical and knowledge infrastructure we take into account a county's broadband availability by building an index which accounts for county-related specificities. We find that broadband availability fosters entrepreneurial activities particularly in high-tech sectors for which efficient ways of knowledge transfer is crucial. --broadband provision,physical and knowledge infrastructure,local entrepreneurial activities

You Can’t Make an Omelette without Breaking Eggs: The Impact of Venture Capitalists on Executive Turnover

We present evidence on venture capitalists’ (VCs) impact on turnover of executives for a sample of nearly 47,000 German high-tech start-ups between 1995 and 2004. We confirm that the presence of VCs increases the probability of a change in the initial executive team. Additionally, we take a closer look on the subsample of venturebacked firms. We find that a small distance between the VCs and the companies they finance and a larger total stake in the company owned by VCs increase the probability of changes in the initial executive teams