Survival of Spinoffs and Other Startups: First Evidence for the Private Sector in Germany, 1976-2008
Daniel Fackler, Claus Schnabel
Abstract
Using a 50 percent sample of all establishments in the German private sector, we report that spinoffs are larger and initially employ more skilled and more experienced workers than other startups. Controlling for these and other differences, we find that spinoffs are less likely to exit than other startups. We show that in West and East Germany and in all sectors investigated pulled spinoffs (where the parent company continues after they are founded) generally have the lowest exit hazards, followed by pushed spinoffs (where the parent company stops operations). The difference between both types of spinoffs is particularly pronounced in the first three years. Contrary to expectations, intra-industry spinoffs are not found to have lower exit hazards in our sample.
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Macroeconomic Factors and Micro-Level Bank Risk
Claudia M. Buch
Bundesbank Discussion Paper 20/2010,
2010
Abstract
The interplay between banks and the macroeconomy is of key importance for financial and economic stability. We analyze this link using a factor-augmented vector autoregressive model (FAVAR) which extends a standard VAR for the U.S. macroeconomy. The model includes GDP growth, inflation, the Federal Funds rate, house price inflation, and a set of factors summarizing conditions in the banking sector. We use data of more than 1,500 commercial banks from the U.S. call reports to address the following questions. How are macroeconomic shocks transmitted to bank risk and other banking variables? What are the sources of bank heterogeneity, and what explains differences in individual banks’ responses to macroeconomic shocks? Our paper has two main findings: (i) Average bank risk declines, and average bank lending increases following expansionary shocks. (ii) The heterogeneity of banks is characterized by idiosyncratic shocks and the asymmetric transmission of common shocks. Risk of about 1/3 of all banks rises in response to a monetary loosening. The lending response of small, illiquid, and domestic banks is relatively large, and risk of banks with a low degree of capitalization and a high exposure to real estate loans decreases relatively strongly after expansionary monetary policy shocks. Also, lending of larger banks increases less while risk of riskier and domestic banks reacts more in response to house price shocks.
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Unternehmensgründungen aus Hochschulen
Viktor Slavtchev
HoF-Handreichungen 2. Beiheft zu „die hochschule“,
2013
Abstract
Unternehmensgründungen durch Wissenschaftler und Studenten sind ein wesentlicher Kanal zur Kommerzialisierung von Ergebnissen akademischer Forschung. Dabei zeichnen sich gerade wissensintensive Unternehmen durch hohe Wettbewerbsfähigkeit und Potenziale zur Schaffung von Arbeitsplätzen aus. Dieser Beitrag diskutiert die besonderen Probleme von Unternehmensgründungen aus Hochschulen sowie mögliche Ansatzpunkte einer Förderung.
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Regional Entrepreneurial Opportunities in the Biotech Industry: Exploring the Transition from Award-winning Nascent Entrepreneurs to Real Start-ups
Claus Michelsen, H. Wolf, Michael Schwartz
European Planning Studies,
2013
Abstract
Knowledge of factors that determine the transition from nascent entrepreneurship into real entrepreneurship is of major importance for policies aiming to effectively stimulate start-ups. Whereas scholars concentrated on person-specific factors to explain transition probabilities, environmental characteristics have been fairly neglected. Given that entrepreneurship is a strongly localized phenomenon, this paper argues that regional entrepreneurial opportunities are a driving force behind the transition from nascent entrepreneurship to new venture creation. Based on unique data on 103 nascent entrepreneurs in the German biotechnology industry, we empirically assess the importance of regional entrepreneurial opportunities on transition probabilities. Further, we introduce a new approach to measure nascent entrepreneurship by capturing individuals that actively participate in start-up competitions and have won at least one competition. Controlling for technology and individual characteristics, we find strong support for our hypotheses relating to the significant impact of general regional opportunities, specific regional opportunities and the entrepreneurial environment for the probability of transition from award-winning nascent entrepreneurs to real start-ups.
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Effects of Entrepreneurship Education at Universities
S. Laspita, H. Patzelt, Viktor Slavtchev
Jena Economic Research Papers, Nr. 2012-025,
No. 25,
2012
Abstract
This study analyzes the impact of entrepreneurship education at universities on the intentions of students to become entrepreneurs or self-employed in the short-term (immediately after graduation) and in the long-term (five years after graduation). A difference-in-differences approach is applied that relates changes in entrepreneurial intentions to changes in the attendance of entrepreneurship classes in the same period. To account for a potential bias due to self-selection into entrepreneurship classes, only individuals having no prior entrepreneurial intentions are analyzed. Our results indicate a stimulating effect of entrepreneurship education on students’ intentions to become entrepreneurs or self-employed in the long-term but a discouraging effect on their intentions in the short-term. These results support the conjecture that entrepreneurship education provides more realistic perspectives on what it takes to be an entrepreneur, resulting in ‘sorting’. Overall, the results indicate that entrepreneurship education may improve the quality of labor market matches, the allocation of resources and talent, and increase social welfare. Not distinguishing between short- and long-term intentions may lead to misleading conclusions regarding the economic and social impact of entrepreneurship education.
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Incubating an Illusion? Long-term Incubator Firm Performance after Graduation
Michael Schwartz
Growth and Change,
No. 4,
2011
Abstract
Local economic development policies worldwide perceive business incubation as an effective measure to promote regional growth through the support of young and innovative ventures. The common assumption is that incubation promotes firm growth, in particular after these firms graduated from their incubator organizations. This article investigates the long-term performance of 324 graduate firms from five German business incubators (incubated between 1990 and 2006) after they have (successfully) completed their incubation. The present study does not suffer from a survivor bias, meaning that performance data of non-surviving firms is also included. Using employment and sales measures as performance indicators, this study contributes to our knowledge with regard to long-term incubator firm performance after graduation. While in the first years after graduation there is significant growth of formerly incubated firms, further results do not support the presumption of continuous firm growth beyond incubation. A minority of graduate firms exhibits a strong increase in performance, but the majority of firms do not experience considerable growth.
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Aktuelle Trends: ista-IWH-Energieeffizienzindex 2009 - Weiterhin sinkender Energieverbrauch in Mehrfamilienhäusern
Claus Michelsen
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 12,
2010
Abstract
Der Energieverbrauch für Raumwärme in Mehrfamilienhäusern ist rückläufig. Das zeigen die aktuellen Ergebnisse des ista-IWH-Energieeffizienzindex für die Abrechnungsperiode 2009. Gegenüber 2006 ist der bundesweite Indexwert von 107 auf 98,5 gesunken. Dies entspricht einem Rückgang des durchschnittlichen Energiebedarfs um rund 13,4 Kilowattstunden je Quadratmeter Wohnfläche (kWh/m2) pro Jahr bzw. um rund –8,9%. Trotz dieser deutlichen Abnahme ist der Weg hin zu einem klimaneutralen Immobilienbestand noch sehr weit: Bundesweit verbrauchten Mehrfamilienhäuser im Jahr 2009 durchschnittlich rund 136 kWh/m2 – in den Neuen Ländern rund 124,5 kWh/m2 und in den Alten Ländern rund 139,5 kWh/m2. Nach wie vor besteht ein erhebliches regionales Gefälle im Energieverbrauch. Näher betrachtet weisen der Norden und der Westen Deutschlands, verglichen mit östlichen und südlichen Regionen, deutlich höhere Energiekennwerte auf. Vor allem die Mehrfamilienhäuser in Küstennähe und in den Ballungsgebieten Nordrhein-Westfalens schneiden auch im Jahr 2009 schlechter ab als diejenigen in den anderen Landesteilen.
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Regional Entrepreneurial Opportunities in the Biotech Industry: Exploring the Transition from Award-winning Nascent Entrepreneurs to Real Start-ups
H. Wolf, Claus Michelsen, Michael Schwartz
Abstract
Knowledge of factors that determine the transition from nascent entrepreneurship into real entrepreneurship is of major importance for policies aiming to effectively stimulate start-ups. Whereas scholars concentrated on person-specific factors to explain transition probabilities, environmental characteristics have been fairly neglected. Given that entrepreneurship is a strongly localized phenomenon, this paper argues that regional entrepreneurial opportunities are a driving force behind the transition from nascent entrepreneurship to new venture creation. Based on unique data on 103 nascent entrepreneurs in the German biotechnology industry, we empirically assess the importance of regional entrepreneurial opportunities on transition probabilities. Further, we introduce a new
approach to measure nascent entrepreneurship by capturing individuals that actively participate in start-up competitions and have won at least one competition. Controlling for technology and individual characteristics, we find strong support for our hypotheses relating to the significant impact of general regional opportunities, specific regional opportunities and the entrepreneurial environment for the probability of transition from award-winning nascent entrepreneurs to real start-ups.
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07.12.2010 • 68/2010
Weiterhin sinkender Energieverbrauch in Mehrfamilienhäusern
Der Energieverbrauch für Raumwärme in Mehrfamilienhäusern ist rückläufig. Das zeigen die aktuellen Ergebnisse des ista-IWH-Energieeffizienz-index für die Abrechnungsperiode 2009. Gegenüber 2006 ist der bundesweite Indexwert von 107 auf 98,5 gesunken. Dies entspricht einem Rückgang des durchschnittlichen Energiebedarfs um rund 13,4 Kilowattstunden je Quadratmeter Wohnfläche (kWh/m2) pro Jahr bzw. um rund –8,9%.