Ph.D. Harhoff

As the world emerges from one of the biggest ?nancial crises in history, the list of causative factors for the global bubble that preceded it becomes clear. A lack of transparency in the investment markets, a rush to illiquid assets and a glori?cation of aggressive investment strategies are some of those factors. If we can learn anything from the crisis, it de?nitely includes that many of the largest and most important investors knew too little about how to deal with investments outside the classic, public stock markets. Indeed, investments in illiquid Private Equity (PE) and Venture Capital (VC) funds have played a signi?cant role in many seemingly low-risk, high-return investment strategies, even though investors in these funds had few guidelines from academics or regulators on how to treat this asset class. This is unfortunate, not only because these funds play a crucial role in the ?nancing of non-public companies – e.g. the essential ?nancing of many in- vative start-up ?rms or the capital investments in so many non-public medi- sized companies. The lack of analysis is also regrettable, since economically important investors, e.g. pension funds or insurances, seek to diversify their investments. But only few studies have empirically analyzed how investors choose and invest in PE and VC funds. Daniel Hobohm helps to ?ll this - search gap with his doctoral thesis.

Preface Throughout the last years the brand community phenomenon gained increasing importance for companies and consumer alike. It offers companies the chance to increase the brand loyalty of their customers and to open up their innovation processes by integrating selected customers. Yet it also poses major questions to managers. Should we create our own brand community? How can we manage the permanent interaction with our customers once we started the brand community? Brand loyalty is strongly driven by brand community integration. In contrast to most of the literature which focuses on the static brand loyalty effects of firm-established brand community at a given time, Philipp Wiegandt examines in his analysis the dynamic brand loyalty effects over time. By doing so he analyses whether the so far observed brand loyalty effects are merely based on selection or if causality exists between firm-established brand community membership and brand loyalty. In his dissertation, Wiegandt undertakes a study of the value creation potential of brand communities for companies. Wiegandt contributed to the conception and realisation of a fi- established brand community in the automobile industry, whose creation he examined empirically. With a quasi-experimental design the creation of this firm-established brand community was examined concerning the brand loyalty effects it has on its members over time.

The economic importance of entrepreneurs as innovators, drivers of societal change, and contributors to wealth creation is uncontested. Researchers from various disciplines have investigated the process of new firm creation as well as the role of entrepreneurs in that process. In the same fashion, the role of venture capital investors as supporters of entrepreneurs has been widely studied and is reasonably well understood by entrepreneurship scholars today. Rapid firm growth fueled by venture capital investments triggers tremendous dynamics in the development of young firms. However, entrepreneurship - search frequently ascribes a rather static role to the entrepreneur in his start-up company. The phenomenon of founder turnover – a situation in which entrep- neurs decide to leave their initially taken job position – has mostly been - glected in the literature. Moreover, little is known about the frequency, causes and the impact of founder turnover. With the present book, Martin Heibel seeks to fill this gap by analyzing founder turnover in German venture capital backed start-up companies. Martin Heibel develops two unique data sets specifically assembled through an expe- ment and an online survey. His in-depth analyses cover antecedents and p- formance implications of founder turnover. They combine venture capitalists’ as well as entrepreneurs’ perspectives on founder turnover, and yield detailed - sights into the interaction between financiers and founders.

Joachim Henkel zeigt am Beispiel von embedded Linux auf, dass eine selektive Freigabe von Entwicklungen offene, kollektive Innovationsprozesse ermoglicht, von denen unter geeigneten Bedingungen alle Beteiligen profitieren. Kostspielige Parallelarbeiten konnen vermieden werden und die Unternehmen ihre Ressourcen auf diejenigen Entwicklungen konzentrieren, die fur ihre Kunden wirklich Wert schaffen.

Driven by the convergence of international ?nancial public markets, investors around the globe are searching for alternative asset classes which provide diversi?cation of their portfolios while earning attractive returns. Private equity, denominating equity investments in privately held companies, promises to ful?ll both criteria. Over the last three decades, the global private equity industry has experienced an enormous growth. Private equity has become an important ingredient in the portfolios of institutional investors, such as banks, insurance companies and pension funds. Despite its increasing importance, relatively few are known about the characteristics and specialities of private equity. Therefore, practitioners are turning to researchers for systematic information in order to take sound investment decisions. In his dissertation, Ulrich Lossen contributes to this need of information. Lossen applies advanced econometric methods to a unique data set which he assembled speci?cally for the purpose of this thesis. His analysis focuses on the choice of portfolio strategies by private equity ?rms and the impact of this choice on funds’ performance. His research proceeds in three steps. First, Lossen models the trade-o? between diversi?cation and specialization in private equity funds theoretically. Secondly, he analyzes the in?uence of external factors on the choice of private equity ?rms to diversify their portfolios across di?erent dimensions, such as ?nancing stages, industries, and geographic regions. Finally, he examines the impact of such diversi?cation on private equity funds’ performance.

Geleitwort Venture Capital ist ein wichtiger Baustein in der Finanzierung junger, schnell wachsender Unternehmen. Die Entwicklung in den USA, Grolibritannien und Kontinentaieuropa hat gezeigt, dass VC-Gesellschaften bei der Finanzierung von Unternehmen eine volkswi- schaftlich wichtige Rolle spielen. Die Funktionsweise von Venture Capital-Fonds wird in Offentlichkeit und Politik aber immer noch nicht gut verstanden - diese Wissensliicke lasst sowohl unreaUstisch hohe Erwartungen wie auch negative Fehlinterpretationen zu, die in der jiingsten Debatte um Heuschrecken" einen traurigen Hohepunkt fanden. Mit wissenschaftlichen Untersuchungen wurde in den letzten Jahren verstarkt versucht, die Funktionsweise von VC-Fonds zu analysieren. Vor allem das vielschichtige Verhaltnis z- schen VC-Fonds und ihren Portfoliounternehmen sowie die Risiko- und Rendite- Charakteristika von VC-Fonds werden derzeit nicht nur theoretisch, sondern zunehmend auch empirisch erforscht. Die Arbeit von Christian Tausend leistet einen wichtigen Beitrag zu einem verbesserten Verstandnis der VC-Branche. Die Arbeit analysiert ein Themenfeld, das bisher nur geringe Beachtung gefunden hat - die Kriterien, anhand derer institutionelle Investoren diejenigen VC-Fonds auswahlen, in die sie investieren mochten."

Whenever an economic institution is being transformed, researchers have an unusual opportunity to study causes and effects of the transformation and to test the economic theory related to the institution itself. Over the course of the last decade the global securities exchange industry has undergone such a tremendous change. Stock exchanges have demutualized and have turned into for-profit entities. Securities exchanges play a crucial role in modern market economies. They provide market participants with financial instruments of all sorts, serve as mechanism for price discovery and are an important source for external financing. Despite their important role, research covering the demutualization of stock exchanges has been sparse. Felix Treptow seeks to fill this gap in the literature and presents in this book an in depth analysis of the demutualization phenomenon. In his thesis, he applies advanced econometric methods to data sets which were assem­ bled specifically for the purpose of his analysis. Each of the three self-contained chapters of this volume addresses different issues which are of importance to the various stake­ holders in this process. The analysis covers the micro- and macroeconomic causes of demutualization, its impact on market liquidity and the changing relationship between exchanges and issuers.

Research on the patent system and the analysis of patenting activities have become an important field in economics and l)usin(\ss administration. The global demand for patcuit protection has been increasing strongly over the last decades. Institutional changes as well as the broadening of patentable subject matter pose new challenges to patentees and patent offices alike. Especially in Europe, the debate on the patentabihty of biotechnology and softwa- related inventions led to broad public attention to the design of the patent system. Given these developments, it is no wonder that practitioners as well as policy makers are turning to researchers for answers on how to cope with new challenges threatening the patent system. In his dissertation, Stefan Wagner attempts to answer some of these questions. Wagner apphes advanced econometric methods to large-scale data sets which were assembled specifically for the purpose of this thesis. His analysis focuses on various aspects of patent filings, examination and opposition at the European Patent Office. Each of the four self-contained chapters of this book addresses different issues which are important to all stake-holders of the patent system. Wagner closely analyzes institutional features of the European Patent Office, such as the duration of the examination of patent applications, the determinants of the occurrence of patent oppositions and the patentability of business methods under the European Patent Convention. In his concluding chapter he examines the managerial decision between outsourcing patent-related services to patent attorneys or generating them in-house.

Zahlreiche Studien belegen die grosse Bedeutung, die innovativen UnternehmensgrUndungen fiir die Schaffung von Arbeitsplatzen, die Steigerung des Wohlstands und die internationale Wettbewerbsfahigkeit von Volkswirtschaften zukommt. Es mag deshalb uberraschen, dass die Entstehung neuer Unternehmen bis Ende der 1980er Jahre nur sehr vereinzelt im Mittelpunkt wirtschaftswissenschaftlicher Forschungsarbeiten stand. Die vorliegende Forschungsarbeit von Marc Gruber, die als Habilitationsschrift an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Mun chen eingereicht wurde, nimmt sich eines fiir den Grundungserfolg zentralen Bereichs an, indem sie die Marketingplanung von Unternehmensgrundungen theoretisch und empirisch untersucht. Mir hat es deshalb eine besondere Freude bereitet, das Referat fiir diese Arbeit zu ubernehmen. Wenn man von der von Marc Gruber verfassten Habilitationsschrift absieht, existieren weder in der deutschsprachigen noch in der internationalen Literatur grundlegende wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zur Organisation des Marketings in Unternehmensgrundungen. Aufgrund der Pionierfunktion der Arbeit ist es auch nur folgerichtig, dass Marc Gruber zunachst das theoretische Fundament und die Konturen des Forschungsfeldes "Entrepreneurial Marketing" herausarbeitet und die Besonderheiten der Marketingplanung bei Grundungen darlegt. Die an spruchsvolle empirische Analyse konzentriert sich auf die Marketingplanung wagniskapital finanzierter UnternehmensgrUndungen, die uber besonders hohes Wachstumspotenzial verfii gen und von denen wichtige gesamtwirtschaftliche Impulse ausgehen. Die von Gruber durch gefiihrte Befragung ist bei den Unternehmen auf grosse Resonanz gestossen, wie sich anhand der vergleichsweise hohen Rucklaufquote der schriftlichen Erhebung zeigen lasst. Die Studie ist also nicht nur aus wissenschaftlicher Sicht, sondern auch fiir Grunder und Manager von neugegrundeten Wachstumsunternehmen von hoher Relevanz."

The increasing number of inter-firm collaborations suggests that the collaborative mode of organizing transactions has become quite attractive in many industries. Today's firms increasingly operate in highly technology-and knowledge intensive areas where the sources of knowledge are located more diffusely. Moreover, globalization exposes firms to global competition, but also creates tremendous opportunities for exploiting technologies and competencies more fully than in the past. Carolin Haussler's dissertation acknowledges these new challenges and studies various aspects of collaborative arrangements. Among the questions addressed in her thesis are: Do inter-firm collaboration increase firm value? How do partners in a business alliance allocate control rights? Does contractual structure influence performance? Does the collaborative mode of organizing influence firm dynamics? In her dissertation, Carolin Haussler attempts to answer some of these questions. She uses quantitative econometric evidence and qualitative information from firms. In chapter 2, she presents an event study and analyzes stock market reactions to inter-firm collaboration announcements. The findings suggest that not all firms profit equally from inter­ firm collaboration. In chapter 3, Carolin Haussler addresses the problems emerging in asymmetrical partnerships, e.g. between large pharmaceutical firms and biotechnology startups. Using a unique dataset on inter-firm collaborations, Haussler finds that the assignment of control rights is mainly related to incentive issues and the bargaining position of firms.