C
Refine
Document Type
- Article (78)
- Conference Proceeding (1)
Keywords
- Business model innovation (5)
- Corporate venturing (5)
- Literature review (5)
- Dynamic capabilities (4)
- Value creation (4)
- Corporate accelerator (3)
- Corporate venture capital (3)
- Open innovation (3)
- SME (3)
- Strategic management (3)
Institute
- Chair of Strategic Entrepreneurship (23)
- Chair of Accounting and Auditing (17)
- Chair of Strategic Management and Digital Entrepreneurship (9)
- Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship (6)
- Chair of Digital Innovation in Service Industries (5)
- Chair of Marketing Management and Sustainability (4)
- Chair of International Management (3)
- Chair of Marketing and Retail (3)
- Chair of Mergers & Acquisitions (3)
- Chair of Economic and Business Ethics (2)
Has Fulltext
- no (79)
Purpose
The paper aims to provide companies with a better understanding of the needs of institutional investors to improve the disclosure of sustainability information by companies. The study investigates the changed information needs of institutional investors resulting from the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses an internet-based survey instrument amongst institutional investors to gain insights into their needs regarding sustainability information. The authors received 155 responses in total and use descriptive statistics and t-tests to analyse the survey data.
Findings
The results demonstrate that the implementation of the SFDR challenges institutional investors, as it affects their decision process. Additionally, the findings still indicate a lack of available corporate sustainability information, making it even more challenging for institutional investors to make appropriate investment decisions. Respondents suggest that information on climate-related risks is more important than the European Union (EU) Taxonomy metrics for meeting the SFDR requirements.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are mainly restricted to the opinion of European investors. However, the evidence contributes to the existing literature by investigating institutional investors' information needs in the new regulatory landscape.
Practical implications
As the study provides insights into institutional investors' needs, reporting companies recognise the relevance of transparently providing sustainability information to be further considered in the investment process of institutional investors despite the regulation. The findings can help regulators develop uniform and global sustainability reporting standards.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to provide evidence on sustainability information requested on the institutional investors' side. The survey gathers primary data from professional investment members unavailable in databases or reports.
Während der COVID-19 Pandemie hat sich die finanzielle Situation im deutschen Profifußball zunehmend verschärft. Dementsprechend wurde der Bedarf nach Instrumenten zur Risikofrüherkennung im Lizenzierungsverfahren der Bundesliga verstärkt. Hieran setzt der vorliegende Beitrag an und stellt das international anerkannte Altman Z"-Score-Modell zur Erfassung der wirtschaftlichen Bestandskraft der Proficlubs vor. Dabei sind Limitationen des Modells bekannt und zur entsprechenden Kalibrierung wird es in ein Ratingmodell überführt. Anschließend wird das Modell angewandt und die finanzielle Lage der 36 Profifußballclubs der 1. und 2. Fußball-Bundesliga eingehend analysiert. Unter Betrachtung einer Saison weisen 14 von 36 Fußballclubs hohe finanzielle Risiken auf. Das vorgelegte Modell kann für die Debatte um Risikomanagementsysteme in dieser Branche zweifelsohne in Betracht gezogen werden.
The European Commission published the European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) regulation act for mandatory adoption of XBRL and hypertext markup language (HTML) usage by European listed firms. The results of prior quantitative and qualitative studies already evidence the growing dissemination of voluntary HTML-formatted financial information on the internet and reveal its perceived benefits. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence on the determinants of standardised financial reports in accordance with IFRS that are voluntarily published in HTML format, called online financial reports (OFR). We investigate the determinants of the decision of European listed firms to publish OFR from 2014 to 2019. We find that the decision of using an OFR is adversely affected by firm leverage and ownership concentration. Our findings contribute to the ongoing research on internet financial reporting and aim to improve our understanding of what determines OFR usage in an international context. Our findings may have practical implications for the disclosure strategy of listed firms.
In recent years, research on corporate sustainability integration strategies has witnessed a significant growth in interest. However, contributions remain disjointed and fragmented, preventing the emergence of a cohesive understanding of the current research state. This study uses a systematic review of 126 articles from Web of Science (WoS) and Ebsco to extract a seven-dimensional integrated view of corporate sustainability integration strategies. Our review's contributions are threefold: (1) we enrich the corporate sustainability strategies literature by identifying the focuses and themes of recent publications; (2) we address the research's fragmentation issue by presenting the sustainability implementation strategies in an integrated view with the essential interdependencies shown at different hierarchical levels and across organizational dimensions simultaneously, (3) we present the theoretical and managerial implications and discuss in detail the crucial interdependencies of sustainability integration strategies. The study finishes with a conclusion highlighting potential avenues for future research.
There is a plethora of research on organisational design elements of corporate venture capital (CVC) programs. However, the fragmented nature of this vein of corporate venturing research has led to an inconsistent picture regarding the organisational design of CVC programs. The goal of this study is to provide a holistic picture for both scholars and practitioners by integrating empirical research on the design of CVC programs. Therefore, the study employs a systematic literature review approach including a sample of 41 studies published from 1987 to 2023. For a systematic assessment of design elements of CVC programs, an inductive concept development approach is used to illustrate four main design dimensions–personnel, corporate relationship management, investment operating model and portfolio relationship management–which reflect 69 descriptive design elements. While previous studies have mainly looked at individual design dimensions of CVC programs from a strategic perspective, this paper presents comprehensive view on organisational structures of CVC programs by identifying building blocks of CVC design according to chosen objectives and available typologies. By specifying and allocating design dimensions to structural types and objectives of CVC programs, this study may also serve as a foundation for further research on the concepts which prevent high rates of early abandonment of CVCs.
How can Business Schools create and appropriate value in university-based technological innovation?
(2023)
Discussion in the scholarly literature about partnerships between entrepreneurs and universities for the creation of technological spinouts, and for helping universities to extract more value from their technology-related intellectual property (IP), is lively. However, the literature exhibits a gap in understanding how business schools may participate in the process of technology commercialization by facilitating the creation of intellectual property rights. In this conceptual paper, we seek to fill this gap in three ways. First, we offer some novel conceptual insights by studying the partnership between technical universities and entrepreneurs using a multi-level approach, incorporating a phenomenological research method, through the lenses of several established theoretical perspectives from the domains of economics, social science, and management: the division of labor, motivation, the nature of the firm, organization, and IP. Second, we develop a working hypothesis focused on learning reinforcement through multiple organizational levels that predicts how business schools may play a prominent role in technology commercialization, together with the theoretical conditions under which they may do so. Third, we offer an IP management model under which business schools, as such, may create and appropriate financial value by generating innovation-related IP that may be transferred to enterprises. Our research reveals a misalignment between promising approaches to university-based technological innovation suggested by normative theory and typical approaches associated with extant practice; and it also highlights a strategic issue, which is that the performance of most universities in the domain of technology transfer is disappointing. We suggest a way to address this misalignment, and this strategic issue, which is through the establishment of what we label as "Technology Innovation Laboratories" in business schools-analogous to technical laboratories usually associated with technical universities-that could generate various types of product- or service-related IP. This type of intellectual property-typically different from invention IP, and which we label here as "business IP"-could be exchanged for equity in spinouts or royalties from licensing, similar to the manner in which the invention IP of technical universities is usually commercialized.
Purpose
Negotiations with venture capitalists (VCs) play a crucial role in the entrepreneurial financing process. Habitual entrepreneurs are generally able to secure more venture capital funding and on better deal terms than novices. This study investigates the disparities in negotiation competencies between habitual and novice entrepreneurs during VC funding negotiations.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed a qualitative approach to investigate the variation in negotiation competencies between habitual and novice entrepreneurs, utilizing the negotiation competency model (NCM). The data analysis and interpretation adopted an inductive concept development approach. A total of 21 semi-structured interviews were conducted with seasoned VCs located in Europe, all of whom had actively engaged in funding negotiations with both habitual and novice entrepreneurs.
Findings
The findings revealed substantial disparities between novice and habitual entrepreneurs in VC negotiations. Although not all competencies of the NCM exhibited variances, the results indicate three primary dimensions contributing to these differences: expertise, reputation, and negotiation competence.
Originality/value
This study is groundbreaking as it represents one of the earliest empirical investigations into the entrepreneurial negotiation competencies within VC negotiations. The findings endeavor to narrow the gap between novice and habitual entrepreneurs in VC negotiations by pinpointing the distinct variations between these two groups, which hold significant practical implications. Furthermore, this study expands the conceptual framework of the NCM by identifying supplementary competencies within the realm of VC negotiations.
Entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA) is gaining momentum as a viable alternative to starting a company on one’s own. However, despite its growing practical relevance, scholarly work about ETA is scarce and has not been comprehensively reviewed. To address this gap, we conduct a systematic review of entrepreneurship literature by identifying studies that examine ETA and its outcomes. Our review methodology was developed based on established guidelines for systematic reviews and protocols, which informed our scoping review process and analytical approach. Searches were conducted on three electronic databases, and inclusion/exclusion criteria were applied. For inclusion, studies must examine an entrepreneurial perspective in buying into a company. Quantitative and qualitative data were extracted for thematic analysis and descriptive statistics. ETA is an entrepreneurship model with growing appeal and relevance in practice but limited academic evidence. While there is extensive research on leveraged buyouts and family-external succession, evidence specifically on ETA is still lacking. In particular, knowledge about the entrepreneurial intent that makes ETA unique is absent from the evidence base. As ETA gains momentum, entrepreneurs need to understand the unique properties, the various approaches, and the upsides and eventual downsides of acquiring a business instead of starting one from scratch. The present work may serve as a starting point for future research as we scope existing evidence on the archetype of ETA and identify a definition, available models, and a process archetype.
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to develop an integrative framework of accelerator design to answer the question of what activities accelerators perform and how they function within a structured framework. Research on the functioning of accelerators as a mechanism for startup engagement produced multiple empirical results. However, the comparability of relevant research is strongly limited, currently hindering theoretical developments. Existing accelerator design models often differ and only partially overlap, which leaves extant literature with a fragmented and discordant conceptual understanding.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a meta-synthesis method using qualitative analysis of 36 accelerator design articles, an integrative framework is developed. After identification of relevant literature, a renowned method for extracting, coding and synthesizing data on individual and cross-study level is applied to identify accelerator design constructs. Eventually, identified accelerator design constructs are integrated into a framework resting on the activity system lens of business model design.
Findings
The article reconciles fragmented knowledge on accelerator design and shows how accelerator design can be holistically conceptualized by 32 key activities clustered in eight design dimensions. The framework is complemented by an initial guideline for measurement. The findings further highlight formerly disregarded aspects of governance and community formation from a processual and structural perspective.
Originality/value
This article is the first to present a comprehensive picture of accelerator design integrating multiple empirical findings of prior research into a single coherent framework. This framework offers a shared foundation for future research exploring the delineations, functioning and impact of accelerators. From a practical perspective, the article provides managers of accelerators a guide to design, review and improve programs according to their value creation goals.
Was soll ich nicht tun?
(2023)
Karl Homann hat in den letzten 50 Jahren ein umfassendes Forschungsprogramm einer ›philosophischen Ethik mit ökonomischer Methode‹ vorgelegt. Der vorliegende Beitrag zielt darauf ab, dieses Forschungsprogramm in drei Schritten zu würdigen: 1) Rekonstruktion des Forschungsprogramms, 2) Begründung des Bedarfs einer ›progressiven Problemverschiebung in Form der Ergänzung durch die interaktionsethische Ausarbeitung einer Individualmoral und 3) inhaltliche Überlegungen zu einer solchen interaktionsethisch fundierten Individualmoral.
Digital Transformation (DT) has become a challenge and opportunity for firms competing in dynamic and volatile markets. Especially small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) face difficulties within the digitalization process based on their limited resources and capabilities. It is essential to understand which factors influence this process to enable the success of DT in SMEs. However, there is fragmented research on DT in SMEs. To close this gap this paper aims to identify and categorize the influencing factors of DT in SMEs by building on the Attention Based View (ABV). Therefore, a systematic literature review was conducted with a total of 75 papers published from January 2012 to January 2022. 354 factors were identified. With the help of Gioia-Method a taxonomy was created. The main finding of the research is a taxonomy, which consist of three main categories and 17 sub-categories, which organize the factors identified from the sample. The taxonomy answers the calls in research for a comprehensive and tangible picture on the influencing factors of DT in SME independent from disciplines or industries. For practitioners the taxonomy allows to understand and approach what specific factors influence their digital transformation journey and where to put attention.
Die Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) steht vor der Umsetzung in deutsches Recht. Die Nachfolgerin der Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) bringt etliche Änderungen im Hinblick auf die künftige Nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung in Deutschland und Europa mit sich. Doch wie steht es am deutschen Kapitalmarkt in der Berichtssaison 2022 um die Ex-ante-Konformität der Berichterstattung im Hinblick auf die CSRD? In einer Analyse basierend auf den inhaltlichen Anforderungen des CSRD-Entwurfs der EU-Kommission vom April 2021 geht der vorliegende Beitrag der Frage nach, inwieweit die größten deutschen börsennotierten Unternehmen den neuen Anforderungen bereits vor der Umsetzung der CSRD in deutsches Recht gerecht werden. Der Beitrag gibt darüber hinaus Aufschluss über die wesentlichen Stärken und Schwächen der Unternehmen in Bezug auf die Nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung und über die relevanten Einflussfaktoren für die Ex-ante-Konformität der Berichterstattung.
Although open innovation (OI) has been characterized as one key driver for business model innovation (BMI), the literature lacks an in-depth understanding of how OI influences the business models (BM) of new ventures. However, such an understanding is crucial for improving the value creation and value capture for technological innovations in inbound OI settings. Based upon a unique dataset of 19 new ventures from 7 countries, which participated in Europe’s largest OI platform, this study finds that OI leads to an expansion in the customer segment, a greater focus in the value proposition, a shorter (but deeper) value chain, and challenges to the revenue model. The paper highlights important theoretical contributions for the BMI and OI literature, and derives tangible managerial guidance for entering OI partnerships.
To adapt their competitive advantages for successful strategic renewal, established companies must apply suitable innovation activities. One way to achieve this is the establishment of corporate venturing units that create organizationally consequential new business innovation for their parent company. However, the understanding of the distinctive organizational characteristics for such strategic corporate venturing is limited. To address this gap, our abductive study develops a conceptual organizational framework by linking key concepts of strategic renewal with corporate venturing. This framework is subsequently compared with insights emerging from the qualitative data of 29 corporate venturing units. This comparison allows us to define six types of units with different possible roles for the strategic renewal of the parent company, and a final exploratory organizational framework with distinctive organizational characteristics for strategic corporate venturing. These include a set of dynamic capabilities with corresponding resources as possible enablers for a planned innovation logic that requires interlinked-ambidextrous structures. These findings provide a foundation for an empirical model of strategic corporate venturing, as well as novel insights for establishing dynamic capabilities and ambidexterity within interlinked organizational entities. Practitioners can build on these findings to leverage corporate venturing units as a systematic and organized innovation activity for strategic renewal.
Despite considerable interest from academics and management professionals in creating sustainable, competitive advantages through business model innovation (BMI), and highly-prominent BMI success stories, the contemporary understanding of how company-internal antecedents can enable systematic BMI remains limited. However, this specific knowledge is necessary if companies are to repeatedly exploit BMI's strategic and financial benefits. Therefore, this paper aims to reveal the internal antecedents by applying an in-depth qualitative research approach to the systematic BMI of all five German automotive manufacturers. The results show that systematic BMI is enabled through: 1) unified orientation; 2) dynamic orchestration; 3) flexible operations; 4) adjacent fields, which are underpinned by 16 distinct second-order themes. These findings significantly enhance the theoretical and managerial understanding of the enabling factors for BMI, and contribute unique empirical insights to the ongoing academic debate - particularly from the perspectives of dynamic capabilities and strategic agility.
Service productivity
(2023)
The service productivity literature has grown remarkably over the last two decades and has gathered substantial knowledge. However, with the gradual acceleration of knowledge production about service productivity, the collective evidence becomes more fragmented and interdisciplinary. The purpose of this literature review is to systematically identify and analyze 190 publications focusing on service productivity to link previously dispersed studies as a next step in theory development. By clustering existing service productivity research into macroeconomic, mesoeconomic, and microeconomic dimensions, our review reveals that much progress has been made in advancing the open-ended theory of optimal service productivity. Reviewing key insights from the existing literature, we show that the majority of service productivity research adopts a one-sided industrial perspective that primarily focuses on firm productivity. Although valuable, these studies most often leave out consumers’ time and effort, neglecting the value of consumer-generated input. Thus, the present research offers a new conceptualization of service productivity by emphasizing it as an open and customer-inclusive process that transcends the service producer–customer divide. Finally, we contribute a set of propositions. Within these propositions, we identify beneficial conditions and means for firms to improve service productivity. In sum, the article provides policymakers, researchers, and practitioners with valuable guidance for developing means to generate positive effects in a service economy that lacks productivity.
Earnings management decisions and ineffective monitoring activities have contributed to financial accounting scandals and reduced confidence in firms’ reporting quality among potential investors, lenders and other creditors. The implementation of an effective top management team (TMT) is considered essential in this context. It is well known that top managers have considerable discretion over firms’ financial reporting since they choose whether and how to manage earnings. However, research has yet to establish the relationship between top managers’ diversity attributes and firms’ earnings management levels. Therefore, this study analyses whether and how top managers’ nationality, gender and age diversity are associated with accounting quality. Based on a sample of German DAX 30 listed firms from 2011 to 2018, we found that diversity in TMT nationality and gender have a positive impact on accounting quality. This relationship is context-dependent and negatively moderated by the tenure of the chief financial officer. Our findings provide novel insights on accounting quality for practitioners such as investors, regulators and stock corporations. The implications of this study further advance the academic debate on diversity in TMTs and its effects on earnings management.
Corporate venture capitalists (CVCs) have shorter lifespans than independent venture capitalists (IVCs), but the reasons for this are not well understood. This paper identifies influencing factors affecting lifespans of CVCs and IVCs. Based on a sample of 190 articles, this systematic review identifies 41 factors that influence VC performance across four dimensions: decisions about strategies, the exploitation of venture capital resources and characteristics, active involvement in the venture capital environment, and limited underlying room for maneuvering. These dimensions show differences in the decision-making of IVCs and CVCs and impact lifespan. CVCs yield greater financial performance than IVCs. However, our results suggest that five CVC-specific factors are significant influencing factors which can explain lifespan differences: investment objectives, organizational autonomy and structure, interorganizational relationships, commitment of corporate parent, and parent company size. Overall, the longevity of CVCs is largely determined by a number of internal decisions made between the CVC and its parent company. Limiting the influence of corporate parents is suggested to enhance the success and lifespan of CVCs.
Barbarians inside the gates
(2022)
Purpose
Facing increased asset prices and growing competition, private equity firms needed to innovate their established business model and shift from focusing on financial engineering to creating operating value. Yet, the authors understand little about how private equity firms increase the value of companies in their portfolios. This paper aims to shed light on organizational strategies, activities and governance principles that private equity firms use to create value.
Design/methodology/approach
This investigation combines several qualitative research approaches. Using in-depth interviews with executives in 35 private equity firms, the authors define industry-specific design principles for value creation using a Gioia methodology. They then use the Eisenhardt methodology to make in-depth case comparisons among sample firms.
Findings
Private equity firms employ one of four strategies – labeled “Infiltrator,” “Consultant,” “Organizer” or “Investor” – to create value in portfolio companies, each with a different organizational structure, level of cooperation between investor and portfolio firm and specific configuration of design elements.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to focus on private equity value creation strategies from an organizational perspective. To their knowledge, no other publication has tapped this deeply into the interface between the private equity firm and the portfolio company to define the exact approach taken by the firm. This study contributes to the emerging discussion around the nonfinancial inputs to value creation. In addition, this qualitative research design is underrepresented in private equity research.
Driven by the adoption of novel technologies, digital transformation has turned into a strategic priority for many firms. In response, the recently introduced role of the Chief Digital Officer (CDO) however, causes dissension regarding its delineation from the Chief Information Officer (CIO). Hence, the present study employs a systematic literature review and analysis to investigate how the tasks and responsibilities, requirements and skills, and the role types of the CDO and CIO differ in the context of digital transformation. A detailed examination of their duties reveals that the CDO focuses almost exclusively on demand-side activities, whereas the CIO is in charge of information systems (IS) supply-side and demand-side tasks. The intersection with the role of the CDO increases as the CIO’s demand-side focus grows. The implications of this study are summarized in a first guideline that supports firms that employ a CIO and consider the appointment of a CDO.