Should entrepreneurs plan or just storm the castle? A meta-analysis on contextual factors impacting the business planning–performance relationship in small firms

Entrepreneurship research engages in an intense debate about the value of business planning. Prior empirical findings have been fragmented and contradictory. This study contributes insights to the business planning discussion by following an evidence-based research approach. We conduct a meta-analysis on the business planning–performance relationship and specifically focus on contextual factors moderating the relationship. Results indicate that planning is beneficial, yet contextual factors such as newness of the firms and the cultural environment of firms significantly impact the relationship. Based on this evidence, we propose a concomitant and dynamic approach that combines planning and learning.     

Solvency II: stability problems with the SCR aggregation formula

One of the central issues in the Solvency II process will be an appropriate calculation of the Solvency Capital Requirement (SCR). This is the economic capital that an insurance company must hold in order to guarantee a one-year ruin probability of at most 0.5%. In the so-called standard formula, the overall SCR is calculated from individual SCRs in a particular way that imitates the calculation of the standard deviation for a sum of normally distributed risks (SCR aggregation formula). However, in order to cope with skewness in the individual risk distributions, this formula must be calibrated accordingly in order to maintain the prescribed level of confidence. In this paper, we want to show that the methods proposed and discussed thus far still show stability problems within the general setup.     

Increasing the usability and accessibility of geodynamic modelling tools to the geoscience community: UnderworldGUI

Geoscientists are faced with a number of complexities that represent obstacles to the development of realistic simulation of deep earth processes. Realistic 4D thermo-mechanical simulation using software packages like Underworld and Gale, when combined appropriately with geoscientific expertise, can lead to novel insights into the deformation of geological structures at a wide range of time and spatial scales. The challenge for end-user geoscientists lies in applying their knowledge within the framework of the software’s input specification, including initial, internal, and boundary conditions and output visualization parameters. We have built a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to remove many of the difficulties related to editing the Extensible Markup Language (XML) encoded input files of Underworld/Gale geomodels and therefore, to greatly broaden the user base of these software packages. By helping Underworld/Gale to meet a large audience, we provide a tool to the geoscience community that helps to move from untested conceptual models to physically valid, properly scaled modelling. Furthermore, the UnderworldGUI offers a mechanism for storing and retrieving experimental models in a centralised database, thus providing the geoscience community with a means to share the outcomes of its experimental research. Further details of the UnderworldGUI are available at the web site http://www.wiki.vislab.usyd.edu.au/moinwiki/UnderworldGUI.     

Entrepreneurial Marketing: Geringer Mitteleinsatz mit hoher Wirkung

Entrepreneurial Marketing (EM) will dem schwindenden Einfluss klassischer Medien entgegentreten. Bei den Konsumenten soll ein glaubwürdiges, anschlussf?higes Produktimage ankommen. So baut EM auf unkonventionelle Ma?nahmen zur Erzeugung von Aufmerksamkeit (Buzz Marketing), die exponentielle Diffusion von Kommunikationsinhalten (Viral Marketing), die Nutzung von Communities (Community Marketing) oder die (Aus-)Nutzung der Marketingma?nahmen der Konkurrenz (Ambush Marketing), und versucht, mit geringem Mitteleinsatz hohe Wirkungen zu erzielen (Guerilla Marketing).     

Uncertainty and the size distribution of rewards from innovation

 Previous research has shown that the distribution of profit outcomes from technological innovations is highly skew. This paper builds upon those detailed findings to ask: what stochastic processes can plausibly be inferred to have generated the observed distributions? After reviewing the evidence, this paper reports on several stochastic model simulations, including a pure Gibrat random walk with monthly changes approximating those observed for high-technology startup company stocks and a more richly specified model blending internal and external market uncertainties. The most highly specified simulations suggest that the set of profit potentials tapped by innovators is itself skew-distributed and that the number of entrants into innovation races is more likely to be independent of market size than stochastically dependent upon it.     

The international competitiveness of Europe,the USA and Japan

The growing importance of Japan on the world market has brought with it changes in the international division of labour and a shift in the focus of the expansion in world trade away from the EC and the USA. What factors determine the shares of the EC, the USA and Japan in international trade? How dependent are these three economic powers on the world market? What conclusions can be drawn regarding their relative competitive strength?     

The economic value of patent portfolios

Patent holders may choose to protect innovations with single patents or to develop portfolios of multiple, related patents. We propose a decision‐making model in which patent holders allocate resources to either expanding the number of related patents or investing in higher value of patents in the portfolio. We estimate the derived value equation using portfolio value data from an inventor survey at the level of individual inventions rather than the firm as a whole. We find that investments in individual inventions exhibit diminishing returns, and that a good part of the value of a portfolio depends on adding new patented inventions. Also, while diminishing returns to individual inventions are stable across subsamples, the returns to portfolio size vary between complex and discrete industries, and between inventions that are science‐based or driven by customer information. When firms seek to strengthen appropriability, the returns to an increase of portfolio size are not different from the sample average. Thus, a higher number of inventions in a portfolio may reflect both stronger appropriability via patents and genuine creation of value.     

Diskrete Hilfe durch Analtampons

St?rungen der Darmfunktion sicher managen — Literaturangaben zufolge leiden bis zu 7 Prozent der deutschen Bev?lkerung an einer Stuhlinkontinenz – Tendenz steigend. Die Ursachen dafür sind vielf?ltig. Doch damit Pflegekr?fte die Herausforderung sicher meistern k?nnen, bedarf es neben einer einfühlsamen Beratung auch optimaler Hilfsmittel.