The effects of private equity and venture capital on sales and employment growth in small and medium-sized businesses

We study the effects private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) financing have on small and mid-sized single entity business establishments from 1995 to 2009. We focus on single entity establishments to cleanly examine the impact of PE and VC financing on establishments’ organic growth. This study reveals that PE and VC financing have positive impacts on single entity business establishments’ net sales and employment growth. The impact of PE financing on establishments’ growth is slower and smaller than VC financing. However, we find that the benefit of PE financing lasts longer than VC financing. We also find that ethnic minority, female, and foreign business owners are less likely to receive PE and VC financing. Finally, we find evidence that although establishments with government contracts are more likely to receive PE and VC financing, those contracts fail to produce marginal post-funding growth and employment benefits.     

Private benefits from control block trades in the Spanish stock exchange

A control block trade can be explained by the expectation of financial gains, shared by all shareholders, or by the expectation of private benefits, exclusive to the buyer and possibly at the expense of other shareholders’ rents. The market for corporate control contributes to social welfare when it improves the efficiency of the allocation of resources. When the objective of a block transaction is private benefits, social welfare may be negatively impacted as minority shareholders could withdraw from the market. Therefore the estimation of private benefits would allow the efficiency of the market for corporate control to be assessed. Specifically, the aim of this paper is to calculate private benefits in the Spanish market for partial control. Using a sample of partial control transactions over the period 1990–2016, we find that the median of private benefits is negative, therefore it appears that there is no inefficient use of resources in the Spanish partial control market as a whole, however private costs are detected. The variability of private benefits is explained in a significant way by variables related to the control structure of the target firm, such as the controlling position of the buyer after the transaction, the contestability of control and the cross-shareholdings between the buyer and large shareholders. Performance and the size of the firm are significant as well.     

The role of consumers' attitude towards economic climate in their reaction to ‘PL-only’ assortments: Evidence from the United States and Spain

Retailers’ assortment rationalisation strategies have found an “ally” in the current global economic crisis. Indeed, retail boycotts of individual brands in economic recession contexts are not uncommon in the CPG industry. In fact, many of the consumers who began buying PLs during the economic recession are continuing their PL behaviour post-recession. So, what is the role of the economic climate in consumers’ reaction– in terms of store loyalty – to retailers’ NB delisting decisions? Is it so relevant? This paper examines how consumers’ attitude towards the economic climate influences his/her reaction to retailers’ strategy of offering ‘PL-only’ assortments in the context of an economic slump (Spain) compared to a context of economic recovery (U.S.). To do so, we have designed a controlled online experiment for two large consumer panels in the Spanish and the U.S. markets. Our results suggest that consumers’ acceptance of ‘PL-only’ assortments is a separate phenomenon rather than merely being a “consequence” of the current economic situation. Nevertheless, in an economic recovery, such ‘PL-only’ assortments do not appear to be the best strategy.     

政治关系“力量”与民营企业价值研究:腐败的调节效应

从社会网络理论的强弱关系视角对2012-2014年福布斯中国富豪榜的企业家及其企业进行了政治关系的度量,检验了腐败是否会调节政治关系"力量"对企业价值的影响。研究发现,企业家本身所具有的政治关系对企业价值具有明显的正向影响作用,关系的"力量"越强,对企业价值的正向影响就越大;与此同时,腐败的出现会强化政治关系"力量"对民营企业价值的影响。通过分组验证发现,这种"力量"在腐败程度较高环境下更易对企业价值产生正向影响,但在腐败程度较低的环境中,政治关系对民营企业价值的影响很多时候并不显著。     

基于组织协同系统的创客组织发展稳定性实证分析

创客组织是实现组织协同创新的重要载体。创客位于组织协同系统的核心层，创客入驻创客组织的创新状态决定了协同创新发展状态；创客组织位于组织协同系统的中间层，起组织协调作用，其发展稳定性影响着整个系统；协同组织位于外部层，其参与程度决定了整个系统的组织协同和协同创新吸引能力。基于波动系数计量模型，对240家创客组织的12项评价指标进行分析，结果显示，以高校主导的创客组织衡量指标波动系数为标准，创客组织在整体上处于发展不稳定状态；分类别分析结果表明，高校和科研院所主导的创客组织发展稳定性明显优于企业和个人主导的创客组织。研究结果可以为完善创新政策、促进创客组织稳健发展提供参考。     

Wheat variety yield data: Do commercial and public performance tests provide the same information?

Wheat yields from reported performance test results are of economic importance to wheat producers, since their profits depend on selecting the optimal variety for their location. However, our data shows differences in absolute and relative wheat yields between commercial and public wheat breeding program's performance test data in Kansas. Newly available data are used to test if the difference in yields arose from potential selectivity bias, and to determine the contribution of private and public wheat breeding programs to varietal yield improvement during 2007–2012. Both Heckman selection models and multiple regression showed no statistical evidence of the potential presence of selectivity bias rather, managerial practices, agronomic conditions, field location, and inherent genetic traits of the seed variety were identify as the source of yield differences.     

上海合作组织命运共同体:一项研究议题

构建上海合作组织命运共同体是中国政府提出的关于促进上海合作组织长远发展的重大倡议。由于上海合作组织命运共同体理念的提出时日尚短,学术界关于该理念的研究尚未全面启动。要使上海合作组织命运共同体理念成为一个有效的研究议题,不仅需要明晰上海合作组织命运共同体的具体内涵,而且需要将其纳入国际共同体、国际组织和大国外交等议题的研究,提炼出一些具有普遍性的理论命题。就攸关上海合作组织命运共同体构建的重大问题而言,至少需要回答上海合作组织命运共同体提出的理论与实践意义、上海合作组织命运共同体构建应遵循的基本路径、上海合作组织命运共同体构建的基础和条件、上海合作组织命运共同体构建面临的挑战与障碍、学术界能为上海合作组织命运共同体构建提供的对策建议等重大问题。在此过程中,学术界还需将其与周边命运共同体、人类命运共同体等家族相似性的概念纳入同一研究视域,以澄清上海合作组织命运共同体的内涵与外延,辨识上海合作组织命运共同体演变的动力与机制,并从理论层面提炼上海合作组织发展经验的特殊性与普遍性。     

明清徽州土地字号的分配与使用实态

明清时代的徽州民间文书和赋役文献广泛使用土地字号。明初,土地字号的分配单元是保,万历清丈以后逐渐演变为以图为单位,显示出图甲组织在基层地籍编造管理中的作用。在图甲组织的地籍管理、民间社会的契约表述等实际使用场合,土地字号与基层单元的结合仍带有明显的都保痕迹。图甲的增减变动也对字号分配有较大影响。     

Entry and capital structure mimicking in concentrated markets: The role of incumbents’ financial disclosures

We examine whether the public availability of product market incumbents' financial disclosures leads to greater capital structure mimicking of incumbents by entrants. Exploiting a change in disclosure enforcement for German private firms in the mid-2000s, we find entrant-incumbent mimicking rises substantially in concentrated markets once incumbents' financial statements are publicly available. Additional tests exploring potential mechanisms are more consistent with interfirm learning underlying the effect than alternative channels. Our findings shed light on the effects of competitor financial statement disclosure on private firms’ initial financing decisions and highlight how capital structure dependencies among peer firms arise.     

Private label shoppers between fast fashion trends and status symbolism – A customer characteristics investigation

The question who the private label prone consumer is has received a lot of attention in research. While we so far have a good understanding of the private label shopper in the grocery industry, there is limited research in other industries. We assess private label shopper characteristics as a driver of private label choice using a unique data set of an online only fashion retailer covering 68,147 women shoes consumers in Germany. Fashion consumers are faced with a tradeoff between price and seasonality of fashion items as discounts are used to sell last season's stock. We find that private label choice is positively influenced by price orientation and less by discount proneness. Thus, private label shoppers are rather a fashion savvy segment focusing on buying more in season but at a lower price.