Achim Buchwald

Outside Directors on the Board and Innovative Firm Performance

We investigate how outside directors on supervisory boards influence innovative activities of the firms they advise and monitor. Based on panel data on the largest German companies, the econometric analysis shows a positive influence of external executives on innovative firm performance, measured by patent applications. Differentiating between outside directors from innovative and non-innovative companies reveals that only outside directors from innovative firms increase patenting activities at the firms they advise and monitor. This effect increases with the technological proximity between the appointing firm and the outsiders home firm. Outside directors from non-innovative firms are negatively associated with the appointing firms innovativeness. The results indicate that external executives with an appropriate professional background can provide valuable specific knowledge and expertise to the board.

European firm networks and competition - theoretical background and empirical evidence

This paper analyses firm linkage via multiple directorships among 5,370 non-financial listed firms in the EU-15 member states plus Norway and Switzerland in the period 2005 to 2011. In addition, the network of minority shareholdings and simultaneous interlocking directorates is analysed for the year 2011. The results illustrate that both financial and director networks are dominated by national ties whereas also a range of international linkages is identified. In line with the literature, international director linkages increased in the period under investigation. Further, network analysis shows that regional distance seems to be an important factor for the establishment of personal network ties. Descriptive analyses also suggest a positive relationship between director and financial connections of firms and their financial performance compared to the non-connected firms in the sample. It seems that firm linkages via multiple directorships and minority shareholdings are beneficial for the connected firms to ensure competitive advantages. The paper concludes with policy recommendations and implications for business practice and provides an outlook on further research in this field.

Tax enforcement and corporate profit shifting

ABSTRACT We present empirical evidence suggesting that weak tax enforcement proxied by the extent of tax evasion in a country acts like a lower corporate tax rate in attracting profits of multinational corporations.

Why top-manager origin matters for innovation strategies

It is widely accepted nowadays that certain top-manager characteristics have great influence on corporate investment strategies and a firms innovativeness. The present paper focuses on how top-manager origin is related to innovative firm activity. More specifically we discuss whether managers hired from outside the firm are associated with higher or lower innovative firm performance compared to internally promoted top-managers. Internally promoted managers can rely more easily on informal long term agreements and have more firm-specific knowledge whereas their externally hired colleagues have the advantage of broader outside experiences.

The Identification of Up- and Downstream Industries using Input–Output Tables and a Firm-level Application to Minority Shareholdings

Abstract We present a method for identifying up- and downstream industries in inter-industry datasets via input–output tables. We apply this approach to aggregated European input–output data and present results on identified industry links and their sensitivity to threshold definitions. We furthermore test the time-consistency of the up- and downstream assignments based on input–output tables, and discuss the limitations of this method. Finally, the method is used to test anti-competitive effects of non-controlling minority shareholdings.