Sandra Gottschalk

Location Decisions of Spin-offs from Public Research Institutions

Researchers who start their own businesses are expected to locate close to the parent organisation (i.e. universities, public research labs) in order to benefit from spillovers, thus transferring localised knowledge into the regional economy. However, empirical evidence on location patterns of public research spin-offs is rather limited and usually restricted to case studies for certain universities and regions. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the spatial distribution of new firm formations by researchers from universities and public research organisations, based on a representative data set for Germany. It shows that location patterns of public research spin-offs do not differ from other new firm formations. Proximity to the parent institution is of little significance for location decisions, whereas spin-offs are attracted by locations with a high number of potential customers and a large supply of highly qualified labour. Public research spin-offs rather contribute to an interregional than to an intraregional knowledge transfer.

The KfW/ZEW Start-up Panel: Design and Research Potential

So far, there has been no data set which observes firm formations in Germany not only on a cross-sectional basis using one-time surveys, but continuously over a number of years. Therefore, the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), KfW Bankengruppe and Creditreform set up a panel study of newly founded firms in Germany: the KfW/ZEW Start-up Panel. In each of the yearly panel waves computer-aided telephone interviews (CATI) are conducted with about 6,000 start-up firms from almost all industries. The KfW/ZEW Start-up Panel will for the first time enable profound analyses of the temporal development of newly founded firms, including studies of firm survival. This paper describes the design of the KfW/ZEW Start-up Panel. The survey’s research potential is illustrated using data from the first panel wave conducted in the year 2008. Data access for external researchers and data protection issues of the confidential micro data are discussed.

Gender differences in business success of German start-up firms

Many studies found that women-owned firms underperform. The performance gap might be attributed to gender differences in personal and firm characteristics affecting performance. This paper shall contribute to explain the female underperformance using data from the KfW/ZEW start-up panel. We track the performance of about 4,700 German start-up firms over up to four years after foundation. Sales, two measures of employment growth, and return on sales are used as performance indicators. We find that female-founded firms perform worse for the different performance indicators. At the same time, significant gender differences in many of the characteristics are observed. Compared to male entrepreneurs, female entrepreneurs have a lower level of formal education, less professional experience, are part of smaller start-up teams, are more often driven by necessity, and are overrepresented in the retail and service industries and in lower-tech industries in general. These differences can explain parts of female entrepreneurial underperformance.

The Mannheim Enterprise Panel (MUP) and firm statistics for Germany

The Mannheim Enterprise Panel (Mannheimer Unternehmenspanel – MUP) of the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) is the most comprehensive micro database of companies in Germany outside the official business register (which is not accessible to the public). The MUP is based on the firm data pool of Creditreform e.V., which is the largest credit rating agency in Germany. At the end of 2013, the MUP contained information on 7.7 Mio firms, of which about 3.2 Mio were still active. Comparisons of the active stock of firms in the MUP with the Business Register of the Federal Statistical Office indicate that the MUP gives by and large a representative picture of the corporate landscape in Germany. The MUP is a valuable database for analyzing the number of start�?ups and firm closures on a yearly basis for Germany. Further, the MUP is the sampling frame for the ZEW firm surveys and it is used for analyzing the development of firms over time.

Innovation Dynamics and Endogenous Market Structure Econometric Results from Aggregated Survey Data

This paper examines empirically the relationship between innovation and market structure within a simultaneous framework at the industry level of aggregation. We use a model in which R&D affects both, demand and cost conditions. An optimization process leads to optimal industry R&D expenditure and market structure in a symmetric equilibrium. The model is applied to a newly constructed panel for Germany. Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation techniques for dynamic panel data systems are used to estimate the parameters of interest. We found a positive long?run effect of R&D on markets? sales concentration. In contrast, competition enforces innovation, i.e. sales concentration has a negative impact on R&D.

If You Don't Succeed, Should You Try Again? The Role of Entrepreneurial Experience in Venture Survival

There remains considerable scholarly debate about the role that prior entrepreneurial experience plays in new venture survival. Drawing on entrepreneurial learning theories, we use panel data on 8,400 new ventures to investigate the impact of four different types of prior entrepreneurial experience (portfolio, serial, failure (bankruptcy/voluntary dissolution) and a mix of success (portfolio/serial) and failure (prior bankruptcy/dissolution) on venture survival outcomes. We find that previously failed entrepreneurs are less likely to survive and, in common with entrepreneurs with mixed prior experiences, are more likely to experience bankruptcy. We find that portfolio and serial experience is unrelated to survival or avoiding bankruptcy. Conclusions for entrepreneurship scholars, entrepreneurs and stakeholders are discussed.

Performance von akademischen Spinoff-Gründungen in Österreich

ZusammenfassungVergleicht man akademische Spinoff-Gründungen mit anderen forschungs- und wissensintensiven Gründungen, zeigt sich, dass Spinoff-Gründungen signifikant forschungs- und wissenschaftsorientierter sind. Dies drückt sich in höherer Forschungsintensität, höherer Patentierneigung und intensiveren Kontakten zur Wissenschaft aus. Spinoff-Gründungen besetzen ein besonders forschungsintensives Segment innerhalb der forschungs- und wissensintensiven Branchen und stellen eine Verbindung zwischen Wissenschaft und Markt her. In diesemPapier wird für Österreich untersucht, ob sich die Performance von Spinoff-Gründungen von der anderer Gründungen in den forschungs- und wissensintensiven Wirtschaftszweigen unterscheidet. Ökonometrische Modellrechnungen zeigen, dass Spinoff-Gründungen hinsichtlich Umsatz- und Beschäftigungswachstum nicht erfolgreicher sind als andere Gründungen in den forschungs- und wissensintensiven Branchen. AbstractWhen academic spin-offs are compared with other research- and knowledge-intensive start-ups, it is apparent that spin-offs are significantly more research- and knowledge-oriented than other start-ups. This fact becomes evident in higher research intensity, higher inclination to patenting and more intensive contacts to science. Spin-offs fill a particularly research-intensive segment within the research- and knowledge-intensive sectors and establish a connection between science and market. In this paper, for Austria, it is investigated if the performance of spin-offs differs form that of other research- and knowledge-intensive start-ups. Econometric model calculations show that spin-offs are as for turnover and employment growth not more successful than other start-ups in the research- and knowledge-intensive sector.

Gründerinnen auf dem Vormarsch? – Die Entwicklung der Beteiligung von Frauen am Gründungsgeschehen

ZusammenfassungDie Zahl der Frauen, die sich selbständig machen, sowie deren Anteil an allen Eintritten in die Selbständigkeit haben laut Mikrozensus seit Beginn der neunziger Jahre stark zugenommen. Die Zunahme beschränkt sich jedoch weitgehend auf selbständige Tätigkeiten, die ohne Beschäftigte und oft nur in Teilzeit ausgeübt werden. Laut Mannheimer Unternehmenspanel (MUP), das einen relativ eng abgegrenzten Unternehmensbegriff verwendet, geht der Anteil der Gründungen von Frauen seit 2003 leicht zurück. Die seit Ende der neunziger Jahre tendenziell rückläufige Entwicklung der Gründungszahlen macht sich bei Gründungen von Frauen noch etwas stärker bemerkbar als bei Gründungen von Männern. Die „Qualität“ der Gründungen von Frauen hat sich nur wenig verbessert. Es ist den Gründerinnen lediglich ansatzweise gelungen, vermehrt in wachstumsträchtige, männerdominierte Sektoren vorzudringen. Die Angleichung, die zwischen den Gründungen von Männern und Frauen bei Beschäftigungsgröße, Beschäftigungswachstum und Überleben zu beobachten ist, beruht hauptsächlich auf Verschlechterungen dieser Erfolgsgrößen bei den Gründungen von Männern.

Minimum wages and competition: The case of the German roofing sector

This paper analyses the effects of minimum wages on competition in the German roofing sector. The case is particularly interesting since this sector is faced with a uniform minimum wage despite significant regional disparities in productivity and wages. As a control industry we take the plumbing sector, which shows a similar market structure and demand trend but is not subject to a minimum wage. Employing a comprehensive firm panel data and using a difference-in-difference approach, we estimate the impacts of minimum wages on market entries and exits and firms’ profitability. We find significant effects for East Germany which point to a substantial shift in industry structure. Minimum wages decreased both market entries and exits for roofing firms while they increased entries of sole traders. A decreasing number of non-sole traders lowered competition for this group of firms and helped them to increase profitability. The increasing share of sole traders may indicate some type of evasion strategy in eastern Germany, particularly since wages for skilled roofers declined towards the minimum wage. In the western part of the country minimum wages had no impact on competition.

Microdata Disclosure Control by Resampling - Effects on Regression Results

Summary Nonparametric resampling is a method for generating synthetic microdata and is introduced as a procedure for microdata disclosure limitation. Theoretically, re-identification of individuals or firms is not possible with synthetic data. The resampling procedure creates datasets - the resample - which nearly have the same empirical cumulative distribution functions as the original survey data and thus permit econometricians to calculate meaningful regression results. The idea of nonparametric resampling, especially, is to draw from univariate or multivariate empirical distribution functions without having to estimate these explicitly. Until now, the resampling procedure shown here has only been applicable to variables with continuous distribution functions. Monte Carlo simulations and applications with data from the Mannheim Innovation Panel show that results of linear and nonlinear regression analyses can be reproduced quite precisely by nonparametric resamples. A univariate and a multivariate resampling version are examined. The univariate version as well as the multivariate version which is using the correlation structure of the original data as a scaling instrument turn out to be able to retain the coefficients of model estimations. Furthermore, multivariate resampling best reproduces regression results if all variables are anonymised.