http://repub.eur.nl/res/aut/2895/ List of Publications en http://repub.eur.nl/static-eur/img/logo.png http://repub.eur.nl http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/40129/ 2012-05-01T00:00:00Z Critics claim that short-term profit orientation and high deal price strategies of private equity firms can negatively affect the ability of management buy-outs to initiate and sustain entrepreneurial management. However, as our research shows, this is not the case. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/26894/ 2011-10-28T00:00:00Z Critics claim that short-term profit orientation and high deal price strategies of private equity (PE) firms can negatively affect the ability of management buyouts to initiate and sustain entrepreneurial management. This study investigates this claim by comparing effects of majority PE backed and other buy-outs at different levels of financial leverage on post buy-out increases in entrepreneurial management. We propose that PE can be used as an organizational refocusing device that simultaneously increases entrepreneurial and administrative management. We find that majority PE-backed buy-outs significantly increase entrepreneurial management practices. Furthermore, the increased financial leverage positively affects administrative management in management buy-outs. However, the effect of high financial leverage is larger for majority PE-backed buy-outs. These results support the notion that PE firms help buy-out companies develop ambidextrous organizational change: i.e. simultaneously develop entrepreneurial and administrative management practices. The findings have important implications for practitioners and policy makers. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21701/ 2010-10-01T00:00:00Z When no suitable family successor can be identified, private family firm owners may select a management buyout (MBO) or a management buyin (MBI) exit route. After a private equity backed MBO/I, new owners may select strategies that encourage superior firm performance. We explore the strategic orientation of former private family firms pre- and post-MBO/Is. Ownership and governance issues are considered. Following insights from agency and stewardship theory, several hypotheses are derived and tested with reference to a representative sample of 104 MBO/ Is located across Europe. Univariate analysis suggests greater scope for efficiency gains and growth in cases where the founder was present at time of buyout, where no managers with equity stakes or non-executive directors were employed pre-buyout, and where the private equity investor and management were involved in succession planning. Multinomial logistic regression suggests efficiency gains in firms with no equity holding non-family managers pre-buyout. Conclusions and implications are discussed. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/13874/ 2010-04-01T00:00:00Z Drawing from the resource-based view and transaction costs economics, we develop a theoretical framework to explain why small and large firms face different levels of resource access needs and resource access capabilities, which mediate the relationship between firm size and hybrid governance. Employing a sample of 317 venture capital firms, drawn across six European countries, we empirically assess our framework in the context of venture capital syndication. We estimate a path model using structural equation modeling and find, consistent with our theoretical framework, mediating effects of different types of resource access needs and resource access capabilities between VC firm size and syndication frequency. These findings advance the small business literature by highlighting the trade-offs that size imposes on firms that seek to manage their access to external resources through hybrid governance strategies. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/14788/ 2008-10-01T00:00:00Z Regulatory authorities, politicians and trade unions across Europe have recently accused private equity institutions of improving the performance of buy-outs merely by reducing employment costs with negative implications for jobs, working conditions and training investments. These claims are assessed by analysing high commitment management practices and changes in these practices in private-equity backed and non-private equity backed buy-outs in the UK and the Netherlands using a large-scale representative sample that combines both questionnaire and archival data. We find that both private equity backed buy-outs compared to non-private equity backed buy-outs, and Dutch buy-outs compared to UK buy-outs, are less likely to report introducing new high commitment management practices but do not on average reduce high commitment management practices. The findings suggest private equity backed buy-outs represent only a limited adaptation of the European social model. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/7160/ 2005-12-13T00:00:00Z The present paper examines firm size effects on the decision of venture capital firms to participate in a venture capital investment syndication network. The authors submit that firm size effects in venture capital syndication are dependent on resource acquisition motives and transaction cost considerations. Analysis of 317 venture capital firms in 6 European countries reveals a curve linear relationship between firm size and venture capital syndication participation. We also find positive and negative moderating effects of firm size. The implication of our findings is that there are both advantages and disadvantages in syndicated investment for the smaller and larger venture capitalist. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/7130/ 2005-11-30T00:00:00Z The paper explores the impact of entrepreneurial management dimensions on post-MBO financial performance. We use Stevenson’s conceptualization of entrepreneurship (1983), empirically validated by Brown, Davidsson and Wiklund (2001), positing that entrepreneurial companies will be involved in recognizing and exploiting opportunity, regardless of the resources controlled. From the literature we hypothesize positive effects of entrepreneurial management dimensions on post-MBO financial performance. We find that successful buyout managers cannot be classified as entrepreneurs on all entrepreneurial dimensions. Instead they ambidextrously combine the pursuit of valuable opportunities with the exploitation and control of their resources. Implications for theory and managerial practice are discussed. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/1263/ 2004-03-26T00:00:00Z A buy-out is a fundamental change in the structure of ownership that may affect the way employee relations develop within an organisation. Little is known about the impact of buyouts upon employee relations. This paper aims to address this gap. We focus on two main questions. First, what are the effects of a buy-out on employee relations in an organisation? Second, does the national institutional context affect the impact of buy-outs on employee relations? The paper reports changes to employee relations in buy-outs in the contrasting institutional environments of the UK and the Netherlands. Overall, we find that buy-outs positively affect HR practices with increases in training, employee involvement, the number of employees and pay levels. The positive effects appear to be significantly stronger in a less institutionalised environment like the UK than the more institutionalised environment of the Netherlands. Buy-outs raised HRM practices in the UK to a level closer although still below that of Dutch buy-outs. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/252/ 2002-11-04T00:00:00Z Financial theory, resource-based theory and access to deal flow are used to explain syndication practices among European venture capital (VC) firms. The desire to share risk and increase portfolio diversification is a more important motive for syndication than the desire to access additional intangible resources or deal flow. Access to resources is, however, more important for non-lead than for lead investors. When resource-based motives are more important, the propensity to syndicate increases. Syndication intensity is higher for young VC firms and for VC firms, specialised in a specific investment stage. Finally, syndication strategies are similar across European countries, but differ from North American strategies. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/222/ 2002-09-09T00:00:00Z This paper focuses on the development of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) after a management buy-out (MBO) and on the role played by venture capital firms in enhancing EO. It presents results of two exploratory case studies of divisional buy-outs with regard to their EO and the areas where the venture capital firm (VC) has been of greatest help. We discuss their contribution to elements of the EO of the buy-out firm. The key output is expected to be a better understanding of the functioning and operations of the VC with regard to their contribution to the EO of the firm after an MBO. This will also benefit the management team that seeks venture capital support to improve the firm?s economic performance by using its upside potential. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/211/ 2002-07-02T00:00:00Z Multivariate statistical analysis is utilized to explore the association between firm strategies, contributions made by venture capitalists and incentives for owners and employees and three exporting variables in a stratified random sample of 147 management buyouts and buyins. Firms focusing upon a diversified product/ service range and/or advertising were significantly more likely to be exporters. Firms focusing upon product/ service quality and financial efficiency and those with high proportions of employees receiving performance related pay were significantly less likely to be exporters. Manufacturing firms and firms focusing upon a diversified product/ service range and/or advertising were significantly more likely to report high percentages of sales exported. Variations in the proportion of sales exported over time were associated with strategies focused upon product/service quality and a diversified product/ service range. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/264/ 2002-01-10T00:00:00Z The impact of management buy-outs (MBO) on strategy and management control systems (MCS) is little understood. Previous research by Jones (1992) focused on efficiency-enhancing buy-outs that were a feature of the early development of the market. However, MBOs are heterogeneous and more recent developments have involved ownership changes that stimulate entrepreneurial practices. The novel contribution of this paper is to use Simons' (1995) classification of beliefs systems, boundary systems, diagnostic and interactive control systems to extend Jones' study to these newer forms of MBO. Within-case analysis and cross-case comparisons from four buyout firms are used to capture the interaction between management control systems and competitive strategy formulation, implementation and modification. This evidence supports arguments that buy-out managers undertake efforts in balancing the traditional feedback systems with the newer systems that stimulate opportunity seeking and learning. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/8537/ 1995-01-01T00:00:00Z An outbreak of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) involving 27 patients and 14 health-care workers (HCW) was studied. The outbreak started in the hematology unit of the University Hospital Rotterdam, Dijkzigt, The Netherlands, and spread to the surgical unit. Twenty-one patients (77.8%) developed clinical disease, and five died. Subsequently, MRSA was detected in food and in the throat of one of the HCW who prepared food for hematology patients. Food contaminated by an HCW most likely caused the first case of MRSA septicemia. This route of transmission has not been described before. The outbreak strain was probably transmitted to the surgical unit by a colonized nurse, where it caused an explosive outbreak. Airborne probably transmitted to the surgical unit by a colonized nurse, where it caused an explosive outbreak. Airborne MRSA transmission played an important role in disseminating the organism. The outbreak was controlled within 6 months by intensifying surveillance, temporarily closing the affected wards, treating carriers, and instituting an MRSA ward outside the hospital. Phage typing, insertion sequence probing, protein A gene typing, and DNA fingerprinting by PCR revealed that all outbreak-related isolates were identical. By pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, all but one of the outbreak-related isolates were determined to be identical. Protein A gene typing identified numerous (11) repeat units in all outbreak-related isolates, which supports the suggestion that the outbreak strain may have been more virulent and more transmissible than other MRSA strains. Pheno- and genotyping studies underlined the value of DNA fingerprinting methods for investigation of MRSA epidemiology. Optimal discriminatory power was achieved by combining the results of four genotyping methods. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/22413/ 1992-11-19T00:00:00Z Dit proefschrift gaat over de economische prestaties na de management buy-out (MBO) en beoogt de volgende M~Teneerst'e een bespreking van de ontwikkeling van de MBO in Nederland gedurende de periode 1980-1990. Ten tweede empirisch te onderzoeken hoe de economische prestaties van Nederlandse MBO's zich verhouden ten opzichte van de branchegemiddelde. Ten derde een analyse van de verklaringen die voor het succes van de MBO in de empiri~tuur worden aangetroffen,~v.:iëide na te gaan welke additionele verklaring de uitkopende directieleden en financiers van Nederlandse MBO's geven voor de verbeterde economische prestaties van hun bedrijf. Ten vijfde de formulering van hypothesen die voor de empirische toetsing van deze additionele verklaring kunnen worden gebruikt. En ten zesde een analyse van de agentschapsrelatie tussen uitkopend management-personeel als plausibele verklaringsbron voor de verbeterde economische prestaties na de afsplitsing.