HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management

Secondary buyouts (SBOs) appear paradoxical because the surge in SBO activity is met with scepticism from the public and investors regarding their performance. In this paper, we undertake a comprehensive analysis of SBO performance through two distinct lenses: First, we address the prevailing notion of SBOs as “lemons”. These are perceived as opportunities that, following a successful primary buyout (PBO), seemingly leave little room for further value creation. To investigate this “negative correlation hypothesis”, we employ a unique back-to-back sample of 276 cases involving the same firm in both a PBO and an SBO. Analysing the correlation between the internal rate of returns (IRRs) of back-to-back PBO/SBOs, our results do not support the “negative correlation hypothesis”. Second, we directly compare the deal performance of the two related back-to-back buyout rounds. For our back-to-back sample, we find that PBOs display significantly higher IRRs than SBOs. However, after performing a matched comparison adjusting for size and holding period differences, which are two well-known pitfalls of IRR rank orders, our findings suggest that there is no systematic outperformance of SBOs against their PBO comparables. Finally, we analyse differences in operating performance between PBOs and SBOs. Our results do not indicate a significant difference, either based on the back-to-back sample or when comparing PBOs and SBOs against matched public peers. In the light of our findings, we advocate for a reevaluation of the current perception of SBOs. Rather than being dismissed as “second-hand” opportunities, they should be recognised as “second-generation” opportunities deserving closer consideration.

The creation of a common European currency has been scrutinized in the context of optimum currency area theory since its origin in Mundell (1961). The debate gained particular prominence in light of the endogeneity hypothesis (Frankel and Rose 1998), which argues that once two countries establish a common currency, their economic structures and cycles increasingly align due to strengthening intra-industry trade. By contrast, the specialization hypothesis (Eichengreen 1992; Krugman and Venables 1996) argues that the creation of a currency union will predominantly increase inter-industry trade, ultimately lowering business cycle correlation. To test these views, we establish several indices of bilateral trade intensity across EU members using input–output data, measuring gross and so-called value-added trade, which also considers the contribution of intermediary goods in the production of final exports. The results of the fixed effect panel data framework indicate a strong and robust empirical relationship between growth correlations and intra-industry trade, much in line with both Mundell’s and Frankel and Rose’s theories. However, we cannot establish a similarly robust relationship between total trade intensity and growth correlations. We reconcile these results by identifying a statistically significant relationship between economic alignment and trade when only considering industrial production, highlighting the importance of pan-European industrial supply chains for European economic integration. Rerunning our regression framework on the subsample of the eurozone indicates that the common currency area displayed even stronger properties of an optimum currency area than the entire European Union.

The Ukraine war, the aftermath of COVID-19, Brexit and shifting US geostrategic interests are putting pressure on the European defence situation, strategy and budgets. The current crises expose warfare capability gaps in the European armed forces and capacity constraints of the European defence industry after decades of the peace dividend. More nations are calling for stronger engagement of the EU in the defence sector to overcome these challenges and complete the European defence sector integration that started in the late 1990s. It is estimated that more cooperation in defence procurement and research could save up to 30% of the current €290 bn total EU27 defence budgets. Can this combination of recent factors provide new impulses towards a unified European defence market, more cooperation on defence procurement and industry consolidation? We conducted a literature review (‘meta-synthesis’) of 172 journal articles, studies and think-tank papers since 1995 to build a holistic picture. The analysis aims to describe the progress and challenges of European defence market integration from an economic viewpoint. It provides future researchers with a basic understanding of defence industrial challenges, motivations and economic drivers of European defence integration as well as of reasons for resistance and potential scenarios.

The recent surge in the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has garnered significant research attention. However, the existing literature reveals a fragmented landscape that hinders our understanding of how SMEs use AI. We address this through a systematic literature review wherein we analyze 106 peer-reviewed articles on AI adoption in SMEs and categorize states and trends into eight clusters: (1) compatibility, (2) infrastructure, (3) knowledge, (4) resources, (5) culture, (6) competition, (7) regulation, and (8) ecosystem: according to the technology–organization–environment model. Our research provides valuable insights and identifies significant gaps in existing literature, notably overlooking trends identification as a pivotal driver and neglecting legal requirements. Our study clarifies AI implementation within SMEs, offering a holistic and theoretically grounded perspective to empower researchers and practitioners to facilitate more effective adoption and application of AI within the SME sector.

The complexity of the public value discussion has hindered the development of consensual measurement guidelines for use in public administration practice. This article explores the use of the cost-benefit analysis (CBA) framework in the transportation sector and considers its relevance in assessing public value. A case study is presented on the reconfiguration of a public transport network in the municipality of Arganil, Portugal. The CBA did not fully capture the effects of the network reconfiguration, demonstrating its limitations in assessing public value.

Public Service Media (PSM), that is public service broadcasting and their digital and online media services, are increasingly challenged with questions about what public value (PV) they add to society and what individuals expects of them. But while normative expectations of PSM and their performance have been extensively discussed by a range of scholars from various disciplines, studies which analyze audience assessments of PSM offerings are scarce. This study looks at how (and if) to measure the success of PSM and their PV performance. The empirical research follows a case study research design, using a mixed method approach including document analysis and interviewing. Findings suggest that the MDR performed reasonably well in all five categories of the PVSC. Citizens generally approved of the quality of services the MDR delivered, it fulfilled its task, behaved decently, strengthened social cohesion, enhanced their quality of life, and used public resources carefully. However, qualitative data reveal PV performance deficits. Instances of both legitimacy and accountability crises were found.

There is a lack of understanding about early-stage entrepreneurial actions, as existing research focuses on later stages and overlooks how experience impacts entrepreneurial actions. However, entre-preneurial experience has a pivotal role in shaping entrepreneur-ial actions, serving as a distinguishing factor within the scope of this study. Therefore, we employ a grounded theory research approach building on 112 in-depth interviews in which we differentiate between novice and experienced entrepreneurs. We analyzed the extensive data set following the methodology of Gioia et al. Our findings include the identification of three dimensions of entrepreneurial activities, namely Entrepreneurial Alignment, Resource Enhancement, and Value Generation, that are relevant for both novice and experienced entrepreneurs. In addition, we are able to identify 27 specific entrepreneurial actions distributed between the three dimensions but differing depending on whether the entrepreneur is a novice or experienced. Examining these results, we outlined differences and commonalities in the activities of the two groups: novice entrepreneurs follow a sequential, unconnected, and perfectionist-driven process, while experienced entrepreneurs adopt a parallel, interconnected, and iterative process across the three dimensions. Practitioners and researchers can benefit from the study's results for entrepreneur-ship education and resource theories in the early-stage venture creation. RÉSUMÉ La compr ehension des actions entrepreneuriales a un stade pr ecoce est faible, etant donn e que les recherches existantes se concentrent sur les stades ult erieurs et n egligent l'impact de l'ex-p erience sur les actions entrepreneuriales. Cependant, l'exp erience entrepreneuriale joue un rôle central dans la d etermination des actions entrepreneuriales, constituant un facteur distinctif dans le cadre de cette etude. C'est pourquoi nous utilisons une approche de recherche th eorique ancr ee qui se base sur 112 entretiens en profondeur dans lesquels nous faisons la diff erence entre les entrepreneurs novices et les entrepreneurs exp eriment es. Nous avons analys e l'ensemble des donn ees en suivant la m ethodologie de Gioia et al. (2013). Nos r esultats comprennent ARTICLE HISTORY

Climate‐related issues have become increasingly relevant, as reflected in current political and academic discourse. This development is also reflected in investors' capital allocation decisions and their demand for climate‐related information. Considering the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate‐related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), we first investigate the climate‐related disclosure quality of listed German firms. We use self‐constructed scoring models based on the TCFD recommendations to measure disclosure quality. Second, we use regression analysis to investigate whether corporate governance can explain climate‐related disclosure quality. The results indicate that disclosure quality is heavily dispersed across firms, with risk disclosure being better than disclosure of opportunities. Corporate governance factors exert distinct but mostly weak influence on climate‐related disclosure quality and that institutional ownership promotes climate‐related disclosure quality. We show several implications for research and practice and highlight the relevance for firms to implement a comprehensive approach to communicating climate‐related issues.

This study explores the impact of metaverse technology on business models (BMs). Despite increasing academic and practical interest, the adoption and seamless integration of this technology poses substantial challenges for businesses. This study adopts a grounded-theory approach to explore how firms can incorporate this technological innovation within their existing BMs. Drawing upon insights from 20 interviews, the data were structured using the Gioia methodology, uncovering 5 dimensions that elucidate how companies can leverage metaverse technology to augment value creation, capture, and delivery, both internally and externally, within their BMs. These dimensions serve as a roadmap for firms seeking to embrace the metaverse, offering insights into potential adaptations to their existing BMs. This study contributes to the theoretical discourse surrounding the metaverse by delineating specific components within BMs that can be tailored to accommodate metaverse integration. Furthermore, our findings offer invaluable guidance and recommendations to firms and ventures, highlighting the diverse areas within the value creation process where metaverse integration can be strategically applied. This research lays the foundation for a more comprehensive understanding of metaverse technology's role in shaping the business landscape.

Since the seminal work by Hackman and Oldham (1975) there has been a growing body of literature demonstrating how work characteristics can positively both organizations and their employees. While the very nature of the task or job at hand is well explored, insufficient attention has been given to the social and cultural context in which the work is done (Spreitzer & Cameron, 2012). Based on Meynhardt’s public value approach (2009, 2015), we investigate whether organizational public value acts as an additional work characteristic in the Job Characteristics Model (JCM), thus extending the model. Specifically, we theorize that organizational public value is an additional unique resource for employees and social context work characteristic in the JCM that is positively related to employees work engagement. Additionally, our study analyzes that the positive relationship between the work characteristics, including organizational public value, and work engagement is mediated by self-efficacy. Moreover, we analyze whether employees working in industries with a public focus integrated into their core business will experience higher levels of public value in their jobs than employees in other industries. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a representative online survey in different public and non-public organizations in Switzerland (N = 949). Overall, the results support our hypotheses and contribute to close the gap by taking social context factors into the JCM and to reveal processes between the macro-level (organizational public value, work characteristics) and micro-level (employees work experience). Further theoretical and practical implications as well as future research avenues are discussed in the paper.

This research explores the characteristics of green influencer messages on follower engagement by examining the interplay between message framing (gain vs. loss), construal level (high vs. low), and post timing (weekdays vs. weekends). Green influencers (also: greenfluencers or sustainable influencers) are considered a key agent for a change to more sustainable consumption. A pilot field study of 1000 green influencers, however, indicates that the current communication practices of green influencers (which strongly focus on gain frames, low construal, and posts during the week) are not ideal for maximizing engagement and sustainable behavioral intentions. Two experiments replicate this finding and establish the process through which green influencer posts affect engagement: gain frames increase fluency, which increases engagement; low construal levels decrease psychological distance, which increases engagement. Timing moderates these processes in that weekend posts increase the engagement with gain frames and week posts increase the engagement with low‐construal frames. These findings highlight that there is no silver bullet in green influencer messages, but that green influencers need to adapt the framing and construal of their messages to the posts' timing to increase their contribution to more sustainable lifestyles and the greater good.

Defining the deal value in mergers and acquisitions is inherently complex and often constitutes an inflection point for the parties involved. By paying part of the deal value at a later stage according to predefined goals, earnouts are intended to alleviate information asymmetries and help bridge valuation differences. Despite their wide application in practice, research on earnouts remains fragmented. This study presents the first systematic literature review of earnouts, mapping the scattered research landscape by analyzing 64 papers published between 1970 and 2023. The review categorizes the body of earnout research into three distinct streams: the motives for employing earnouts, their implications, and the nuances of their contractual arrangements. Based on this synthesis, research gaps are identified that present a comprehensive road map for future research. This study enables investors to employ earnouts more successfully and guides scholars to pursue further earnout research based on its holistic overview.

First, we suggest and discuss second-order versions of properties for solutions for TU games used to characterize the Banzhaf value, in particular, of standardness for two-player games, of the dummy player property, and of 2-efficiency. Then, we provide a number of characterizations of the Banzhaf value invoking the following properties: (i) [second-order standardness for two-player games or the second-order dummy player property] and 2-efficiency, (ii) standardness for one-player games, standardness for two-player games, and second-order 2-efficiency, (iii) standardness for one-player games, [second-order standardness for two-player games or the second-order dummy player property], and second-order 2-efficiency. These characterizations also work within the classes of simple games, of superadditive games, and of simple superadditive games.

In response to Mark Prebble’s most inspiring ideas on the unknowability of public value, I call for a more process-oriented public value research where human needs are at center stage. Based on self-organization theory, I propose to describe public value dynamics as a complex interplay of different values linking the individual (micro) and collective (macro) level. The chapter concludes that public value is knowable at any given point, but its future direction cannot be predicted.

Bibliometric analysis has recently become a popular and rigorous technique used for exploring and analyzing the literature in business and management. Prior studies principally focused on ‘how to do bibliometric analysis’, presenting an overview of the bibliometric methodology along with various techniques and step-by-step guidelines that can be relied on to rigorously conduct bibliometric analysis. However, the current body of evidence is limited in its ability to provide practical knowledge that can enhance the design and performance of bibliometric research. This claim is supported even by the fact that relevant studies refer to their work as ‘bibliometric analysis’ rather than ‘bibliometric research’. Accordingly, we endeavor to offer a more functional framework for researchers who wish to design/conduct bibliometric research on any field of research, especially business and management. To do this, we followed a twofold way. We first outlined the main stages and steps of typical bibliometric research. Then, we proposed a comprehensive framework for specifying how to design/conduct the research and under what headings the relevant stages (step-by-step) will be used and/or presented. Thus, the current paper is expected to be a useful source to gain insights into the available techniques and guide researchers in designing/conducting bibliometric research.

In response to escalating environmental concerns and the imperative for sustainable development, corporations have turned to eco-innovation (EI) to enhance competitiveness and reduce ecological footprints. This study scrutinizes 17 European Commission EI-awarded companies from 1990 to 2021, uncovering pivotal dimensions and archetypes that drive successful EI implementation. Internal drivers, including management commitment and agile work structures, are paramount for "Believers" who champion sustainability as a core value. "Sellers" strategically respond to market demands, while "Beneficiaries" follow regulatory mandates. The academic implications are profound, providing a robust foundation for future research. This typology contributes to the discourse surrounding EI development and diffusion while offering corporate managers tangible guidance for tailored EI strategies. It illuminates how distinct motives lead to nuanced combinations of internal and external drivers. This empirical study fills a critical research gap, providing best-practice insights for companies seeking to integrate EI effectively. K E Y W O R D S climate change, corporate environmental management, eco-innovations, sustainable communities, sustainable development goals, typology