The present study analyses the international activities of British start-up companies in high-technology industries. The research makes the following contributions. First, it is the first study that establishes the prevalence of internationally operating start-up companies in a particular country. Accordingly, we find that the majority of British high-tech start-ups have engaged in international activities within a few years since formation. Second, it consolidates the existing knowledge in the fields of international entrepreneurship and subjects it to empirical testing. Third, it assesses the power of different theories in international business to explain the cross-border activities of start-up companies. Overall, the research lends support to a resource-based perspective of international entrepreneurship since the proxies for transaction cost-based arguments and the internationalisation process theory are of limited explanatory power.

There is now a certain tradition of Anglo-German comparative research on new technology-based firms (NTBFs). Two of the most influential studies in this area have both been sponsored by the Anglo-German Foundation for the Study of In dustrial Society (AGF). Starting in 1977, the first AGF project on NTBFs, which was carried out by the consultancy firm Arthur D. Little, has been one ofthe most important early contributions in this field (Little 1977). This report was the first public document to use the term 'new technology-based firm' and to provide a definition, which despite its operational limitations subsequently became an es tablished term in the literature. More importantly, this study represented one ofthe first serious attempts to survey the existing stock of this type of firm. The report was critical of the contemporary situation in Europe. (This is a policy area which continues to be hotly debated, see European Commission 1995, Bank of England 1996 and HM Treasury 1998. ) It emphasised that, in comparison with the USA, Germany and the UK were each lagging behind if judged by the rate of formation of NTBFs and in their total contribution to the overall economic activity of both countries. In terms of a policy contribution, this study was instrumental in high lighting the lack ofsupport infrastructures for the genesis and growth of high-tech start-ups in two of Europe's leading economies.

This Handbook provides a unique collection of research addressing issues of corporate governance in entrepreneurial contexts, including start-ups, owner-managed firms, fast-growing firms, and IPOs, as well as how corporate governance and board leadership is associated with entrepreneurship and innovation in both small and large established companies. The chapters span a wide range of topics, methodologies, and levels of analysis, all designed to contribute to a comprehensive understanding of when and how corporate governance matters in different entrepreneurial contexts.

This book synthesises several studies on the potential global impacts of two fundamental international policy initiatives: (i) multilateral agreements on climate protection strategies and (ii) trade agreements towards global trade liberalisation. Although these initiatives are not directly linked, they interrelate in subtle, yet important ways. Based on theoretical analyses and numerical simulations, the book provides guidelines on efficient strategies for climate change mitigation, implementing the framework of the Kyoto Protocol and the provided flexibility instruments, hereby accounting for interrelationships with existing and possible trade agreements on various levels. The analyses incorporate important real-world features, such as imperfect market structures, trade liberalisation settings, risk or transaction costs, that may substantially influence the magnitude and even the sign of policy impacts.

The tax burden on investment or companies is an important factor for the attractiveness of a country or a region. In particular, business location and investment decisions are influenced by the relative tax burdens encountered in different regions. This study presents estimates of the effective average and marginal tax rates on company investment for 143 regions in Europe and the USA. Using the approach pioneered by Michael Devereux and Rachel Griffith, it is shown that companies face a wide variation of effective tax burdens across European regions. The results are explained by analysing the importance of specific tax provisions for the tax burden at the various locations.

In this book the relation between the characteristics of investors' preferences and expectations and equilibrium asset price processes are analysed. It is shown that declining elasticity of the pricing kernel can lead to positive serial correlation of short term asset returns and negative serial correlation of long term returns. Analytical asset price processes are also derived. In contrast to the widely used "empirical" time-series models these processes do not lack a sound economic foundation. Moreover, in contrast to the popular Ornstein Uhlenbeck process and the Constant Elasticity of Variance model the proposed stochastic processes are consistent with a classical representative investor economy.

The book presents an analysis of the transition from unemployment to self-employment and its subsidisation with the so-called "bridging allowance" in Germany. On the basis of econometric models, the determinants and the success of self-employment among former unemployed are estimated at the individual as well as at the firm level. By comparing different groups of the formerly unemployed, it becomes evident that self-employment is one successful route out of unemployment, as self-employment proves to be more stable than paid-employment. Therefore, the bridging allowance reaches its aim of regaining stable employment for the unemployed. However, this programme fails to create additional employment in the newly founded firms.