Acquisition, Involvency and Managers in UK Small Companies
Abstract
This paper investigates the importance of managerial capital to involuntary insolvency and acquisition in UK small and medium-sized companies. Given that small businesses are informationally opaque and lack detailed financial data, the role of non-financial factors such as managerial capital has been emphasised. Although the role of managers in determining small firms' longevity has received considerable attention, much of what has been written is concerned with businesses trading as either sole proprietors or partnerships. In this study we draw attention to the effect of managerial human capital and whether these findings generalise to incorporated small firms. In addition, we examine whether the determinants of exit exhibit significant differences across acquisition and insolvency. Using data from the survey database of the ESRC CBR at the University of Cambridge our results indicate that firms run by managers with higher human capital and intentions to pursue a strategy of growth have greater survival prospects and are less likely to be forced into insolvency or become acquired. In addition, the relevance to exit of firm age, firm size, and financial variables is confirmed.Download Info
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Paper provided by ESRC Centre for Business Research in its series ESRC Centre for Business Research - Working Papers with number wp390.Length:
Date of creation: Sep 2009
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:cbr:cbrwps:wp390
Note: PRO-2
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Web page: http://www.cbr.cam.ac.uk/
Related research
Keywords: Small firm; management human capital; involuntary insolvency; acquisition target; competing risks model; MCMC; Bayesian ana;Find related papers by JEL classification:
- C41 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Duration Analysis; Optimal Timing Strategies
- C11 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Bayesian Analysis: General
- C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Longitudinal Data; Spatial Time Series
- C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation
- L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
- D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
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