In this paper, we examine the propensity for U.S. public companies to become targets for private equity-backed, take-private transactions. We consider the characteristics of 483 private equity-backed deals in the 2000-2007 period relative to public companies, and find that, in addition to the...

We conduct a detailed analysis of 125 strategic alliance contracts, all of which concern early-stage, genomics-based research at small, biotechnology Ramp;D companies. Staged investment is ubiquitous, but solutions to agency problems vary. The cycle of equity participation in alliances resembles...

We argue that the stock of prior alliances between participants in the biotechnology sector forms a network that serves as a governance mechanism in interfirm transactions. To test how this network substitutes for other governance mechanisms, we examine how equity participation and pledged...

Sociological investigations of economic exchange pay particular attention to the manner in which institutions and social structures shape transactions among economic actors. Extending this line of inquiry, we explore how interfirm networks in the US venture capital (VC) market from 1986 to 1998...

This paper examines gender differences in the participation of university life science faculty in commercial science. Based on theory and field interviews, we develop hypotheses regarding how scientists’ productivity, co-authorship networks, and institutional affiliations have different...

This paper examines gender differences in the participation of university life science faculty in commercial science. In part based on interviews, we develop hypotheses regarding how scientists’ career achievements—their productivity, co-authorship networks, and institutional...