Research suggests that new information technologies can improve the functionality of business processes, leading to improved firm profitability. However, new technologies are not equal in their contributions to a company’s bottom line. Further, there is some debate as to whether early adopters...

A growing body of empirical work has documented the superior performance characteristics of exporting plants and firms to non-exporters. Employment, shipments, wages, productivity and capital intensity are all higher at exporters at any given moment. This paper asks whether good firms become...

The recent economic and financial crisis highlights the role of balance sheets on firm survival. This paper considers the role of initial financial leverage (debt-to-asset ratio) on the survival of entrant Canadian manufacturing firms. Due to limited data availability, little is known about how...

Recently, debate on corporate cash holdings has received greater attention in the corporate finance literature. Corporate finance theories provide competing hypotheses on the relationship between cash holdings and corporate performance. This study empirically examines the relationship between...

Exporte gelten als Wachstumsmotor der deutschen Wirtschaft und werden von der Wirtschaftspolitik auf vielfältige Weise gefördert. Doch führt die Förderung der Aufnahme von Handelsbeziehungen mit dem Ausland durch Betriebe, die bislang nicht exportierten, wirklich zu einem Wachstum der...

The ongoing debate of the literature on learning-by-exporting is whether the conspicuously stellar performance of exporters relative to non-exporters can be, at least partially, attributed to the horizonwidening interaction with foreign consumers and learning of cost-efficient and quality...

In this paper, we examine how the effect of movements in the real exchange rate on manufacturing plants depends on the plant's placement within the productivity distribution. Appreciations of the local currency expose domestic plants to more competition from abroad as export opportunities shrink...

We use a unique rich newly built data set for German manufacturing enterprises to investigate the product differentiation firm performance relationship. We find that an increase in the degree of product diversification has a negative impact on profitability when observed and unobserved firm...

We use a unique rich newly built data set for German manufacturing enterprises to investigate the relationship between product diversification and the stability of sales and employment. We find that contrary to portfolio theoretic considerations more diversified firms exhibit a higher...

In this study we provide detailed evidence on the importance and performance of exporters compared to non-exporters in Austrian manufacturing, based on firm level data. The results are in line with those found in other studies pointing towards the exceptional role of exporting firms with respect...