The venture capital (or: VC) industry is often very heterogeneous in Europe, where independent, private investors operate alongside government, corporate or bank-related investors. Local players invest alongside international investors. Entrepreneurs often assume that the source of money is not important, but the different types of venture capital each have their own specific impact on the businesses they invest in, each with their specific advantages and disadvantages. Entrepreneurs therefore have to make well-considered choices.
Posted on Thursday, February 02, 2012
In a recent working paper, Dr Elisabeth Van Laere and Prof Bart Baesens provide a comprehensive analysis on the credit ratings of banks by Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s (S&P). More specifically, the research team has investigated how different factors influence the assignment of S&P and Moody’s long term bank ratings using a unique data set covering different regions, bank sizes, and bank types. By including new bank and country specific variables, the authors clearly show that Moody’s and S&P’s bank ratings are based on different input parameters.
Posted on Monday, October 03, 2011
International transfer pricing, that is, the setting of a price for internal transactions within a multinational group, is irretrievably linked to international tax law. In seeking equity across borders, tax law imposes the arm’s length principle as the yardstick to judge the fairness and correctness of the transfer pricing system, in line with the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines.
Posted on Friday, September 09, 2011
Financial capital is one of the key resources a business requires to support its growth. Although few in number, high growth businesses contribute disproportionately to employment and wealth creation in an economy. As a result it is important to know, not only how high-growth businesses fund growth, but the reasons behind this choice. This article zooms in on new research from Belgium looked at a sample of more than 32,700 companies over an 8 year period and investigated how those with the highest growth supported the expansion financially.
Posted on Monday, May 09, 2011
Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As) are a fact of business life, and can often be a quicker, easier and cheaper way for businesses to grow than by organic expansion. However, now that the heyday of the 1980’s hostile takeover is over, new research in Continental Europe reveals some surprising results for what makes a company more likely to seek speedier acquired growth, over slower expansion. M&As are still a popular means of growth for firms. So what makes a company look around for possible targets?
Posted on Friday, April 15, 2011
With an average age of 51 years, 19 years of managerial experience, 14 years as an entrepreneur – and, certainly, considerable financial resources – Business Angels are private individuals who invest in young companies that are not quoted on the Stock Exchange. As very young companies (or those that need only a small amount of funding) often find it difficult to attract venture capital, the BANs bring these companies in contact with BAs who help provide the necessary funds. In a study commissioned by the Flemish government, Vlerick Professor Sophie Manigart and her Ghent University colleagues Veroniek Collewaert and Lotte Goossens have researched the Flanders Business Angel Network.
Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2011
Has securitization come to an end? In October 2009 the International Monetary Fund published a report on navigating the financial challenges lying ahead. In it, the IMF makes the case that restarting the securitization markets is critical to limiting the real sector fallout resulting from the credit crisis amid financial sector deleveraging pressures. Because the concept of securitization - by its very nature and complexity - is not always well understood, this article deals with the building blocks of securitization.
Posted on Monday, March 07, 2011
Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are a major contributor to the creation of wealth in our developed economies. In industrialized countries SMEs account for more than 90 percent of all firms, employ about two-thirds of the workforce, and contribute to nearly 50 percent of value added in non-agricultural production. Like most active participants to the real sector of our developed economies, SMEs need access to funds in order to operate and to grow. It is well known that given their size, SMEs do not have a direct access to the money and capital markets. Their access to funds mainly depends on the banking sector. Without efficient bank lending, the development of SMEs will be hindered materially. Thus, the way banks price the funds they provide to the SMEs is of prime importance to guaranty an orderly economic development.
Posted on Monday, December 27, 2010
How to use scarce resources creatively? Start-up companies often lack financial resources. But through well-considered and creative organisation, they can use their limited resources to achieve a maximal result. This is called ‘bootstrapping’ – using whatever means are at hand to pursue and achieve your objectives. Research has shown that this effort ultimately stimulates the company’s growth. Vlerick Professor Sophie Manigart and colleagues Miguel Meuleman and Tom Vanacker have used their research findings to create a ‘Checklist of Bootstrap Strategies’ to help companies think creatively about generating – and using – financial resources.
Posted on Tuesday, December 21, 2010
As the global economy recovers, most businesses are at last looking forward and planning for growth. But what lessons might have been learned from recession? In particular, while it’s easy to blame business failures solely on external factors generated by the economic downturn, are there aspects of the way certain companies were managed that might have accelerated their demise?
Posted on Thursday, November 04, 2010