This thesis studies the performance of a cohort of French firms between 2006 and 2009 using a theoretical framework developed for this purpose. This framework is based on the author’s entrepreneurial experience and conviction that firm performance is dependent on solving a managerial problem with two components: (i) an entrepreneurial component which focuses on creating market power with respect to customer wants, resources, means of production, and technology and (ii) an organisational component aiming to implement adequate labour division and coordination and motivation mechanisms in the firm. Solving both aspects of the managerial problem in firms is expected to increase frim performance over time. This book describes the origins of the managerial problem in the economic literature, studies its dual organisational and entrepreneurial aspect, and measures its effect on firm performance.:INTRODUCTION PART I: LITERATURE REVIEW, RESEARCH QUESTION, AND RESEARCH PLAN CHAPTER 1 : LITERATURE REVIEW CHAPTER 2 : RESEARCH QUESTION CHAPTER 3 : RESEARCH PLAN PART II: THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 4 : THE PROCESS THEORY OF ORGANISATION CHAPTER 5 : A MODEL OF FIRM PERFORMANCE CHAPTER 6 : LEVERAGES ON FIRM PERFORMANCE CHAPTER 7 : THE MANAGERIAL PROBLEM PART III: EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS CHAPTER 8 : BUILDING A MODEL TO ASSESS FIRM PERFORMANCE CHAPTER 9 : ENTREPRENEURIAL ABILITY AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS CHAPTER 10 : ORGANISATIONAL ABILITY AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS CHAPTER 11 : THE IMPACT OF MANAGEMENT ON FIRM PERFORMANCE PART IV: OUTLOOK APPENDIX A: THE AUSTRIAN SCHOOL OF THOUGHTS AND ITS EVOLUTION APPENDIX B: A CALCULATED EXAMPLE OF FIRM PERFORMANCE WITH NESTED PROCESSES APPENDIX C: ON STRUCTURING AND DRIVING THE FIRM APPENDIX D: LANDMARKS TO UNDERSTANDING THE ENTREPRENEURIAL PROCESS APPENDIX E: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS APPENDIX F: MODEL SPECIFICATION REFERENCES

New Economic Geography (NEG) models do not typically account for the presence of regions other than the ones involved in the integration process. We explore such a possibility in a Footloose Entrepreneur (FE) model aiming at studying the stability properties of long-run industrial location equilibria. We consider a world economy composed by a customs union of two regions (regions 1 and 2) and an "outside region" which can be regarded as the rest of the world (region 3). The effects of economic integration on industrial agglomeration within the customs union are studied under the assumption of a constant distance between the customs union itself and the third region. The results show that higher economic integration does not always implies the standard result of full agglomeration of FE models. This incomplete agglomeration outcome is due to the fact that the periphery region keeps a share of industrial activities in order to satisfy a share of "external demand". That is, the deindustrialization process brought about by economic integration in the periphery of the union is mitigated by the demand of consumers living in the rest of the world. In general, the market size of the third region affects the number of the long-run equilibria, as well as their stability properties. In addition to the standard outcomes of FE models, we describe the existence of two asymmetric equilibria characterised by unequal distribution of firms between regions 1 and 2, with no full agglomeration though. Interestingly, these equilibria are stable and therefore can be regarded as a likely long-run equilibrium state of the economy. (author's abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Zugl.: Darmstadt, Techn. Univ., Diss., 2009

Zugl.: Bielefeld, Univ., Diss., 2000/01.