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Financiando el Futuro: Capital para Arrancar y Escalar Negocios Exitosos
No full textEste capítulo profundiza en los aspectos técnicos de la planificación financiera de una startup. El plan financiero es el punto de partida para cualquier estrategia en esta área.
Su primer objetivo es determinar si la empresa requerirá financiamiento externo y, de ser así, qué cantidad de financiamiento necesitará y en qué momento. Además, este plan sirve como base para la valuación de la empresa. Por último, y probablemente lo más importante, brinda al equipo emprendedor y a los inversionistas potenciales la oportunidad de evaluar críticamente y optimizar el modelo de negocio
AI can make the relative-valuation process sess subjective
No full textThis article presents a new methodology for relative valuation that incorporates artificial intelligence. The methodology uses AI to review historical data—such as revenues, earnings, and debt levels—to detect patterns and relationships related to historical valuations that traditional methods might miss. By integrating AI into the relative-valuation process, organizations can transform a traditionally subjective art into a more rigorous, transparent, and data-driven science. The process not only enhances valuation accuracy but also builds confidence among stakeholders by clearly showing the rationale behind each valuation decision. As a case study, the authors apply their methodology to Mastercard, analyze the results, and then recommend four key steps that companies should take if they are looking to integrate AI into valuatio
Uncovering the dynamics of corporate climate disclosure using machine learning
No full textClimate change significantly affects the way firms do business. Firms must not only manage and mitigate the financial impacts of climate-related risks—such as transition risks from policy uncertainty or physical risks from exposure to extreme weather—but also take responsibility for the externalities they impose on society, including biodiversity loss, greenhouse gas emissions, and deforestation. With societal awarenss of climate change being at an all-time high, this underscores the importance for firms to be transparent about their exposure to climate change, not only to inform decision-making in capital markets, but also to establish and maintain legitimacy toward its stakeholders, ultimately increasing accountability. However, while we have witnessed an increase in the disclosure of climate-related information (Lin et al., 2024; Müller et al., 2024), these disclosures are not without criticism. Investors have repeatedly voiced concerns about the value-relevance of climate risk disclosure (Ilhan et al., 2023), and empirical evidence documents substantial use of boilerplate language (Bingler et al., 2022, 2024; Lin et al., 2024). Meanwhile, popular concern about greenwashing is soaring (Montgomery et al., 2024). In response to these concerns, policymakers globally are increasingly considering mandating the disclosure of nonfinancial information, including climate-related information, to enhance firms' transparency and, ultimately, accountability. Yet, recent regulatory developments have illustrated the challenges that persist in designing and implementing effective nonfinancial disclosure standards and regulations. Motivated by the relevance of climate disclosure and the challenges firms and regulators face in designing optimal disclosure practices, this dissertation aims to provide fundamental insights into how firms report climate-related information in their annual reports, a key source of both financial and nonfinancial information for investors and other stakeholders (Lin et al., 2024). Moreover, it explores factors influencing firms' reporting choices and the relevance of climate disclosure to external stakeholders. To uncover these "dynamics" of climate disclosure, this dissertation draws on innovations in machine learning, enabling the large-scale analysis of several dimensions of firms' textual climate disclosures. The first chapter examines how the disclosure narrative in firms' annual reports has developed over the last decade. To model this narrative, the chapter introduces a machine learning approach that combines ClimateBERT (Webersinke et al., 2022) with a structural topic model (STM) (Roberts et al., 2016), enabling the discovery of a latent set of disclosure themes in firms' annual reports. The findings indicate that, over the period 2010-2022, the disclosure narrative has significantly shifted toward topics that are expected to be primarily of interest to investors. Additional analyses reveal that these disclosure changes are likely driven by the introduction of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive, which presented an EU-wide shift from voluntary toward mandatory nonfinancial disclosure. Overall, this study contributes to developing a better understanding of the pathways to the current state of climate disclosure and contributes to the debate on the effects of nonfinancial disclosure regulation. The second chapter zooms in and explores whether and when climate risk disclosure influences capital market participants' decision-making, focusing on financial analysts. The findings reveal no general relationship between climate risk disclosure and analysts' earnings forecasts. Nevertheless, results of additional tests show that when firms face negative news exposure, analysts are more likely to downgrade their earnings forecasts, with analysts' revision depending on climate risk disclosure and the materiality of climate risk. These findings illustrate the complex role of climate risk disclosure in capital markets, thereby contributing to the debate on the value-relevance of these disclosures. Another key finding of this chapter is that the perceived credibility of disclosure also influences analysts' judgements of a firm's disclosures, which might lead them to overract to these disclosures. The third chapter, in turn, explores the dynamics of climate disclosure in buyer-supplier relationships. The findings illustrate that there is significant alignment in the way buyers and suppliers report climate-related information. Interestingly, this is driven by the suppliers' imitation of their buyers' disclosure practices, as well as by assortative matching, where buyers and suppliers having similar disclosure practices match in the contracting process. These findings illustrate the importance of moving beyond the focal firm if we are to fully understand firms' climate disclosure choices. Moreover, they should be of interest to policymakers globally, as they illustrate how disclosure practices might spill over from regulated toward unregulated firms due to supply chain dynamics
A priority rule heuristic for the multi-skilled resource-constrained project scheduling problem
No full textThe project scheduling problem with skilled resources is heuristically solved. A new resource assignment procedure is presented using fast priority rules. Three sets of priority rules are evaluated for solving multi-skilled scheduling problems. The heuristic obtains new best-known solutions for a benchmark dataset.This research presents a priority rule heuristic approach for the multi-skilled resource-constrained project scheduling problem. The approach is based on a parallel schedule generation scheme which includes a new resource assignment procedure. The scheme combines three types of priority rules in order to schedule activities and assign resources to the skill requirements of these activities. In computational experiments, skill- and resource rule combinations are evaluated and selected based on two metrics using a Pareto Front approach. These rule combinations are then integrated with various activity priority rules after which their solution quality is evaluated. The heuristic approach and the selected rules are then employed to solve all project instances of the MSLIB dataset. It is shown that, on average, the presented approach is able to obtain solutions with a comparable quality to the solution quality of a meta-heuristic procedure from literature. Additionally, new best known solutions are obtained for the MSLIB dataset. The practical applicability of the heuristic is validated by solving empirical project instances
‘Making it Easy to Do Hard Things’: How experts help novices perceive craft as accessible
No full textCraft offers a path to enchantment and meaningful engagement with creation in an increasingly rationalized society. Yet, entering skilled domains where craft is practiced can be challenging for novices, particularly for those less familiar with these domains. While a growing body of research suggests that craft can be made more accessible through nontraditional pathways, the process whereby novices come to perceive craft as accessible remains undertheorized. We explore these ideas through the case of the makers, a diverse DIY movement that embraces all who build, modify, and invent across a variety of skilled domains. Using interview and observational data from Maker Faires—events wherein makers exhibit their projects and engage attendees in making activities—we induce a model of how experts enable novices to perceive craft as accessible. Our findings reveal how experts convey knowledge and skills using a creative craft approach, detailing how experts engage in scaffolding to facilitate novice creation, relax hierarchy, and cultivate fun and whimsy. In turn, this engenders the experience of enchanted engagement for novices who are able to experience how engaging in craft feels without the requisite skills or knowledge. Ultimately, this experience shapes and reinforces novices’ perception that craft is accessible. Our study contributes to the growing scholarship on craft in terms of alternative pathways for entering skilled domains, the role of craft in re-enchanting organizational life, and the emotional rewards of craft
Regulatory institutions and cross-country differences in high-growth entrepreneurship rates: A configurational approach
No full textRegulation and deregulation, as two opposing perspectives, have dominated institutional entrepreneurship research
We analyze national configurations of regulatory institutions in the context of high-growth entrepreneurship rates
Both a tilt towards regulation and deregulation may contribute to high-growth entrepreneurship rates
Trying to perfectly balance out regulation with deregulation is not conducive to high-growth entrepreneurship ratesRegulatory institutions are double-edged swords: stricter regulations can improve entrepreneurs' access to key resources but also constrain their discretion. Past research has focused on the individual and/or independent influence of regulatory institutions, calling for stricter regulation or deregulation. However, institutional theory suggests that the full configuration of regulatory institutions, including their possibly complex interactions, drives the trade-off between resource access and the constraints imposed by resource providers. Using an inductive approach and fsQCA analysis, we aim to better understand how configurations of regulatory institutions and contextual conditions influence high-growth entrepreneurship (HGE) rates across European countries. We find that three distinct configurations explain high country-level HGE rates, which include different regulatory institutions that sometimes work in opposing ways and do not necessarily work universally across contexts. Overall, this study deepens research at the nexus of institutional theory and high-growth entrepreneurship
The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Private Equity
No full textMergers and acquisitions (M&A) by venture capital-backed companies have witnessed a surge in popularity in recent years. This article aimed to comprehensively examine this subject from the buyer perspective. Firstly, we demonstrate that venture capitalists assume multiple roles in M&A deals, including traditional screening, monitoring, advising, and coaching. Secondly, drawing from signaling, agency, resource-based, and organizational learning theories, one might anticipate a higher propensity for VC-backed companies to engage in acquisitions. However, the existing literature presents conflicting findings regarding the likelihood of VC-backed takeovers. Likewise, the assessment of short-term and long-term performance outcomes, typically measured through stock returns, yields inconclusive results
The influence of team consensus and inclusive climate on junior auditors’ conformity and risk assessment sharing
No full textIn hierarchically structured audit teams, it is common for junior auditors to conduct the fieldwork and gather a large part of the audit evidence, making information sharing critical. However, if a team consensus already exists, individual auditors may conform to the team and hesitate to raise potentially important issues they themselves acquired about a client. This study experimentally investigates how the origin of team consensus (i.e., consensus of junior members vs. consensus of senior members) and the type of inclusive climate (i.e., authenticity vs. belongingness) impact junior auditors’ conformity and their comfort with sharing their own risk assessment with the team. Drawing on conformity theory, we hypothesize and find that junior auditors are more likely to conform to a team consensus of senior members, and feel less comfortable with sharing their own risk assessment with the team, particularly when working in an authenticity climate. These effects of conforming more to senior members are mitigated when there is a climate of belongingness
The Routledge Companion to Marketing and Sustainability
No full textThis chapter highlights the relevance and importance of integrating sustainability in business-to-business (B2B) marketing. By adopting a holistic view of the supply chain, both vertically, from raw materials to end consumers, and horizontally, with partners and competitors, firms operating in B2B markets can comply with regulatory requirements, develop a sustainable competitive advantage, and deliver significant societal and environmental benefits. By means of a review of the relevant, recent literature and various, insightful examples, the key principles of B2B sustainability marketing are explained and illustrated, providing a contemporary, coherent, and comprehensive overview of this important development
When CEOs Win, So Do Shareholders: Evidence From Well-Aligned Firms
No full textThis paper explores distinguishing characteristics related to CEO traits and the design of CEO compensation in firms where total CEO compensation levels are well-aligned with shareholder returns. It utilizes a hand-collected dataset drawn from STOXX Europe 600 firms. Adopting an exploratory, industry-relative approach, the analysis compares CEO compensation rankings with total shareholder return (TSR) rankings across companies within the same industry. Firms are grouped based on the degree of consistency between granted CEO compensation and shareholder returns. The study identifies distinguishing characteristics of firms where CEO compensation is strongly aligned with shareholder returns. These firms feature shorter-tenured and externally appointed CEOs, a more limited proportion of long-term incentives, and more targeted use of ESG criteria, with climate metrics more often linked to short-term incentives and workforce-related goals tied to long-term incentives