The Contribution of Employees for the Performance and Innovativeness of Young Firms
The Contribution of Employees for the Performance and Innovativeness of Young Firms
The aim of this project is to examine effects of the "combined" human capital of founders and employees for a company's success. Therefore, interactions between the education, qualifications and professional experience of entrepreneurs (based on the KfW/ZEW Start-up Panel) and the experience and training of their workforce (based on the mandatory reporting to the Federal Employment Agency) are analyzed. For the analyses, appropriate indicators that depict the "portfolio" of the total human capital in a young company are developed. The question if it is more promising to combine the skills of employees and founders complementary or if there are clear specialization strategies that lead to business success will be answered. In this context also the issue of "homogeneity" vs. "heterogeneity" of the workforce of a young company is highlighted.