TY  - JOUR
AU  - Kaplan,Steven N.
AU  - Sensoy,Berk A.
AU  - Strömberg,Per
TI  - What Are Firms? Evolution from Birth to Public Companies
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 11581
PY  - 2005
Y2  - August 2005
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11581
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w11581.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Steven N. Kaplan
Booth School of Business
The University of Chicago
5807 South Woodlawn Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
Tel: 773/702-4513
Fax: 773/702-0458
E-Mail: steven.kaplan@chicagobooth.edu

Berk Sensoy
Ohio State University
2100 Neil Ave.
Columbus, OH 43210
E-Mail: sensoy_4@fisher.osu.edu

Per Stromberg
Institute for Financial Research (SIFR)
Drottninggatan 89
SE-113 60 Stockholm
Sweden
Tel: +46 8 728-5128
Fax: +46 8 728 5130
E-Mail: per.stromberg@sifr.org
AB  - We study how firm characteristics evolve from early business plan to initial public offering to public company for 49 venture capital financed companies.  The average time elapsed is almost 6 years.  We describe the financial performance, business idea, point(s) of differentiation, non-human capital assets, growth strategy, customers, competitors, alliances, top management, ownership structure, and the board of directors.  Our analysis focuses on the nature and stability of those firm attributes.  Firm business lines remain remarkably stable from business plan through public company.  Within those business lines, non-human capital aspects of the businesses appear more stable than human capital aspects.  In the cross-section, firms with more alienable assets have substantially more human capital turnover.
ER  -