Private Equity Firms

Kirsten Burkhardt is Doctor of Management Sciences and has held the position of Senior Lecturer at the University of Burgundy, France since 2015. At IAE Dijon, she is head of the International Master in Business Studies and co-head of International Relations. She is a member of the Centre de Recherche en Gestion des Organisations (CREGO) where she directs the transversal research axis "Entrepreneurship and SMEs." Her research and academic publications focus on entrepreneurial governance and the growth of SMEs.

• Acknowledgments viiPreface ixIntroduction xiChapter 1. Concepts Underlying the Role of Private Equity Firms in Forming Alliances 11.1. Private equity 11.1.1. Main characteristics 11.1.2. The French PE market 41.2. The concept of a strategic alliance 101.3. Strategic alliance formation in French PEFs 141.3.1. French PE: a favorable environment for the formation of alliances 141.3.2. First descriptive data 16Chapter 2. The Role of Private Equity Firms in Alliance Formation from the Perspective of Value Creation 252.1. The role of PEFs from the perspective of contractual theories 262.1.1. Some theoretical foundations 262.1.2. Review of contractual theories 382.1.3. Applying the theory to our research question 402.1.4. Review of the role of PEFs from the perspective of contractual theories 592.2. The role of PEFs in light of knowledge-based theories 642.2.1. Some theoretical foundations 652.2.2. Applying the theory to our research question 832.2.3. Review of the role of PEFs from the perspective of knowledge-based theories 952.2.4. Where knowledge-based theories stand compared to contractual theories 972.2.5. The complementarity of contractual and knowledge-based theories 1012.3. Sociological network theories: a supplement to the contractual and knowledge-based argumentation 1062.3.1. Some theoretical foundations 1072.3.2. Applying the theory to our research question 1202.3.3. Review of the additional arguments brought forward by the use of the concept of social capital 1302.4. The role of PEFs: a summary 1332.4.1. Intraportfolio alliances 1342.4.2. Extraportfolio alliances 137Chapter 3. Empirical Analysis with Explanatory Design of the Role of French Private Equity Firms in the Formation of Alliances 1453.1. Methodology: a multimethod study 1463.1.1. The overall concept 1463.1.2. The joint and complementary use of statistical and economic techniques and case studies 1473.2. Testing the theoretical framework 1483.2.1. Econometric analysis 1483.2.2. Multiple case study 1833.2.3. Reconciliation of the econometric study and the multiple case study and discussion of the results 335Conclusion 357Bibliography 367Index 385