University-based vs independent firms: features and performance

This study tests for differences in innovative activity, profitability and market valuation between university-based and independent companies. To this extent, we compare a sample of 143 university-based companies that recently went public in Europe with a control sample of small and young independent companies. We find that university-based firms show a lower operating and market (CAR) performance, while they have a higher level of innovation activity (number of patents and R&D investments). TMTs of university-based firms have a higher number of components, with a higher number of graduates and a lower fraction of non-executive members. Boards and CEOs of independent companies typically own a larger proportion of their companies.