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- Andersson, Fredrik, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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The Characteristics and Performance of Family Firms : Exploiting information on ownership, governance and kinship using total population data
- 2017
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Rapport (refereegranskat)abstract
- Family firms are often considered characteristically different from non-family firms, and the economic implications of these differences have generated significant academic debate. However, our understanding of family firms suffers from an inability to identify them in total population data, as this requires information on owners, their kinship and involvement in firm governance, which is rarely available. We present a method for identifying domiciled family firms using register data that offers greater accuracy than previous methods. We then apply it to data from Statistics Sweden concerning firm ownership, governance and kinship over the years 2004-2010. Next, we use Swedish data to estimate these firms’ economic contribution to total employment and gross domestic product (GDP) and compare them to private domiciled non-family firms in terms of their characteristics and economic performance. We find that the family firm is the prevalent organizational form, contributing to over one-third of all employment and GDP. Family firms are common across industries and sizes, ranging from the smallest producers to the largest multinational firms. However, their characteristics differ across sizes and legal forms, thereby indicating that the seemingly contradictory findings among previous studies on family firms may be due to unobserved heterogeneity. We furthermore find that they are smaller than private non-family firms in employment and sales and carry higher solidity, although they are more profitable. These differences diminish with firm size, however. We conclude that the term ‘family firm’ contains great diversity and call for increased attention to their heterogeneity.
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| 2. |
- Hogmalm, Johan, 1979, et al.
(författare)
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In situ Rb-Sr and K-Ca dating by LA-ICP-MS/MS: an evaluation of N2O and SF6 as reaction gases
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 0267-9477 .- 1364-5544. ; 32:2, s. 305-313
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In situ dating of K-rich minerals, e.g. micas and K-feldspar, by the Rb–Sr isotopic system is a new development made possible by the ICP-MS/MS technique. Online chemical separation of Rb and Sr is possible in an O2-filled reaction cell, wherein a portion of the Sr reacts to SrO+ while simultaneously no RbO+ is formed. O2 reactions provide stable analytical conditions sufficient for precise and accurate determination of Rb/Sr and Sr/Sr isotopic ratios using 80 micron laser ablation spots. However, to date <10% of the Sr reacts with O2 as reaction gas, leaving room for improvement using more potent reaction gases. With a more efficient reactive transfer, it should be possible to obtain similar results with a smaller laser spot size, hence gaining higher spatial resolution. In this study, we have evaluated N2O and SF6 as reaction gases since they have previously been shown to react strongly with Sr+, without affecting Rb+. Analytical conditions, including cell parameters and reaction gas flow rate were optimized while ablating NIST SRM 610. The main reaction product is SrO+ for N2O reaction and SrF+ for SF6 reaction. Both gases show significantly higher reaction product formation compared to O2 with >85% of Sr reacting with N2O and >70% Sr reacting with SF6; Rb does not react with either gas. As a result, the sensitivity for Sr reaction products is ∼10 times higher with N2O and ∼8 times higher with SF6 compared to O2. With these more reactive gases, the error of mica isochron ages, calibrated against a newly developed nano-particulate pressed powder tablet of mica–Mg, is ∼1% using a 50 μm laser spot. Our tests show that both N2O and SF6 form interfering reaction products, e.g., SrOH (N2O), SiF3 and TiF3 (SF6) that are difficult to handle using single mass spectrometer instruments, but which can be overcome using MS/MS. Using SF6 combined with H2, it is possible to measure 40Ca+ as 40Ca19F+, free from interference of 40Ar+ and 40K+. This facilitates the dating of micas by the K–Ca isotopic system; we present the first in situ K–Ca age determination.
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