Addis BIRHANU
Professor 

Addis Biranu 2 - InVent, emlyon business school

 ” Good research matures, just like fine Ethiopian coffee – some might say it’s the best in the world. Who am I to argue? “

Addis BIRHANU
Professor 

 

My research interest spans corporate governance of both established and entrepreneurial firms, nonmarket strategy, and firm performance, blending theoretical insights with practical implications.

More specifically, I explore the role of governance characteristics, such as business group affiliation, board composition, demographic profiles of entrepreneurs, and ownership type, in influencing key strategic choices in the market domain, such as intellectual property commercialization, raising venture capital funds, undertaking M&A, and in the nonmarket domain, such as engaging in political influence, dealing with environmental adversity, and investing in ESG issues. I also investigate how nonmarket strategies affect firm competitiveness, growth, survival, and profitability, and how these strategies and outcomes are shaped by institutional constraints.

In my research process, I often start from a phenomenon that hold significance for businesses, whether they are contemporary trends or longstanding issues. This leads me to formulate a research question that I examine through quantitative methods.

birhanu@em-lyon.com

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Gender Differences in Enterprise Performance During the COVID-19 Crisis: Do Public Policy Responses Matter?

To commercialize inside or outside of the firm: Behavioral considerations in patent exploitation by family firms

This article examines the relationship between family ownership and patent use strategy
using primary data from a patent survey, as well as patent and firm-level data from secondary sources. The findings reveal that family firms are less likely than non-family
firms to license their patents and more likely to internally commercialize them. We show that the decision of family firms to license less does not depend on lower patent
quality or inefficient patent use. Instead, it arises from their preference for patent uses that allow them to exert greater control over the value they can derive from their
innovations. We also show that family firms commercialize more patents because they leverage their managerial discretion to explore and seize emerging internal patent
commercialization opportunities.

Gender Differences in Enterprise Performance During the COVID-19 Crisis: Do Public Policy Responses Matter?<br />

Gender Differences in Enterprise Performance During the COVID-19 Crisis: Do Public Policy Responses Matter?

The COVID-19 crisis has introduced unique tradeoffs between health and economic risk, leading to a “life vs. livelihoods conundrum.†This study contributes to research on adversity and entrepreneurship by examining the implications of the pandemic for gender differences in enterprise performance. We further consider how public policy responses in the domains of public health and economic support moderate the potential gendered effects of the pandemic. Data analysis of more than 20,000 enterprises across 38 countries shows that women-owned enterprises were more adversely affected by the pandemic, and that stronger public health policy responses helped reduce the observed gap in performance.

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

The competitive advantage of affiliation with business groups in the political environment: Evidence from the Arab Spring. Strategic Organization, 20 (2): 389-411 p.

(Birhanu, Addis Gedefaw, Wezel, Filippo Carlo. – 2022)

Acquisition experience and director remuneration. Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions & Money, 75: 25 p.

(Birhanu, Addis Gedefaw, Geiler, Philipp, Renneboog, Luc, Zhao, Yang. 2021)

Bribery and Investment: Firm-Level Evidence from Africa and Latin America. Strategic Management Journal, 37 (9): 1865–1877 p.

(Birhanu, Addis Gedefaw, Gambardella, Alfonso, Valentini, Giovanni. 2016)