Vlerick Repository

Recent Submissions

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    The Adoption of MBA Programs in Germany: An Institutional Perspective
    (Academy of Management, 2023) Schulz, Ann-Christine; Fehre, Kerstin; Oertel, Simon
    This study examines the adoption of MBA programs by higher education institutions in Germany. Using arguments from neo-institutional theory and imprinting theory, we propose that private ownership, mimetic processes, and founding period are likely to impact MBA adoption. In an empirical analysis of 86 German universities over the period 1999–2015, we show that private universities are more likely to offer MBA programs. For public universities, we find that prior adoption by other universities and an early foundation period (prior to World War II) positively influence MBA adoption. Interaction analyses show that the positive impact of prior adoption by other universities is attenuated by organizational status and augmented by the regional density of academic institutions. Our findings thus elucidate the major role of institutional factors for the diffusion of MBA programs among German universities.
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    Financial versus strategic buyer interest: Initiation, competition and persistence during the private bidding process
    (Elsevier, 2025) De Maeseneire, Wouter; Dereeper, Sebastien; Luypaert, Mathieu; Nguyen Thuy, May
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    The Value of Control in Private Companies
    (De Gruyter, 2025-05) Van den Cruijce, Johan; Van Hulle, Cynthia; De Maeseneire, Wouter; De Ruyck, Bettina
    The controlling shareholder of a company has the potential to extract private benefits of control (PBC). In contrast to shared benefits, PBC are proceeds that accrue only to the majority shareholders. They can take a variety of forms that range from outright theft to a (covert) compensation for private costs incurred in controlling the company. It is notoriously difficult to measure PBC and the literature only provides a rough guidance based on two methods: the control premium method and the voting premium method. These two methods are based on the logic that PBC must be the reason why the controlling shareholder pays a premium over the market price for a controlling block or why voting and non-voting shares are priced differently. This paper introduces a third method to estimate the PBC. We look at the discount (compared to a baseline valuation made at the controlling level) that minority shareholders ask to invest in a company. In the context of private companies, we find a discount of 16.72 % that translates into estimated PBC of 20.08 % (premium per share). We argue that the discount for lack of control can be explained as a discount for private benefits.
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    The use of continuous action representations to scale deep reinforcement learning for inventory control
    (Oxford University Press (OUP), 2025) Vanvuchelen, Nathalie; De Moor, Bram J; Boute, Robert
    Abstract Accepted by: M. Zied Babai Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) can solve complex inventory problems with a multi-dimensional state space. However, most approaches use a discrete action representation and do not scale well to problems with multi-dimensional action spaces. We use DRL with a continuous action representation for inventory problems with a large (multi-dimensional) discrete action space. To obtain feasible discrete actions from a continuous action representation, we add a tailored mapping function to the policy network that maps the continuous outputs of the policy network to a feasible integer solution. We demonstrate our approach to multi-product inventory control. We show how a continuous action representation solves larger problem instances and requires much less training time than a discrete action representation. Moreover, we show its performance matches state-of-the-art heuristic replenishment policies. This promising research avenue might pave the way for applying DRL in inventory control at scale and in practice.
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    The Effect of Process and Outcome Accountability on Individual Exploration
    (Academy of Management, 2016-01) Verwaeren, Bart; Buyens, Dirk; Baeten, Xavier
    Most organizations today use various management control systems that make employees accountable for what they do and/or how they do it. Accountability systems that emphasis either outcomes or processes have been found to differentially influence performance in various contexts. In this paper, the effect of these types of accountability on individual exploration (innovation) is examined. Using the concept of performance pressure (the stakes and demands associated with the task) and employing a motivated information processing perspective, it is predicted that process accountability will increase exploration of new ideas while outcome accountability will lead to more exploitation of existing ideas. An experiment is described that tests the main effects of accountability type and examines the mediating role of performance pressure. Results show support for the main effect of accountability type on exploration and provide partial support for the mediating role of performance pressure.