Seminar – Going Public and the Internal Organisation of the Firm

Professor Merih Sevilir, European School of Management and Technology and IWH

We examine how firms adapt their organisation when they go public. IPO firms transform into a more hierarchical organisation and managerial oversight increases. Organisational functions dedicated to accounting, finance, information technology, and human resources become much more prominent. IPO firms turn around a large chunk of their labour force and almost their entire management to adapt their human capital to the new organisation. New empolyees are better educated, but the possess less job- and industry-specific experience than incumbents and employees leaving the firm. The new organisation facilitates internal transfers and job promotions. Overall, going public succumbs the firm to a transformation which reduces the firm’s dependence on individual employees and efficiently organises the production process of a public firm.

Speaker bio

Merih Sevilir is head of the Department of Laws, Regulations and Factor Markets at IWH and Professor of Finance at European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) in Berlin. She conducts research in entrepreneurship, private equity, corporate governance, and labour and finance. She serves as Associate Editor at the Review of Financial Studies and Journal of Corporate Finance, and is a member of ECGI.

A light lunch will be available in the Main Foyer from 13:00.

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