Entrepreneurship, Innovation andCompetitionEmpirical Evidence for GermanyDer Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Fakultätan der Technischen Universität Dortmundzur Erlangung des akademischen Gradesdoctor rerum politicarum(Dr.rer.pol.)eingereichteD i s s e r t a t i o nvorgelegt vonDipl.-Vw. Diana HegerErstgutachter: Prof. Dr. Kornelius Kraft, Technische Universität DortmundZweitgutachter: Prof. Dr. Ulrich Kaiser, Universität ZürichEinreichung: 22. Dezember 2008Disputation: 20. Mai 2009iAcknowledgementsThis dissertation was accomplished during my time as a research fellow at the Centrefor European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim. While preparing it, I havereceived much support – through encouragement and advice – from many colleagues.I would like to thank all who inspired and commented on my work, who asked criticalquestions, and who offered their assistance with reading and correcting.Particularly, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Dr. KorneliusKraft for fruitful cooperations, scientific advice and support. I would also like to thankProf. Dr. Ulrich Kaiser who commented on parts of this dissertation and who kindlyagreed to be the second supervisor. And I am thankful to Dr. Georg Licht, head ofthe Department of Industrial Economics and International Management, for his ideas,encouragement, suggestions and support.Furthermore, numerous other people helped to improve the work on this dissertation.