The study on management buyouts (MBOs) examines an important group of East German companies and their development: companies which, in the course of privatisation, arose from the sales of shares or assets to the preceding East German management. They were of high importance during the process of transition from a planned to a market economy. Medium-sized companies, which are characteristic of market-based structures, did not exist in the GDR. Hopes were pinned on MBOs to promote the development of an independent entrepreneurial middle class in the new federal states. The IWH conducted a comprehensive study of these MBOs in the summer of 1995. The focus of this study was put on the MBOs’ economic situation, individual areas of business and areas of concern – such as sales, organisation and equity – as well as their future prospects and the need for economic policy initiatives.

Data and Methods

• Method: Postal survey, standardised questionnaire, some open questions
• Population of the complete survey: All MBOs existing in East Germany in November 1995 (ca. 1800)
• Field phase: November 1995 until January 1996
• Evaluable cases: 601
• Questionnaire: PDF download
• File format: STATA, SPSS
• Focus of the survey: Employment structure, ownership structure, motives for the takeover, finance and accounting, liquidity problems, support measures, products and sales
• DOI: 10.18717/iwh.mbo4

Data Access

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