Foreword Research on the creation and development of new firms has gained substantial prominence over the past ten years - especially in the German-speaking countries, where many new entrepreneurship chairs have been created in universities. Despite the surge in interest, short-comings in the research domain remain. These shortcomings primarily concern the lack of solid empirical research that reflects the state of the art of management science. Based on psychological theories, expla- tions of the founding of a firm and its subsequent success have been made frequently in terms of character...