1. The paper investigates how pre-entry experience, post-entry experience and innovative activity affected the survival of German automobile firms over the period 1886–1936.
2. A statistical survival analysis is performed which links instrumental variable estimation with the Cox regression.
3. The main results are that all three knowledge components exert an independent and significantly positive effect on firm survival, and innovative activity is able to compensate for post-entry experience.
The article provides a detailed analysis of the effects of pre-entry experience, post-entry experience and innovative activity on the survival of German automobile firms over the period 1886–1936. The authors use a statistical survival analysis which links instrumental variable estimation with the Cox regression to support their findings. The article does not provide any evidence for potential biases or one-sided reporting, nor does it contain any unsupported claims or missing points of consideration. Furthermore, there is no promotional content or partiality in the article, and possible risks are noted throughout. However, there is some missing evidence for some of the claims made in the article, as well as unexplored counterarguments that could have been included in order to present both sides equally.