From liability to asset: A receiver’s perspective on eponymy signals and market value

Jorge Arteaga-Fonseca, Duygu Phillips, Matthew Rutherford and Kipp Krukowski

Journal of Small Business Management, 2025, vol. 63, issue 3, 1143-1171

Abstract: Drawing on signaling theory and literatures from eponymy and branding, we take a receiver’s perspective to explicate how signaling eponymy impacts venture market value at harvest. To untangle the mixed findings on the effects of eponymy, we take a contingency approach and theorize that firm age plays a key role in how the eponymy signal will be perceived by valuators. Employing a novel dataset of 471 acquired private firms, our analysis reveals that while the market value of eponymous firms declines early in the life cycle, past a threshold their value begins to increase. This suggests that at that point, eponymy becomes an asset and adds value to the firm. We establish this nadir at a firm age of 44.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/00472778.2024.2371502

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