Hi there,

I need help with my research on the duration of a strategy adopted by private equity firms. The dataset is attached as an excel file. I'm really new to survival analyses, so I could use all the help. I have looked at the manual that is provided by Stata, but still I don't know how to proceed with this. I am using an other paper as an example, which uses the accelerated failure time models, and a logistic parametrisation. But I really don't know how to determine what model fits my data the best, and how to proceed with the duration analysis afterwards.
The first part of my research concerns explaining the impact of certain complexity measures on the duration of the whole strategy. The second part of my research I would like to verify the impact of the complexity on the duration and the corresponding type of exit (IPO, Trade Sale, Financial Buyout, Dissolution, or still active).

Some explanations regarding my variabels in the dataset.
-Strategy number
-P_BVDID, the id of the firm, this is irrelevant for the analysis
-P_Date, the starting date of the strategy
-E_Date, the ending date of the strategy, the right censored date is 04/08/2019, the end of the observation period
-Duration, this is the dependent variable, measured as E_Date - P_Date, or last observed date (04/08/2019), measured in years

Dependent variables for the second part of the research:
-IPO, dummy variable
-Trade_sale, dummy variable
-Financial_Buyout, dummy variable
-Dissolution, dummy variable

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Complexity measures, independent variables:
-Multiple versus single, a dummy variable indicating whether the strategy involves multiple (1) acquisitions or just one (0)
-Number of add-ons, the total amount of acquisitions per strategy
-Domestic, percentage showing the amount of acquisitions that are domestic of all the acquisitions in that strategy
-Cross_border, percentage showing the amount of acquisitions that are cross-border of all the acquisitions in that strategy
-Industry penetrating, percentage showing the amount of acquisitions that are penetrating of all the acquisitions in that strategy
-Industry diversifying, percentage showing the amount of acquisitions that are diversifying of all the acquisitions in that strategy
-Neighbouring, percentage indicating how many acquisitions are closely related to P_BVDID
-Time_between_First_addon, measured in years
-Time_between_first_and_last, measured in years
-Time_between_last_and_exit, measured in years
-Time_between_addons, the average time between all the acquisitions, measured in years
-Distance, distance between the firms
-Language, dummy variable indicating whether it is the same language (1) or not (0)
-GDP per capita
-Hofstede, score of hofstede dimension
-Institutional quality
-Investment Attractiveness

Note: A value of zero, for some variables, needs to be included. Missing data is left blank, not indicated with a zero.

the above variables have complete information, whereas the control variables below don't.

Control variables:
-Private_private, dummy
-Public_private, dummy
-Divisional, dummy
-Privatisation, dummy
-Receivership, dummy
-Management participation, dummy
-Deal syndication_total, counting variable
-Deal_syndication, dummy
-PE_Experience, indicating previous acquisition experience, counted as number of prior acquisitions
-PE_domestic, percentage showing the amount of acquisitions that are domestic of PE_Experience
-PE_cross_border, percentage showing the amount of acquisitions that are cross border of PE_Experience
-PF_assets
-PF_Roa
-PF_Interest_coverage
-PF_Experience_total
-PF_Domestic, percentage of PF_Experience_total
-PF_Crossborder, percentage of PF_Experience_total
-PF_Penetrating, percentage of PF_Experience_total
-PF_Diversifying, percentage of PF_Experience_total
-PF_Deal_value

Note: Domestic & Crossborder and Diversifying & Penetrating involve collinearity.

In my research I would like to analyse the effect of the complexity measures on the duration first, and then add the additional control variables in three stages (from private to deal syndication, and from PE experience to PE cross border, and from PF_assets to PF_Deal Value)

I really appreciate all the help, and hope that the explanation above is adequate for someone to help me.

Kind regards,

Michael