IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbvent/v26y2011i2p239-254.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When are venture capital projects initiated?

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Yong
  • Mahoney, Joseph T.

Abstract

This paper examines how public market information relates to the initiation of venture capital projects. Analysis of venture capital investments in the U.S. between 1980 and 2007 indicates that venture capitalists tend to defer new investment projects in target industries with substantial market volatility. This delay effect of market volatility is reduced if the target industry experiences high sales growth or if competition among venture capitalists is intense in the target industry. The paper provides further evidence to corroborate the view that venture capitalists rationally respond to market shifts in their investment decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Yong & Mahoney, Joseph T., 2011. "When are venture capital projects initiated?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 239-254, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbvent:v:26:y:2011:i:2:p:239-254
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883-9026(09)00080-9
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bradley, Michael & Jarrell, Gregg A & Kim, E Han, 1984. "On the Existence of an Optimal Capital Structure: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 857-878, July.
    2. Ghosal, Vivek & Loungani, Prakash, 1996. "Product Market Competition and the Impact of Price Uncertainty on Investment: Some Evidence from US Manufacturing Industries," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 217-228, June.
    3. Dushnitsky, Gary & Lenox, Michael J., 2005. "When do incumbents learn from entrepreneurial ventures?: Corporate venture capital and investing firm innovation rates," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 615-639, June.
    4. James A. Brander & Raphael Amit & Werner Antweiler, 2002. "Venture‐Capital Syndication: Improved Venture Selection vs. The Value‐Added Hypothesis," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(3), pages 423-452, September.
    5. Steven N. Kaplan & Antoinette Schoar, 2005. "Private Equity Performance: Returns, Persistence, and Capital Flows," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(4), pages 1791-1823, August.
    6. Bottazzi, Laura & Da Rin, Marco & Hellmann, Thomas, 2008. "Who are the active investors?: Evidence from venture capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(3), pages 488-512, September.
    7. Li, Yong, 2008. "Duration analysis of venture capital staging: A real options perspective," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 497-512, September.
    8. Mike, Ken Wright Robbie, 1998. "Venture Capital and Private Equity: A Review and Synthesis," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(5‐6), pages 521-570, June.
    9. Tailan Chi, 2000. "Option to acquire or divest a joint venture," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(6), pages 665-687, June.
    10. Gompers, Paul & Kovner, Anna & Lerner, Josh & Scharfstein, David, 2008. "Venture capital investment cycles: The impact of public markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 1-23, January.
    11. Amit, Raphael & Brander, James & Zott, Christoph, 1998. "Why do venture capital firms exist? theory and canadian evidence," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 13(6), pages 441-466, November.
    12. Samuel Kortum & Josh Lerner, 2000. "Assessing the Contribution of Venture Capital to Innovation," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 31(4), pages 674-692, Winter.
    13. Cochrane, John H., 2005. "The risk and return of venture capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 3-52, January.
    14. Steven N. Kaplan & Per Strömberg, 2003. "Financial Contracting Theory Meets the Real World: An Empirical Analysis of Venture Capital Contracts," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 70(2), pages 281-315.
    15. Yael V. Hochberg & Alexander Ljungqvist & Yang Lu, 2007. "Whom You Know Matters: Venture Capital Networks and Investment Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(1), pages 251-301, February.
    16. Luigi Guiso & Giuseppe Parigi, 1999. "Investment and Demand Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(1), pages 185-227.
    17. Avinash K. Dixit & Robert S. Pindyck, 1994. "Investment under Uncertainty," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 5474.
    18. Ruhnka, John C. & Young, John E., 1991. "Some hypotheses about risk in venture capital investing," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 115-133, March.
    19. Scott Shane & Toby Stuart, 2002. "Organizational Endowments and the Performance of University Start-ups," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(1), pages 154-170, January.
    20. Titman, Sheridan, 1984. "The effect of capital structure on a firm's liquidation decision," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 137-151, March.
    21. Bulan, Laarni T., 2005. "Real options, irreversible investment and firm uncertainty: New evidence from U.S. firms," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3-4), pages 255-279.
    22. Nahata, Rajarishi, 2008. "Venture capital reputation and investment performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 127-151, November.
    23. Robert McDonald & Daniel Siegel, 1986. "The Value of Waiting to Invest," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 101(4), pages 707-727.
    24. Gompers, Paul A, 1995. "Optimal Investment, Monitoring, and the Staging of Venture Capital," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1461-1489, December.
    25. Caballero, Ricardo J & Pindyck, Robert S, 1996. "Uncertainty, Investment, and Industry Evolution," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 37(3), pages 641-662, August.
    26. Barry, Christopher B. & Muscarella, Chris J. & Peavy, John III & Vetsuypens, Michael R., 1990. "The role of venture capital in the creation of public companies*1: Evidence from the going-public process," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 447-471, October.
    27. Douglas Cumming & Grant Fleming & Armin Schwienbacher, 2005. "Liquidity Risk and Venture Capital Finance," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 34(4), Winter.
    28. Timothy B. Folta & Jonathan P. O'Brien, 2004. "Entry in the presence of dueling options," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 121-138, February.
    29. Pisano, Gary P, 1989. "Using Equity Participation to Support Exchange: Evidence from the Biotechnology Industry," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 5(1), pages 109-126, Spring.
    30. Birger Wernerfelt & Aneel Karnani, 1987. "Competitive strategy under uncertainty," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(2), pages 187-194, March.
    31. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:5:p:2177-2210 is not listed on IDEAS
    32. Wang, Susheng & Zhou, Hailan, 2004. "Staged financing in venture capital: moral hazard and risks," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 131-155, January.
    33. Chi, T. & Nystrom, P. C., 1995. "Decision dilemmas facing managers: recognizing the value of learning while making sequential decisions," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 303-312, June.
    34. Folta, Timothy B. & Johnson, Douglas R. & O'Brien, Jonathan, 2006. "Uncertainty, irreversibility, and the likelihood of entry: An empirical assessment of the option to defer," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 432-452, November.
    35. Bygrave, William & Fast, Norman & Khoylian, Roubina & Vincent, Linda & William Yue, 1989. "Early rates of return of 131 venture capital funds started 1978-1984," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 93-105, March.
    36. Brav, Alon & Gompers, Paul A, 1997. "Myth or Reality? The Long-Run Underperformance of Initial Public Offerings: Evidence from Venture and Nonventure Capital-Backed Companies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(5), pages 1791-1821, December.
    37. Mike Wright, 1998. "Venture Capital and Private Equity: A Review and Synthesis," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(5&6), pages 521-570.
    38. Rita Gunther McGrath & Atul Nerkar, 2004. "Real options reasoning and a new look at the R&D investment strategies of pharmaceutical firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 1-21, January.
    39. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1995. "What Do We Know about Capital Structure? Some Evidence from International Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1421-1460, December.
    40. Mike Wright & Andy Lockett, 2003. "The Structure and Management of Alliances: Syndication in the Venture Capital Industry," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(8), pages 2073-2102, December.
    41. Cameron,A. Colin & Trivedi,Pravin K., 2005. "Microeconometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521848053, September.
    42. Driver, Ciaran & Moreton, David, 1991. "The Influence of Uncertainty on UK Manufacturing Investment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 101(409), pages 1452-1459, November.
    43. Bruce Kogut, 1991. "Joint Ventures and the Option to Expand and Acquire," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 37(1), pages 19-33, January.
    44. Douglas Cumming & Grant Fleming & Armin Schwienbacher, 2009. "Style Drift in Private Equity," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5‐6), pages 645-678, June.
    45. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    46. Francesca Cornelli & Oved Yosha, 2003. "Stage Financing and the Role of Convertible Securities," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 70(1), pages 1-32.
    47. Vivek Ghosal & Prakash Loungani, 2000. "The Differential Impact of Uncertainty on Investment in Small and Large Businesses," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(2), pages 338-343, May.
    48. Han T. J. Smit & L. A. Ankum, 1993. "A Real Options and Game-Theoretic Approach to," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 22(3), Fall.
    49. Megginson, William L & Weiss, Kathleen A, 1991. "Venture Capitalist Certification in Initial Public Offerings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(3), pages 879-903, July.
    50. Joshua Lerner, 1994. "The Syndication of Venture Capital Investments," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 23(3), Fall.
    51. Nalin Kulatilaka & Enrico C. Perotti, 1998. "Strategic Growth Options," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(8), pages 1021-1031, August.
    52. Campa, Jose Manuel & Chang, P H Kevin, 1995. "Testing the Expectations Hypothesis on the Term Structure of Volatilities in Foreign Exchange Options," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(2), pages 529-547, June.
    53. Dean, Burton V. & Giglierano, Joseph J., 1990. "Multistage financing of technical start-up companies in silicon valley," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 5(6), pages 375-389, November.
    54. Bruce Kogut & Nalin Kulatilaka, 1994. "Operating Flexibility, Global Manufacturing, and the Option Value of a Multinational Network," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(1), pages 123-139, January.
    55. Douglas Cumming & Grant Fleming & Armin Schwienbacher, 2009. "Style Drift in Private Equity," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5‐6), pages 645-678, June.
    56. Campa, Joe Manuel, 1993. "Entry by Foreign Firms in the United States under Exchange Rate Uncertainty," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 75(4), pages 614-622, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Huang, Ying Sophie & Wu, Jiajia & Guo, Feng, 2022. "Venture capital staging under economic policy uncertainty," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 572-596.
    2. Ashish Vazirani & Titas Bhattacharjee, 2021. "Entrepreneurial Finance in the Twenty-first Century, a Review of Factors Influencing Venture Capitalist’s Decision," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 30(2), pages 306-335, September.
    3. Cheng‐Wei Wu & Jeffrey J. Reuer, 2021. "Acquirers’ Reception of Signals in M&A Markets: Effects of Acquirer Experiences on Target Selection," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(5), pages 1237-1266, July.
    4. Makarevich, Alex, 2018. "Ties of survival: Specialization, inter-firm ties, and firm failure in the U.S. venture capital industry," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 153-165.
    5. Lucas, David S., 2024. "The effect of regime change on entrepreneurship: A real options approach with evidence from US gubernatorial elections," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 39(4).
    6. Vivek Ghosal & Yang Ye, 2013. "Business Decision-Making under Uncertainty: Evidence from Employment and Number of Businesses," CESifo Working Paper Series 4312, CESifo.
    7. Ferreira, Ricardo M. & Pereira, Paulo J., 2021. "A dynamic model for venture capitalists’ entry–exit investment decisions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 290(2), pages 779-789.
    8. Vivek Ghosal & Yang Ye, 2015. "Uncertainty and the employment dynamics of small and large businesses," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 529-558, March.
    9. Ghosal, Vivek & Ye, Yang, 2019. "The impact of uncertainty on the number of businesses," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    10. Jing Wu & He Li & Ling Liu & Yun Xu, 2021. "Prior ties, investor role, and venture capital syndication," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1449-1459, April.
    11. Carolin Bock & Christian Hackober, 2020. "Unicorns—what drives multibillion-dollar valuations?," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 13(3), pages 949-984, November.
    12. Zhiyang Liu & Zuhui Xu & Zhao Zhou & Yong Li, 2019. "Buddhist entrepreneurs and new venture performance: the mediating role of entrepreneurial risk-taking," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 713-727, March.
    13. Tennert, Julius & Lambert, Marie & Burghof, Hans-Peter, 2017. "Moral hazard in VC finance: More expensive than you thought," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 02-2017, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    14. Balz, Frank P. & Brinkmann, Florian & Kanbach, Dominik K., 2023. "The impact of independent and heterogeneous corporate venture capital on firm efficiency," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    15. Poonam Khanna & Lemaro Thompson & Michael Mcdonald, 2015. "Research On Venture Capital Firms’ ‘Investment Behavior A Review’," Working Papers 0197mgt, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio.
    16. Li, Yong & Vertinsky, Ilan B. & Li, Jing, 2014. "National distances, international experience, and venture capital investment performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 471-489.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Li, Yong, 2008. "Duration analysis of venture capital staging: A real options perspective," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 497-512, September.
    2. Rin, Marco Da & Hellmann, Thomas & Puri, Manju, 2013. "A Survey of Venture Capital Research," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 573-648, Elsevier.
    3. Tony W. Tong & Yong Li, 2011. "Real Options and Investment Mode: Evidence from Corporate Venture Capital and Acquisition," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(3), pages 659-674, June.
    4. Andrew Metrick & Ayako Yasuda, 2011. "Venture Capital and Other Private Equity: a Survey," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 17(4), pages 619-654, September.
    5. Wang, Lanfang & Wang, Susheng, 2011. "Cross-border venture capital performance: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 71-97, January.
    6. Ting-Kai Chou & Jia-Chi Cheng & Chin-Chen Chien, 2013. "How useful is venture capital prestige? Evidence from IPO survivability," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 843-863, May.
    7. Wang, Lanfang & Wang, Susheng, 2017. "Buybacks as an efficient strategy for venture capital in emerging markets," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 107-123.
    8. Wang, Lanfang & Wang, Susheng, 2012. "Economic freedom and cross-border venture capital performance," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 26-50.
    9. Lohwasser, Todor S., 2020. "Meta-analyzing the relative performance of venture capital-backed firms," Discussion Papers of the Institute for Organisational Economics 4/2020, University of Münster, Institute for Organisational Economics.
    10. Johannes Wallmeroth & Peter Wirtz & Alexander Peter Groh, 2017. "Institutional Seed Financing, Angel Financing, and Crowdfunding of Entrepreneurial Ventures: A Literature Review," Working Papers hal-01527999, HAL.
    11. Li, Yong & James, Barclay & Madhavan, Ravi & Mahoney, Joseph T., 2006. "Real Options: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead," Working Papers 06-0114, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business.
    12. Chortareas, Georgios E. & Girardone, Claudia & Ventouri, Alexia, 2013. "Financial freedom and bank efficiency: Evidence from the European Union," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1223-1231.
    13. Nahata, Rajarishi, 2008. "Venture capital reputation and investment performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 127-151, November.
    14. Grilli, Luca & Murtinu, Samuele, 2014. "Government, venture capital and the growth of European high-tech entrepreneurial firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(9), pages 1523-1543.
    15. Munari, Federico & Toschi, Laura, 2015. "Assessing the impact of public venture capital programmes in the United Kingdom: Do regional characteristics matter?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 205-226.
    16. Henry Lahr & Andrea Mina, 2014. "Liquidity, Technological Opportunities, and the Stage Distribution of Venture Capital Investments," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 43(2), pages 291-325, June.
    17. Li, Yong & Vertinsky, Ilan B. & Li, Jing, 2014. "National distances, international experience, and venture capital investment performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 471-489.
    18. Carolin Bock & Maximilian Schmidt, 2015. "Should I stay, or should I go? – How fund dynamics influence venture capital exit decisions," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(1), pages 68-82, November.
    19. Yuejia Zhang, 2018. "Gain or pain? New evidence on mixed syndication between governmental and private venture capital firms in China," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 995-1031, December.
    20. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Lerner, Josh, 2010. "The Financing of R&D and Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 609-639, Elsevier.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbvent:v:26:y:2011:i:2:p:239-254. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusvent .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.