IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/entthe/v43y2019i3p611-628.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Role of Governmental Venture Capital in the Venture Capital Ecosystem: An Organizational Ecology Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Fabio Bertoni
  • Massimo G. Colombo
  • Anita Quas

Abstract

We use the theory of organizational ecology to study how governmental venture capital (GVC) affects the investment behavior of private venture capital (PVC). Because of its objectives and dominant competencies, GVC is a unique organizational species that occupies a different niche than PVC. GVC is conceived to establish mutualistic relations with PVC. Accordingly, the greater the presence of GVC in a venture capital (VC) ecosystem, the more PVC investors should be attracted toward GVC’s niche. We consider several relevant niche dimensions at the company (age and size), industry (biotechnology), and regional (competitiveness) levels. Our analysis of 1,239 PVC investments in Europe confirms most of our predictions.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabio Bertoni & Massimo G. Colombo & Anita Quas, 2019. "The Role of Governmental Venture Capital in the Venture Capital Ecosystem: An Organizational Ecology Perspective," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(3), pages 611-628, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:43:y:2019:i:3:p:611-628
    DOI: 10.1177/1042258717735303
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1042258717735303
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1042258717735303?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ann Echols & Wenpin Tsai, 2005. "Niche and performance: the moderating role of network embeddedness," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 219-238, March.
    2. Bertoni, Fabio & Tykvová, Tereza, 2015. "Does governmental venture capital spur invention and innovation? Evidence from young European biotech companies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 925-935.
    3. Dimo Dimov & Eric Gedajlovic, 2010. "A Property Rights Perspective on Venture Capital Investment Decisions," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(7), pages 1248-1271, November.
    4. Devigne, David & Manigart, Sophie & Wright, Mike, 2016. "Escalation of commitment in venture capital decision making: Differentiating between domestic and international investors," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 253-271.
    5. Colin Mason & Richard Harrison, 2003. "Closing the Regional Equity Gap? A Critique of the Department of Trade and Industry's Regional Venture Capital Funds Initiative," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(8), pages 855-868.
    6. Cumming, Douglas J. & MacIntosh, Jeffrey G., 2006. "Crowding out private equity: Canadian evidence," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 569-609, September.
    7. 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.
    8. Sampsa Samila & Olav Sorenson, 2011. "Venture Capital, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Growth," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(1), pages 338-349, February.
    9. Fabio Bertoni & Massimo Colombo & Anita Quas, 2015. "The patterns of venture capital investment in Europe," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 543-560, October.
    10. 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.
    11. James A. Brander & Qianqian Du & Thomas Hellmann, 2015. "The Effects of Government-Sponsored Venture Capital: International Evidence," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 19(2), pages 571-618.
    12. Fabio Bertoni & Alexander Groh, 2014. "Cross-Border Investments and Venture Capital Exits in Europe," Post-Print hal-02313142, HAL.
    13. Massimo Colombo & Douglas Cumming & Silvio Vismara, 2016. "Governmental venture capital for innovative young firms," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 10-24, February.
    14. Terttu Luukkonen & Matthias Deschryvere & Fabio Bertoni, 2013. "The value added by government venture capital funds compared with independent venture capital funds," Post-Print hal-02312981, HAL.
    15. Walter Powell & Kenneth Koput & James Bowie & Laurel Smith-Doerr, 2002. "The Spatial Clustering of Science and Capital: Accounting for Biotech Firm-Venture Capital Relationships," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(3), pages 291-305.
    16. Giesecke, Susanne, 2000. "The contrasting roles of government in the development of biotechnology industry in the US and Germany," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 205-223, February.
    17. Jeng, Leslie A. & Wells, Philippe C., 2000. "The determinants of venture capital funding: evidence across countries," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 241-289, September.
    18. Manigart, Sophie, 1994. "The founding rate of venture capital firms in three European countries (1970-1990)," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 9(6), pages 525-541, November.
    19. John Armour & Douglas Cumming, 2006. "The legislative road to Silicon Valley," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 58(4), pages 596-635, October.
    20. Garry D. Bruton & Vance H. Fried & Sophie Manigart, 2005. "Institutional Influences on the Worldwide Expansion of Venture Capital," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(6), pages 737-760, November.
    21. Colombo, Massimo G. & D’Adda, Diego & Pirelli, Lorenzo H., 2016. "The participation of new technology-based firms in EU-funded R&D partnerships: The role of venture capital," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 361-375.
    22. Higgins, Matthew J. & Stephan, Paula E. & Thursby, Jerry G., 2011. "Conveying quality and value in emerging industries: Star scientists and the role of signals in biotechnology," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 605-617, May.
    23. Meuleman, Miguel & Wright, Mike, 2011. "Cross-border private equity syndication: Institutional context and learning," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 35-48, January.
    24. Henry Chen & Paul Gompers & Anna Kovner & Josh Lerner, 2010. "Buy Local? The Geography of Venture Capital," NBER Chapters, in: Cities and Entrepreneurship, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    25. Douglas Cumming & Sofia Johan, 2009. "Pre-seed government venture capital funds," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 26-56, March.
    26. Lerner, Josh, 1999. "The Government as Venture Capitalist: The Long-Run Impact of the SBIR Program," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 72(3), pages 285-318, July.
    27. Josh Lerner, 2002. "When Bureaucrats Meet Entrepreneurs: The Design of Effective "Public Venture Capital" Programmes," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(477), pages 73-84, February.
    28. Berger, Allen N. & Udell, Gregory F., 1990. "Collateral, loan quality and bank risk," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 21-42, January.
    29. Anna Kovner & Josh Lerner, 2015. "Doing Well by Doing Good? Community Development Venture Capital," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 643-663, September.
    30. Jaaskelainen, Mikko & Maula, Markku & Murray, Gordon, 2007. "Profit distribution and compensation structures in publicly and privately funded hybrid venture capital funds," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 913-929, September.
    31. Guerini, Massimiliano & Quas, Anita, 2016. "Governmental venture capital in Europe: Screening and certification," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 175-195.
    32. Leleux, Benoit & Surlemont, Bernard, 2003. "Public versus private venture capital: seeding or crowding out? A pan-European analysis," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 81-104, January.
    33. Gordon Walker & Bruce Kogut & Weijian Shan, 1997. "Social Capital, Structural Holes and the Formation of an Industry Network," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 8(2), pages 109-125, April.
    34. Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), 2010. "Handbook of the Economics of Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    35. Marc T. Junkunc & Jonathan T. Eckhardt, 2009. "Technical Specialized Knowledge and Secondary Shares in Initial Public Offerings," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(10), pages 1670-1687, October.
    36. Junkunc, Marc T., 2007. "Managing radical innovation: The importance of specialized knowledge in the biotech revolution," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 388-411, May.
    37. Luc Armel G. Da Gbadji & Benoit Gailly & Armin Schwienbacher, 2015. "International Analysis of Venture Capital Programs of Large Corporations and Financial Institutions," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 39(5), pages 1213-1246, September.
    38. Cumming, Douglas & Dai, Na, 2010. "Local bias in venture capital investments," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 362-380, June.
    39. Baum, Joel A. C. & Silverman, Brian S., 2004. "Picking winners or building them? Alliance, intellectual, and human capital as selection criteria in venture financing and performance of biotechnology startups," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 411-436, May.
    40. Itxaso del-Palacio & Xiaotian Zhang & Francesc Sole, 2012. "The capital gap for small technology companies: public venture capital to the rescue?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 283-301, April.
    41. Mayer, Colin & Schoors, Koen & Yafeh, Yishay, 2005. "Sources of funds and investment activities of venture capital funds: evidence from Germany, Israel, Japan and the United Kingdom," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 586-608, June.
    42. Robert E. Carpenter & Bruce C. Petersen, 2002. "Capital Market Imperfections, High-Tech Investment, and New Equity Financing," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(477), pages 54-72, February.
    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. Pacheco, Desirée F. & Khoury, Theodore A., 2023. "Social movements and entrepreneurial activity: A study of the U.S. solar energy industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(1).
    2. Devarakonda, Ramakrishna & Liu, Aqi, 2023. "A legitimacy-based view of the impact of government venture capital on startup innovation: Evidence from a transition economy," Other publications TiSEM 3afc4804-f469-4dd7-bb34-8, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    3. Yang, Qing & Huang, Ying Sophie & Guo, Feng & Zhang, Jindan & Zhao, Xiaoyang, 2023. "Does public policy towards venture capital promote local innovation? Evidence from China's establishment of fund town," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    4. Kshitija Joshi & Deepak Chandrashekar & Alexander Brem & Kirankumar S. Momaya, 2019. "Foreign Venture Capital Firms in a Cross-Border Context: Empirical Insights from India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-20, November.
    5. Colombo, Massimo G. & Guerini, Massimiliano & Hoisl, Karin & Zeiner, Nico M., 2023. "The dark side of signals: Patents protecting radical inventions and venture capital investments," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(5).
    6. Jianjun Xu & Lijie Yu & Rakesh Gupta, 2020. "Evaluating the Performance of the Government Venture Capital Guiding Fund Using the Intuitionistic Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-24, August.
    7. Vincenzo Butticè & Francesca Pietro & Francesca Tenca, 2022. "They do not look alike: what kind of private investors do equity crowdfunded firms attract?," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 47(6), pages 1707-1736, December.
    8. Anna Long & Matthew S. Wood & Daniel L. Bennett, 2023. "Entrepreneurial organizing activities and nascent venture performance," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 433-461, February.
    9. Jihye Jeong & Juhee Kim & Hanei Son & Dae-il Nam, 2020. "The Role of Venture Capital Investment in Startups’ Sustainable Growth and Performance: Focusing on Absorptive Capacity and Venture Capitalists’ Reputation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-13, April.
    10. Jeaneth Johansson & Malin Malmström & Joakim Wincent, 2021. "Sustainable Investments in Responsible SMEs: That’s What’s Distinguish Government VCs from Private VCs," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-22, January.
    11. Michael A. Abebe & Yamlaksira S. Getachew & Sarah Kimakwa, 2022. "Entrepreneurs’ Ethnic and Political Identity Alignment as Determinants of Access to Government Support in Africa: A Conceptual Framework," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(2), pages 449-476, March.
    12. Sylvia Hubner & Fabian Most & Jochen Wirtz & Christine Auer, 2022. "Narratives in entrepreneurial ecosystems: drivers of effectuation versus causation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 211-242, June.
    13. Suchard, Jo-Ann & Humphery-Jenner, Mark & Cao, Xiaping, 2021. "Government ownership and Venture Capital in China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    14. Bustamante, Carla V. & Mingo, Santiago & Matusik, Sharon F., 2021. "Institutions and venture capital market creation: The case of an emerging market," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 1-12.

    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. Guerini, Massimiliano & Quas, Anita, 2016. "Governmental venture capital in Europe: Screening and certification," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 175-195.
    2. Thomas Standaert & Sophie Manigart, 2018. "Government as fund-of-fund and VC fund sponsors: effect on employment in portfolio companies," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 357-373, February.
    3. Alperovych, Yan & Groh, Alexander & Quas, Anita, 2020. "Bridging the equity gap for young innovative companies: The design of effective government venture capital fund programs," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(10).
    4. Fabio Bertoni & Massimo Colombo & Anita Quas, 2015. "The patterns of venture capital investment in Europe," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 543-560, October.
    5. Massimiliano Guerini & Francesca Tenca, 2018. "The geography of technology-intensive start-ups and venture capital: European evidence," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 45(3), pages 361-386, September.
    6. 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.
    7. Valérie Revest & Alessandro Sapio, 2012. "Financing technology-based small firms in Europe: what do we know?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 179-205, July.
    8. Jeaneth Johansson & Malin Malmström & Joakim Wincent, 2021. "Sustainable Investments in Responsible SMEs: That’s What’s Distinguish Government VCs from Private VCs," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-22, January.
    9. Laura Abrardi & Annalisa Croce & Elisa Ughetto, 2019. "The dynamics of switching between governmental and independent venture capitalists: theory and evidence," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 165-188, June.
    10. Colombo, Massimo G. & D’Adda, Diego & Quas, Anita, 2019. "The geography of venture capital and entrepreneurial ventures’ demand for external equity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(5), pages 1150-1170.
    11. Pavlova, Elitsa & Signore, Simone, 2019. "The European venture capital landscape: an EIF perspective. Volume V: The economic impact of VC investments supported by the EIF," EIF Working Paper Series 2019/55, European Investment Fund (EIF).
    12. Suchard, Jo-Ann & Humphery-Jenner, Mark & Cao, Xiaping, 2021. "Government ownership and Venture Capital in China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    13. Bertoni, Fabio & Tykvová, Tereza, 2015. "Does governmental venture capital spur invention and innovation? Evidence from young European biotech companies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 925-935.
    14. Bertoni, Fabio & Tykvová, Tereza, 2012. "Which form of venture capital is most supportive of innovation?," ZEW Discussion Papers 12-018, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    15. Mark R. Ayoub & Sandra Gottschalk & Bettina Müller, 2017. "Impact of public seed-funding on academic spin-offs," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 42(5), pages 1100-1124, October.
    16. Luca Grilli & Boris Mrkajic & Gresa Latifi, 2018. "Venture capital in Europe: social capital, formal institutions and mediation effects," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 393-410, August.
    17. Iman Seoudi, 2015. "Public Policy For Venture Capital: An Integrated Framework," Global Journal of Business Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 9(4), pages 31-51.
    18. Engberg, Erik & Halvarsson, Daniel & Tingvall, Patrik, 2017. "Direct and Indirect Effects of Private- and Government Sponsored Venture Capital," Ratio Working Papers 288, The Ratio Institute.
    19. Annalisa Croce & Jose Martí & Carmelo Reverte, 2019. "The role of private versus governmental venture capital in fostering job creation during the crisis," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 879-900, December.
    20. Du, Qunyang & Li, Zhongyuan & Du, Min & Yang, Tianle, 2024. "Government venture capital and innovation performance in alternative energy production: The moderating role of environmental regulation and capital market activity," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).

    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:sae:entthe:v:43:y:2019:i:3:p:611-628. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.