IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbvent/v27y2012i3p342-354.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does venture capitalist activism improve investment performance?

Author

Listed:
  • Jackson, William E.
  • Bates, Timothy
  • Bradford, William D.

Abstract

We investigate whether venture capitalist (VC) activism is associated with higher investment returns. Advising portfolio firms is time consuming and creates tradeoffs between intensity of VC activism and portfolio size. As the number of assisted firms expands, advice can be stretched too thin, reducing portfolio company prospects. We test the hypothesis that increasing the number of investments while intensely assisting portfolio companies is negatively associated with investment returns (the profit destruction effect). We find that aggressive VC activism does predict higher investment returns, but the profit destruction effect operates as well. Portfolio size growth thus risks overextending scarce VC resources and lowering returns.

Suggested Citation

  • Jackson, William E. & Bates, Timothy & Bradford, William D., 2012. "Does venture capitalist activism improve investment performance?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 342-354.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbvent:v:27:y:2012:i:3:p:342-354
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2011.02.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883902611000279
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2011.02.003?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
    ---><---

    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. Sah, Raaj Kumar & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1986. "The Architecture of Economic Systems: Hierarchies and Polyarchies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(4), pages 716-727, September.
    2. Thomas Hellmann & Manju Puri, 2002. "Venture Capital and the Professionalization of Start‐Up Firms: Empirical Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 169-197, February.
    3. Douglas J. Cumming, 2006. "The Determinants of Venture Capital Portfolio Size: Empirical Evidence," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 79(3), pages 1083-1126, May.
    4. Gorman, Michael & Sahlman, William A., 1989. "What do venture capitalists do?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 231-248, July.
    5. Zarutskie, Rebecca, 2010. "The role of top management team human capital in venture capital markets: Evidence from first-time funds," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 155-172, January.
    6. Kanniainen, Vesa & Keuschnigg, Christian, 2003. "The optimal portfolio of start-up firms in venture capital finance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(5), pages 521-534, November.
    7. repec:bla:jfinan:v:58:y:2003:i:5:p:2059-2086 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Barney, Jay B. & Busenitz, Lowell W. & Fiet, James O. & Moesel, Douglas D., 1996. "New venture teams' assessment of learning assistance from venture capital firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 257-272, July.
    9. Douglas Cumming & Uwe Walz, 2010. "Private equity returns and disclosure around the world," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 41(4), pages 727-754, May.
    10. Catherine Casamatta, 2003. "Financing and Advising: Optimal Financial Contracts with Venture Capitalists," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(5), pages 2059-2085, October.
    11. Sapienza, Harry J., 1992. "When do venture capitalists add value?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 9-27, January.
    12. Chandler, Gaylen N. & Honig, Benson & Wiklund, Johan, 2005. "Antecedents, moderators, and performance consequences of membership change in new venture teams," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 705-725, September.
    13. 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.
    14. Timothy Bates & William D. Bradford, 2008. "Venture-Capital Investment in Minority Business," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 40(2-3), pages 489-504, March.
    15. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:4:p:1805-1844 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Kanniainen, Vesa & Keuschnigg, Christian, 2004. "Start-up investment with scarce venture capital support," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(8), pages 1935-1959, August.
    17. Gifford, Sharon, 1997. "Limited attention and the role of the venture capitalist," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 12(6), pages 459-482, November.
    18. Manigart, Sophie & De Waele, Koen & Wright, Mike & Robbie, Ken & Desbrieres, Philippe & Sapienza, Harry J. & Beekman, Amy, 2002. "Determinants of required return in venture capital investments: a five-country study," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 291-312, July.
    19. 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.
    20. Morck, Randall K. (ed.), 2000. "Concentrated Corporate Ownership," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226536781.
    21. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:5:p:2177-2210 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Bernile, Gennaro & Cumming, Douglas & Lyandres, Evgeny, 2007. "The size of venture capital and private equity fund portfolios," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 564-590, September.
    23. Douglas Cumming & Sofia Johan, 2007. "Advice and monitoring in venture finance," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 21(1), pages 3-43, March.
    24. Paul Gompers & Anna Kovner & Josh Lerner, 2009. "Specialization and Success: Evidence from Venture Capital," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(3), pages 817-844, September.
    25. Admati, Anat R & Pfleiderer, Paul, 1994. "Robust Financial Contracting and the Role of Venture Capitalists," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(2), pages 371-402, June.
    26. Veall, Michael R & Zimmermann, Klaus F, 1994. "Goodness of Fit Measures in the Tobit Model," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 56(4), pages 485-499, November.
    27. Norton, Edgar & Tenenbaum, Bernard H., 1993. "Specialization versus diversification as a venture capital investment strategy," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 8(5), pages 431-442, September.
    28. Sahlman, William A., 1990. "The structure and governance of venture-capital organizations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 473-521, October.
    29. Busenitz, Lowell W. & Fiet, James O. & Moesel, Douglas D., 2004. "Reconsidering the venture capitalists' "value added" proposition: An interorganizational learning perspective," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 787-807, November.
    30. Michael R. Veall & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 1994. "PRACTITIONERS CORNER: Goodness of Fit Measures in the Tobit Model," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 56(4), pages 485-499, November.
    31. Laura Lindsey, 2008. "Blurring Firm Boundaries: The Role of Venture Capital in Strategic Alliances," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(3), pages 1137-1168, June.
    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. Rafał Morawczyński, 2020. "Venture Capitalists’ Investment Criteria in Poland: Entrepreneurial Opportunities, Entrepreneurs, and Founding Teams," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-30, October.
    2. Claire Champenois & Michel Devigne & François-Régis Puyou, 2017. "Le rôle de l'organisation du travail des capital investisseurs dans la construction de relations interpersonnelles avec les entrepreneurs," Post-Print hal-01709993, HAL.
    3. Timothy Bates & William D. Bradford & William E. Jackson, 2018. "Are minority-owned businesses underserved by financial markets? Evidence from the private-equity industry," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 445-461, March.
    4. Jeffrey J. Reuer & Ramakrishna Devarakonda, 2017. "Partner Selection in R&D Collaborations: Effects of Affiliations with Venture Capitalists," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(3), pages 574-595, June.
    5. Bengtsson, Ola & Hsu, David H., 2015. "Ethnic matching in the U.S. venture capital market," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 338-354.
    6. Buchner, Axel & Mohamed, Abdulkadir & Schwienbacher, Armin, 2017. "Diversification, risk, and returns in venture capital," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 519-535.
    7. Rohit Aggarwal & Michael J Lee & Braxton Osting & Harpreet Singh, 2021. "Improving Funding Operations of Equity‐based Crowdfunding Platforms," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(11), pages 4121-4139, November.
    8. 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.
    9. Christian Hackober & Carolin Bock, 2021. "Which investors’ characteristics are beneficial for initial coin offerings? Evidence from blockchain technology-based firms," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 91(8), pages 1085-1124, October.
    10. Antretter, Torben & Sirén, Charlotta & Grichnik, Dietmar & Wincent, Joakim, 2020. "Should business angels diversify their investment portfolios to achieve higher performance? The role of knowledge access through co-investment networks," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(5).

    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. 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.
    2. Anita Quas & Jose Martí & Carmelo Reverte, 2021. "What money cannot buy: a new approach to measure venture capital ability to add non-financial resources," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1361-1382, October.
    3. André Gygax & Anna Griffiths, 2007. "Do venture capitalists imitate portfolio size?," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 21(1), pages 69-94, March.
    4. Mikko Jääskeläinen & Markku Maula & Tuukka Seppä, 2006. "Allocation of Attention to Portfolio Companies and the Performance of Venture Capital Firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 30(2), pages 185-206, March.
    5. 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.
    6. Douglas Cumming & Sofia Johan, 2007. "Advice and monitoring in venture finance," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 21(1), pages 3-43, March.
    7. Jens Burchardt & Ulrich Hommel & Dzidziso Samuel Kamuriwo & Carolina Billitteri, 2016. "Venture Capital Contracting in Theory and Practice: Implications for Entrepreneurship Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(1), pages 25-48, January.
    8. M. Knockaert & T. Vanacker, 2011. "The Association between Venture Capitalists’ Selection and Value Adding Behavior: Evidence from Early Stage High Tech Venture Capitalists," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 11/741, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    9. 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.
    10. Mirjam Knockaert & Tom Vanacker, 2013. "The association between venture capitalists’ selection and value adding behavior: evidence from early stage high tech venture capitalists," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 493-509, April.
    11. Balboa, Marina & Marti, Jose, 2007. "Factors that determine the reputation of private equity managers in developing markets," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 453-480, July.
    12. Kim, Jin-Hyuk & Wagman, Liad, 2014. "Portfolio size and information disclosure: An analysis of startup accelerators," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 520-534.
    13. Cumming, Douglas & Schmidt, Daniel & Walz, Uwe, 2010. "Legality and venture capital governance around the world," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 54-72, January.
    14. Sophie Manigart & Andy Lockett & Miguel Meuleman & Mike Wright & Hans Landström & Hans Bruining & Philippe Desbrières & Ulrich Hommel, 2006. "Venture Capitalists’ Decision to Syndicate," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 30(2), pages 131-153, March.
    15. Umit Ozmel & Isin Guler, 2015. "Small fish, big fish: The performance effects of the relative standing in partners' affiliate portfolios," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(13), pages 2039-2057, December.
    16. Douglas Cumming & Sofia Johan, 2006. "Provincial preferences in private equity," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 20(4), pages 369-398, December.
    17. Cumming, Douglas & Schmidt, Daniel & Walz, Uwe, 2004. "Legality and venture governance around the world," CFS Working Paper Series 2004/17, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    18. Buchner, Axel & Mohamed, Abdulkadir & Schwienbacher, Armin, 2017. "Diversification, risk, and returns in venture capital," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 519-535.
    19. S. Manigart & A. Lockett & M. Meuleman & M. Wright & H. Landström & H. Bruining & P. Desbrières & U. Hommel, 2004. "Why Do Venture Capital Companies Syndicate?," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 04/226, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    20. 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.

    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:27:y:2012:i:3:p:342-354. 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.