IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jbecon/v93y2023i5d10.1007_s11573-022-01129-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Industry-specific specialization in venture capitalists’ internationalization decisions

Author

Listed:
  • Antonia Nörthemann

    (Heinrich-Heine-University)

Abstract

This study considers the impact of venture capitalists’ industry specialization on cross-border investment decisions. The article argues that specialized venture capitalists’ liability of foreignness is lower in specific international markets as assessments of the market and the behaviour of market participants are facilitated through industry-specific learning effects. Specialization leads to lower risk in cross-border investments from a venture capitalist’s point of view. With increasing deal-specificity, the support and value enhancement of a foreign portfolio company are ensured in international markets due to the investor’s specialization. A multilevel investigation of 46,525 worldwide venture capital deals from 2001 to 2019 in 69 countries shows a positive relationship between venture capitalists’ industry specialization and internationality. The results show that the likelihood of a cross-border deal increases with higher levels of industry specialization. Furthermore, this effect is moderated by determinants at the institutional and portfolio company levels, reflecting the degree of information asymmetry between the venture capital firm and the portfolio company.

Suggested Citation

  • Antonia Nörthemann, 2023. "Industry-specific specialization in venture capitalists’ internationalization decisions," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(5), pages 891-927, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jbecon:v:93:y:2023:i:5:d:10.1007_s11573-022-01129-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s11573-022-01129-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11573-022-01129-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11573-022-01129-1?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. Rudy Aernoudt, 2017. "Executive Forum: the scale-up gap: and how to address it," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 361-372, October.
    2. Na Dai & Rajarishi Nahata, 2016. "Cultural differences and cross-border venture capital syndication," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 47(2), pages 140-169, February.
    3. Zoltán J. Ács & László Szerb & Esteban Lafuente & Ainsley Lloyd, 2018. "The Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index," SpringerBriefs in Economics, in: Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index 2018, chapter 0, pages 21-37, Springer.
    4. 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.
    5. Erik Stam, 2015. "Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Regional Policy: A Sympathetic Critique," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(9), pages 1759-1769, September.
    6. Ben Spigel, 2017. "The Relational Organization of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(1), pages 49-72, January.
    7. Bertoni, Fabio & Colombo, Massimo G. & Grilli, Luca, 2011. "Venture capital financing and the growth of high-tech start-ups: Disentangling treatment from selection effects," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(7), pages 1028-1043, September.
    8. Joshua Aizenman & Jake Kendall, 2012. "The internationalization of venture capital," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 39(5), pages 488-511, September.
    9. Joshua Aizenman & Jake Kendall, 2012. "The internationalization of venture capital," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 39(5), pages 488-511, September.
    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. Dubini, Paola, 1989. "The influence of motivations and environment on business start-ups: Some hints for public policies," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 11-26, January.
    12. Pascal Gantenbein & Axel Kind & Christophe Volonté, 2019. "Individualism and Venture Capital: A Cross-Country Study," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 59(5), pages 741-777, October.
    13. Richard T. Harrison & Colin M. Mason, 2019. "Venture Capital 20 years on: reflections on the evolution of a field," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(1), pages 1-34, January.
    14. Andy Lockett & Mike Wright, 2002. "Venture capital in Asia and the Pacific Rim," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(3), pages 183-195, July.
    15. Meric S. Gertler, 2003. "Tacit knowledge and the economic geography of context, or The undefinable tacitness of being (there)," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 3(1), pages 75-99, January.
    16. Schertler, Andrea & Tykvová, Tereza, 2012. "What lures cross-border venture capital inflows?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1777-1799.
    17. 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.
    18. Bygrave, William D., 1988. "The structure of the investment networks of venture capital firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 137-157.
    19. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2006. "Does Culture Affect Economic Outcomes?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 23-48, Spring.
    20. Tom Vanacker & Sophie Manigart, 2010. "Pecking order and debt capacity considerations for high-growth companies seeking financing," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 53-69, July.
    21. Humphery-Jenner, Mark & Suchard, Jo-Ann, 2013. "Foreign VCs and venture success: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 16-35.
    22. 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.
    23. 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.
    24. Patzelt, Holger & zu Knyphausen-Aufseß, Dodo & Fischer, Heiko T., 2009. "Upper echelons and portfolio strategies of venture capital firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 558-572, November.
    25. Grinblatt, Mark & Keloharju, Matti, 2000. "The investment behavior and performance of various investor types: a study of Finland's unique data set," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 43-67, January.
    26. Cumming, Douglas & Dai, Na, 2010. "Local bias in venture capital investments," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 362-380, June.
    27. David Devigne & Sophie Manigart & Tom Vanacker & Klaas Mulier, 2018. "Venture Capital Internationalization: Synthesis And Future Research Directions," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(5), pages 1414-1445, December.
    28. Bygrave, William D., 1987. "Syndicated investments by venture capital firms: A networking perspective," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 139-154.
    29. Gupta, Anil K. & Sapienza, Harry J., 1992. "Determinants of venture capital firms' preferences regarding the industry diversity and geographic scope of their investments," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 7(5), pages 347-362, September.
    30. Alexander Groh & Heinrich Von Liechtenstein & Karsten Lieser, 2010. "The European Venture Capital and Private Equity country attractiveness indices," Post-Print hal-02312815, HAL.
    31. Chemmanur, Thomas J. & Hull, Tyler J. & Krishnan, Karthik, 2016. "Do local and international venture capitalists play well together? The complementarity of local and international venture capitalists," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 573-594.
    32. Schertler, Andrea & Tykvová, Tereza, 2011. "Venture capital and internationalization," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 423-439, August.
    33. Zoltan Acs & László Szerb & Erkko Autio, 2017. "The Global Entrepreneurship Index," SpringerBriefs in Economics, in: Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index 2016, chapter 0, pages 19-38, Springer.
    34. 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.
    35. 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.
    36. 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.
    37. 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.
    38. Hsu, David H., 2007. "Experienced entrepreneurial founders, organizational capital, and venture capital funding," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 722-741, June.
    39. 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.
    40. Dave Valliere, 2012. "Quality signals in early-stage venture capital markets," International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 4(3), pages 199-213.
    41. 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.
    42. Ingo Walter, 2013. "The value of reputational capital and risk in banking and finance," International Journal of Banking, Accounting and Finance, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 5(1/2), pages 205-219.
    43. Groh, Alexander Peter & von Liechtenstein, Heinrich & Lieser, Karsten, 2010. "The European Venture Capital and Private Equity country attractiveness indices," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 205-224, April.
    44. Dirk De Clercq & Dimo Dimov, 2008. "Internal Knowledge Development and External Knowledge Access in Venture Capital Investment Performance," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(3), pages 585-612, May.
    45. 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.
    46. 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.
    47. Boyd Cohen, 2006. "Sustainable valley entrepreneurial ecosystems," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, January.
    48. David Devigne & Tom Vanacker & Sophie Manigart & Ine Paeleman, 2013. "The role of domestic and cross-border venture capital investors in the growth of portfolio companies," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 553-573, April.
    49. Zoltan J. Acs & László Szerb & Ainsley Lloyd, 2017. "Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index 2017," SpringerBriefs in Economics, Springer, number 978-3-319-65903-9, October.
    50. 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.
    51. Zhang, Jing & Pezeshkan, Amir, 2016. "Host country network, industry experience, and international alliance formation: Evidence from the venture capital industry," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 264-277.
    52. Ruhnka, John C. & Young, John E., 1987. "A venture capital model of the development process for new ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 167-184.
    53. Zoltan Acs & László Szerb & Erkko Autio, 2017. "Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index 2016," SpringerBriefs in Economics, Springer, number 978-3-319-63844-7, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Richard T Harrison & Babangida Yohanna & Yannis Pierrakis, 2020. "Internationalisation and localisation: Foreign venture capital investments in the United Kingdom," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 35(3), pages 230-256, May.
    2. Axel Buchner & Susanne Espenlaub & Arif Khurshed & Abdulkadir Mohamed, 2018. "Cross-border venture capital investments: The impact of foreignness on returns," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(5), pages 575-604, July.
    3. Liu, Yu & Maula, Markku, 2021. "Contextual status effects: The performance effects of host-country network status and regulatory institutions in cross-border venture capital," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(5).
    4. Zhiyi Qiu & Rong Chen & Ye Yang, 2021. "Going Abroad, Friends on Board: Cross-Border Venture Capital and Syndication Strategy in China," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, April.
    5. 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.
    6. Daniel Hain & Sofia Johan & Daojuan Wang, 2016. "Determinants of Cross-Border Venture Capital Investments in Emerging and Developed Economies: The Effects of Relational and Institutional Trust," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 138(4), pages 743-764, November.
    7. Plagmann, Carolin & Lutz, Eva, 2019. "Beggars or choosers? Lead venture capitalists and the impact of reputation on syndicate partner selection in international settings," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 359-378.
    8. Tereza Tykvová, 2018. "Venture capital and private equity financing: an overview of recent literature and an agenda for future research," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 88(3), pages 325-362, May.
    9. Meuleman, Miguel & Jääskeläinen, Mikko & Maula, Markku V.J. & Wright, Mike, 2017. "Venturing into the unknown with strangers: Substitutes of relational embeddedness in cross-border partner selection in venture capital syndicates," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 131-144.
    10. 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.
    11. Hoppmann, Joern & Vermeer, Ben, 2020. "The double impact of institutions: Institutional spillovers and entrepreneurial activity in the solar photovoltaic industry," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(3).
    12. 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.
    13. Tykvová, Tereza, 2018. "Legal framework quality and success of (different types of) venture capital investments," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 333-350.
    14. Block, Jörn H. & Fisch, Christian O. & Obschonka, Martin & Sandner, Philipp G., 2019. "A personality perspective on business angel syndication✰," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 306-327.
    15. Ying Sophie Huang & Buhui Qiu & Jiajia Wu & Juan Yao, 2023. "Institutional distance, geographic distance, and Chinese venture capital investment: do networks and trust matter?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(4), pages 1795-1844, December.
    16. 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.
    17. Cheng, Chun-Yun & Tang, Ming-Je, 2019. "Partner-selection effects on venture capital investment performance with uncertainties," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 242-252.
    18. Niccolò Ghio & Massimiliano Guerini & Cristina Rossi-Lamastra, 2019. "The creation of high-tech ventures in entrepreneurial ecosystems: exploring the interactions among university knowledge, cooperative banks, and individual attitudes," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 523-543, February.
    19. Bing Liu & Hui Jiang, 2019. "Are Distances Barriers to Sustainability for Venture Capital Syndication?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(15), pages 1-18, July.
    20. Salim Chahine & Samer Saade & Marc Goergen, 2019. "Foreign Business Activities, Foreignness of the VC Syndicate, and IPO Value," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(5), pages 947-973, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Venture capital; Internationalization; Specialization; Industry experience; Learning;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups
    • M16 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - International Business Administration
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:spr:jbecon:v:93:y:2023:i:5:d:10.1007_s11573-022-01129-1. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.