IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/regstd/v35y2001i7p663-668.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

'Investment Readiness': A Critique of Government Proposals to Increase the Demand for Venture Capital

Author

Listed:
  • Colin Mason
  • Richard Harrison

Abstract

Intervention to address the equity gap has traditionally concentrated on supply-side initiatives. However, it is now recognized that demand side deficiencies are a significant reason why small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are unsuccessful in raising venture capital. This reinterpretation is reflected in recent documents from the UK government - most recently a Consultative Paper from HM Treasury and the Small Business Service - which have highlighted the need for SMEs to become 'investment ready' in order to take advantage of the increased supply of venture capital that is now available. This article provides a critique of the Consultative Document's definition of investment readiness and outlines a programme to enhance investment readiness amongst SMEs.

Suggested Citation

  • Colin Mason & Richard Harrison, 2001. "'Investment Readiness': A Critique of Government Proposals to Increase the Demand for Venture Capital," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(7), pages 663-668.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:regstd:v:35:y:2001:i:7:p:663-668
    DOI: 10.1080/00343400120075939
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00343400120075939
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00343400120075939?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. Lisa Feeney & George H. Haines & Allan L. Riding, 1999. "Private investors' investment criteria: Insights from qualitative data," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(2), pages 121-145, April.
    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. Anoosheh Rostamkalaei & Mark Freel, 2016. "The cost of growth: small firms and the pricing of bank loans," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 255-272, February.
    2. Polzin, Friedemann & von Flotow, Paschen & Klerkx, Laurens, 2016. "Addressing barriers to eco-innovation: Exploring the finance mobilisation functions of institutional innovation intermediaries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 34-46.
    3. Colin M. Mason & Richard T. Harrison, 2004. "Improving Access to Early Stage Venture Capital in Regional Economies: A New Approach to Investment Readiness," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 19(2), pages 159-173, May.
    4. Fabio Bertoni & Diego D’Adda & Luca Grilli, 2016. "Cherry-picking or frog-kissing? A theoretical analysis of how investors select entrepreneurial ventures in thin venture capital markets," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 391-405, March.
    5. Fabio Bertoni & María Ferrer & José Martí, 2013. "The different roles played by venture capital and private equity investors on the investment activity of their portfolio firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 607-633, April.
    6. Mojca Svetek, 2023. "The Role of Entrepreneurs’ Perceived Competence and Cooperativeness in Early-Stage Financing," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(6), pages 2047-2076, November.
    7. 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.
    8. Cécile Carpentier & Jean-Marc Suret, 2009. "Entrepreneurial Equity Financing and Securities Regulation: An Empirical Analysis," CIRANO Working Papers 2009s-10, CIRANO.
    9. 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.
    10. Ana Paula Cusolito & Ernest Dautovic & David McKenzie, 2021. "Can Government Intervention Make Firms More Investment Ready? A Randomized Experiment in the Western Balkans," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 103(3), pages 428-442, July.
    11. Andrew Watkins, 2010. "The Venture Capital Perspective on Collaboration with Large Corporations/MNEs in London and the South East: Pursuing Extra‐Regional Knowledge and the Shaping of Regional Venture Capital Networks?," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 27(4), pages 491-507, July.
    12. José Ernesto Amorós & Miguel Atienza & Gianni Romaní, 2008. "Formal and Informal Equity Funding in Chile," Estudios de Economia, University of Chile, Department of Economics, vol. 35(2 Year 20), pages 179-194, December.
    13. 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).
    14. Iman Seoudi & Salma Mahmoud, 2016. "Public Policy For Venture Capital: A Comparative Study Of Emirates, Saudi Arabia And Egypt," Review of Business and Finance Studies, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 7(1), pages 19-42.
    15. Harrison, Richard T., 2022. "“Pennies from heaven”? Market failure, circuits of capital and policy support for business angels: The case of cross-border angel investment," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    16. Anoosheh Rostamkalaei & Mark Freel, 2017. "Business advice and lending in small firms," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(3), pages 537-555, May.
    17. 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.
    18. Colin Mason & Jennifer Kwok, 2010. "Investment Readiness Programmes and Access to Finance: A Critical Review of Design Issues," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 25(4), pages 269-292, June.
    19. Murray, Gordon, 2020. "Ten Meditations on (Public) Venture Capital – Revisited," MPRA Paper 104389, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Anita Quas & Diego D’Adda, 2018. "High-tech entrepreneurial ventures seeking external equity: whether, when, where… and why not?," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 45(3), pages 311-334, September.
    21. David Irwin & Steve Pattinson & Jonathan M Scott, 2014. "Local Enterprise Agency loan funds and investment readiness in UK small firms," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 29(1-2), pages 9-21, February.
    22. E. Stam & R. Martin, 2012. "When High Tech ceases to be High Growth: The Loss of Dynamism of the Cambridgeshire Regio," Working Papers 12-10, Utrecht School of Economics.

    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. Herrmann, Johannes & Hjertström, Alexander & Avdeitchikova, Sofia, 2015. "The Influence of Functional and Relational Proximities on Business Angel Investments," Ratio Working Papers 253, The Ratio Institute.
    2. Alexandra Moritz & Walter Diegel & Joern Block & Christian Fisch, 2022. "VC investors’ venture screening: the role of the decision maker’s education and experience," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 92(1), pages 27-63, January.
    3. Cécile Carpentier & Jean-Marc Suret, 2014. "Business Angels' Perspectives on Exit by Ipo," CIRANO Working Papers 2014s-21, CIRANO.
    4. Colin Mason & Jennifer Kwok, 2010. "Investment Readiness Programmes and Access to Finance: A Critical Review of Design Issues," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 25(4), pages 269-292, June.
    5. Glòria Estapé Dubreuil & Arvind Ashta & Jean-Pierre Hédou, 2013. "Studying the Micro-Angels Approach to Micro-Investment Decisions," Working Papers 1301, Departament Empresa, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, revised Jan 2013.
    6. Carpentier, Cécile & Suret, Jean-Marc, 2015. "Angel group members' decision process and rejection criteria: A longitudinal analysis," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 808-821.
    7. Kourosh Shafi, 2021. "Investors’ evaluation criteria in equity crowdfunding," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 3-37, January.
    8. Joël Ludvigsen, 2009. "Decision time in Belgium: an experiment as to how business angels evaluate investment opportunities," Working Papers CEB 09-037.RS, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    9. Shivalik Singh & M H Bala Subrahmanya, 2022. "The financial requirements of tech startups over its lifecycle in Bangalore: An analysis of why and how do they differ?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(4), pages 4123-4141, October.
    10. Brett Anthony White & John Dumay, 2020. "The angel investment decision: insights from Australian business angels," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(3), pages 3133-3162, September.
    11. Zhujun Ding & Sunny Sun & Kevin Au, 2014. "Angel investors’ selection criteria: A comparative institutional perspective," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 705-731, September.
    12. Rehman, Waqas ur & Bo, Rui & Mehdipourpicha, Hossein & Kimball, Jonathan W., 2022. "Sizing battery energy storage and PV system in an extreme fast charging station considering uncertainties and battery degradation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    13. Bergner, Sören Martin & Bräutigam, Rainer & Evers, Maria Theresia & Spengel, Christoph, 2017. "The use of SME tax incentives in the European Union," ZEW Discussion Papers 17-006, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    14. Andrew Atherton, 2006. "Should Government be Stimulating Start-ups? An Assessment of the Scope for Public Intervention in New Venture Formation," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 24(1), pages 21-36, February.
    15. Mason, Colin M. & Harrison, Richard T., 2002. "Is it worth it? The rates of return from informal venture capital investments," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 211-236, May.
    16. Györfy Lehel & Madaras Szilárd, 2020. "Influencing Factors of the Informal Investment in Central Europe," Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 34(1), pages 78-91, February.
    17. Prado, Tiago S., 2021. "Kill Zones? Effects of Big Tech Start-up Acquisitions on Innovation," 23rd ITS Biennial Conference, Online Conference / Gothenburg 2021. Digital societies and industrial transformations: Policies, markets, and technologies in a post-Covid world 238049, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    18. Scott A. Jeffrey & Moren Lévesque & Andrew L. Maxwell, 2016. "The non-compensatory relationship between risk and return in business angel investment decision making," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 189-209, July.
    19. Benedikt Schnurr, 2022. "People in the United States judge the success of individuals from higher- versus lower-income families as less deserving," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-8, December.
    20. Olaf M. Rottke & Felix K. Thiele, 2018. "Do family investors differ from other investors? Similarity, experience, and professionalism in the light of family investee firm challenges," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 88(2), pages 139-166, February.

    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:taf:regstd:v:35:y:2001:i:7:p:663-668. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CRES20 .

    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.