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The application of principal-agent methods to investor-investee relations in the UK venture capital industry

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  • Gavin C. Reid

Abstract

This paper appeals to UK evidence on venture capital. The investor is regarded as the principal, and the investee as the agent. Relations between the two are analysed in terms of risk management, information handling, and the trading of risk and information. In the data analysed, investors and investees are paired in 'dyads'. The evidence on their behaviour and interaction was obtained by face-to-face interviews. A principal-agent model is developed to deal with incentives for entrepreneurial effort. From this, issues of information and monitoring naturally arise. Then the seeking of contract optimality in real contexts is examined, applying this framework to qualitative data. It is argued that evidence viewed in this way supports the application of principal-agent modelling to the financing of mature small firms by venture capitalists. The feature of contract optimality that was perceived to be most important was capital structure. There were several reasons for this: establishing ownership entitlement; creating incentives for effort; and apportioning risk efficiently. Often the observed relations between investor and investee were perceived to be at or close to optimality. It was found that these optima were specific to time and place, and strongly reflected the house-styles of individual investors and their reputations.

Suggested Citation

  • Gavin C. Reid, 1999. "The application of principal-agent methods to investor-investee relations in the UK venture capital industry," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(4), pages 285-302, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:veecee:v:1:y:1999:i:4:p:285-302
    DOI: 10.1080/136910699295820
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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Patrícia Becsky-Nagy, 2016. "The Special Aspects of Venture Capital’s Value Creating Mechanisms in Hungary," Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, Fundacja Upowszechniająca Wiedzę i Naukę "Cognitione", vol. 12(3), pages 31-55.
    3. Mantell, Edmund H., 2005. "An ergodic theory of venture capital solicitation," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 149-168.
    4. Wolf, Björn, 2006. "Empirische Untersuchung zu den Einflussfaktoren der Finanzierungsprobleme junger Unternehmen in Deutschland und deren Auswirkungen auf die Wirtschaftspolitik," Working Papers "Firms and Region" U1/2006, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    5. Johansson Jeaneth M. & Malmstrom Malin, 2013. "The Business Model Transparency Paradox in Innovative Growth Ventures: Trade-offs between Competitive Advantages and Agency Costs," Entrepreneurship Research Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 3(2), pages 238-263, January.
    6. Jesper Lindgaard Christensen, 2008. "The IPR System, Venture Capital and Capital Markets – Contributions and Distortions of Small Firm Innovation?," DRUID Working Papers 08-03, DRUID, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Industrial Economics and Strategy/Aalborg University, Department of Business Studies.
    7. Edmund H. Mantell, 2008. "A Probabilistic Theory Of Entrepreneurial Financing," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 9(1), pages 177-197, May.
    8. Hanna Silvola, 2008. "Design of MACS in growth and revival stages of the organizational life‐cycle," Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 5(1), pages 27-47, March.
    9. Gavin C. Reid & Julia A. Smith, 2003. "Venture Capital and Risk in High-Technology Enterprises," International Journal of Business and Economics, School of Management Development, Feng Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan, vol. 2(3), pages 227-244, December.
    10. José Martí Pellón & Marina Balboa, 2003. "Characterisation Of The Reputation Of Private Equity Managers: Evidence In Spain," Working Papers. Serie EC 2003-16, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).

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