Gil Avnimelech

Venture capital start-up co-evolution and the emergence & development of Israel's new high tech cluster

This paper provides an account of the emergence and development of a Venture Capital Industry in Israel, and the role it played in the recent successful growth of Israels high tech cluster. The paper focuses on Israels Venture Capital Industry, its emergence and operation during the 90s, in which period the number of VC Funds increased from 2 to over 100. The context is the transformation of Israels high tech industry from the Defense-dominated Electronics industry of the 70s/80s to the ‘Silicon Valley’ model of the 90s characterized by large numbers of SU companies. During this period the share of high tech in manufacturing industry; and ICTs share in the Business Sector increased considerably attaining one of the highest levels worldwide. Given the importance of Venture Capital an analysis of the waves of new SU companies should be done jointly with an analysis of the emergence and development of Venture Capital (and vice-versa). The approach adopted is Evolutionary & Systemic rather than a focus on ‘the operation’ of a mature Venture Capital industry, which has been more frequent in the VC literature. We focus on the Dynamics of Venture Capital particularly of the emergence and of subsequent development of the industry. We link these with core Evolutionary concepts such as variation, selection and reproduction (Nelson 1995). The paper discusses the co-evolutionary and dynamic process involving the business sector, technology policies, venture-capitalists, individuals & Startup companies, and foreign linkages. We attempt to show that VC emergence is part & parcel of the reconfiguration of a pre-existing Electronics Industry one involving large amounts of SU and new and powerful links with global capital markets. The main conclusions and policy lessons of the paper are that specific technology policies targeted to the Venture Capital sector can be effective only to the extent that favorable background conditions exist or are created. The main groups of factors, events or sub-processes influencing the emergence process which started in 1993, and subsequent development, are: (1) favorable background conditions; (2) features of the immediate pre-emergence period (1989–92); (3) Targeted Policies which directly triggered VC Emergence (1993–98); (4) Strong VC-SU co-evolution; (5) Global Capital Market Links.

STRENGTH OF MARKET FORCES AND THE SUCCESSFUL EMERGENCE OF ISRAEL'S VENTURE CAPITAL INDUSTRY: INSIGHTS FROM A POLICY-LED CASE OF STRUCTURAL CHANGE*

Through a microeconomic analysis of companies in Israel’s Venture Capital (vc) industry this paper aims to contribute to the discussion of targeted policies directed to the emergence of new industries, particularly but not only Venture Capital and High Tech industries. It integrates a firm-level dimension to previous work on vc Emergence which was wholly conducted at the industry or meso-economic level. The central contribution of the paper is the notion of “Class A Market Forces” which our analysis shows characterized vc companies and vc-related activity during pre- and “early” Venture Capital emergence in Israel. The paper argues that this “high quality” feature of “early” market agents in the area was an important factor in the successful policy-led emergence of Israel’s vc industry. The theme is part of a wider agenda of analyzing two types of links and related co-evolutionary processes: those between Structural Change, particularly policy-led Structural Change, and Economic Growth; and in a more indirect fashion, between Economic Growth on the one hand and the successful implementation of high-impact targeted “industry emergence” policies on the other.

The effect of corruption on entrepreneurship in developed vs non-developed countries

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the relationship between corruption and productive entrepreneurship in general and whether it depends on countries’ specific characteristics in particular. Design/methodology/approach – The authors used a unique data set of entrepreneurial activity within 176 countries, collected from the professional networking site LinkedIn. The authors used OLS regression to estimate the level of entrepreneurship. The main independent variable was the CPI score (Transparency International). In addition, two sub-samples were used, 70 less-developed countries and 34 OECD countries, and numerous control variables. Findings – The paper makes three important contributions to the field. First, it proposes worldwide empirical evidence that countries with high levels of corruption usually face low levels of productive entrepreneurship. Second, the paper suggests that the negative effect is much more significant in developed countries than in developing countries. Third, the pa...

Evolutionary interpretation of venture capital policy in Israel, Germany, UK and Scotland

Despite many attempts to develop high-impact venture capital (VC) policies, most VC markets in Europe are still underdeveloped. Many of these policies were based on ‘traditional’ (Rosiello et al, 2009) VC policy involving a mix of monetary incentives and institutional changes. In this article, we present an alternative evolutionary VC policy, which is based on a dynamic analysis of emergence processes and on the co-evolution between VC and entrepreneurship, as well as on a dynamic and adaptive view of policy. The article presents four case studies of VC development: Israel, UK, Scotland, and Germany. Evolutionary VC policies rely on few major factors: i) a strategic objective and a long-term commitment to enhancing VC market and high-tech cluster emergence and development, ii) a phased-policy portfolio including both direct and indirect VC-policy components, and iii) a dynamic policy process, which is adaptive to the specific context. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

Company Growth, Acquisitions and Access to Complementary Assets in Israel's Data Security Sector

This article analyses aspects of high-tech cluster emergence in Israel during the 1990s with focuses on the data security software industry and on strategies of very successful companies dominating such an industry. Most of the industry is concentrated in Tel Aviv and close-by Hertzliya and to a lesser extent Haifa and Jerusalem. It starts by characterizing the industry as a whole and the universe of 19 companies comprising it. It then proceeds with an in-depth analysis of the growth trajectories of very successful companies, some of which are listed in NASDAQ or have been acquired by large multinational corporations. A fast IPO and a fast M&A track have been identified and characterized. The analysis suggests that while globalization could be beneficial to skill intensive peripheral economies like Israel, a significant economic impact may require an appropriate balance between start-up activity and downstream production and marketing activities.

Foreign acquisitions and R&D leverage in High Tech industries of peripheral economies. Lessons and policy issues from the Israeli experiences

This paper deals with a major challenge of globalisation to national innovation systems of skill-intensive peripheral economies: acquisitions of high-tech start-up companies by foreign multinational companies. Through a detailed microeconomic analysis both of successful company growth profiles and of post-acquisition patterns, the paper analyses possible implications for high tech and the economy as a whole. It concludes that the share of Start Up output to total high tech output of a country should be an important variable; and that this share was probably too high in Israel during 19992000.

Evolutionary policy targeting: towards a conceptual framework for effective policy intervention

This special issue reflects on innovation and industrial policy from the premise that economic growth can be based on the permanent transformation of an economic system via the emergence and/or transformation of multi-agent structures and their inherent competences and knowledge base. The process of emergence or transformation is conceived as being the result of entrepreneurial effort, or entrepreneurs reacting to external stimuli in a way that takes advantage of an evolving knowledge base. The same process, however, can be undermined by both market and institutional failures. Past research has clearly indicated the importance of institutional structures for innovation, but also that structures as they exist may not be ideal: some institutions involved in innovation may provide the wrong incentives, faulty information, or allocate insufficient resources to accomplish their goals or mandates; and they may fail to reduce uncertainty. The paper asks whether and how a targeted, co-evolutionary approach can help overcome a lack of dynamic coordination and other failures that originate in coincidence with the emergence of a complex form of industrial organisation, be it an innovation system, cluster or a new industrial sector. More specifically, it builds upon the extended industry life cycle (EILC) model and the notion of evolutionary targeting to explore the potential benefits (and drawbacks) of targeting biotechnology innovation systems (BISs).

The impact of institution quality, cluster strength and TLO licensing capacity on the rate of academic staff spin-offs

This paper examines the spawning of new company founders from 124 leading U.S. academic institutions, using a unique database. We examine both local and non-local spin-offs of academic faculty members. Accordingly, the rate of spawning is positively affected by the institution quality, the strength of the local entrepreneurial cluster in the region where the institution is located, and the share of R&D expenditure financed by the federal government. On the other, hand the effectiveness of the university technology licensing office (measured by license revenues per R&D expenditure) has a negative impact on the rate of academic spawning. Moreover, we find evidence that after controlling for the entire institution rank, the rank of the business school has a positive and significant impact on the institution spawning rate. When comparing the local spin-offs to non-local spin-offs we find that 42% of faculty spin-offs are created in the region of the academic institution. This finding contrasts the common notion that most of the academic spin-offs are local. Not surprisingly, we find that local cluster culture and local availability of VC has very limited impact on non-local academic spin-offs. Moreover, institution R&D expenditure and sources of R&D finance has low impact on non-local academic spin-offs.

The stickiness of university spin–offs: a study of formal and informal spin–offs and their location from 124 US academic institutions

This paper examines the cross–university variation in spin–off activity by faculty members from 124 US academic institutions, using a unique database including data on founders of both formal and informal spin–offs. Accordingly, the rate of spawning founders is positively affected by the quality of the institution and its departments, the R&D expenditure of the institution, and the strength of the local cluster. In addition, we find that institutions with higher licence revenues also have more spin–offs. In contrast to the traditional literature, we present evidence that both informal and non–local spin–offs are common and significant phenomena. Moreover, we find that the local cluster size and the university quality both increase the probability of spin–offs. However, when the relative quality of the institution is higher than the relative quality of the cluster, the probability of local academic spin–offs decreases.

Targeting the biotechnology clusters in North Carolina and Israel: lessons from successful and unsuccessful policy making

This paper analyses the development of biotechnology clusters in North Carolina (NC) and Israel. In both NC and Israel, when the biotechnology was identified as a potential strategic priority, the framework conditions were suitable for successful policy-targeting. NC presents a case of a successful transition from a traditional manufacturing economy to a knowledge economy. The most successful part of this transition was a policy-led development of a biotechnology cluster in the Research Triangle. While Israel also presents a case of a successful transition from a low-tech economy to a knowledge-intensive economy, Israel failed to develop a successful biotechnology cluster. We suggest that this failure is mostly due to a failure to implement policy to encourage such development. We argue that the elements, which separate NCs success from Israels failure, are: a clear vision and strategic planning; timely response, long-term commitment; strong leadership; cooperation between the government, private sector and academia, and an adjustable policy-making process.