Julia Smith

What Makes a New Business Start-Up Successful?

This paper seeks a good measure of new business performance, and then explains this measure by various dimensions of business strategy. Three criteria are used to create a one dimensional ordinal ranking of high, medium and low performance for new business starts: employment growth; return on capital employed; and labour productivity. It is shown that statistical cluster analysis provides a convincing separation of a sample of new business starts into high, medium and low performance categories, using a minimum distance criterion for clustering. An ordinal logit model (with selection) is then used to explain this performance ranking. The results indicate that many widely discussed features of small business strategy have little, or even negative, impact on performance. Of the numerous aims that owner managers may adopt (survival, growth etc.), only one appears to have a major impact on performance; the pursuit of the highest rate of return on investment. Many entrepreneurial perceptions of their own capabilities appear false or unimportant, with the exception of organisational features and systems.

Risk management in venture capital investor?investee relations

This paper provides an empirical analysis of risk handling arrangements adopted in the relationship between the venture capital investor and his investee. The theoretical framework adopted is principal-agent analysis, which views the investee as a risk averse agent entering into a risk sharing contract with the investor, a risk neutral Fully diversified) principal. The sample analysed is made up of twenty venture capital investors in the UK over the period 1992-93, and (where available) their corresponding investee(s). These investors accounted for about three-quarters of venture capital activity in the UK over this period. The paper reports on evidence gathered by semi-structured interviews with investors and investees, on expected returns, portfolio balance, screening and risk sharing.

Information technology in the small business: establishing the basis for a management information system

This paper reports on the importance and use of information technology in a sample of 150 new small firms. It provides statistical evidence to show that the greater the use of IT, the higher the firm’s performance. By contrast, the owner manager’s belief in the importance of IT to the management of their business is not correlated with performance. Empirical evidence is then presented to confirm that IT use is increasing, in general, year on year, and is being implemented as a management information tool. Finally, a profile is presented of the typical components of a young management information system, within the context of a management accounting framework. It is suggested that, given the proven importance of IT to the new small firm, a management information system should be developed that takes advantage of the opportunities offered by new technology, and that this, in turn, should lead to enhanced performance.

Empirical study of a venture capital relationship

Purpose – The paper aims to examine five assumptions of agency theory: that both investor and investee make rational decisions; future outcomes are predictable; both act in their own best interests; the investee has an information advantage over the investor; and the investee is work‐ and risk‐averse.Design/methodology/approach – An agency framework is used to analyse the relationship between a venture capital investment house and one of its investees. Empirical evidence is provided on the nature of this relationship. Additional evidence of the post‐investment performance of both parties is provided, to examine whether the contractual arrangements are conducive to good performance.Findings – There is general support for the assumptions of agency theory, and the framework is found to provide a useful basis for analysing the relationship between a venture capital investor and investee.Research limitations/implications – The paper uses case studies of one investor and one investee, and so is limited by data,...

Patenting and the Early‐Stage High‐Technology Investor: Evidence from the Field

We discuss the importance of patenting to the venture capital investor in high‐technology firms. While literature suggests that patenting will have an impact on the nature and level of investment, the investors themselves are keen to suggest otherwise. We investigate this issue by the use of new primary‐source empirical data, gathered by fieldwork methods. Our results help explain a link between the existence of patenting and the level of investment made. We further support our analysis with illuminating quotes from investors currently active in the field.