Social Capital,Investment and Economic Growth: Some Evidence for Spanish Provinces

Abstract

This article analyses the impact of social capital on regional economic growth in Spain during the 1985–2005 period. The literature in this context is virtually nonexistent and, in addition, whereas most studies, regardless of their context, have used survey data in order to measure social capital, we use a measure whose construction is based on similar criteria to other measures of capital stock. Compared with more standard measures of social capital and trust, our measure is available with a high level of disaggregation, and with annual frequency for a long time period. Following a panel data approach, our findings indicate that social capital has a positive impact on GDP per capita growth in the context of Spanish provinces, implying that ‘social features’ are important for explaining the differences in wealth that one might find across Spanish provinces. We also explore the transmission mechanisms from social capital to growth, finding a highly positive relation between social capital and private physical investment.     

Social capital and human resource management in international joint ventures in Vietnam: a perspective from a transitional economy

This study highlights the importance of social capital in international joint ventures (IJVs), and examines human resource practices as a factor shaping such social capital. Comprehensive measures of social capital are developed and tested, which extend prior work on ‘bonding’ and ‘bridging’ social capital. We also link social capital with its anticipated antecedents and consequences. The study's findings are based on data collected from 164 IJVs located in Vietnam. IJV performance was predicted by training and by the level of trust and cooperation between foreign and local personnel. Training (including acquisition of management skills, technology, and cross-cultural understanding) also was predictive of the measures of social capital. A key practical implication arising from this study is that the return on investment from training of joint venture personnel can stem not only from the transfer of technical and management skills needed for developing competitive advantage, but also from the positive impact on social capital, which further contributes to venture success. The establishment of written objectives and plans for the venture, as well as the IJV's level of control regarding its own HR functions also was found to be related to some components of social capital. The findings of this study reinforce the call to build on the contributions of local personnel in joint ventures, and in Vietnam in particular.     

A UK `Hands-off' Venture Capital Firm and the Handling of Post-investment Investor--Investee Relationships

Commentators on the UK venture capital industry have observed that it has reached a watershed in its development, with the players of the 1980s having to reassess their positions and possibly, in some cases, their continuing viability as independent operators. It has been suggested that increasing numbers of UK venture capitalists are moving towards a more `hands on' approach to post-investment relationships with investees in the hope of improving performance and investment out-turns. Research in the US suggests that the hoped for improvement by this route is not a foregone conclusion. In this paper we examine how a longstanding and successful UK venture capitalist makes a widely publicised `hands-off' approach work -- and how their investees see the approach working. Our research supports the view that, over time, and by a process of feedback learning from post-investment performance monitoring, investees are selected that are compatible with this particular approach. Our findings demonstrate that mutual trust is one of the most vital elements in successful `hands-off' post-investment relationship building -- and that achieving this requires careful and considered nurturing. Moreover, because `hands-on' involvement can be expensive in terms of investor management resources and against the stated investor policy, relationships of the principal--agent type were kept to a minimum as far as was possible consistent with protecting investments.     

Attracting cross-border venture capital: the role of a local investor

Examining an increasingly prevalent but under-researched phenomenon, cross-border venture capital investments, it is observed that local venture capitalists typically invest first, followed by foreign venture capitalists in later rounds. A model is developed that explains the role of a domestic venture capital investor in attracting foreign investors and which also accounts for the impact of various circumstances on the importance of this role. In our model based on analysis of nine cross-border venture capital-backed companies, local venture capitalists have several important roles in increasing the venture's cross-border investment readiness including advice to operational management and contributing contacts and local market knowledge. The importance of these roles is mitigated if the entrepreneurial team is highly experienced or if the home market is not important for the venture. The prominence of the local investor has signalling value. Finally, the local investor's international social capital facilitates the formation of cross-border syndicates. Overall, the model developed in the paper contributes to a better understanding of cross-border venture capital and in particular to the division of labour between domestic and foreign venture capitalists in international venture capital syndicates. The paper also contributes to the emerging literature on international social capital.     

Knowledge flow and inter-firm networks: The influence of network resources,spatial proximity and firm size

The objective of this paper is to analyse the characteristics and nature of the networks that firms utilize to access knowledge and facilitate innovation. The paper draws on the notion of network resources, distinguishing two types: social capital–consisting of the social relations and networks held by individuals; and network capital–consisting of the strategic and calculative relations and networks held by firms. The methodological approach consists of a quantitative analysis of data from a survey of firms operating in knowledge-intensive sectors of activity. The key findings include: social capital investment is more prevalent among firms frequently interacting with actors from within their own region; social capital investment is related to the size of firms; firm size plays a role in knowledge network patterns; and network dynamism is an important source of innovation. Overall, firms investing more in the development of their inter-firm and other external knowledge networks enjoy higher levels of innovation. It is suggested that an over-reliance on social capital forms of network resource investment may hinder the capability of firms to manage their knowledge networks. It is concluded that the link between a dynamic inter-firm network environment and innovation provides an alternative thesis to that advocating the advantage of network stability.     

Balancing dual missions for social venture growth: a comparative case study

ABSTRACT

Balancing social and economic missions in the pursuit of growth is one of the greatest challenges faced by social ventures. Although social ventures strive for growth to scale their social impact, pursuing growth often results in mission drift and the sacrifice of social objectives, which in turn eventually undermine the ventures’ raison d’être. In this study, we investigate how and with what outcomes social ventures that pursue growth can manage the balance of social and economic missions. Through a comparative case study of six for-profit social ventures, we find significant differences in how dual missions are selected, connected, and intertwined, leading to varying degrees of mission spillover effects between social and economic missions. Our findings show that two-sided mission spillover effects are a central mechanism in dual mission management, enabling social ventures to pursue balanced growth, avoid mission drift, and achieve social impact. With these findings, this study adds to the emergent literature on social entrepreneurship, dual mission management, and social venture growth.     

The social impact of advice during disability welfare reform: from social return on investment to evidencing public value through realism and complexity

ABSTRACT

This article illustrates how advice services create diverse public values within welfare reform. It develops a social impact framework using public value, realism, and complexity literature. Starting from a social return on investment study of advice, qualitative interviews are analysed with twenty-two clients, who sought advice for welfare benefits, and had disabilities, or physical or mental health conditions. Integrating these clients’ experiences with wider evidence illustrates how advice services advocated for people’s needs within a complicated (and controversial) welfare system. However, advice services face funding cuts, benefit assessment costs have risen, and welfare reforms have yet to meet their aims.     

风险投资背景异质性与退出时机选择——基于信任视角的实证研究

退出是风险投资获得投资回报、实现投资目标的关键环节，以我国2009—2016年深圳中小板和创业板IPO公司为研究样本，分析风险投资背景异质性对其退出时机的影响，并进一步检验风险投资机构与创业企业之间的信任在其中的调节作用。研究发现：风险投资背景异质性对其退出存在显著影响，与独立风险投资相比，公司风险投资在创业企业IPO后退出企业时间更晚；无论是基于声誉的信任还是基于制度的信任，风险投资机构与创业企业之间双向的信任都会促使公司风险投资更晚退出创业企业；相对于独立风险投资，公司风险投资更晚退出企业是为了追求战略回报。研究表明创业企业可以通过提升风险投资对其信任度来维护其投资管理，而风险投资机构则可以通过提升创业企业对其信任度来加深互惠互信的合作关系。     

‘I Like How You Think’: Similarity as an Interaction Bias in the Investor–Entrepreneur Dyad

Investigating the factors that influence venture capital decision‐making has a long tradition in the management and entrepreneurship literatures. However, few studies have considered the factors that might bias an investment decision in a way that is idiosyncratic to a given investor–entrepreneur dyad. We do so in this study. Specifically, we build from the literature on the ‘similarity effect’ to investigate the extent to which decision‐making process similarity (shared between the investor and the entrepreneur) might bias or otherwise impact the investor's evaluation of a new venture investment opportunity. Our findings suggest venture capitalists evaluate more favourably opportunities represented by entrepreneurs who ‘think’ in ways similar to their own. Moreover, in the presence of decision‐making process similarity, the impacts of other factors that inform the investment decision actually change in counter‐intuitive ways.     

Taking a Second Look in a Warped Crystal Ball: Explaining the Accuracy of Revised Forecasts

The fundamental questions we address are whether firms with a higher initial forecasting ability are able to accurately revise the exit forecasts of their investments; and how co‐investment partners and value‐adding commitment with their investment influence the main effect. We explore these questions with novel and unique data collected via mixed research methods on venture capital firms’ forecasts of 114 portfolio companies. We find that venture capital firms that are better at making initial forecasts are less effective in revising their forecasts. In addition, while the number of co‐investment partners positively moderate this relationship, venture capital firms’ value‐adding commitment moderates it negatively. Our findings contribute to the literature on organizational forecasting as well as inter‐organizational knowledge transfer and knowledge creation. They also provide novel insights into venture capital literature and practice.     

发展风险投资,促进中小企业技术创新

中小企业技术进步和创新对于提高中小企业的持续成长能力起着至关重要的作用,而风险投资作为一种新型的投融资体制,能有效促进中小企业技术创新。本文首先阐述了风险投资与中小企业技术创新的关系,然后分析了我国中小企业技术创新中存在的主要问题,最后提出了发展风险投资促进中小企业技术创新的一些建议。     

Refugee-entrepreneurship: a social capital perspective

Abstract

This paper seeks to identify the characteristics of refugee-entrepreneurial startups, which distinguish them from other immigrant entrepreneurial ventures. The author employed a single case analysis as a means of qualitative research into the phenomenon under study, from the perspective of social capital theory. A typical case of a refugee entrepreneur was selected based on his propensity to tell his story in a way that transparently reveals the various peculiarities of his entrepreneurial behavior. The case study involved the use of interviews with key individuals, the review of printed materials, and member checking. The findings revealed five distinctive attributes that characterized that startup and which corresponded to the three dimensions of social capital. Those attributes were: a ‘one-way-ahead’ attitude, a pseudo family business perception, collective bootstrapping, a distinct network structure, and opportunity-seizing proliferation, thereby depicting how social capital is used by refugee-entrepreneurs to maximize the pool of opportunities in their host nations.     

发展我国风险投资的对策建议

风险投资是一种创新的投融资方式，它是一种将资本与高科技企业结合的制度安排。本文提出应从制度安排，投资环境等几方面入手，充分发挥政府在风险投资中的作用，切实改善风险投资环境，设立前限合伙制的风险投资公司，加快法制建设，培养风险投资人才，使我国风险投资步入良性发展的轨道，真正起到促进高科技产业化，推动经济发展的目的。     

风险投资股权质押与企业创新——基于中小板和创业板的实证研究

企业创新活动需要充足的资金来源，而股权质押也逐渐成为一种重要的融资方式，那么风险投资的股权质押行为会给企业创新带来什么影响呢？以2007—2017年我国中小板和创业板上市公司为研究对象，实证检验了风险投资股权质押与企业创新之间的关系。研究发现，风险投资股权质押会抑制企业创新；机制检验表明风险投资股权质押会提高企业融资约束，进而抑制企业创新。进一步研究发现，在内部控制水平较低、独立董事规模较小的企业以及非国有和高新技术行业的企业，风险投资股权质押对创新的抑制作用更大。     

Venture capitalists and entrepreneurs become venture philanthropists

• Non‐traditional charitable sources of revenue may be categorised as follows:
  • Venture philanthropy: Human resources and funding invested as donation in the charity by entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, trusts and corporations in search of a social return on their investment. It involves high engagement over many years with fixed milestones and tangible returns and exit achieved by developing alternative, sustainable income.
  • Commercial ventures: They seek a financial return on investment by creating a social enterprise operated by charities and their trading/holding companies alone or in partnership with the corporate sector, venture capitalists or investors to provide funding. Venture philanthropists may also ‘invest’ without establishing an equity position in the commercial enterprise. Any profits are re‐directed to mission‐related activity, although the business activity may or may not be mission related.
  • Social venture capital: It funds commercial ventures (as above) but may not seek a complete return on investment; instead the investor may off set some or all of the investment against social outcomes.
• Within the context of venture philanthropy, this paper demonstrates how charities, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs may work together in strategic alliances. It explores venture philanthropy from the perspective of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, giving examples. Charities are shown how to prepare themselves to take advantage of these entrepreneurial opportunities.
• Although the emphasis in this paper is on venture philanthropy, the processes outlined may be used to help a charity take advantage of opportunities within the broader social entrepreneurial context. Successful venture capitalists and entrepreneurs have demonstrated the ability to turn outline business ideas into big results, frequently in highly competitive business environments.
• A common characteristic that appears to unite these individuals when they divert their interest toward social ventures is a desire to apply their business‐like approach, which includes planning processes, milestones and outcome measurement to their social venture activity.

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

VENTURE CAPITALIST RELATIONSHIPS IN THE DEAL STRUCTURING AND POST-INVESTMENT STAGES OF NEW FIRM CREATION

Entrepreneurs often turn to outsiders for financial assistance. Venture capitalists represent an outside source of finance that generally takes an active interest in managing the firm. Two common practices within the venture capital industry are co-investing and staged financing. Responding to the call for more process research which examines the deal structuring and post-investment stages of venture capital involvement, this research utilized a case study approach to explore salient features and themes that emerged in a relationship involving entrepreneurs and multiple co-investors in a new firm start-up. Central findings of the study included: penetrating the venture capital network is a significant first step in securing financial resources and, intriguingly, relationships supersede business plans in securing these resources; paradoxically, venture capitalists establish milestones and tight time-lines yet inadvertently contribute to many of the delays experienced by a start-up firm; the operating logic of venture capital networks, constrained by the hierarchical structures of their constituents, may be incompatible with the needs of a start-up firm; activities within the deal structuring and post-investment stages are more dynamic and iterative than current models suggest; and, staged financing, when combined with multiple venture partners, requires a clear understanding of each party's collaborative role in the enterprise.     

New approaches to funding not‐for‐profit organisations

This paper seeks to record and to explain the enormous growth in interest over the last few years in the provision of loans and other investment to not‐for‐profit organisations. It argues that this funding development fills a gap in the market. It describes the following new approaches: social investment, the provision of ‘patient capital’, and an ‘investment’ or ‘venture philanthropy’ approach to grant making. The factors driving the growth in use of these approaches are examined and their relevance to fundraising charities considered. Finally, the paper discusses how key stakeholders including the government and charitable trusts are adapting to this new environment. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications     

我国商业银行与创业投资的投贷联动模式研究

金融创新是商业银行核心竞争力的重要来源。近年来创业投资行业发展迅猛,但较之美国等创业投资发达的国家,我国商业银行对创业投资的参与相对有限,与创业投资相关的业务创新缺乏。我国商业银行应借鉴美国硅谷银行投贷联动模式,建立健全创业企业信用担保体系、丰富与创业投资公司的合作模式、建立专业行业金融团队、完善增值服务体系,通过金融创新实现商业银行与创业投资的双赢。     

How do employment relationships enhance firm innovation? The role of human and social capital

Aiming to explore the effect of human resource management on innovation, this study examined how employment relationships (ER), human capital and social capital work together in influencing innovation in a sample of Spanish firms. We defined an indirect effects model in which both human and social capital mediate between ERs and innovation. We also expected that social capital would enhance human capital. Tests on a sample of 160 innovative Spanish firms confirmed that ERs are not directly associated with innovation. Nevertheless, there is an indirect effect of the mutual investment employment model on innovation through human and social capital. Finally, we observed a positive effect of social capital on human capital.     

Emerging Social-economic Institutions in the Venture Capital Industry:

Nine venture capital organizations which are taking equity positions with socially guided as well as financial goals are investigated. The organizations are presented as new entrants to ihe financial industry , and are placed in the context of community development financial institutions and social investment funds . Four emerging models are identified; socially guided venture capital networks, socially guided private funds, Specialized Small Business Development Corporations and equity Community Development Corporations . Forty nine deals of six of the organizations are analyzed for financial and social outcomes. The paper concludes that the private venture funds have the most promising future, and predicts the emergence of publicly offered venture capital funds that incorporate social goals.