We investigate how corporate venture capitalists (CVCs) can rapidly attain central positions in venture capital syndication networks. Using data of CVC investments by U.S. corporations between 1996 and 2005, we complement prior research, which suggests that centrally positioned VCs predominantly invest together with other centrally positioned VCs. While we find clear support for the social network theory arguments that prior central positions in syndication networks significantly explain future network positions of CVCs, we also find a negative interaction effect between past centrality and corporate resources. This finding implies that resources of CVCs can substitute for their lack of prior centrality and allow them to gain rapidly central positions in rigid VC syndication networks.
The literature suggests that established firms need to balance their exploration and exploitation activities in order to achieve superior performance. Yet, previous empirical research has modeled this balance as the interaction of orthogonal activities. In this study, we show that there is a trade-off between exploration and exploitation and that the optimal balance between exploration and exploitation depends upon environmental conditions. Using a novel methodology to measure the relative exploration versus exploitation orientation, we find an inverted U-shaped relationship between the relative share of explorative orientation and financial performance. This relationship is positively moderated by the R&D intensity of the industry in which the firm operates.
We show that the optimal asset allocation for an investor depends crucially on the theory with which the investor is modeled. For the same market data and the same client data different theories lead to different portfolios. The market data we consider is standard asset allocation data. The client data is determined by a standard risk profiling question and the theories we apply are mean-variance analysis, expected utility analysis and cumulative prospect theory.
Im Zuge der Bankenkrise ist der Ruf nach einer schärferen Regulierung der Managergehälter laut geworden. Der Autor zeigt, dass staatliche Vorschriften in der Vergangenheit kaum je nützten und häufig unerwünschte Nebenwirkungen hatten. Erfolgversprechender wäre, den Aktionären mehr Kontrollrechte in Vergütungsfragen zu geben.
We fill a gap in the resource-based literature by identifying conditions and mechanisms that make a resource valuable to a firm ex ante-that is, before a decision on acquiring or building it is made. These conditions are (1) the firm's ex ante market position; (2) its ex ante resource base, which allows for complementarities; (3) its position in interorganizational networks, which gives it access to privileged information; and (4) the prior knowledge and experience of its managers, which allow superior judgment concerning the value-creating potential of the resource. These factors help explain why firms initially differ in how much value they attribute to a resource and, subsequently, why firms differ in their resource endowments. Our results also contribute to resource management theories by highlighting the role of managerial judgment in acquiring and accumulating resources and, thus, shaping firms' paths toward superior competitive positions. Furthermore, identifying firms' market positions and managerial judgment about demand-side value creation opportunities as resource value drivers highlights the importance of demand-side factors to strategic outcomes. We also discuss how our findings may open avenues for further studies and provide a basis for empirical tests of the resource-based view of strategic management.
We examine how determinants of absorptive capacity influence learning in alliances over time. Using longitudinal patent cross-citation data, we find an inverted U-shaped pattern over time that is influenced by firm-level and relational factors. Technological similarity only modestly increases learning in the initial stages of a relationship, but moderate levels substantially increase knowledge flows later in the alliance. High technological diversity is related to higher initial learning rates, but the effects diminish over time. Somewhat surprisingly, research and development intensity is negatively related to initial learning rates but has a considerable positive effect later in the relationship. We suggest that initial learning rates in alliances may be constrained by the capacity to absorb knowledge, while later-stage outcomes are constrained by exploitation capacity.
Studies invoking a capabilities lens often ascribe deliberateness in organizational decisions to develop new capabilities. Drawing on five longitudinal case studies of large, global firms in the information and communication technology sector, we examine how firms engender cognizance of their future capability needs in situations characterized by high decision-making uncertainty. We develop a theoretical account of how firms use investments in start-ups to actively engage in experimentation outside organizational boundaries, a learning process which we term as disembodied experimentation. Disembodied experimentation creates awareness of voids in the capability base of an incumbent and helps to overcome inertial restraints thereby influencing the decision to invest in capability development. The relationship between learning from disembodied experimentation and the decision to develop capabilities is moderated by knowledge brokering functions and adaptation complexity.
