风险投资研究:综述与展望

Venture Capital Research: A Review and Prospects

风险投资对我国的创新、创业和经济发展起到了越来越重要的作用。本文从风险投资与宏观经济、风险投资机构与创业企业、风险投资机构本身三个方面对国内外相关文献进行系统梳理,并对比评述了中国风险投资研究的进展和不足。在综述回顾的基础上,本文提出了未来可进一步探索的三个研究方向:新兴市场制度嵌入下的风险投资活动、风险投资机构与创业企业间的关系类型及其对创业企业成长的影响、风险投资管理人网络关系在风险投资决策中的作用。本文的研究可以为风险投资的研究和实践提供有益的启示。

Since the establishment of the first venture capital firm in mid-1980 s, China’s venture capital industry has experienced a rapid growth, and is playing an increasingly important role in the innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development of China. By the end of 2012, China has become the second largest market for VC investments. Despite of a boom in venture capital in China during recent years, the understanding of this industry remains fragmented, without a clear understanding of how it differs from that in mature economies.This paper aims to provide a comprehensive literature review of venture capital research all across the world by identifying the following three important research steams:(1) venture capital and macro economy, which focuses on the interaction between venture capital and the macro environment, and how they shape each other;(2) venture capital firms and new ventures, which covers the whole process of venture capital investment decisions, including the selection of investees, post-investment management,exit strategies, performance implications, etc.;(3) venture capital firms themselves, which discusses how the characteristics of venture capital firms and their networks influence venture capital investment decisions and outcomes.Based on the broad review of extant research and a comparison between Chinese and Western contexts, we make several prospects for future research. First, we suggest a better understanding of venture capital firms’ activities embedded in the institutional environment of emerging economies such as China. Second, the complicated relationship between venture capital firms and new ventures is a promising but under-explored research topic, as the interaction between investors and entrepreneurs plays an important part in new ventures’ growth. Third, we call for more research attention to the influence of venture capitalists’ personal networks on venture capital firms’ decisions, as well as the interplay between interpersonal and interfirm networks in China’s venture capital industry.