Do Venture Capitalists Add Value to Small Manufacturing Firms? An Empirical Analysis of Venture and Nonventure Capital-Backed Initial Public Offerings

• Published in: Journal of small business management Vol. 42; no. 1; pp. 78 - 92
• Main Authors: Brau, James C., Brown, Richard A., Osteryoung, Jerome S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK and Malden, USA Taylor & Francis 01.01.2004; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Certification; Employees; Going public; Hypotheses; Initial public offerings; Investments; Manufacturers; Manufacturing; Small business; Studies; Success; Venture capital; Venture capital companies; United States > US
• ISSN: 0047-2778; 0447-2778; 1540-627X
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-627X.2004.00098.x

We examine a set of small, venture capital (VC)-backed manufacturing firms and compare it to a control sample of nonVC-backed manufacturing firms going public between 1990 and 1996. We use the degree of underpricing, three-year sales growth, three-year cumulative stock return, and three-year survivability as measures of success. First, we test if the presence of VC backing results in significant differences in success between the two samples. Next, we test if certain VC and deal characteristics are discriminators within the VC-backed sample of firms. Despite previous literature, which argues for either inferior or superior VC post-initial public offering (IPO) performance, these tests indicate no significant differences between VC- and nonVC-backed firms. Additionally, it is found that VC and deal characteristics are not discriminating factors within the VC sample.