syndication networks and the spatial distribution of venture capital investments（联合网络和风险资本投资的空间分布）.pdfVIP

Syndication Networks and the Spatial Distribution of Venture Capital Investments1 Olav Sorenson University of California, Los Angeles Toby E. Stuart University of Chicago Sociological investigations of economic exchange reveal how insti- tutions and social structures shape transaction patterns among ec- onomic actors. This article explores how interfirm networks in the U.S. venture capital (VC) market affect spatial patterns of exchange. Evidence suggests that information about potential investment op- portunities generally circulates within geographic and industry spaces. In turn, the circumscribed flow of information within these spaces contributes to the geographic- and industry-localization of VC investments. Empirical analyses demonstrate that the social net- works in the VC community—built up through the industry’s ex- tensive use of syndicated investing—diffuse information across boundaries and therefore expand the spatial radius of exchange. Venture capitalists that build axial positions in the industry’s coin- vestment network invest more frequently in spatially distant com- panies. Thus, variation in actors’ positioning within the structure of the market appears to differentiate market participants’ ability to overcome boundaries that otherwise would curtail exchange. INTRODUCTION The role played by geography and social topography in structuring in- teraction has long interested sociologists. Beginning with Bossard (1932), many studies have investigated the importance of propinquity in deter- 1 Both authors contributed equally to this work. The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and a grant from the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Kansas City, supported this research. Discus- sion