Venture Governance: Venture Capital-backed Startups in Silicon Valley and Tokyo

1. Introduction.- 1. 1. Thesis.- 1. 2. Empirical Motivation.- 1. 3. Methodology.- 1. 4. Related Theory.- 1. 5. Definition of Key Terms.- I. The Governance of Business Venturing.- 2. Entrepreneurship and Concepts of the Firm.- 3. Problems in Corporate Governance.- 4. A Framework for Comparative Venture Governance.- II. The Silicon Valley Model.- 5. Silicon Valley’s Regional Economy.- 6. Classic Venture Capital.- 7. Venture Capital-backed Startups in Silicon Valley.- III. Startup Ventures in Tokyo.- 8. Economic Background.- 9. Emerging Classic Venture Capital.- 10. Venture Capital-backed Internet Startups in Tokyo.- IV. Comparative Venture Governance.- 11. Silicon Valley Venture Governance.- 12. Emerging Venture Governance in Tokyo.- 13. Conclusions.

Dr. Philipp D. Riekert promovierte bei Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Horst Albach an der Wissenschaftlichen Hochschule für Unternehmensführung (WHU) in Koblenz. Er studierte und forschte an der Stanford University in den USA und an der Keio Business School in Japan.

Philipp D. Riekert develops a theory of comparative corporate governance of venture capital-backed startup companies (Venture Governance). The study empirically identifies stylized governance systems of startup companies in Silicon Valley and Tokyo that are distinct from traditional archetypes of business venturing.

The Venture Governance framework focuses on the complementarities between financing, human resource, and market strategies of the startup company, and takes a functional view towards entrepreneurship as bringing about innovation by combining the functions of initiation, uncertainty-bearing, and coordination.

The author shows the conceptual differences between Venture Governance in Silicon Valley and Tokyo and explains how Silicon Valley Venture Governance contributes to economic growth by expanding the set of business concepts that become initiated by professionalizing the process of commercialization.