Working Paper: NBER ID: w17181
Authors: Thomas Stebro; Carlos J. Serrano
Abstract: This paper studies the effect of business partners on the commercialization of nvention based ventures, and it assesses the relative importance of partners' human and social capital on commercialization outcomes. Projects run by partnerships were five times more likely to reach commercialization, and they had mean revenues approximately ten times greater than projects run by solo-entrepreneurs. These gross differences may be due both to business partners' value added and to selection. After controlling for selection effects and observed/unobserved heterogeneity, our smallest estimate of partner value added approximately doubles the probability of commercialization and increases expected revenues by 29% at the sample mean.
Keywords: business partners; financing; commercialization; inventions
JEL Codes: G24; J24; M13; O31
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| quality of invention (O31) | selection into partnerships (L14) |
| demand for financing (G29) | selection into partnerships (L14) |
| partnerships (L14) | probability of commercialization (R33) |
| partnerships (L14) | expected revenues (H27) |
| partner value added (D46) | probability of commercialization (R33) |