This paper is intended to investigate the role of Venture-Capital Syndication (VCS) background in the relationship between intellectual capital (IC) and portfolio firm performance (PFP); specifically, this article examines the moderating effect of VCS’s leading firm background and member heterogeneity on the effect of IC on PFP. This study used a modified VAIC model to measure IC to compose a 4-component variable including human capital, structural capital, relational capital, and innovation capital. The data were collected from VCS-backed and listed firms in China during 2014 to 2018 applying the pooled OLS model for hypotheses test, Generalized Method of Moments (GMMs) to reduce endogeneity and unobserved factor control, and also return on equity (ROE) instead of ROA for the robustness test. Empirical results showed that IC and its components can improve PFP for VCS-backed firms in China; in detail, IC showed greater impact on performance of firms invested by foreign lead investors than in private or government VCS, specially reflected in the impact of innovation capital on PFP. Furthermore, IC showed weaker impact on PFP of mixed VCS-backed firms compared to pure VCS-backed firms and showed diminished effect on higher VCS member heterogeneity mainly reflected in the impact of relational capital on firm performance. These findings propose a new way of combining IC and VC to improve firm performance and are beneficial to theoretical development of IC and VC as well as a perspective for VC firm managers to choose suitable partners prior to join a VCS.

This study, based on the characteristics of the Chinese government venture capital (GVC), developed an index system that basically allows to identify potential on key aspects on a given start‐up, proposing a decision‐making method based on analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and intuitionistic fuzzy set–technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (IFS‐TOPSIS) to evaluate and select Chinese GVC investment projects. A numerical example of how the proposed model was applied to a GVC investment project selection in China is provided. Our results showed that the adoption of this methodology can contribute to increase fairness and transparency in the evaluation process on GVCs, and the proposed index set is ideal for GVCs for start‐up selection.

Given the rapid development of financial technology, the off-balance-sheet business innovations of banks may potentially impact bank risk-taking. This issue is of great importance to commercial banks and financial regulators. This paper analyzed the relationship between off-balance-sheet business innovation (OBI) and Bank Risk-Taking (BRT) in Chinese commercial banks, as well as the mediation role of the Bank Agency Cost (BAC), the impact of a bank’s Internal Control Quality (ICQ) on this relationship, and the moderating role of Bank Competition (BCMP) by analyzing panel data from a sample of 130 Chinese commercial banks from 2009 to 2019. The results of this empirical exercise showed that (1) OBI has a significant negative correlation with BRT, evidencing that off-balance-sheet business innovation can improve bank risk management processes and enhance the bank’s operating performance, thereby reducing their willingness to transfer risks, restraining the BRT level. Compared with state-owned and joint-stock banks, OBI has a more significant inhibitory effect on BRT in urban and rural commercial banks. (2) BAC showed a mediation role in the relationship between OBI and BRT levels. Bank OBI can inhibit BRT levels by BAC reduction, demonstrating an effective mediation channel. (3) The degree of BCMP displayed a positive moderation effect on the relationship between the explained and explanatory variables, which means that, at higher BCMP levels, the inhibitory effect of OBI on BRT levels becomes more significant. (4) Additionally, this exercise also found that a bank’s ICQ can enhance the impact of OBI on BRT. The research contributions of this paper constitute an important theoretical significance and reference value for researchers exploring mechanisms that can improve innovation in the commercial banking industry and give importance to financial supervision and financial system risk control.

This study is intended to explore the effect of individualism on intellectual property rights protection. Using data from 92 countries, we found out that individualism index has positive and significant effect on IPR protection. More specifically, a 10-point increase in individualism index is associated with 0.4-point increase in IPR index. Moreover, individualism alone seems to explain nearly 45% of cross-national variation in IPR index. The mentioned significant effect remains robust even after considering the role of economic development, democracy, ethnic diversity, economic freedom and legal heritage.

A clearer understanding of the causal variables of economic development is paramount object of interest for policymakers, researchers and economical analysts. Scholars share the general agreement that economic development is an important tool to alleviate poverty and foster human development. In this study, we explore the role of individualism and intelligence on economic development. These results will show that both individualistic values and national IQs have positive effect on GDP per capita. Moreover, the effect of intelligence appears to be more significant in Latin America.

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