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Are Accelerators Akin to Breweries or Wineries? A Bayesian Variance Decomposition of Accelerator and Cohort Effects
Full text linkResearch Summary
The literature on startup accelerators uncovers multiple factors associated with accelerators’ advantages. Yet, we have a limited understanding of the relative magnitude of these factors. We ask: Are accelerators akin to breweries, where quality is mainly a function of the institution of origin (i.e., brewery for beer, accelerator for startups); or are they similar to wineries, where quality varies across cohorts (i.e., for a given winery, some vintages are of higher quality)? We explore this question using data from 1,350 tech-startups graduating from dozens of accelerators in a global technology hub. A Bayesian hierarchical variance decomposition approach is introduced to account for the highly-skewed zero-inflated distribution in startups’ performance. We find that a notable fraction of startup performance is due to vintage; within-accelerator, cross-cohort variation.
Managerial Summary
Startup accelerators (i.e., short-term programs designed to help startups grow) are highly popular, with dozens of accelerators operating around the globe. Our focus is on accelerator programs aimed at catapulting technology ventures towards high growth. We ask: Are accelerators akin to breweries, where quality is mainly a function of the institution of origin (i.e., brewery for beer, accelerator for startups); or are they similar to wineries, where quality also varies across cohorts (i.e., for a given winery, some vintages are of higher quality)? A Bayesian hierarchical variance decomposition approach isused to study data from a global technology hub, detailing the performance of hundreds of startups that graduated across multiple accelerators. We find that a significant portion of startup success is linked to cohort-specific factors within accelerators, highlighting the role of timing and dynamics of each accelerator cohort
Acing Value-Based Sales
No full textTo get the best returns on innovative products, collaborate with customers to define and share the commercial opportunity
Team composition revisited: expanding the team member attribute alignment approach to consider patterns of more than two attributes
Full text linkThe attribute alignment approach to team composition allows researchers to assess variation in team member attributes that occurs simultaneously within and across individual team members. This approach facilitates the development of theory testing the proposition that individual members are themselves complex systems comprised of multiple attributes, and that the configuration of those attributes affects team-level processes and outcomes. Here, we expand this approach, originally developed for two attributes, by describing three ways researchers may capture the alignment of three or more team member attributes: 1) a geometric approach, 2) a physical approach accentuating ideal alignment, and 3) an algebraic approach accentuating the direction (as opposed to magnitude) of alignment. We also provide examples of the research questions each could answer and compare the methods empirically using a synthetic dataset assessing 100 teams of 3-7 members across four attributes. Then, we provide a practical guide to selecting an appropriate method when considering team-member attribute patterns by answering several common questions regarding applying attribute alignment. Finally, we provide code (https://github.com/kjem514/Attribute-Alignment-Code) and apply this approach to a field data set in our appendices
The Punisher's Dilemma
No full textWe develop a theory of resistance and repression in which citizens face a coordination problem and participation in collective resistance must be large enough for a government to concede rather than repress citizens who participate. Repression is costly for both citizens (the punished) and the government (the punisher). Harsher punishments can sometimes raise participation via a strategic-feedback channel that follows from the credibility of implementing repression: a higher cost to the punisher makes a government less willing to repress larger resistance, and this can encourage citizens’ coordinated participation. We identify three factors that determine whether this channel dominates: the shape of the response of the government’s costs to the intensity and scale of repression, the presence of selective incentives, and the presence or absence of focal optimism. We examine a government’s desired choice of repression technology and the response of the social cost of political instability to harsher punishments
Firm-Level Political Risk and Credit Markets
Full text linkWe take advantage of a new composite measure of political risk (Hassan et al., 2019) to study the effects of firm-level political risk on private debt markets. First, we use panel data tests and exploit the redrawing of US congressional districts to uncover plausibly exogenous variation in firm-level political risk. We show that borrowers’ political risk is linked to interest rates set by lenders. Second, we test for the transmission of political risk from lenders to borrowers. We predict and find that lender-level political risk propagates to borrowers through lending relationships. Our analysis allows for endogenous matching between lenders and borrowers and indicates the presence of network effects in diffusing political risk throughout the economy. Finally, we introduce new text-based methods to analyze the distinct sources of political risk to lenders and borrowers and provide textual evidence of the transmission of political risk from lenders to borrowers
Better safe than sorry: CEO regulatory focus and workplace safety
Full text linkResearch shows that CEOs who are sensitive to maximizing gains (promotion focus) engage in more socially oriented initiatives whilst CEOs who are sensitive to avoiding losses or harm (prevention focus) attend more to shareholder concerns. Our point of departure, however, is that many social initiatives are of the “do no harm” type that involve efforts to avoid burdening stakeholders with social and economic costs. Integrating research on strategic leadership and regulatory focus, we develop a framework for understanding the relevance of CEO regulatory focus for workplace safety. We argue that firms with prevention-focused CEOs have fewer employee injuries than firms with promotion-focused CEOs as these latter CEOs impose aggressive workloads on employees. Drawing on regulatory fit theory, we further identify two contextual factors that attenuate or accentuate CEO motivation to pursue harm-reducing or growth-maximizing goals. Whereas analyst downgrades mitigate the influence of prevention focus by motivating CEOs to avoid missing their obligations to shareholders, environmental munificence strengthens the influence of promotion focus on injuries by motivating CEOs to take advantage of growth opportunities in the environment. Based on a sample of S&P500 firms and injury data from Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from 2002-2011, we find support for our predictions. The results illustrate the unforeseen consequences of CEO regulatory focus on employee interests
Implementation of a “Best Self” Exercise to Decrease Imposter Phenomenon in Residents
Full text linkBackground: Imposter phenomenon (IP) is common in medicine. An intervention from the business world, the Reflected Best Self Exercise (RBSE), in which an individual elicits stories of themselves at their best, has not been studied in medical residents.
Objective: To determine the feasibility of implementing the RBSE and its potential for reducing IP in residents.
Methods: All incoming internal medicine and medicine-pediatrics interns in the 2022-2023 academic year at a single institution were invited to complete the RBSE. Participants elicited stories from contacts prior to beginning residency and received their stories during intern orientation in a 1-hour session led by one author with no prior training. Cost and time requirements were assessed. IP was measured via the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS) at baseline, 1 month, and 6 months following the RBSE. Informal feedback on the RBSE was collected via surveys at 1 month and 6 months.
Results: Nineteen of 35 interns (54.3%) completed the RBSE. It cost 1,425. Twenty-eight of 35 (80%) completed the baseline CIPS, with scores similar between participants and nonparticipants (64.9 vs 68.9). CIPS scores were lower in participants at 1 month (57.6 vs 69.6) and 6 months (55.6 vs 64.5) but did not meet statistical significance. Survey feedback from participants suggested the intervention was beneficial.
Conclusions: Implementing the RBSE in residents was feasible with reasonable cost and time commitment. It appeared highly acceptable to residents, with some promise of effects on an IP scale
New Russian Economic History
No full textThis survey discusses recent developments in the growing literature on the economic history of Russia in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Using novel data and modern empirical methods, this research provides important lessons for development and political economy. We address four strands of this literature. First, we present long-term trends in economic development, illustrating that throughout history, Russia significantly underperformed advanced economies, and quantify the human cost of Joseph Stalin's dictatorship. Second, we discuss studies of imperial Russia focusing on the causes of Russia's relatively low level of economic development and the 1917 revolution. The third strand of the literature focuses on the Soviet period, explaining its slowdown over time and eventual collapse. The fourth strand documents the long- term economic, social, and political consequences of large-scale historical experiments that took place during both the imperial and Soviet periods. We conclude by discussing the lessons from this research and highlighting open question
Corporate foreign bond issuance and interfirm loans in China
No full textWe use firm-level data to analyze international bond issuance by Chinese non-financial corporations, distinguishing those by sectors classed as ‘risky’. Dollar issuance is positively correlated with the differential between domestic and foreign interest rates, and this effect is particularly strong for firms in risky sectors. Strikingly, firms in risky sectors use the proceeds to do more interfirm lending than firms in non-risky sectors. Moreover, this lending rose significantly after the authorities sought to restrict the financial activities of risky sectors in 2008–09. Firms in risky sectors compound risk by engaging in speculative activities that mimic the behavior of financial institutions while escaping prudential regulation
Optimal investment by large consumers in an electricity market with generator market power
Full text linkThe investment decisions of energy-intensive consumers can alter the balance of supply and demand in an electricity market. In particular, they can increase the market power of incumbent generators such that prices may increase as a consequence of their investments. Whilst it is therefore intuitive that such investors will wish to consider their effects on the market, it is a challenging problem analytically and one that has been under-researched. In general, the problem can be manifest in any supply chain where demand-side investments influence endogenous price formation in the intermediate product markets. Theoretically, we show how the presence of producer market power decreases demand-side investments and then, computationally we formulate a quad-level program to model the operational implications for a demand-side investor in more detail. With an innovative reduction in complexity to a bilevel model, an efficient solution algorithm for the optimal investment by a demand-side investor is facilitated. We demonstrate computability on a small scale electricity system and the results confirm the theory