Partners in power: job mobility and dynamic deal-making

This research considers how the connectedness of venture capital (VC) firms changes with the job mobility of managers between those firms. A continuous-time Markov chain model is developed to test whether managers are able to 'drag' prior inter-firm relational ties with them as they move between employing firms. The findings support the hypothesis that increasing the stock of managers is material to creating inter-firm ties. However, managers are not found to drag their prior links to new network positions. This result is consistent with an institutional view of VC syndication, suggesting that inter-firm relations are other than managerial in nature. European Management Review (2007) 4, 161-171. doi: 10.1057/palgrave.emr.1500083