Identification and prioritization of factors affecting venture capitalists’ investment decision-making process

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 964-983 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Dhochak ◽  
Anil Kumar Sharma

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify and rank critical factors influencing investment decisions of venture capitalists. Design/methodology/approach To identify and prioritize factors affecting investment decisions of venture capitalists, a two-phase methodology was adopted: in the first phase, critical factors influencing venture capitalists’ investment decisions were identified using exploratory factor analysis; the second phase entailed the use of a multi-criteria decision-making technique – analytical hierarchal process (AHP) which involved assigning weights to, and prioritizing the identified criteria and sub-criteria. Findings Seven factors were found to significantly influence investment decisions of venture capitalists: entrepreneur’s characteristics, product or services, market characteristics, management skills, financial consideration, economic environment and institutional and regulatory environment. Findings revealed that entrepreneur’s characteristics, financial consideration and product or services were prime influencers of venture capitalists’ investment decisions. Research limitations/implications As for limitations, first, the study considers limited number of factors influencing investment decisions of venture capitalists; there may be other influencers not considered in this study. Second, the AHP methodology assumes that the various decision-making criteria and sub-criteria are independent of each other; in real life, there may be inter-dependency among criteria. Third, the hierarchal model has been tested in the Indian venture capital industry only, and generalizability of results with respect to other industries is questionable. Practical implications The present study identifies and ranks seven factors found to significantly influence investment decisions of venture capitalists. Venture capitalists could use this list of factors as a guideline before making investment decisions, and if considering all factors is not possible, take into account the factors given top rank so that they arrive at informed and intelligent decisions. Originality/value This study is the first to identify economic factors (economic environment and institutional & regulatory environment) as influencers of venture capitalists’ investment decisions. Further, no study in the past has attempted to rank or prioritize factors influencing venture capitalists’ investment decisions; this is the first attempt of the kind.

Author(s):  
Lucy Jepchoge Rono

This study focused on the analysis of factors influencing pension fund managers investment decisions. The objectives of the study were to identify investment options available to pension fund managers, identify factors that are considered by fund managers when making investment decisions and identify challenges faced by fund managers in making investment decisions. Three representatives from each of the twelve registered fund managers completed the study questionnaire. The questionnaire was administered through the drop and pick later method. Data was analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) and summarized using descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, frequencies, percentages. The study found out that returns, investment risks and trends in interest rates were the most important factors affecting pension managers investment decisions. Decision-making preferences, investment portfolio, past performance and legal framework were rated as less important. Consistency and return maximization in the rate of returns (sustainable long term returns), prevailing economic and political situations-inflation, global markets which determines key indicators like interest rates/ exchange and risk profile of the scheme investment (risk assessment of the board of trustees) in that order are also important qualitative factors in decision making for pension fund investment. The research also found out that few investment avenues/ vehicles, bureaucracy in consultations with trustees and unpredictable/ turbulent and dynamic market situations in that order are the major challenges facing fund managers investing pension funds. The researcher identified a need for a portfolio that will give higher returns. There is also need to harmonize all regulations relating to pensions in order to create efficiency and avoid confusion. The research also recommends that RBA benchmarks with the world best in order to help the sector to achieve growth. The promotion of retirement funds and regulatory functions should be separated to avoid conflict of interest in the two roles.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Chileshe ◽  
Neema Kavishe ◽  
David John Edwards

Purpose This study aims to investigate and ranks the critical factors influencing the bid or no-bid decision and their importance for the indigenous small building contractors within the Tanzanian construction industry. Design/methodology/approach An interpretivist epistemological design was adopted to extensively manually review and search extant literature on bid or no-bid decision-making criteria. A total of 30 most common bid or no-bid decision-making criteria were identified. These were included in a questionnaire survey data collection instrument. The survey was distributed to 40 small indigenous (local) building contractors in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In total, 33 responses were received. Response data was subjected to both descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings The results show a disparity of ranking of the 30 bid/no-bid criteria factors among the two grades of small contractors, with 11 factors having statistically significant differences (p = < 0.05). Based on the overall sample, the most highly ranked seven factors in ascending order were: availability of capital; financial capacity of the client; project size; profitability; project type; need of work; and current workload. The following were the least ranked: tax liability; the degree of safety; availability of other projects; availability of labor; bidding document price; and uncertainty because of weather conditions. Availability of capital and financial capacity of the client were jointly ranked as the most important by Class VI contractors. In comparison, availability of capital and need of study were rated highly for Class VII contractors. Research limitations/implications The sample consisted of indigenous small building contractors in one industry operating in Tanzania only and did not include the perceptions of the foreign contractors based in Dar es Salaam. Future studies are required to expand the current research and investigate this specific aspect further. Practical implications The identified “bid/no-bid criteria” information will allow indigenous small building contractors to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of their bidding decision-making process. Emergent findings will enable said contractors to: better fit into the competitive construction business environment; increase their awareness of existing decision-making practices; and develop appropriate strategies for evaluation of opportunities encountered. Cumulatively, these findings benefit small indigenous building contractors by increasing their understanding of the factors influencing bid decision. Originality/value The study represents the first empirical study in Tanzania on the critical factors influencing the bid or no-bid decision among the indigenous small building contractors, which face fierce competition from foreign contractors.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morteza Shokri-Ghasabeh ◽  
Nicholas Chileshe

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate and rank the critical factors influencing the bid/no bid criteria and their importance in the Australian construction industry. Design/methodology/approach The research study has been undertaken by conducting an extensive literature review on bid/no bid decision-making criteria. As a result, the researchers identified 26 most common bid/no bid decision-making criteria that are accordingly grouped into five distinct categories, namely, “project”, “market”,“contractor”, “client” and “contract”. The literature review was followed by a national survey that was designed and utilised by the researchers to collect data for this purpose. The survey was sent to potential 450 Australian construction companies in various locations and responses were received from 81 Australian construction companies. Response data were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics. Kruskal Wallis one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to detect significant differences between the mean score grouped according to the organisation size (contract value). Findings The descriptive and empirical analysis demonstrated a disparity of ranking of the 26 bid/no bid criteria factors among the groups; however no statistically significant differences among the 26 bid/no criteria factors despite the absolute differences in the rankings and mean scores in the following four factors: (1) “bidding condition”, (2) “strength/weaknesses”, (3) “contract payment terms” and (4) “number of competitors/bidders”. Based on the overall sample, the highly ranked four factors were “client financial capability”, “project risk”, “project future benefits and profitability” and “number of competitors/bidders”. The following were the least ranked: “contractors’ financial situation”, “project duration” and “contractors’ material availability”. “Client financial capability”and “project risk” were jointly ranked as the most important by large, whereas “client financial capability” was also rated highly for smaller Australian construction contractors (ACCs). The medium ACCs had “project risk”as highly ranked. Research limitations The majority of the participants were small construction contractors in Australia. The reason is that the researchers were not aware of the contractors’ size prior to inviting them for participation in the research study. Second, the findings may not generalise to other industries or to organisations operating in other countries. Practical implications The identified “bid/no bid criteria” increase the awareness of existing decision-making practices and play a critical role in the future decisions of the construction companies, where decision makers need to evaluate the next opportunities encountered. Furthermore, knowledge and possession of these identified “bid/no bid” criteria would enable contractors to select a project with a higher probability of success in the future, which will accordingly result in long-term financial benefits and higher performance. Finally, the awareness of these factors could contribute to changing the contractor’s behaviours when bidding in a competitive environment or market conditions. Originality/value The study contributes to the body of knowledge on tendering and bidding practices among contractors in Australia, an area previously under explored. Second, this study provides some insights on the factors influencing the bid/no bid decisions among the ACCs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 647-659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahra Moeini Najafabadi ◽  
Mehdi Bijari ◽  
Mehdi Khashei

Purpose This study aims to make investment decisions in stock markets using forecasting-Markowitz based decision-making approaches. Design/methodology/approach The authors’ approach offers the use of time series prediction methods including autoregressive, autoregressive moving average and artificial neural network, rather than calculating the expected rate of return based on distribution. Findings The results show that using time series prediction methods has a significant effect on improving investment decisions and the performance of the investments. Originality/value In this study, in contrast to previous studies, the alteration in the Markowitz model started with the investment expected rate of return. For this purpose, instead of considering the distribution of returns and determining the expected returns, time series prediction methods were used to calculate the future return of each asset. Then, the results of different time series methods replaced the expected returns in the Markowitz model. Finally, the overall performance of the method, as well as the performance of each of the prediction methods used, was examined in relation to nine stock market indices.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Jeaneth Johansson ◽  
Malin Malmström ◽  
Joakim Wincent

Researchers question the impact of governmental venture capitalists (GVC) compared to private venture capitalists (PVC), but we know little about why this difference occurs and if this criticism is justified. We observed a group of GVCs and developed a new model that describes the way that GVCs process signals pre- and post-decisions. Certain macro level factors severely undermine micro level performance, causing GVCs to financially underperform with respect to PVCs. This helped us to understand that GVCs do not make investment decisions in the same way as PVCs, and what undermines the performance of GVCs’ decision-making processes. The main goals of GVCs are to promote investments in responsible SMEs, mobilizing societal impact. We discuss that the criticism of GVC needs to be more nuanced, as they have a different role than PVC in the financial system as providers of sustainable investments in responsible SMEs.


Symmetry ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Jiang ◽  
Yixin Wang ◽  
Chao Liu ◽  
Yi-Chung Hu ◽  
Jingci Xie

The infectious disease COVID-19 has swept across the world in 2020, and it continues to cause massive losses of life and severe economic problems in all countries. Providing emergency supplies such as protective medical equipment and materials required to secure people’s livelihood is thus currently prioritized by governments. Establishing a reliable emergency logistics system is critical in this regard. This paper used the Delphi method to design a formal decision structure to assess emergency logistics system reliability (ELSR) by obtaining a consensus from a panel of experts. Assessing ELSR is a typical multiple-attribute decision making (MADM) problem, and the related MADM methods are usually on the basis of symmetry principles. A hybrid MADM model, called the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL)-based Analytical Network Process (D-ANP), was developed to identify the critical factors influencing ELSR. An analysis of empirical evidence showed that the emergency logistics command and coordination system and the emergency material supply system play important roles in ELSR, while the emergency logistics transportation and distribution system and the emergency information system are not so important. This conclusion is different from previous research about traditional disaster emergency logistics. Moreover, the cause–effect relationships among the key factors indicated that the system of command and coordination for emergency logistics and the supply system for emergency materials should be improved. Accordingly, effective suggestions for emergency logistics services for epidemic prevention are provided in this paper. The main contributions of this paper are (1) establishing a comprehensive and systematic evaluating index of ELSR for epidemic prevention; (2) employing a kind of structured, namely D-ANP, to identify the critical factors with non-commensurable and conflicting (competing) characteristics; and (3) comparing the differences of reliable criteria between the emergency logistics of epidemic prevention and the traditional disaster emergency logistics.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dedong Wang ◽  
Hui Li ◽  
Yongqiang Lu

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the factors influencing the transaction costs (TCs) in megaprojects to provide a basis for controlling project costs.Design/methodology/approachThis study selects six factors influencing the TCs in megaprojects from the perspective of TC theory and relational contract theory (RCT) through literature review. On the basis of crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), this study tests combined factors influencing the TCs and the interaction between them.FindingsResults show that in megaprojects, TCs are affected by combination factors. The combination of asset specificity, uncertainty, transaction frequency and trust and the combination of asset specificity, reputation and trust will control TCs in certain situations. In the configuration leading to high project TCs, the combination of environmental and behavioral uncertainties is a necessary condition.Originality/valueThis paper fills up the research gap in the field of megaproject TCs, and researchers can focus on this field in the future.


2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (8) ◽  
pp. 940-964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Otuo Serebour Agyemang ◽  
Abraham Ansong

Purpose This paper aims to examine the role personal values play in investment decision-making processes among Ghanaian shareholders. Design/methodology/approach In consequence of the recent emergence of the issue of corporate governance practices in Ghana, and the kind of the research objective of this paper, a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods was used. These methods were used in two stages. The first stage was qualitative, which purposively selected 20 individual shareholders to solicit their perspectives on how personal values influence investment decisions. Their responses were used to construct the content of this enquiry. The second stage, which was quantitative, used stratified sampling technique to select 503 individual shareholders to confirm the responses obtained from stage one of the enquiry. Findings The findings of the study reveal that individual shareholders in Ghana hold value priorities and that honesty, a comfortable life and family security play a significant role in their lives and their investment decision-making processes, and the kind of companies they choose to invest in. Also, to Ghanaian individual shareholders, there is a clear distinction between a comfortable life and a prosperous life in the sense that they are not incentivized more by the latter but by the former in their investment decisions. Practical implications The results can inform corporate directors and managers what values are considered in investment decisions, and that it is not purely financial. With these results, they can be informed that while some financial values are important, it is just to live a comfortable life and not a prosperous life. This may influence these directors and managers to have a more long-run focus and to have more of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) focus by putting implementable measures in place to tackle corporate responsibility issues and to take up a responsibility for their CSR feat. Also, the results can be used for public policy in that if regulators find out that more CSR-type information is important to investors, they might require additional CSR-type disclosures in financial statements. Originality/value This paper contributes to the knowledge on the stakeholder perspective of corporate governance that individual shareholders’ personal values have influence on their investment decisions and the choice of companies they invest in.


Kybernetes ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 605-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Wang ◽  
Qingpu Zhang

Purpose Internet-based intangible network good (IING) has revolutionized multiple industries in recent years. This paper aims to reveal the laws of consumer’s decision-making on IING from a perspective of kinetic energy and potential energy. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, 4 aspects and 17 factors influencing IING adoption were generalized. Based on the theory of social physics, an agent-based simulation model, introducing physical energy theory to depict consumer’s decision-making, was built. An agent’s kinetic energy reflects the agent’s perceived effect of mass media on the agent’s decision-making on IING adoption. An agent’s potential energy reflects the agent’s perceived effect of social interactions on the agent’s decision-making on the adoption of IING. An agent’s final energy is the sum of the kinetic energy and potential energy, which reflects the agent’s final decision. Findings Some factors mainly influence the diffusion velocity, while other factors have a dramatic impact on both diffusion velocity and diffusion scale. The agent’s personality can make a difference at the early and middle stages of IING adoption, but a faint impact at the later stage because of the effects of network externalities and word of mouth. There is a critical value of the number of initial adopters which can dramatically speed up IING adoption. Practical implications This study provides new insights for firms on the effects of factors influencing consumers’ decision-making on IING adoption. Originality/value This paper defines a new kind of innovation, IING, and generalizes IING’s special characteristics. As a new application of social physics, the physical energy theory has been creatively introduced to depict consumer’s decision-making on IING adoption. A kinetic and potential energy model of IING adoption has been built. Based on simulation experiments, new insights of IING adoption have been gained.


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