Publicly Listed Family-Controlled Firms and Corporate Venture Capital

Abstract

Despite the prevalence of publicly listed family-controlled firms (FCFs) in high-technology sectors, the impact of family control on their corporate venture capital (CVC) strategy remains largely unexplored. Using socioemotional wealth (SEW) theory, we posit that FCFs in high-technology sectors are less likely to invest in CVC and, when they do, make fewer but larger CVC investments to enhance influence over startups and reduce risk. However, board independence can limit FCFs’ SEW-driven CVC investment behavior. Empirical evidence from a sample of U.S. publicly listed firms in three high-technology sectors supports most of our hypotheses.