Influences of Foreign and Domestic Venture Capitalists on Internationalisation of Small Firms

ABSTRACT This study investigates whether venture capitalists (VCs) influence the internationalization of small firms and whether such impact differs between foreign and domestic VCs. Our findings, based on in-depth interviews with top decision-makers from two VCs and four portfolio ventures, indicate contrasts between the perceptions of VCs and portfolio firms, so that the former claim to have a higher impact than what is perceived by the latter. Additionally, our evidence about the differential impacts of foreign versus domestic VCs runs counter to the literature and suggests that the purported stronger impact of foreign VCs may have been over-emphasized in the literature. Two contingencies are revealed that seem to affect the impact of the VC and of its nationality on the internationalization of investee firms: breadth of the industry (global versus local industries) and firm’s vocation (born global firm versus local leader).