Patterns in spatial proximity between venture capital investors and investees in Germany: an empirical analysis

The paper analyzes patterns in spatial proximity between venture capital investors and investees. We use a data set of 950 dyads of venture capitalists and German new ventures which have closed a financing round between January 2002 and March 2007. We are the first study to use minimum travel time via car or plane as realistic measure of spatial proximity. Our results indicate that different factors relating to characteristics of the new venture, the venture capitalist and the financing round help explain variations in spatial proximity. We find that spatial proximity is more likely for younger ventures, ventures in knowledge-intensive industries, smaller, less specialized, more experienced, semi-profit oriented, or lead-venture capital investors, as well as for very small or very large investment volumes. Another key finding is that spatial proximity is more likely for consecutive financing rounds. Furthermore, we find the effects to be more pronounced for lead-investors. --venture capital,new venture,spatial proximity,entrepreneurial

Does venture capital investment really require spatial proximity? An empirical investigation

We examine the role of spatial proximity for Venture Capital (VC) investments in Germany. The main database is a survey of 85 personal interviews with representatives of different types of financial institutions. The analysis shows that spatial proximity is far less important for VC investments than is often believed. For example, the results indicate that syndication is partly used as an alternative to spatial proximity. Telecommunication does not work as a substitute for face-to-face contact. On the whole, regional proximity is not a dominant factor in VC partnerships. Therefore, the absence of VC firms in a region does not appear to cause a severe regional equity gap. --Venture Capital,spatial proximity,start-up financing

Schelling's Spatial Proximity Model of Segregation Revisited

Schelling [1969, 1971a, 1971b, 1978] presented a microeconomic model showing how an integrated city could unravel to a rather segregated city, notwithstanding relatively mild assumptions concerning the individual agents' preferences, i.e., no agent preferring the resulting segregation. We examine the robustness of Schelling's model, focusing in particular on its driving force: the individual preferences. We show that even if all individual agents have a strict preference for perfect integration, best-response dynamics will lead to segregation. What is more, we argue that the one-dimensional and two-dimensional versions of Schelling's spatial proximity model are in fact two qualitatively very different models of segregation.Neighborhood segregation, Myopic Nash Equilibria, Best-response dynamics, Markov chain, Limit-behavior.

Spatial-Structural Relations among Technology Industrial Clusters: A Comparative Analysis of Metropolitan Regions in the U.S

Technical industrial clusters are defined and analyzed for a sample of U.S. metropolitan regions. Economic structure, spatial proximity and shape of the clusters are examined across the metropolitan regions through various economic and spatial measures and statistics. The data for this research are used to test the hypothesis that close spatial proximity results in stronger economic functional interdependence. This hypothesis is examined and the implications of the test are explored.

Uncovering Proximity of Chromosome Territories using Classical Algebraic Statistics

Exchange type chromosome aberrations (ETCAs) are rearrangements of the genome that occur when chromosomes break and the resulting fragments rejoin with other fragments from other chromosomes. ETCAs are commonly observed in cancer cells and in cells exposed to radiation. The frequency of these chromosome rearrangements is correlated with their spatial proximity, therefore it can be used to infer the three dimensional organization of the genome. Extracting statistical significance of spatial proximity from cancer and radiation data has remained somewhat elusive because of the sparsity of the data. We here propose a new approach to study the three dimensional organization of the genome using algebraic statistics. We test our method on a published data set of irradiated human blood lymphocyte cells. We provide a rigorous method for testing the overall organization of the genome, and in agreement with previous results we find a random relative positioning of chromosomes with the exception of the chromosome pairs \{1,22\} and \{13,14\} that have a significantly larger number of ETCAs than the rest of the chromosome pairs suggesting their spatial proximity. We conclude that algebraic methods can successfully be used to analyze genetic data and have potential applications to larger and more complex data sets

Membership Functions for Spatial Proximity

Formalising nearness has been the subject of extensive work, resulting in many membership functions based on absolute distance metrics, relative distance metrics, and combinations of those. The possible strengths and weaknesses of these functions have been discussed and argued at length, but strangely enough, no experiment seems to have been conducted to assess the merits and shortcomings of competing approaches. Conducting such experiments can be expected not only to provide an objective evaluation of the various measures that have been proposed, but also to suggest new measures that outperform all those being analysed. This paper fulfills these expectations, and gives further evidence that fuzzy logic provides fruitful and powerful methods to formalise qualitative reasoning and capture fundamental qualitative notions. The proposed fuzzy membership functions can be directly used in qualitative reasoning about spatial proximity in Geographic Information Systems, which are becoming more and more important in software development for diverse purposes such as Tourist Information Systems or property development

Firm Foundations in the Knowledge Intensive Business Service Sector. Results from a Comparative Empirical Study in Three German Regions

A key feature of the knowledge-based economy is a remarkable increase in the number of knowledge intensive business service firms (KIBS). KIBS are based upon highly specialised knowledge and they acquire knowledge in the course of the interaction process that takes place whilst they provide their services. As knowledge and its organisation are tied to personal capabilities and information, spatial “proximity” to providers and users of knowledge appears to be crucial for the foundation and early development of KIBS. The quality of regional environments (e.g. configurations of incubator and intermediate organisations or a regional “entrepreneurial climate”) and the foundation and development of KIBS are obviously interrelated. Based upon a standardised survey, the present paper analyses regional differences in the foundation process and early development of KIBS in three German regions in a comparative way. The results of our descriptive analysis show strong regional ties of founders and KIBS firms during the founding process as a result of spatial proximity. With only slight differences, those ties could be observed in all three regions. They are primarily related to the former activities of the founder, the transfer of results and experiences into the new firm, and spatial proximity to the most important customers or other partners within the exchange of knowledge. Major differences can be derived with regard to the development of the firms (e.g. Munich KIBS firms show a much better development in employment), obstacles in accessing the regional market, and the general assessment of the regional framework conditions from the point-of-view of the KIBS founders.KIBS; firm foundations; interaction; spatial proximity; Germany

Spatial Proximity and Complementarities in the Trading of Tacit Knowledge

We model knowledge-trading coalitions in which the transfer of tacit knowledge is unverifiable and requires face-to-face contact, making spatial proximity important. When there are sufficient “complementarities” in knowledge exchange, successful exchange is facilitated if firms can meet in a central location,thereby economizing on travel costs. When complementarities are small,however, a central location may be undesirable because it is more vulnerable to cheating than a structure involving bilateral travel between firms. We believe that our framework may help explain the structure and stability of multimember technology trading coalitions such as Sematech and Silicon Valley.Tacit Knowledge, Clusters, Knowledge Trading, Complementarities. Spatial Proximity

Spatial proximity and distance travelled: commuting versus non-commuting trips in Flanders

This paper examines the relationship between daily travel distance and spatial characteristics in Flanders (and partly also in Brussels), in the north of Belgium. Important regional variations in commuting trip lengths are noticed, which are related to the spatial-economic structure including aspects of population density and spatial proximity. Commuter data obtained from the General Socio-Economic Survey 2001 are area covering and offer a lot of information. It is obvious that residents in the economic core areas produce less commuter mobility than people living in remote areas that have still access to the Brussels-Antwerp region. Proximity between home and work locations is paramount, when proximity is defined at a large geographical scale. Next, the spatial distribution of commuting distances, based on residential location, is compared to overall daily travel patterns including non-work travel. Since the second kind of data is only available in the form of a rather small sample, a multivariate regression equation based on spatial characteristics has been developed in order to extrapolate sample data throughout the Flanders region. When assessing overall daily travel patterns, including non-work travel, variables based on the spatial distribution of jobs do not show significant effects on the travel distance. However, spatial proximity is again paramount, although proximity should now be defined at a much smaller geographical scale. When considering all daily travel, the distance between the residence and an even small urban centre is much more decisive than the distance to the economic core areas (which is mainly consisting of the Brussels-Antwerp region). This finding qualifies the limited importance of the commute: today, it is mainly non-professional travel that is growing. Furthermore, the results suggest that residential density and land use mix in urban areas is the best guarantee for curbing excessive forms of overall (but especially: non-commuter) mobility