Human Capital, Parent Size and the Destination Industry of Spinouts
October 2019
Working Paper Number:
CES-19-30
Abstract
We study how spinout founders' human capital and parent size relate to founders' propensity to stay in the same industry as their parents or to go outside the industry. Individuals with high human capital face a higher performance penalty if they form spinouts outside the parent industry, but they also face greater deterrence from large parents if they stay in that industry. Using matched employer employee data on spinout founders and their coworkers, we find that individuals with higher human capital are less likely to form spinouts in distant industries than in the parent's industry. Further, we find that as parent size increases, such individuals are less likely to form spinouts in the parent's industry and more likely to form spinouts in distant industries.
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employee,
organizational,
corporate,
entrepreneurial,
venture,
entrepreneur,
entrepreneurship,
recession,
diversification,
competitor,
tenure,
wealth,
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occupation,
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