IFI Technology Governance/STIG PoP Seminar “Institutional Support for Growth and VC Investment in Established vs. Emerging sectors: Lessons from CHIPS and Science Act”

Chuck Eesley,
Associate Professor
W.M. Keck Foundation Faculty Scholar
Management Science & Engineering Department
Stanford Technology Ventures Program

Although it is well known that increasing institutional support promotes the entry and growth of startups, less is discussed about its impact on intermediaries (e.g., VC firms) as part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. From the perspective of a regulatory pillar in institutionalism, this study investigates how adopting the new law for sector growth affects VC firms’ investment strategy in its early period, facing the dilemma of cherry-picking in the stable established sector vs. frog-kissing in the highly ambiguous emerging sector. Using the quarterly data of entire U.S. VC firms, 2020 August -2023 February, we test how the U.S. government’s enactment of the CHIPS and Science Act for revitalizing the semiconductor industry (established sector) and supporting key technology areas (emerging sector) affects the VC firms’ investment in these two sectors differently. Our results show that the enactment leads VC firms to increase investing in the established sector while reducing investment in the emerging sector. The opposite pattern happens mainly because, despite the regulatory favors, incomplete institutionalization during the early regulatory changes becomes additional source of ambiguity in emerging sector, further increasing investment risk. Furthermore, we find that VC firms’ political embeddedness amplifies the benefits of investing in the established sector, whereas their reputation (ability to deliver high returns) mitigates investment risks in certain technology areas in the emerging sector. Taken together, our study contributes to the institutionalism and entrepreneurship literature by suggesting how institutional support in its early period affects intermediaries’ strategy differently depending on the sector types.

Chuck Eesley is an Associate Professor and W.M. Keck Foundation Faculty Scholar in the Department of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University. As part of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, his research focuses on the role of the institutional and university environment in high-growth, technology entrepreneurship. His research focuses on rethinking how the educational and policy environment shapes the economic and entrepreneurial impact of university alumni. His field research spans China, Japan, Chile, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Thailand and Silicon Valley and has received awards from the Schulze Foundation, the Technical University of Munich, and the Kauffman Foundation. He is a faculty affiliate at the Stanford Center for International Development, the Woods Institute for the Environment and the Stanford King Center on Global Development. He is also a member of the Editorial Board for the Strategic Management Journal. Before coming to Stanford, Prof. Eesley completed his Ph.D. at the M.I.T. Sloan School of Management. His work has been published among other places in Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, Research Policy, and Biological Psychiatry. He has also been an advocate and mentor for immigrants and historically under-represented groups in STEM, academia and the tech sector via programs such as Diversifying Academia, Recognizing Excellence (DARE), AAAS – Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST), and SURF among others.

Secretariat, Institute for Future Initiatives, UTokyo
Technology Governance Policy Research Unit
E-mail: ifi_tg[at]ifi.u-tokyo.ac.jp（replace [at] with @）