Geographic network characteristics of venture capital firms and high-tech enterprise innovation: evidence from high-speed rail

Ningyue Liu, Tailun Chen and Huijuan Cao ()
Additional contact information
Ningyue Liu: Beijing Institute of Technology
Tailun Chen: Zhejiang University
Huijuan Cao: Beijing Institute of Technology

Palgrave Communications, 2025, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Combining both quantitative and qualitative methods, this study examines the influence of the geographic network characteristics of venture capital (VC) firms on corporate innovation. Using data on 402 Chinese firms listed on the SSE STAR Market during their pre-IPO period (2001–2019), we empirically find that high-speed rail (HSR) connections between VC firms and investee firms during the post-investment stage significantly enhance the innovation performance of the investee firms. Mechanism analyses attribute this effect to improved knowledge transfer from VCs to investees. We further find that the impact is most pronounced when HSR is more convenient than air travel and when firms exhibit strong innovation incentives. These findings underscore the role of HSR in strengthening VC networks, facilitating knowledge exchange, and enhancing innovation performance.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-025-05512-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-05512-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/palcomms/about

DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-05512-5

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Palgrave Communications from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().