Promoting informal venture capital: the evolution of policy and practice (hardback) (series: routledge studies in entrepreneurship)

The field of entrepreneurial finance and venture capital in general, and informal venture capital or business angel financing in particular, has become a major focus of academic research and policy debate internationally, with strong interest not only in Europe and North America but also in the Pacific Rim and Latin America. Over the past twenty years Richard Harrison and Colin Mason have established an international reputation as leading researchers in the field and have published widely in this area. This new volume collects for the first time in one accessible place the most significant of their work on business angel networks and the development of the informal venture capital market, as well as offers new material from these two pioneers of the field. The ground-breaking research by Colin Mason and Richard Harrison has put --business angels-- firmly on the policy agenda internationally and has influenced policy and practice around the globe. There has been increasing recognition in recent years that the informal venture capital market is central to the development of an entrepreneurial economy. The original papers remain remarkably relevant --- not only as policy in many countries looks for ways to respond to initiatives to promote business angels, but also as business angels help to ameliorate the deepening finance gap for new and young businesses while banks are constrained in their lending to small businesses. Together with the addition of a new introduction, conclusion, and chapter on coninvestment, networks, and syndicates, this volume represents the greatest synthesis of current knowledge and practice in the promotion of informal venture capital currently available.

@contents:Introduction 1. Local informal venture capital networks and institutional structure - the role of business angel networks Part I: Why Are Networks Important? 2. The informal venture capital market in the UK From D Storey and A Hughes (1994) Financing Small Firms, Routledge 3. Closing the regional equity gap: the role of informal venture capital From Small Business Economics 7 (1) 1995 Part II: Operation and Effectiveness of Networks 4. Informal investment business introduction services: some operational considerations From R T Harrison and C M Mason (1996) Informal venture capital: evaluating the impact of business introduction services, Prentice Hall/Woodhead Faulkner 5. Developing the informal venture capital market: a review of the Department of Trade and Industry's informal investment demonstration projects From Regional Studies 30 (8) 1996 6. Business angel networks and the development of the informal venture capital market in the UK: is there still a role for the public sector? From Small Business Economics 9 (2) 1997 7. The informal venture capital market in the United Kingdom: adding the time dimension From J Butler, A Lockett and D Ucbasaran (eds) Venture Capital and the Changing World of Entrepreneurship, Information Age Publishing, Greenwich: CT Part III: New Directions in Policy 8. Public policy and the development of the informal venture capital market From K Cowling (1999) Industrial policy in Europe, Routledge 9. Barriers to investment in the informal venture capital sector From Entrepreneurship and Regional Development 14 (3) 2002 10. 'Investment Readiness': A Critique of Government Proposals to Increase the Demand for Venture Capital From Regional Studies 35 (7) 2001 11. Coinvestment, networks and syndicates in the evolution of the business angel market Conclusion: the Way Ahead 12. Public policy support for the informal venture capital market in Europe: a critical review From International Small Business Journal 2009 13. Conclusion and Reflections: new developments in business angel networks internationally