Academic Seminar- Dilek Çetindamar
Academic Seminar- Dilek Çetindamar
Date : 4th March
Time : 1.00 p.m
Place: SOM 1073
“Venture Capital Firms as Impact Investors: Hybridization?”
Abstract :
In this paper, we consider a recent trend whereby private equity available from venture capital firms is being deployed towards social enterprise initiatives in the form of impact investing. Potentially acting as a hybrid organization, impact investors aim to achieve financial results while also targeting companies and funds to achieve social impact. To understand whether such investments alter the mission and practices of venture capital firms embedded in the financial logic, we investigate 11 impact-oriented venture capital funds and their investments. In doing so, we examine whether and to the degree to which hybridization takes place in the venture capital industry in terms of guiding institutional logics and practices. As such, we observe how a new organizational form, hybrid organization, is potentially emerging in an institutional context where private equity practices (financial logic) are dominant but increasingly co-exist with pro-social organizational aims (social logic). Our initial results suggest that a disparity exists between the means (financial investment) and ends (social impact) of impact investors. Based on these preliminary observations, we provide suggestions for further studies on hybridization under the conditions of a mature and rigid institutional context.
