Venture capital investment, intellectual property rights protection and firm innovation: evidence from China

We examine the heterogeneous effects of venture capital (VC) investment on firm innovation. Using a panel dataset of Chinese manufacturing firms, we find that VC-backed firms outperform non-VC-backed ones in patenting activities, new product sales, and exports because of the ex-ante selection and ex-post value-added effects of VC investment. Firms with better performance in innovation are more likely to get VC support, and such outperformance is magnified after the VC investment is made. Moreover, the impact of VC investment on firm innovation is greater when the protection of IPR is stronger. In addition, firms backed by more experienced VC firms (VCFs) generate more commercialized innovation but are less productive in patenting activities than firms backed by less experienced VCFs. Finally, firms backed by state-owned VCFs outperform in patenting activities but underperform in commercialized innovation those backed by other types of VCFs. Identification and selection issues are addressed by the propensity score matching approach and two-stage estimations.