New Ventures

Unconventional start-ups encounter distinct challenges in professionalizing their operations compared to traditional ventures. Our project reveals that while venture capitalists (VCs) often advocate for standardization, many start-ups diverge from conventional practices, prioritizing external engagement and market positioning. Key findings suggest that ... Read More

For fledgling ventures, part of the growth process is to develop key systems, both external (such as marketing and sales) and internal (such as accounting and human resources). To date, most researchers have assumed that these systems develop uniformly as ventures scale and complete developmental milestones. According to HKUST’s Pavel I. Zhelyazkov and ... Read More

Agriculture is central to the economies of developing countries. Central to agriculture, in turn, are smallholder farmers, who traditionally sold their produce locally. Today, however, they have access to far larger, more distant markets, thanks to the Internet and the electronic platforms it has enabled. The problem for farmers, according to HKUST’s Ying-Ju ... Read More

How and why can irrelevant, short-lived factors shape investment decisions? This can happen in investment decisions in nascent, seed-stage startups, where information is scarce and uncertainty is intense. Taking sunshine on the day of deal evaluation as a context, we show that in the face of intense uncertainty, sunnier days may affect investors’ mood and ... Read More