University of Mississippi eGrove Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2019 Recycled CEOs and Managerial Ability: Do Venture Backed Companies Have a Comparative Advantage? Sydnee C. Manley University of Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd Part of the Accounting Commons Recommended Citation Manley, Sydnee C., "Recycled CEOs and Managerial Ability: Do Venture Backed Companies Have a Comparative Advantage?" (2019). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1633. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/1633 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. RECYCLED CEOS AND MANAGERIAL ABILITY: DO VENTURE BACKED COMPANIES HAVE A COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE? A Dissertation presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Accountancy The University of Mississippi by SYDNEE C. MANLEY December 2018 Copyright Sydnee C. Manley 2018 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the relationship between experienced chief executive officers (CEOs), venture capital support, and company performance. Much of the success of venture backed companies is attributed to the reputation, monitoring, and networking of venture capitalists (Hochberg, Ljungqvist, and Lu 2007; Katz 2009). One crucial task of venture capitalists, or any stakeholder, is to find talented executives to lead their companies. However, finding quality CEOs for young growth companies with a relatively short financial history can be a difficult endeavor. Venture capitalists may have a comparative advantage in this area because they network within the venture capital industry to “recycle” CEOs (De Carvalho, Calomiris, and de Matos 2008).