Innovation in Finance
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INNOVATION IN FINANCE Edited by Katarzyna Prędkiewicz Olga Kalinowska-Beszczyńska Judit Karsai Volume 12 Issue 3 2016 Contents From the Editors 3 Funding Innovation in Poland through Crowdfunding 7 Katarzyna Kozioł-Nadolna The Special Aspects of Venture Capital’s Value Creating Mechanisms in Hungary 31 Patrícia Becsky-Nagy Selected Determinants of Mezzanine Financing in Poland 57 Robert Golej Financial Innovation and Sustainable Development in Selected Countries in West Africa 85 Folorunsho M. Ajide Information Transparency of the Statement of Comprehensive Income: The Reporting Practice of WIG30 and DAX Companies 113 Jacek Gad 3 From the Editors Finance is central to the success of any innovation process (Fagerberg, 2006). Even the best ideas cannot be implemented without capital. This special ‘Innovation in Finance’ issue of the Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation contains five articles offering contributions to knowledge in the fields of financing innovation and financial innovation in the capital market. This selection of articles contributes to global research in this field, with papers written by authors from Nigeria, Hungary and Poland, based on well-developed theoretical frameworks and demonstrating a range of research methods. The opening paper presented by Katarzyna Kozioł-Nadolna addresses the critical problem of capital shortages faced by entrepreneurs when financing innovative projects. The author discusses crowdsourcing as an alternative source of finance for such enterprises. The discourse includes both the theoretical and practical perspectives on the issue, highlighting that the role of crowdfunding may include more than just the supply of money. Moreover, the paper provides a comprehensive description of the current state of the Polish crowdfunding market, as well as suggesting the likely direction for its further development. The second article, written by Patricia Becsky-Nagy, focuses on the role of venture capital in financing companies which have high risk-return profiles, such as new, innovative and high-growth firms. The article seeks to understand not only what venture capitalists actually do but in particular to reveal the specific mechanisms of their value creating activity. Starting the article with a thorough literature review, the author first describes the theoretical background which identifies the relevant value creating mechanisms. In the second part of the article she examines these mechanisms in Hungary, which has a less developed venture capital market, where the investors’ practices have not been thoroughly revealed by the scientific literature. Becsky-Nagy concludes that the government backed venture capital funds have a catalyst effect on the early development of venture capital markets, but in the long run the gradual withdrawal of government from any active role can best energise the industry to mature under its own direction, and to do so faster than when relying on government programmes of support. 4 In the third article, Robert Golej discusses the possible role of mezzanine funds in financing innovative SME companies. Considering the hybrid feature of mezzanine financing, as it combines features of both debt and equity into a single financing vehicle, it differs from straight debt finance as it implies a greater sharing of risk and reward between the user of the capital and the investor. In the first part of the article the author summarizes the present knowledge on mezzanine finance, reviewing the literature on the possible areas of mezzanine financing as well as the applied practices of mezzanine funds. In the next part of his article Golej presents the results of his recently conducted survey on the level of preparedness for an investment of mezzanine funds and the level of knowledge of entrepreneurs seeking mezzanine finance in Poland. The detailed database of mezzanine transactions conducted in Poland, including a list of the related funds, their invested companies, as well as the size-range of individual investments, represents a very useful contribution to further research. According to the author there is a gradual development of mezzanine finance in Poland, but in practice this type of finance does not represent a real financing possibility for early-stage risky firms, as mezzanine funds prefer rather more mature companies already in a good financial condition. The next paper, by Folorunsho M. Ajide, focuses on the relationship between financial innovation and sustainable development in the context of West Africa. The theoretical discussion is enriched by a broad literature review embracing the African context followed by an empirical study. Using World Bank data from eight West African countries, the author created and tested a statistical model supporting the hypothesis that an increase in banking efficiency, driven by competition and financial innovation, would improve economic growth and development. Simultaneously pointing out that the growth effect of financial innovation is sensitive to the choice of proxy, it all highlights the importance of appropriate policies supporting competitiveness and efficiency in the banking industry, as well as for financial innovation. The last paper in the issue is provided by Jacek Gad whose article aims to identify changes in the form of the statement of comprehensive income in companies in the WIG30 and DAX indices. Jacek Gad found that most of the companies studied present their comprehensive income in two statements, with the number of accounting notes regarding comprehensive income presented by companies in their financial statements increasing over the period under study. His study identified four options for the presentation of comprehensive income components with the particular option chosen reflecting increased information transparency. The results show that the practice of reporting in the area of the statement of comprehensive income of the DAX index companies is ahead of that in the WIG30 index. 5 Lastly, we would like to thank all the authors for their efforts in preparing the articles and their efficient collaboration with the editors and reviewers. We are very grateful for the cooperation of all the reviewers and thank them for their support in assessing the submitted papers and their valuable comments which helped to improve the selected articles. Finally, our special thanks go to Dr Anna Ujwary-Gil, Editor- in-Chief of JEMI, for the chance to cooperate with JEMI and for her support during each phase of work on this special issue. We hope that this issue will prove to be interesting reading for global scholars and inspire them on to further research, especially in the field of financing innovation. Dr Katarzyna Prędkiewicz Wrocław University of Economics, Poland, Guest Editor Dr Olga Kalinowska-Beszczyńska University of Exeter Business School, UK, Guest Editor Dr Judit Karsai Institute of Economics Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary, Guest Editor 7 Funding Innovation in Poland through Crowdfunding Katarzyna Kozioł-Nadolna1 Abstract Funding innovative projects is one of the most serious problems faced by business owners in Poland. Therefore, due to the difficulties of obtaining external sources of financing, crowdfunding may constitute a new source of fundraising for innovative ventures. Therefore, crowdfunding – as a way of raising capital for projects – is the subject of the discussion in this article. The research aim of the article is to identify and evaluate crowdfunding platforms as well as the innovative projects carried out by these platforms in Poland in 2014-2016. The first part characterizes crowdfunding as a source of funding innovation and presents the nature of crowdfunding, its characteristics and models. The empirical part is based on inductive-deductive inference, desk research, i.e. the analysis of crowdfunding market in Poland in two research periods and a case study analysis. The article shows the results of the research on the Polish crowdfunding market in 2014-2016. The author also presents a case study of funding innovation on the Kickstarter.com platform by a Polish company Sher.ly. Keywords: innovation, crowdfunding, funding innovation, Poland. INTRODUCTION The European Union defines innovation as one of the most important factors which is going to determine the competitiveness of the economy in the coming years. By the term ‘innovation’, one understands an ability and motivation of entrepreneurs to undertake a permanent search and take advantage of the results of this research, new ideas, concepts and inventions. Moreover, innovation involves improvement and development of production and operating technologies which also refer to services, the application of new solutions in organization and management, progress in the development of infrastructure, and, first and foremost, information, with its gathering, processing accessibility (Janasz & Kozioł, 2007). 1 Katarzyna Kozioł-Nadolna, Professor US, University of Szczecin, Faculty of Economics and Management, ul. Mickiewicza 69, 71-101 Szczecin, Poland, e-mail: Katarzyna.Kozioł[email protected]. 8 / Funding Innovation in Poland through Crowdfunding According to the latest theories and practice, innovations are the result of numerous, complex interactions among units, organizations and the environment in which they operate. The development of innovation theories and processes shows further evolution of these phenomena and together with all processes in today’s economy it will