Discovering Valuable Growth Opportunities: An Analysis of Equity Alliances with IPO Firms
基于实物期权理论，研究企业如何通过与新上市公司形成股权联盟来发现增长机会，发现企业更倾向于与增长机会价值高的IPO公司合作，且这种倾向在IPO公司获得更多可见性时增强。
Firms often use alliances to access external resources and explore new market or technological opportunities, yet they also can face obstacles to discovering these opportunities in the first place. In this paper, we examine how firms can overcome these obstacles and form equity alliances with newly public companies to obtain valuable growth opportunities. Specifically, we build on real options theory and develop the argument that the visibility of firms having an initial public offering (IPO) can shape investors' recognition of the embedded growth opportunities and therefore channel their alliance activities. The evidence shows that firms are more likely to partner with IPO firms possessing more valuable growth opportunities. Furthermore, this relationship is magnified for IPO firms that have obtained more visibility, either through various interorganizational relationships or media coverage on going public.