ABSTRACT
This further set of cases uses the same general framework as in Chapter 7. They have three significant features. First, they were constructed on the same basis of fieldwork evidence using face-to-face interview with entrepreneurs, employing an agenda that ran from Risk Premium through to Qualitative Appraisal (see Chapter 3 and Appendix 2). Second, two of the cases provide new perspectives on the same technology sector. Thus Case E and Case H both relate to the use of light emitting polymer technologies, but E relates to conformable ‘macro’ displays (e.g. moving posters on a metro station wall) and H relates to ‘micro’ displays (e.g. on digital cameras, mobile phones, etc.). To further illustrate, both Case D and Case J relate to e-commerce, but the focus in D is on encrypting and enciphering to make e-transactions secure, whereas the focus in J is on the retailing end of e-commerce, like selling groceries and household consumables. Third, there are two US case studies included in the set of cases in this chapter. This is done, again, for triangulation purposes. In the previous point, the triangulation arose through viewing the same technological sector (LEP technology) through the lenses of firms involved in different applications area (namely, the ‘micro’ and ‘macro’). Now, the triangulation arises because we are viewing the VC investment process in high-technology enterprises from the standpoints of two different investment ‘cultures’, the UK in Cases A to H, and the US in Cases I and J.
