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New Ventures projects emerge in response to the growing need of countries to develop and grow economically in an environment characterized by rapid changes. The importance of these projects is such that during the last decades they have played a role not only as drivers of the economy but also as sources of new jobs and innovation (Chen, 2009). Due to this importance, there have been multiple studies related to the efficient management of such projects. However, it is not sufficient for these projects to be managed properly, but the presence of limited resources makes necessary to select, prioritize and control these projects strategically within a portfolio.   This strategic management can be carried out by using the theory developed in Project Portfolio Management (PPM). The importance of PPM is the ability to integrate the world of projects with the operation of organizations, helping to minimize failures such as making unnecessary effort to undertake these projects in an appropriate manner when in fact these are not the right projects.  However, there is a lack of knowledge in the application of PPM theory for New Ventures projects, because their characteristics differ from those of any other type of projects in terms of high level of risk and, in many cases, high technical uncertainty (Mac Millan & Gunther, 2000).  This knowledge gap can be minimized using two different approaches. The first one consists in employing the theory developed by PPM in R&D projects, applying it for New Venture projects, as suggested by Mac Millan & Gunther (2000). The second approach corresponds to using the theory developed around the management of projects within Business Incubators (BIs) and Venture Capital firms (VC) in every stage of the PPM process.   This study describes how BIs and VCs in Sweden manage their New Venture projects portfolios in issues such as selection, prioritization and monitoring and control. To achieve an adequate depiction of this process, the study seeks primarily to identify the role of BIs and VCs in the PPM and the proper relationship that should exist between both organizations to ensure an ideal flow of projects at each stage of their development. In addition, it also seeks to find whether tools outlined in the literature are often used in practice.   Among the main findings of the study, the major contribution of the BIs is mainly in the feasibility analysis of projects and the support they give in their development, while VC firms are usually more focused on the selection, prioritization and monitoring and control of their portfolios. In practice there have been shortcomings in the transition of New Venture projects between BIs and VCs. These can be solved by creating a single organization that integrates the entire process of PPM between BIs and VCs, or other alternative is for VCs to start investing mainly in early stage projects.  Another important finding corresponds to the use of the expertise of BIs and VCs members as the most important tool when making strategic decisions. And although there is general satisfaction with the success of these projects in Sweden, some authors have argued that this industry is not totally mature. Therefore, this study suggests using some tools, proposed in a conceptual model, developed to achieve the maturity that New Venture projects industry requires.

Bakgrund       Tillväxtviljan bland de svenska småföretagen är stor, men avsaknad av kapital begränsar många entreprenörer och småföretag. Den höga risknivån minskar möjligheterna att erhålla exempelvis bankfinansiering, och för många tillväxtbolag i tidiga faser kan Venture Capital därför vara det enda finansieringsalternativet. Syfte               Syftet med studien är att skapa förståelse för de investeringskriterier som svenska Venture Capital-bolag använder vid sin utvärdering av potentiella investeringsobjekt samt jämföra dessa med vad entreprenörer anser påverkar utvecklingen av ett företag. Metod             Studien är av kvalitativ karaktär och empirin består av data från 20 genomförda intervjuer samt skriftliga frågeformulär, där respondenterna utgörs av venture-kapitalister samt entreprenörer som har erhållit Venture Capital-finansiering. Resultat         De kriterier som är centrala vid Venture Capital-bolags utvärdering av potentiella investeringsobjekt är entreprenörsteamet, marknads-förutsättningar samt produkterbjudande. Av dessa kriterier anser både venture-kapitalister och entreprenörer att det är entreprenörsteamet som i störst utsträckning påverkar ett företags utveckling. Att entreprenörsteamet tillskrivs så stor betydelse förklaras av att förutsättningarna för företagets fortsatta utveckling ständigt förändras, vilket ställer krav på att entreprenörsteamet har förmåga att hantera denna dynamiska process och anpassa företagets utveckling efter oförutsedda förändringar. / Background   There is a strong desire to grow among small Swedish enterprises, but lack of capital is a limiting factor to many entrepreneurs and small enterprises. The high level of risk reduces the possibilities of receiving financing through bank loan or similar, which makes Venture Capital the only financing alternative for some high growth-ventures in early stages. Aim                 The aim of this study is to provide understanding for the investment criteria used by Swedish Venture Capital firms during their evaluation of investment propositions, and to compare these with factors that entrepreneurs perceive as influential to the development of a company. Methodology The approach of this study is qualitative, and the presented findings are conducted from 20 interviews and written questionnaires. The respondents consist of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs who have received Venture Capital financing. Result            The criteria that are of central importance to Venture Capital firms’     when evaluating investment propositions are the entrepreneurial team, the market potential and the product offer. Among these criteria both entrepreneurs and venture capitalists perceive the entrepreneurial team as the criterion with the largest impact on the development of a company. The importance of the entrepreneurial team is explained by the fact that the conditions for the company’s further development are under continuous change, which necessitates the entrepreneurial team’s ability to handle this dynamic process and adapt the company’s development to unexpected changes.

New ventures started by entrepreneurs need access to the right amount of financial resourcesin order to grow and expand businesses. Venture capital financing and partnerships withventure capital firms is a common route for entrepreneurial companies to acquire the neededfinancing for growing the venture, which in turn benefits a country’s economy as a whole.The partnership between the venture capital firm and the entrepreneur may involve conflicts,due to different goals and objectives towards the business, difference in management stylesand personal background as well as task and contextual conflicts, to mention some examples.We discovered a knowledge gap regarding conflicts between venture capital firms andentrepreneurs in Sweden and hence our aim with this study is to provide an answer on howventure capital firms and entrepreneurs are dealing with these potential conflicts in Sweden.To find out the answer, we reviewed selected and relevant literature on the subject andadapted a theoretical framework, based on existing literature. In terms of methodologicalapproach, we chose to be constructionists by following the abductive approach, in order toeffectively answer our research question and be able to add and complement our theoreticalframework, based on our empirical findings.Our empirical findings consists of four valuable interviews with venture capital firmmanagers and another four interviews with entrepreneurial CEOs and/or company founders,to get the view of both parties involved in venture capital partnerships. Based on ourempirical findings, our main conclusion is that the venture capital partnership often suffersfrom lacking communication from either or both parties, which could start or worsen theconflicts. Many of these problems are also derived by the vastly different backgrounds ofventure capital firm managers compared to entrepreneurs.Additionally, our study notes a tendency for less patience for conflicts among venture capitalfirms compared to entrepreneurs, as venture capital firms are willing to replace the currentCEO or make an early exit the venture or even liquidate its shares, if they deem problems assevere. On the other hand, entrepreneurs want to keep the dialogue going and seem to havemore patience. To mitigate the conflicts in the venture capital partnership, based on ourfindings, we propose that venture capital firms should hire managers or consultants with amore technical background when evaluating and working with certain entrepreneurs.Furthermore, venture capital firms may need to be more dynamic in terms of their controlmeasurements as opposed to being overly static on a long-term business plan which may getoutdated or lose relevancy.Entrepreneurs, nonetheless, need training and support in many cases, to understand how tocommunicate in business contexts and write business plans in order to facilitate thecollaboration with their venture capitalists.

在台灣的高科技產業發展中，創投扮演了重要的角色，其所提供的資金與協助促進了新創事業的成長，造就了台灣資訊電子產業的躍居世界舞台與傲人的經濟成長。2000年人類基因圖譜的解出，似乎加快了基因技術的應用與相關產業的發展，進而成為全球經濟成長的新動力，因此我國創投的投資觸角也積極地延伸到生物技術產業上。 　　過去有關創投的相關研究多集中在投資評估準則的總體性研究，甚少針對某一產業的特性不同，來做進一步的研究，特別是在生物科技產業方面，因此，本研究將針對生物技術產業的特性與創投的股東背景、經營團隊與合作網路等組成因子，來探討其所產生的投資策略與行為。 　　本研究採用個案訪談之定性研究，選擇六家在生技產業投資比重較大的國內創投公司做訪談，再依據本研究架構進行分析整理，得到了以下之結論： 　　一、 生技產業的特性對投資策略與行為之影響 　　　1. 創投因看好生技產業的成長潛力而將提高此方面的投資比重，而生技產業的投資金額以美國為最高。 　　　2. 創投在生技產業的投資階段傾向涵蓋不同的階段。 　　　3. 創投在生技產業的投資以醫藥產業及其週邊之醫療器材為主，主要考量是醫藥產業是目前為止較高報酬的領域。 　　　4. 創投在生技產業的投資區域以美國為主，其中最重要的原因與該地區之產業群聚有關。 　　　5. 創投在生技產業的投資傾向以投資組合管理及聯合同業投資來降低投資風險。 　　　6. 創投在生技產業的投資傾向不聘任外部顧問，而傾向以經營團隊之專業評估為主，再以已投資公司與事業夥伴為諮詢對象。 　　　7. 創投在生技產業的投資回收策略為上市或購併，投資回收期間並不會因為生技產業的產品開發期長而延長。 　　　8. 創投在生技產業的投資評估，著重整體性評估（不會只看技術或智慧財產權），會因事業投資階段而有不同的評估重點，投資案愈偏早期，愈著重技術與人。投資案愈偏成熟期，所需評估的項目愈多。 　　　9. 生技產業的特性雖對創投的附加價值沒有影響，但創投對生技產業的投資案有提供附加價值，會因投資案事業發展階段之不同，而提供所需之協助，附加價值則以資訊蒐集與人脈介紹為主。 　　二、創投的組成對投資策略與行為之影響 　　　1. 創投的股東對外部顧問策略、投資案源與投資評估有影響，對投資金額、投資階段、投資領域、投資區域、風險控管、回收策略與附加價值沒有影響。 　　　2. 創投的經營團隊對投資金額、投資階段、投資領域、投資區域、風險控管、外部顧問、回收策略、投資評估與附加價值有明顯的影響，對投資案源則有些影響。 　　　3. 創投的合作網路對外部顧問、投資評估與附加價值有影響，對投資案源更是有明顯影響，而對投資金額、投資階段、投資領域、投資區域、風險控管與回收策略沒有影響。　 　　三、生技產業的特性對創投的組成之影響 　　　1. 生技產業的特性對創投董事會內的股東背景沒有影響。 　　　2. 生技產業的的特性影響到創投招募技術專業之經營團隊。 　　　3. 創投未因生技產業的特性而建構新的合作網路，而傾向運用集團中原有之合作網路，尤其是過去的已投資公司，為創投主要的諮詢者。 / Venture capital plays an important role in the development of high technological industries in Taiwan. It provides the essential fund and useful assistance to promote the growth of start-up companies. Because of it, the growth of economy in Taiwan dramatically increases and Taiwan has become the kingdom of information and communication industries around the world. In the year 2000, the complete sequence of human genome has enhanced the speed of the development in the field of biotech and its associated industries. In addition, the investment in biotech industry is expected to stimulate another trend of global economic growth. Therefore, venture capital in Taiwan also actively extends its influence in the field of biotech industries. 　　The majority of researches in venture capital seems to concentrate on the overall evaluation of the general criteria of investment, few studies focused on one particular industry, especially the biotech industry and its characteristics and aspects. Therefore, this study will aim at the characteristics of biotech industry and the constituent factors of venture capital to explore the strategies and behaviors of investment. 　　A qualitative research was conducted in six important venture capital firms in Taiwan using a method of intensive personal interview. The summaries of the research findings are as follows: 　　I. The impacts of the characteristics of biotech industry on the strategies and behaviors of investment: 　　　1. Venture capital firms will increase investment percentage in biotech area because of its potential of growth, and the majority amounts of venture capital seem to be invested in the United States. 　　　2. The venture capital firms’ investments in biotech tend to cover various stages. 　　　3. The fields venture capital firms invest in biotech appear to be focused on pharmaceuticals and medical devices, because the operating return from this area is higher than any others so far. 　　　4. The location of biotech companies venture capital invested are focused on the United States, which seem to have obvious phenomenon of clustering. 　　　5. Through portfolio management and co-investment, venture capital firms can reduce risk while investing in biotech. 　　　6. Instead of relying on outside consultant when invest in biotech, venture capital firms prefer to depend on inside management teams for due diligence. In addition, the past invested firms and partners are helpful while needed. 　　　7. The exit strategies of venture capital firms are initial public offering or merger & acquisition when invest in biotech companies, and the period of investment appears to be not correlated with the long product life cycle of biotech industry. 　　　8. Instead of emphasis on technologies or intellectual properties, venture capitalists emphasize all factors which evaluating biotech companies. Their decision criteria depend on venture development stages, the earlier stages these cases are, the more important technologies and management teams are, the later stages these cases are, the more factors are considered. 　　　9. Venture capitalists add values to the biotech companies they invested, not because of the characteristics of biotech industry, but differ from development stages of cases. Most of add values are information collection and networking. 　　II. The influences of the constituent factors of VC on the strategies and behaviors of investment: 　　　1. The stockholders of venture capital affect outside consultant strategy, deal flow, due diligence, but make no influence on investment amount, venture development stage, field, location, risk control, exit strategy and value-added. 　　　2. The management teams of venture capital obviously influence investment amount, venture development stage, field, location, outside consultant strategy, risk control, exit strategy, due diligence and value-added, and make a little influence on deal flow. 　　　3. The networking of venture capital make a little influence on outside consultant, due diligence and value-added, and make obvious influence on deal flow, but do not affect investment amount, venture development stage, field, location, risk control and exit strategy. 　　III. The influences of the characteristics of biotech industry on the components of venture capital: 　　　1. The characteristics of biotech industry don’t appear to affect the background of stockholders in the board. 　　　2. Venture capital firms recruit professional management teams because of the same particular characteristics of biotech industry. 　　　3. While investing in biotech industry, venture capital firms utilize networks, especially the past invest , as their main consultants.