Qiang Xiong

I am currently a research fellow at Bocconi University. I received my doctoral degree from Bocconi University in June 2024 (cum laude). Prior to joining academia, I worked in corporate financing at a commercial bank in China and in Switzerland.

My research interests are interdisciplinary and focus on:

Entrepreneurial financing: antecedents of investment decisions; investments in sustainability-driven ventures
Nascent industry: entrepreneurial framing strategies; entry and exit dynamics; the plant-based sector
Innovation: technological positioning; incumbent-entrant dynamics

Contact: qiang.xiong@unibocconi.it

Working Papers

To Cling Together or to Drift Apart? Technological Positioning of Startups Backed by Corporate Venture Capital - Revise & Resubmit at Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal

Presentation at DRUID23 (Lisbon, June 2023)

Presentation at AOM 83rd Annual Meeting (online, Aug. 2023)

Corporate venture capital (CVC) is increasingly crucial for funding startups. This study examines how startups’ technological positioning changes relative to their CVC investors. I argue that both learning and competition from CVC investments shape a startup’s technological positions. Specifically, I propose three scenarios: 1) when pre-investment technological distance (TD) between a startup and its CVC investor is low, it increases post-investment, leading to technological divergence; 2) when pre-investment TD is intermediate, it decreases post-investment, indicating technological convergence; 3) when the pre-investment TD is high, it remains unchanged post-investment. I tested these predictions using patenting histories of 797 IT startups that received CVC investments between 1995 and 2017. The findings offer novel insights into how competition and learning impact startups’ technological trajectory following CVC investments.

The Power of Quiet: Limited Partners' Influence on Sustainability Across Venture Capital Funds (with A. Fosfuri, N. Misani, & Y. Cheng) - Under Review

Best Ph.D. Paper Award Winner at the 8th ENTFIN Conference 2024

Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings 2024

Ph.D. Paper Prize Nomination at Strategic Management Society Conference 2024

Ventures that address sustainable development challenges by introducing new value-creating solutions often rely on venture capital (VC) to scale effectively. Existing research on VC in a sustainability context has primarily focused on the factors driving the VC-venture interaction. In this study, we shift the analysis upstream in the equity financing value chain. Our focus is on how a VC fund’s investments in sustainability-driven (SD) ventures are shaped by its original capital providers, known as limited partners (LPs). Drawing on data from 4,864 VC funds, we find that LPs with dual objectives (both financial and non-financial) significantly influence the inclusion of SD ventures in VC funds, despite having limited formal control rights. By highlighting the role of the LPs at the origin of the VC value chain, we provide novel insights into the drivers of sustainable financing and offer practical implications for entrepreneurial ventures seeking to expand their funding opportunities.

Venture Capital as a Catalyst of Startups' Institutional Logics Integration (with A. Fosfuri, & L. Huang) - Preparing for Submission

Presentation at DRUID24 (Nice, June 2024)

Presentation at SMS 44th Annual Meeting (Istanbul, Oct. 2024)

Presentation at AOM 2025 (Copenhagen, July 2025)

Presentation at the 9th ENTFIN Conference (Rotterdam, July 2025)

Ventures in nascent markets face the dual challenges of establishing legitimacy and scaling their business. The effective navigation of the institutional environment is crucial for ventures seeking broader market acceptance. We propose that ventures are likely to adopt a broader market positioning following VC investments, leveraging multiple institutional logics within organizational fields to transcend their initial niche. We test our theory by compiling a unique panel of startups entering the nascent plant-based food and beverage industry, collecting data on their financing history and historical websites. Our findings suggest that VC-backed ventures use more institutional logics (in our context: animal welfare, health, and sustainability) when framing their innovative offerings.

Paradox of Growth: Venture Capital and New Entry in the Nascent Plant-based Food Industry (with A. Fosfuri) - First Draft, Target Journal: Strategic Management Journal

Presentation at DRUID24 (Nice, June 2024)

Presentation at SMS 44th Annual Meeting (Istanbul, Oct. 2024)

We theorize about how venture capital contributes to shape entrepreneurial entry in a nascent industry. Relying on the framework of entrepreneurial opportunity, we propose that at the initial stage of industry emergence, investors’ interests facilitate new entry by signaling market validity and by enhancing the favorability of the opportunity. However, as the nascent market expands, a significant portion of available capital is directed towards follow-on investments in ventures that received VC funding in previous rounds, thereby deterring entry of new startups. We test our theory in the population of startups entering the nascent plant-based food and beverage industry.

Teaching

Business Strategy (co-teaching), Spring 2023 -

Bocconi Summer School, Strategy Lab, 2024 -

ICRIOS Research Method Seminar, 2023

Contact

qiang.xiong@unibocconi.it

+ 39 348 221 8067

Bocconi University

Via Roentgen 1, 20136, Milano, Italy