Abstract
Why do firms collaborate with particular others? Past studies have consistently suggested that resource complementarity, embeddedness, and status similarity are the critical matching criteria in inter-firm partner selection. This study considers performance similarity an understudied but potentially important matching rationale. Past performance is an important signal that is observable, is closely associated with the true quality, and thus has a great potential to guide and simplify the partner choice process. I propose that the exchange of performance signals results in performance-based matching where pairing occurs between firms with similar performance levels - between highly successful firms or between less successful firms. Empirical analysis on the context of the US venture capital industry and syndication networks therein during 1985 and 2013 provides support for this performance-based matching and reveals its important characteristics.
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