The second survey question asked whether PE ownership was an advantage
or a detriment to the business. In the case of venture capital, this ownership
is typically partial, whereas PE firms often own companies outright in the
case of buyouts. The Likert scale for this question ranged from PE backing
being a significant disadvantage (1), through no impact (3), to PE ownership
being a significant benefit (5). The ‘disadvantage’ options were included
in case portfolio company managers thought that PE investors had a
negative impact – for instance, if the managers thought that PE investors
were micromanaging and too involved in the running of the business, or
were trying to guide it in the wrong direction. Overall, the net balance of
respondents thought that PE ownership was beneficial for their businesses
(Chart 9), although a notable proportion believed that PE backing had no
significant impact on their company