Therefore,
ceremonial cues should have lower validity than
communicative cues. Based on this insight, we distinguish
the effects of ceremonial cues from communicative
cues in an important class of signals,
the presentation and content of business planning
documents.
Communications about planning activities—
encoded in objects such as business plans, executive
summaries, and similar types of documents—
presumably convey information that influences the
funding decision. The exchange of these materials
constitutes one mechanism for the general
flow of information described above. First, business
planning documents may fulfill a ceremonial
role in the exchange between entrepreneur
and investor. In effect, the entrepreneur wishes to
signal that the request conforms to expectations