The Essence of sustainable corporate venture capital performance - essays on CVC success

Abstract

Corporate venture capital (CVC) is understood as equity-financed investments in young, unlisted companies. CVC is a rapidly growing phenomenon that is enjoying increasing popularity and recognition, not only in practice but also in academic research. In times of increasing pressure to innovate, companies can create CVC programs that positively impact their strategic (e.g., innovation capability) and financial performance. The historical development of CVC programs took place in several waves, each of which was accompanied by a strong upswing and an equally strong downturn. The phases of the downturn were associated with a widespread discontinuation of CVC programs as well as high write-offs on investment capital. In addition to developments in the financial and technology markets, these serious times were also due to hurdles in the structural development of CVC programs. The result of the combination of influencing factors on the survival of CVC programs was remarkable, with the average survival of CVC units sometimes being only 2.2 years (Dushnitsky, 2012). A sustainable success of CVC programs is therefore due to contextual and organizational factors. Contextual factors can be influenced to a limited extent, whereas organizational factors can be influenced easily. These organizational factors are in the focus of this dissertation. The aim of this dissertation is to identify and evaluate the interplay of key factors influencing the success of CVC programs. Due to the unique structure of these programs, the key factors are considered separately for the parent company, the CVC unit, and the portfolio companies. This is intended to contribute to the existing inconsistent view in this area. Furthermore, the above-mentioned ongoing discussion is enriched by looking at the performance of the three CVC parties separately to point out their interactions.