Creating Exploratory Innovations by Learning from Entrepreneurial Ventures

Anu Wadhwa (), Corey Phelps and Suresh Kotha
Additional contact information
Anu Wadhwa: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Chapter Chapter 8 in New Frontiers in Entrepreneurship, 2009, pp 147-173 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Corporate venture capital (CVC), direct minority equity investments made by established companies in privately held start-ups, has become an important strategic tool for many large companies. In particular, firms often pursue CVC investing as a way to learn about novel technologies. Although CVC investments are inherently exploratory and have been found to enhance investing firm’s innovation, research has yet to establish whether CVC investing leads to the development of exploratory innovations (i.e., innovations that embody knowledge that differs from knowledge used by the firm in prior innovation efforts). In this paper, we explore the conditions under which CVC investments lead to the creation of exploratory knowledge by corporate investors. Building on insights from the recombinatory search and interorganizational learning literatures, we argue that three characteristics of an investing firm’s portfolio of start-ups will enhance its creation of exploratory knowledge. Using longitudinal data on a panel of 40 telecommunications equipment manufacturers, we find that investing firms produce more exploratory knowledge when their portfolios include start-ups that are moderately diverse, mature, and possess codified technological knowledge.

Keywords: Technological Knowledge; Patent Citation; Knowledge Element; Corporate Investor; Firm Innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:inschp:978-1-4419-0058-6_8

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9781441900586

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4419-0058-6_8

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in International Studies in Entrepreneurship from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().