Blessing or blight? How corporate venture units affect the survival of internal new ventures

Abstract

The literature on structurally separate corporate venture units (CVUs) has suggested how these units may improve but also to some extent attenuate the survival chances of new ventures that are launched within the host corporation. Yet, there has been little empirical knowledge about the extent to which these units affect the survival of internal new ventures. We draw upon a dataset of 80 internal new ventures to assess if the survival of internal new ventures depends on their placement inside or outside CVUs. Controlling for a set of factors that may affect internal new venture survival, we find that placement in CVUs has a statistically significant and substantial effect on the chances of survival within the host corporation, and conclude that this is not due to characteristics that are associated with the internal new ventures as such. We discuss the implications of these findings for the literature on CVUs, and suggest the importance of further investigations into CVU boundaries, legitimacy, and the selection of internal new ventures from these units.