Business model innovation in corporate entrepreneurship: exploratory insights from corporate accelerators

Abstract

Corporate accelerators are a rapidly growing entrepreneurial phenomenon occurring in different business contexts and business models within corporate entrepreneurship. Corporate accelerators are considered as an innovation fostering approach within new ventures provided by start-ups. The aim of the paper is twofold: firstly, to explore the motives behind corporations' engagement with start-ups in launching corporate accelerators, and secondly, to identify the corporate benefits and challenges of this business model innovation. The research design is based on a qualitative interpretative approach exploiting a triangulation of methods by using in-depth interviews (IDI) with corporate managers involved in development of corporate accelerators as well as a focus group interview (FGI) with industry experts. In addition, secondary data were applied to strengthen the exploratory research. The study demonstrates that a wide range of benefits stem from the accelerator activities which can ultimately can initiate changes in large companies. Our research expands on prior findings and suggests that corporate accelerators are driven by internal and external push and pull motives. The study contributes to expanding the scope of corporate entrepreneurship research in regard to the challenges and benefits of corporate accelerators. It provides evidence that corporate accelerators are a source of innovation that can be used to foster entrepreneurial-market logic and entrepreneurial learning.

The Role of the Strategic Corporate Accelerator: Overcoming Obstacles of Corporate Startup Engagement

“…When initiating a CA program, the acquisition of new knowledge represents, among others, a predominant outcome [9,11,12]. Well-aligned with the strategic objectives of CA programs [14], implicit forms of knowledge such as an entrepreneurial mindset or the different speed of working play a prominent role in the context of CAs [11].…”

“…Furthermore, prior CA literature has been criticized for the fragmented and contradictory typologies and a lack of a deeper conceptualization of the specific roles, and challenges associated with CAs [10,11]. This may be attributed to an extensive stream of CA literature adopting the design elements from the independent accelerator literature to the CA phenomenon (e.g., [2,12,13]).…”

Corporate acceleration process: a systems psychodynamics perspective

“…Taken together, studies on corporate–startup acceleration programs provide evidence of both their utility and challenges. However, they predominantly focus on technical aspects of the corporate–startup collaboration, such as design parameters and acceleration stages (Hausberg and Korreck, 2020; Hochberg, 2016; Kohler, 2016; Moschner et al , 2019; Shankar and Shepherd, 2019; Urbaniec and Żur, 2020). As a result, they overlook the important issue of emotions in the acceleration process.…”

Processos em Relacionamentos Interorganizacionais para Desenvolvimento de Capacidade de Absorção em Startups

“…In other words, interorganizational relationships between startups and large companies can be positive for both, however, the strategic and organizational differences between these companies pose an additional challenge to both approach them and manage these partnerships. One way to build bridges between these organizations is to use structured acceleration programs led by global corporations, which although relatively recent, have been increasing in Brazil and worldwide (Moschner, Fink, Kurpjuweit, Wagner, & Herstatt, 2019;Shankar & Shepherd, 2019;Urbaniec & Żur, 2020).…”