Designing Ventures That Work

Internal corporate venturing: a review of (almost) five decades of literature

“…These include the size of the parent company, its organizational culture, the nature of its coordination mechanisms and the ICV activity in question. In particular, Shah et al (2008) concluded that in small firms, in which the exchange of ideas and cooperation can be more readily achieved, ventures can be initiated alongside firms' core projects. With regard to large firms, strongly entrepreneurial firms (that is, with robust dispersed modes of entrepreneurship) may allow venturing to flourish without the creation of separate structures.…”

“…The articles on this sub-theme have empirically investigated whether the autonomy afforded to ICV activities influences its performance. The unit of analysis is typically the venture itself (Briody et al 2004;Hlavacek and Thompson 1978;Kuratko et al 2009), or the CV unit (Birkinshaw, Hill and colleagues 2002, 2009Shah et al 2008). The research methods employed include case studies, surveys and/or interviews.…”

“…There is broad agreement that, in general, autonomy from the core activities of the parent firm has a positive impact on venture outcomes. Attempting to identify more specifically the type(s) of autonomy that may influence ICV outcomes, researchers have indicated the necessity for financial autonomy-that is, a separate pot of money colleagues, 2002, 2005;Michalski et al 2006;Shah et al 2008). Autonomy over investment decisions (Hill et al 2009;Kuratko et al 2009) also contributes significantly to ICV success, with Hill et al (2009) finding that such autonomy is especially beneficial to CV units' financial performance.…”

“…Funding autonomy and CV outcomes Birkinshaw et al, 2002;Birkinshaw and Hill, 2005;Birkinshaw, 2005;Fast, 1979b;Michalski et al, 2006;Shah et al, 2008 Investment autonomy and CV outcomes Hill et al, 2009;Kuratko et al, 2009;Riley et al, 2009 Operational autonomy and CV outcomes Hill et al, 2009;Hlavacek and Thompson, 1978;Kuratko et al, 2009;Riley et al, 2009 Top management support Influence of top management support on ICV outcomes Fast, 1979a;Kuratko et al, 2009;Michalski et al, 2006 Factors moderating the impact of top management support on ICV outcomes (for example, time horizon, distance from CEO, formality of sponsor role) Fast, 1979b;Garvin, 2002;Hlavacek and Thompson, 1978;von Hippel, 1977 Actions of top management to enhance CV outcomes Fast, 1979b;MacMillan and George, 1985 Evaluation systems Benefits to ICV of an effective evaluation system Burgelman, 1988;…”

How Shell’s Domains Link Innovation and Strategy

“…Many organizations became far better at starting projects than at stopping them, thus suffering 'initiative over-load', so the challenge for managers was to retain this innovation drive while containing the risk of overload (Shah et al, 2008). Our research suggests that domains are one way of limiting the number of initiatives, by shepherding related initiatives into larger and fewer 'chunks' that reflect and support the organization's strategic options and priorities.…”