Incubation in Multinational Corporations

Multinational corporations increasingly establish corporate incubators to combine their own resources with complementary resources of nascent ventures. In order to fulfill their parent's strategic objectives, corporate incubators need to turn into highly efficient resource brokers. The cross-regional embeddedness of incubation hubs leads to a high diversity of involved stakeholders and a complex resource flow among them, which requires a particular organizational design of the corporate incubator. In this context, results of this paper incorporate the recommendation of striking a critical balance between autonomy and integration that might shift depending on the parent's strategic orientation. Furthermore, this research contributes to existing literature by providing an understanding of corporate incubators as a multinational phenomenon, which has been neglected so far. Therefore, the study applies a multiple case study approach including 18 semi-structured interviews with incubation managers.

[1]  Aaas News,et al.  Book Reviews , 1893, Buffalo Medical and Surgical Journal.

[2]  Robert K. Yin,et al.  Qualitative Research from Start to Finish , 2010 .

[3]  Thomas H. Davenport,et al.  Book review:Working knowledge: How organizations manage what they know. Thomas H. Davenport and Laurence Prusak. Harvard Business School Press, 1998. $29.95US. ISBN 0‐87584‐655‐6 , 1998 .

[4]  P. P. McDougall,et al.  International Entrepreneurship: The Intersection of Two Research Paths , 2000 .

[5]  Morgan P. Miles,et al.  Exploring the Practice of Corporate Venturing: Some Common Forms and Their Organizational Implications , 2002 .

[6]  Theodore T. Herbert,et al.  Strategy and Multinational Organization Structure: An Interorganizational Relationships Perspective , 1984 .

[7]  H. Chesbrough,et al.  Engaging with Startups to Enhance Corporate Innovation , 2015, Open Innovation Results.

[8]  Paul Hannon,et al.  Incubation policy and practice: building practitioner and professional capability , 2005 .

[9]  Henk W. Volberda,et al.  Structural Differentiation and Ambidexterity: The Mediating Role of Integration Mechanisms , 2008, Organ. Sci..

[10]  David G. Sirmon,et al.  Managing Firm Resources in Dynamic Environments to Create Value: Looking Inside the Black Box , 2007 .

[11]  Andrew B. Hargadon.  Brokering knowledge: Linking learning and innovation , 2002 .

[12]  J. Birkinshaw.  Entrepreneurship in multinational corporations : The characteristics of subsidiary initiatives , 1997 .

[13]  Thomas Kohler,et al.  Corporate accelerators: Building bridges between corporations and startups , 2016 .

[14]  S. Ghoshal,et al.  Internal differentiation within multinational corporations , 1989 .

[15]  Gregory G. Dess,et al.  Dimensions of Organizational Task Environments. , 1984 .

[16]  Henry H. Beam,et al.  From Global to Metanational: How Companies Win in the Knowledge Economy , 2002 .

[17]  C. Salvato.  The Role of Micro‐Strategies in the Engineering of Firm Evolution , 2003 .

[18]  R. Grant.  The Resource-Based Theory of Competitive Advantage: Implications for Strategy Formulation , 1991 .

[19]  W. Firestone,et al.  Multisite Qualitative Policy Research: Optimizing Description and Generalizability , 1983 .

[20]  B. Wernerfelt,et al.  A Resource-Based View of the Firm , 1984 .

[21]  Andrew D. Brown,et al.  Storytelling and Change: An Unfolding Story , 2009 .

[22]  J. Barney.  Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage , 1991 .

[23]  David Probert,et al.  Evolving Corporate Entrepreneurship Strategy: Technology Incubation at Philips , 2009 .

[24]  Maximilian von Zedtwitz,et al.  Classification and management of incubators: aligning strategic objectives and competitive scope for new business facilitation , 2003 .

[25]  W. Marsden.  I and J , 2012 .

[26]  Sean M. Hackett,et al.  A Systematic Review of Business Incubation Research , 2004 .

[27]  Jay R. Galbraith,et al.  Designing Your Organization: Using the STAR Model to Solve 5 Critical Design Challenges , 2007 .

[28]  Yi Yang,et al.  Corporate venturing and value creation: A review and proposed framework , 2009 .

[29]  O. Gassmann,et al.  Gaining Leverage Effects from Knowledge Modes within Corporate Incubators , 2006 .

[30]  P. Williamson,et al.  Is Your Innovation Process Global , 2004 .

[31]  Catherine L. Wang,et al.  Organizational diversity and shared vision , 2009 .

[32]  R. Stephenson.  A and V , 1962, The British journal of ophthalmology.

[33]  Karel Cool,et al.  Asset stock accumulation and sustainability of competitive advantage , 1989 .

[34]  P. Schoemaker,et al.  Strategic assets and organizational rent , 1993 .

[35]  O. Gassmann,et al.  TOWARDS A RESOURCE-BASED VIEW OF CORPORATE INCUBATORS , 2006 .

[36]  K. Eisenhardt.  Building theories from case study research , 1989, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[37]  A. Woodside.  Building Theory from Case Study Research , 2016 .

[38]  P. Wynarczyk,et al.  The Performance of Business Incubators and their Potential Development in the North East Region of England , 2005 .

[39]  Harbir Singh,et al.  Learning and protection of proprietary assets in strategic alliances: building relational capital , 2000 .

[40]  Mike W. Peng.  The resource-based view and international business: , 2001 .

[41]  Anna Bergek,et al.  Incubator best practice: A framework , 2008 .

[42]  Julian Birkinshaw,et al.  Strategy-organization configurations in corporate venture units: Impact on performance and survival , 2008 .

[43]  J. Birkinshaw,et al.  KNOWLEDGE FLOWS WITHIN MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS: WHY ARE SOME SUBSIDIARIES ISOLATED? , 2004 .

[44]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON LEARNING AND INNOVATION , 1990 .

[45]  M. Tushman,et al.  Ambidextrous Organizations: Managing Evolutionary and Revolutionary Change , 1996 .

[46]  Ulf R. Andersson,et al.  The strategic impact of external networks: Subsidiary performance and competence development in the multinational corporation , 2002 .

[47]  Frans van den Bosch,et al.  Structural differentiation and corporate venturing : the moderating role of formal and informal integration mechanisms , 2009 .