Smoothing the corporate venturing path: rules still count

Abstract

Purpose

Since corporate ventures operate under the organizational conditions of a parent company, this article aims to highlight key conditions influencing the success of a new venture.

Design/methodology/approach

Two cases of corporate venturing are analyzed regarding their performance since they are characterized by different conditions within one international consumer‐goods company. Hence, the literature on corporate entrepreneurship is reviewed and combined with a case study to explore the role and drivers of organizational conditions in the inception and development of new corporate ventures.

Findings

The case study reveals two key organizational differences pertaining to corporate new ventures — procedural clarity and procedural discipline. These differences mitigate the variety of risks that corporate entrepreneurs face and smooth or hinder their way to evolve their venture from ideas to business.

Research limitations/implications

As the study includes two venturing cases within the same company in the fast moving consumer goods industry (FMCG), the findings are so far limited to the characteristics of this company type and its sector.

Practical implications

This article supports mid‐level managers to run corporate ventures more successfully by introducing a clear action plan with well defined phases. Individual managers' impact should be limited and linked to a more objective network‐structure.

Originality/value

In contrast to previous literature, this paper highlights the influence of organizational conditions under which corporate ventures are initiated and operated. Additionally, there are further factors identified, the ventures' internal visibility, and the knowledge support by the parent company, which will influence the venture's success or failure.

Citation

Enkel, E. and Goel, S. (2012), "Smoothing the corporate venturing path: rules still count", Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 33 No. 3, pp. 30-39. https://doi.org/10.1108/02756661211224988