Dissertation: Corporate Accelerator Programs : How Incumbents' Motives and Operative Support Practices Impact Startup Success
Projects + Projects -Corporate Accelerators as a new Open Innovation approach
Prior research has shown that established and new firms complement each other regarding their resource bases in all phases of the innovation process. However, scholars have largely focused on the fuzzy front end and commercialization phase by examining corporate venturing as the primary open innovation activity between both types of partners. Further, studies on the resource bases of established and new firms demonstrate that new firms possess intangible resources, such as technological expertise and quick responsiveness to feedback, that especially incumbents lack in the development phase in today’s digitized world.
In contrast to the existing research, a new open innovation activity in form of established and new firms jointly advancing entrepreneurial ideas has gained popularity in practice. Within corporate accelerator programs incumbents and external startups collaborate in order to advance venture creation by making use of complementary assets. During a short period of time incumbents assist startups with educational, financial, networking and mentorship opportunities. However, focusing on the incumbent’s perspective, existing studies could not yet prove which primary objectives established firms pursue with initiating such a new open innovation approach in addition to more established corporate venturing activities. Additionally, research has largely neglected to examine how both partners actually collaborate and exchange information during the development phase and if startups contribute to corporate innovation.
Accordingly, the dissertation project aims at advancing the understanding of the new open innovation phenomenon of corporate accelerators by analyzing the motives of established firms to initiate such program as well as the execution of the collaboration. For this purpose, a qualitative multiple case study was conducted among ten programs in Germany. Surprisingly, the results revealed that despite high effort for and dedication of corporates and startups, fruitful collaboration rarely occurs, neither during nor after the program. In fact, in most cases both partners end their collaboration after the official support process due to no interest in further investment or bureaucratic structures of the corporate organization. Therefore, the potential of the open innovation approach remains underutilized by established firms. In a subsequent mixed-method study, it will be examined, under which circumstances new firms’ growths developed positively as well as which criteria foster further collaboration between new and established firms after participating in a corporate accelerator.
UrbanRural SOLUTIONS
Demographic change is affecting the provision of services of general interest for citizens seriously, which among others include local and regional services in regard to (public) transportation, education and health care as well as securing the supply of convenience goods. Rural areas with a declining population number are confronted with growing, urban regions, so that innovative cooperative solutions are necessary. In order to implement those innovative strategies the inclusion of main stakeholders of different local and regional levels is inevitable. The innovation management approach of the project group is accompanied by Sandra-Luisa Moschner, research fellow at the institute for Technology- and Innovation Management at TUHH. The overall objective is the implementation of regional cooperation between rural areas and city regions for providing sustainable services of general interest.
Großprojekte als Innovationstreiber in der Bauwirtschaft
Das Forschungsprojekt "Großprojekte als Innovationstreiber in der Bauwirtschaft" wird im Rahmen eines kooperativen Forschungsverbunds mit der HafenCity Universität Hamburg durchgeführt. Ziel ist ein umfassendes Verständnis der Rolle von Großprojekten, wie z.B. der Elbphilharmonie oder des Berliner Hauptbahnhofs, für die Innovation in der Baubranche.
Das disziplinenübergreifende Forschungsvorhaben gliedert sich in vier Teilprojekte, welche die Rolle der Projektintegration, des Kunden, der Gestalter und des Bauwerks schwerpunktmäßig analysieren. Das Teilprojekt Anspruch, Engagement und Kompetenz der Kunden wird am TIM durchgeführt, die anderen drei Teilprojekte sind an der HCU verortet.
Schnittstellen zu Forschungsschwerpunkten des TIM bestehen insbesondere im Bereich User Innovation und Innovationsprozesse.
Publications + Publications -
Peer reviewed journal publications
- Moschner, S.-L., Fink, A., Kurpjuweit, S., Wagner, S.W., Herstatt, C. (2019). Toward a better understanding of corporate accelerator models. Business Horizons 62(5), 637 - 647.
Konferenzbeiträge:
- Moschner, S.-L. and Herstatt, C. (2017) Entrepreneurial ventures as sources for innovation? How incumbents underutilize corporate incubators and accelerators as an open innovation approach, 15th International Open and User Innovation Conference, Innsbruck, Austria.
- Moschner, S.-L. and Herstatt, C. (2017) Corporate-funded incubators and accelerators as a field of interaction - How incumbents can obtain knowledge from entrepreneurial ventures, 24th IPDMC Conference, Reykjavik, Iceland.
- Moschner, S.-L. and Herstatt, C. (2016) Overcoming the Innovator's Dilemma by Keeping Your Enemies Close – How Incumbents Can Learn From Entrepreneurial Ventures, R&D Management Conference, Cambridge, United Kingdom.