Browsing by Subject "Corporate entrepreneurship"

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A software for corporate entrepreneurship? The role of organizational culture for stimulating entrepreneurial orientation in family firms
(2019) Arz, Christopher; Kuckertz, Andreas
This doctoral thesis comprises three empirical studies which together seek to shed light upon the question of which and how specific manifestations of organizational culture (OC) are able to support entrepreneurial behaviors and activities in established organizations (corporate entrepreneurship; CE). As a whole, this thesis addresses a variety of research questions, relying on different methodological approaches and data sets. More specifically, I use both original and secondary data, and I draw on qualitative, interpretive as well as quantitative, positivist research design. The specific objectives, concepts, and methods of the studies are guided by the two overarching research questions of this thesis: 1) What are the dominant cultural patterns of family firms that create an organizational environment where corporate entrepreneurship flourishes? 2) How exactly do these cultural patterns operate and interact in the process of stimulating corporate entrepreneurship? The first study titled “Mechanisms of Organizational Culture for Fostering Corporate Entrepreneurship: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda” provides a broad overview of the current body of knowledge on the OC-CE relationship and synthesizes generic OC mechanisms supportive of CE into an explicit framework. Adopting the method of structured literature review and realist synthesis, it analyzes 46 empirical and conceptual papers published in peer-reviewed journals and strives to make sense of the diverse, and partly conflicting, theoretical predictions and empirical findings which currently characterize the field. To accomplish that, the study integrates eight generic OC dimensions and two basic layers of culture to enable CE-supportive cultural mechanisms to be synthesized into a clear matrix. Doing so allows for more a fine-grained understanding of how OC may create an environment where CE flourishes. Based on the synthesis, research avenues are identified to encourage future work on the topic. The second study titled “Bridging the Micro-Macro Gap: A Multi-Layer Culture Framework for Understanding Entrepreneurial Orientation in Family Firms” responds to the enduring unanswered call for qualitative research on the topic of Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) that is located within an interpretivist-oriented philosophy. Employing an interpretivist single case study design, the study seeks to elaborate the theory of EO in family firms by delivering a rich and deeply contextualized understanding of the business-level mechanisms that operate between family-level values (micro level) and firm-level EO (macro level) in a second-generation German family firm. Specifically, it adopts a multi-layer theory of culture as interpretive framework to develop a grounded model that cuts across analytical levels of family and business. The illustration of the data, based on a qualitative content analysis of both archival data and ethnographic interview data, shows how the unique cultural patterns of the firm operate as social mechanisms to stimulate EO. Specifically, family-level values of altruism and preservation have been found to prepare the ground for an OC characterized by long-term- and involvement-oriented organizational values as well as psychological safety and empowerment climates. Eventually, these climates represent the most salient cultural layer and effectively support the firm’s competitive orientation toward corporate entrepreneurship. Finally, the third study of this thesis titled “Stimulating Entrepreneurial Orientation in Family Firms: A Multi-Layer Culture Model” takes a more technical (positivist) perspective on the phenomenon of OC and investigates how the specific business-level cultural mechanisms of family firms can transform the intimate connection between family and business into high levels of EO. To provide a deeper understanding of the forces that nurture EO in family firms, the study finds a way to bridge the gap between family-level characteristics and firm-level EO by integrating family commitment culture, long-term orientation, and stewardship climate into a multi-layer culture framework. The research model that derives from this perspective proposes a two-step mediation process, intending to explain how family commitment culture, as a family-level value orientation, is transformed into high levels of EO through OC mechanisms. The model was tested by analyzing data of 208 mature German family firms using covariance-based structural equation modelling (SEM). Consistent with the proposed multi-layer structure, the SEM model’s results support the hypothesis that, when high levels of EO are desired, family firms ought to focus on what type of cultural mechanisms are triggered at the business level through a family commitment culture.
Corporate innovation systems and the effect of continuity, competence, and cooperation on innovation performance
(2021) Kötting, Michael; Kuckertz, Andreas
Innovations have always been an essential factor for the long-term success of corporations. This is all the more true at times like the present, which is becoming increasingly dynamic and fast due to such effects as digitalization and globalization. However, as important as innovations are for the success of corporations, their systematic development is just as challenging. This fact can be demonstrated not least by numerous practical examples in which formerly successful corporations were unable to react appropriately to changing market and competitive conditions and consequently had to give up their market position. The challenges in the development of innovations can be traced back to different organizational conditions, which are necessary for the efficient exploitation of existing products on the one hand and the exploration of new innovations on the other. The scientific literature recommends, among other things, the separation of exploration and exploitation into different organizational units to meet the challenges mentioned above. In addition to the operational business units, which are usually responsible for the exploitation of existing products, it is advisable to establish innovation units, such as corporate incubators or corporate venture capital units, and to entrust them with the exploration of innovations. For a detailed examination of the current state of research on corporate incubators and corporate venture capital, two systematic literature analyses were carried out within the scope of this thesis. As a result, it was discovered that further research is needed, particularly concerning the organizational integration of such innovation units into the overall organization and the associated conflicts of objectives. To make an initial contribution to closing the research gap mentioned above, a further study of this work is devoted to the organizational integration of different innovation programs in an established corporation. This study differs from previous studies in that it takes an overarching perspective and considers the entire organization, including the innovation units, as a holistic innovation system. Such a corporate innovation system consists of at least three different types of innovation units in addition to the operational business units: exploration-oriented innovation units for the generation of disruptive innovations, exploitation-oriented innovation units for the further development of existing products and transformation-oriented innovation units for the transformation of the corporate culture. Such a system can ensure the systematic and sustainable generation of innovations, especially in the interaction of the various innovation units. In addition to the basic establishment of the innovation units mentioned above, however, appropriate organizational framework conditions are required to ensure that innovations can be developed successfully. The fourth study in this thesis is dedicated to the question of how continuity, competence and cooperation affect the innovation performance of corporations. It could be analyzed that the continuous implementation of innovation activities has the greatest positive effect on the innovation performance of enterprises. While cooperation, in combination with continuity, has a short- to medium-term impact on innovation performance, competence and continuity have a long-term effect on innovation performance. Cooperation and competence are complementary concepts in that cooperation should be used for short-term innovation activities, while competence should be used for the long-term sustainable development of innovations within the enterprise. As a result, this work addresses existing research gaps with regard to the integration of innovation units and the organizational structures of corporations and provides valuable insights and approaches for further research. For this purpose, it was necessary to link findings from the field of innovation management and corporate venturing with concepts of organizational theory. Through this connection, we have succeeded in gaining new scientific insights that previously could not be gained independently within the individual research streams. We are convinced that our findings on Corporate Innovation Systems and the effects of continuity, competence and cooperation on innovation performance have made an important scientific contribution. That is all the more true at a time when successful innovation is becoming increasingly important for corporations and a growing number of newly emerging innovation units can be observed in practice.
Towards asymmetric partnership management against the background of corporate entrepreneurship and open innovation literature
(2019) Allmendinger, Martin P.; Kuckertz, Andreas
The disruptive force of digitalisation and the acceleration of the innovation markets are radically changing the way in which large and established organisations innovate and how they bring new solutions to existing and new markets. Large corporate firms have started to rethink their innovation strategy by enabling partnerships with new and smaller innovation partners such as highly-skilled and technology-driven startups. To leverage the full innovation market potential, large firms seek opportunities and mechanisms to effectively manage these asymmetric partnerships and to ultimately generate new strategic competitive advantages. Based on the corporate entrepreneurship and open innovation literature, this dissertation offers broad and deep insights on the still under-researched phenomenon of Asymmetric Partnership Management. By including the perspectives of both partners, this manuscript highlights the necessity for large corporate firms to reconsider their collaborative innovation behaviour in terms of the individual needs of startup entrepreneurs. The results of the empirical studies demonstrate that large firms are willing to learn from the startup community and proactively pave the way for asymmetric partnerships by testing and maintaining new structures, processes, and activities. Large corporate firms invest in a startup-oriented partnership capability to increase the effectiveness of their Asymmetric Partnership Management and to ultimately become an innovation partner of choice. However, startup entrepreneurs are more willing to enter asymmetric partnerships when they perceive large corporate firms to be trustworthy based on different partner selection criteria. The findings of this dissertation contribute to entrepreneurship, innovation, partnership, and trust research and have practical implications for the future orientation and design of innovation and partner management of large firms. In addition to innovation managers, startup entrepreneurs can benefit from these insights and learn to improve their collaborative behaviour and to proactively realise the full potential of innovation-oriented partnerships.