This publication-based dissertation covers research on corporate venturing activities of established companies over six chapters. The first chapter provides an introduction into corporate venturing and a summary of the four research papers comprising this dissertation. The second chapter is a structured literature review analyzing the heterogeneity inherent in corporate venturing activities. The characteristics that differentiate corporate venturing activities from each other are comprehensively identified, and a framework that integrates existing activities into six clusters is derived. The third chapter is a research paper that explores a recent corporate venturing activity – namely corporate accelerators – in depth. This empirical study, based on 13 case studies, identifies the objectives pursued with these programs and its design configurations and derives four common types of corporate accelerators. The fourth chapter is a research paper that analyzes empirically entrepreneurial start-ups as knowledge sources for established companies in the context of corporate accelerators and incubators. The paper identifies knowledge need, knowledge forms, and knowledge exchange as knowledge elements in these programs. Based on the comparative analysis of 12 case studies, typical combinations of the knowledge elements are found. The fifth chapter is a teaching case study building on the decision of Media-Saturn-Holding, Europe´s leading consumer electronics retailer, to develop the company´s own corporate accelerator program called SPACELAB. The sixth chapter summarizes the contributions of this dissertation for research and practice as well as its limitations and potential directions for further research.:List of tables Table of figures Table of abbreviations 1 Introduction 1.1 Motivation and research gap 1.2 Summary of research papers 1.3 Presentation / publication information of research papers 1.4 References 2 Corporate venturing activities: a review of typologies and proposed framework 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Research method and descriptive analysis of reviewed studies 2.3 Dimensions of corporate venturing activities 2.4 Clustering of corporate venturing activities 2.5 Further research 2.6 Summary of findings and conclusion 2.7 List of appendices 2.8 Appendix 2.9 References 3 Corporate accelerators as recent form of start-up engagement: the what, the why, and the how 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Literature review 3.3 Analysis approach 3.4 Results of empirical analysis 3.5 Corporate accelerator typology: Four distinct types 3.6 Discussion and implications 3.7 Conclusion 3.8 References 4 Start-ups as knowledge sources for companies: an analysis of corporate accelerators and incubators 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Research approach 4.3 Knowledge elements in corporate accelerators and incubators 4.4 Typical combinations of knowledge elements 4.5 Discussion 4.6 Implications 4.7 Conclusions and limitations 4.8 List of appendices 4.9 Appendix 4.10 References 5 Media-Saturn-Holding GmbH - the SPACELAB accelerator: a teaching case study 5.1 Part 1: background and accelerator design options 5.2 Part 2: design choices made and program execution 5.3 Teaching note 5.4 List of appendices 5.5. Appendix 5.6 References 6 Contribution and further research 6.1 Contribution to research 6.2 Contribution to practice 6.3 Limitations and further research 6.4 References

Background: Corporate accelerators (CAs) are a relatively new phenomenon and increasingly used by corporates to increase their level of innovation. However, there are still no best practices on how these CA programs can be structured more efficiently in order to serve the needs of startups and corporates simultaneously. Here, most extant research focuses on the general goals of CA programs and the definition of certain core elements and features which describe a CA (i.e. provision of coworking space; educational programs), while disregarding the objectives of the startups participating. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand how current CA programs can be improved, by analyzing the experiences and perspectives of both corporates and startups. It aims to identify, how CA programs can be more successful for corporates and startups. Method: To satisfy the purpose of this qualitative study, an exploratory research approach was selected and a multi-case research strategy applied. Data was gathered through in-depth, semi-structured expert interviews with five managers and three participants of accelerator programs managed by leading multinational corporates. Through a content analysis, we built new theory based on our findings. Conclusion: This study shed light on current difficulties that arise in CA programs such as internal politics and bureaucracy, internal communication, corporate rigidities, and the important tasks of CA managers navigating those issues. Our study contributes to research on CAs by (1) emphasizing current barriers of CAs; (2) presenting suggestions for creating more successful CAs; (3) showing how CA managers can foster interactions between corporate business units and startups: and (4) creating the SET CA model.

Background: The Corporate Accelerator (CA) trend has extended beyond high technology industries, gaining global traction across a variety of industries, such as in finance, healthcare, insurance, entertainment and consumer packaged goods. CAs are described as an approach that bridges the gap between corporations and startups, further supporting long-term growth and corporate renewal. When organized effectively, CAs provide a platform that allows both the established corporations and startups to tap into the resources of what one has and the other lacks. Despite its’ many opportunities, some aspects of CAs have also been criticized. In particular, CAs aim to fulfill their corporation’s goals which may lead to discrepancies between the goals of the corporation and the startup. This could potentially limit the level of innovativeness of the startups as well as other learning benefits they aimed to achieve from taking part in the program. Purpose: From an entrepreneur’s point of view, this study aims to understand the learning experiences CA programs offer for participating startups. Method: An instrumental collective case study was conducted in the form of semi-structured interviews from five cases that represented five different CA programs. Conclusion: This study aims to elaborate the existing CA literature through providing insights about how individuals in startups develop new knowledge through taking part in CA programs. The findings of this study suggest that three main factors affect the startup individuals learning experiences in CA programs that consist of; (1) The need for learning that is built upon the background attributes of each startup individual and the stage at which the startup organization is at; (2) The different entrepreneurial support activities that offer the startups authentic learning, generative learning and acquisitive learning opportunities; (3) The learning network offered during the program that consists of corporations, facilitator organizations and other startup organizations that enable the startup individuals to acquire complementary knowledge resources across their own organizational boundaries. Moreover, the findings of this study illustrate that experiences gained during the program are transformed into entrepreneurial knowledge that constitutes to the individual's ability to recognize new opportunities as well as the ability to cope with the liabilities of newness.

[pt] O propósito da pesquisa descrita foi investigar o recente fenômeno da criação de aceleradoras de startups digitais por empresas brasileiras de grande porte, uma tendência no mercado brasileiro e global. Apesar de existir bastante literatura acerca do tema de inovação corporativa, poucos autores estudaram o envolvimento entre corporações e startups através da implementação de aceleradoras corporativas, já que este é um modelo bastante recente, tanto no Brasil quanto no exterior. Por isso, este estudo busca entender que motivações estão por trás do investimento neste modelo, quais os benefícios percebidos por empresas que já o desenvolveram e quais os ajustes necessários no modelo de aceleração corporativa. Para tal, os únicos dois casos existentes de aceleradoras de startups lançadas por corporações brasileiras de grande porte foram analisados. Foram conduzidas entrevistas em profundidade com os gestores responsáveis pelas atividades de inovação e pela criação das aceleradoras corporativas dentro de cada organização, de forma a identificar diretamente da fonte os principais problemas existentes na realização de atividades de inovação anteriores e as motivações que levaram as empresas à escolha deste novo modelo de envolvimento com iniciativas digitais nascentes. O estudo identificou que as corporações possuem dificuldade em inovar devido à falta de alinhamento de expectativas internas, principalmente de retorno financeiro, e ao engessamento da estrutura corporativa, que reduz a velocidade de atividades ligadas à inovação. Existem, por outro lado, fortes motivações para alterar o modelo de atuação e a forma de se pensar a inovação por meio da implementação de aceleradoras corporativas, como a necessidade de acompanhar melhor as tendências do mercado, a crescente importância da presença no ambiente digital para melhorar as relações com os clientes, a influência do envolvimento anterior da liderança das organizações com empreendedorismo e a existência de modelos já comprovados fora do Brasil. Apesar de as aceleradoras corporativas ainda estarem em estágio inicial e não apresentarem resultados significativos, é possível identificar claramente os benefícios esperados pelas organizações. Alguns já estão mais presentes, como a melhora da imagem institucional das organizações devido ao investimento em inovação. Por outro lado, os principais benefícios esperados, como a transformação cultural da empresa e o retorno financeiro dos investimentos realizados, ainda não são uma realidade. Percebe-se, dessa forma, que as aceleradoras corporativas ainda não contaminam de forma suficientemente forte as organizações, principalmente por não possuírem o nível de exposição adequado aos profissionais que não estão diretamente envolvidos na sua operação. As aceleradoras corporativas surgem como uma nova opção de envolvimento com startups, de forma a unir a velocidade de execução e a flexibilidade de empresas tecnológicas de pequeno porte com a capacidade de escala, a experiência e o financiamento de grandes corporações. Estas estruturas possibilitam que elas desenvolvam uma operação de inovação independente da sua influência, libertando o desenvolvimento de novas ideias e projetos do engessamento dos processos e regras corporativos. Dessa forma, é possível agregar valor à organização tanto com o desenvolvimento de novos negócios quanto com a geração de complementadores para produtos e serviços já existentes, melhorando o posicionamento estratégico da empresa no ambiente competitivo. / [en] The purpose of this study is to investigate the recent phenomenon of creation of digital accelerators by large Brazilian corporations, a trend in the Brazilian and global market. Although there is much literature available on the subject of corporate innovation, few authors have studied the involvement of corporations and startups through the implementation of corporate accelerators, since this is a fairly recent model, both in Brazil and abroad. Therefore, this study seeks to understand what motivations are behind the investment in this model, which benefits are expected by companies that have developed it and what adjustments are needed in the corporate acceleration model. To this end, the only two existing cases of accelerator of startups launched by large Brazilian corporations were analyzed. Depth interviews were conducted with the managers responsible for innovation activities and for the creation of the corporate accelerator within each organization, in order to identify directly from the source the main problems in the implementation of past innovation activities and the motivations that led the companies to choose this new model of engagement with new digital ventures. The study identified that corporations have difficulty to innovate due to lack of alignment of internal expectations, especially of financial return, and the inflexibility of the corporate structure, which reduces the speed of activities related to innovation. There are, moreover, strong motivations to change the operating model and the way of thinking innovation through the implementation of corporate accelerators such as the need to better monitor the market trends, the growing importance of presence in the digital environment in order to improve relations with customers, the influence of previous involvement with entrepreneurship by the leadership of organizations, and the existence of proven models outside Brazil. Although corporate accelerators are still at an early stage and do not present significant results, it is possible to clearly identify the benefits expected by the organizations. Some already exist, such as the improvement of the institutional image of the organizations due to investment in innovation. On the other hand, the main benefits expected, as the cultural transformation of the company and the financial return on investment, are still not a reality. It is clear, therefore, that corporate accelerator has not contaminate strongly enough these organizations, mainly because they lack the appropriate exposure level for professionals who are not directly involved in its operation. Corporate accelerators emerge as a new option of involvement with startups, putting together the speed of execution and flexibility of small technology companies with the ability to scale, experience and deep pockets of large corporations. These structures enable them to develop an independent innovation operation that is not impacted by its influence, freeing the development of new ideas and projects from immobilization processes and business rules. Thus, it is possible to add value to the organization both with the development of new business and the generation of complementers to existing products and services, improving the strategic positioning of the company in the competitive environment.

Startups need various resources to survive and scale, while large corporations have vast resources but search for innovations and take startups as a valuable source (Wymer and Regan, 2005). Corporate accelerators are an emerging trendy phenomenon that large organizations are adopting to collaborate with startups. Corporate accelerators take startups either from a specific industry or from all industries (Cohen and Hochberg, 2014), and achieve economic benefit either by financial returns or innovation integration (Deloitte, 2019). The types of partnerships between startups and large corporations can be classified into exploitation, exploration, or the hybrid. The exploitative partnership focus on utilizing existing capabilities from both parties, the explorative partnership aims at building new competitive advantages for involved companies, and the hybrid focus on both sides (Koza and Lewin, 2000). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore strategies for startups to select suitable corporate accelerators and partner with large organizations. This research used the explorative method and gathered knowledge from the literature review on startups, strategic partnership and corporate accelerator and thoughts from startups via semistructured qualitative interviews. The author compared the startups’ experience and outcome in different corporate accelerators. The findings show that early-stage startups need a framework to guide their process in building partnerships with large corporations. Also, corporate accelerators were found to be a good tool that brings startups with network, corporate resources, and future customers. Moreover, the key success factors in startup-corporation partnerships are trust, clear objectives, and partner compatibility. A partnership framework was developed to facilitate startups to build partnerships with large corporations through corporate accelerators. / Startups behöver olika resurser för att överleva och växa, medan stora företag har stora resurser men söker efter innovationer och ser startups som en värdefull källa (Wymer och Regan, 2005). Företagsacceleratorer är ett trendigt fenomen som stora organisationer använder för att samarbeta med startups. Företagens acceleratorer tar startups antingen från en specifik bransch eller från alla branscher (Cohen och Hochberg, 2014) och uppnår ekonomisk fördel antingen genom finansiell avkastning eller innovationsintegration (Deloitte, 2019). De typer av partnerskap mellan nystartade företag och stora företag kan klassificeras i exploatering, utforskning eller en hybrid. Det exploaterande partnerskapet fokuserar på att utnyttja befintliga kapaciteter från båda parter, det efterforskande partnerskapet syfte är att bygga nya konkurrensfördelar för involverade företag och hybridens fokus ligger på båda sidorna (Koza och Lewin, 2000). Därför är syftet med denna studie att utforska strategier för nystartade företag för att välja lämpliga företagsacceleratorer och samarbeta med stora organisationer. Utforskande metoden och samlade in kunskap från litteraturöversikt om startups, strategiska partnerskap och företagens acceleratorer och tankar från startups via semistrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer. Författaren jämförde startups upplevelser och resultat i olika företagsacceleratorer. Resultaten visar att startups i tidigt skede behöver ett ramverk för att styra deras process för att skapa samarbeten med stora företag. Även företagens acceleratorer visade sig vara ett bra verktyg som ger startups nätverk, företagsresurser och framtida kunder. Vidare så är de viktigaste framgångsfaktorerna i partnerskap mellan startups förtroende, tydliga mål och parternas kompatibilitet. Ett ramverk för partnerskap utvecklades för att underlätta för startups att skapa samarbeten med stora företag genom företagsacceleratorer.

The corporate accelerator Ericsson ONE, at the multinational networking and telecommunications company Ericsson headquartered in Sweden, is subject to this master thesis research. Within the organization, there was a need for a new business performance measurement system for indicating the performance and success of Ericsson ONE. The objective of this research was to find suitable frameworks and methods that can be applied when developing a customized business performance measurement system for a corporate accelerator. The goal was then to identify relevant measurements and Key Performance Indicators for Ericsson ONE to use and to visualize that data to communicate it to the users. This has been a qualitative study with ten conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with representatives from different departments at Ericsson ONE. Additionally, interviews were also made with representatives from an external accelerator program. The study has been following a three-step method for assessing and developing a business performance measurement system in a structured way. It resulted in a mockup of a dashboard where data for the new business performance measurements both can be collected and visualized. To ensure all important areas and perspectives of the organization are covered, the strategy performance management tool Balanced Scorecard was applied. / Företagsacceleratorn Ericsson ONE i det multinationella nätverks- och telekommunikationsföretaget Ericsson med huvudkontor i Sverige är uppdragsgivaren för detta examensarbete. Inom organisationen fanns ett behov av ett mätsystem för att indikera hur Ericsson ONE utvecklas och för att se vilken framgång som sker. Syftet med denna uppsats var att hitta lämpliga ramar och metoder för att utveckla ett anpassat mätsystem till en företagsaccelerator. Målet var att för Ericsson ONE identifiera relevant mätbar data utifrån lämpliga ramverk samt att visualisera och kommunicera denna data för användarna. Denna kvalitativa studie har genomförts genom att representanter från olika delar av Ericsson ONE har intervjuats på ett semistrukturerat sätt. Även representanter från ytterligare ett acceleratorprogram har inkluderats. Projektet har följt en trestegsmetod för att utvärdera och utveckla ett mätsystem på ett strukturerat sätt. Detta resulterade i att en mockup för en dashboard har utvecklats där data och mätindikatorerna kan samlas ihop och visualiseras. För att säkerställa att alla viktiga områden och perspektiv i organisationen täcks, användes strategihanteringsverktyget Balanced Scorecard.

This cumulative dissertation includes three papers and one teaching case study. Together, they focus on topics highlighting the distinctiveness of family firms and new ventures. While the first paper analyzes the academic debate over the familiness concept in family firm research, the second paper focuses on explaining the unique relational dynamics between family and non-family managers in top management teams. The third paper aims to derive design designs for family firm specific corporate accelerators. The teaching case study shows how a growing new venture may strike a balance between coping with increasing organizational complexity and maintaining its distinct entrepreneurial spirit.

Open innovation is a term that has become popularised over the years, due to changes in how business is done as a result of globalisation and digital transformation. Efforts are being made by incumbent companies to collaborate with external parties to a greater extent, and at the same time, the startup landscape has contributed with new technologies and innovations that in some cases have disrupted markets. A collaboration between large companies and startups can bring about positive synergies since these two types of organisations are different and have the possibility to complement each other. This master thesis looks into the outside-in model of open innovation, specifically examining corporate accelerator programs and incubation hubs from a startup perspective. The following research explores what key services that are offered within these corporate programs and how they can be improved according to startups that have previously partaken in them. This research is a qualitative study with an abductive approach. As part of the research, 10 semi-structured, in-depth interviews were held with representatives from a variety of startups. The major services desired by the interviewees to be included in corporate-run startup programs range from access to internal and external networks to putting more focus on a variety of funding alternatives. Early-stage startups expressed the desire of receiving help with understanding their market and customers. The key improvement areas brought up by the startup companies included the presence of internal champions that can help speed up certain processes and act as a facilitator for important meetings. Many startups point to the importance of having the influence to customize their program experience. In addition, accelerator and incubator employees with previous entrepreneurial experience are considered very helpful by the startups since they can grasp the struggles of the startup in a better way. Furthermore, to have more financing opportunities is desirable. / Genom åren har öppen innovation blivit alltmer populariserad,på grund av förändringar i hur affärer görs till följd av globalisering och digital transformation. Stora företag satsar i större utsträckning på att samarbeta med externa parter, och samtidigt har startup ekosystemet bidragit till ny och radikal teknologi och innovationer som har rubbat vissa marknader. Ett öppen innovation-samarbete mellan ett stort företag och en startup kan bidra positiva synergier eftersom dessa två typer av organisationer är olika och har möjlighet att komplettera varandra. Detta examensarbete undersöker den så kallade outside-in modell för öppen innovation, mer specifikt undersöks företagsacceleratorer och företagsinkubatorer från ett startup-perspektiv. Följande forskning undersöker vilka nyckeltjänster som erbjuds inom dessa företagsprogram och hur de kan förbättras enligt startups som tidigare har deltagit i dem. Denna studie är en kvalitativ studie med en abduktiv ansats. Som en del av forskningen hölls 10 semistrukturerade djupintervjuer med representanter från en rad olika startups. De viktigaste tjänsterna som eftertraktas av intervjuobjekten som del av företagsacceleratorer och företagsinkubatorer gäller tillgång till interna och externa nätverk, som i sin tur kan förse tillgång till flera olika finansieringsalternativ. Startups som befinner sig i en tidig utvecklingsfas uttryckte en önskan att få hjälp med att förstå deras marknad och kunder. Förbättringsområden som identifierades av startupföretagen omfattar förekomsten av internal champions, som kan hjälpa till att påskynda vissa processer och som kan facilitera viktiga möten. Många startups pekar på vikten av att ha inflytande över att anpassa sin programupplevelse. Dessutom är accelerator- och inkubatormedarbetare med tidigare entreprenöriell erfarenhet väldigt eftertraktade, eftersom de kan förstå sig på startupföretagen på ett bättre sätt. Vidare, är det önskvärt att ha fler finansieringsmöjligheter.