Thesis (MComm (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / This study recognises that innovation and renewal is instrumental in gaining competitive
advantage. However, large firms often face a renewal dilemma. Despite the fact that many
firms recognise the need for innovation and renewal, they find it challenging to implement
innovation. Thus, the need for renewal is complicated by finding a suitable business
development tool to bring about the renewal needed. The problem is further aggravated by a
fundamental managerial conflict of exploration and exploitation. This conflict causes a
reluctance to engage in exploration activities (searching for new resources, knowledge, and
competence), due to the operational focus of exploiting current resources, knowledge, and
competence. To overcome the renewal dilemma, this study investigated the relationship and
linkages between Internal Corporate Venturing (ICV) and corporate renewal to determine
how Internal Corporate Venturing (ICV) can be used as a tool to initiate corporate renewal
and overcome the renewal dilemma.
The study made use of a qualitative, mixed-method methodology and investigated the
research problem in two phases. The first phase of this study used Grounded Theory to
propose a theoretical framework that illustrated how ICV provides a firm with a strategic
process that effectively balances exploration and exploitation activities, providing the linking
mechanisms needed between a firm’s corporate context and its external environment,
enabling the firm to initiate corporate renewal. In the second stage of this study, the theory
was assessed, by comparing the proposed theoretical framework to a case study involving
an internal venturing programme at an established financial services firm in Southern Africa.
Based on a comparison between the proposed theoretical framework and the case study,
this thesis concludes that ICV could theoretically be used to address the renewal dilemma;
however, it was not possible to confirm this proposition, due to the stage in which the
corporate venturing programme the case examined found itself,. The case study did
however suggest that ICV could enhance a firm’s ability to instigate corporate renewal,
through its ability to create idiosyncratic endowments from a firm’s endowment base.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/1871 |
| Date | 03 1900 |
| Creators | Scholtz, Rudi |
| Contributors | Scheepers, M. J., University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Business Management. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of Stellenbosch |
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