This study explores how corporate venture capital (CVC) units can be configured to effectively achieve innovation performance and succeed amidst the tensions they face at the intersection of the corporate and venture domain. Using a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) of 30 dedicated CVC investment arms, we analyze how successful units configure their internal arrangements in response to these tensions and generate various innovation outcomes for their parent organizations. We identify four different solutions for effective CVC unit configurations, highlighting that explorative and exploitative innovation success require different setups. Moreover, we find that more mature and explorative CVC units distance themselves via buffering from their corporate sponsor, while at the same time increasing their efforts to maintain deliberate connections via bridging to representatives of the very same corporate environment they stem from. For ambidextrous CVC units, a more dynamic setup that allows corporate leadership to selectively initiate collaboration with the corporate core when beneficial while facilitating distancing at other times proved successful. Our study contributes new evidence and theory on how CVC units can navigate tensions and balance competing demands at the interface of the corporate and venturing domains.

中文翻译：

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接口创新：企业风险投资的配置方法


本研究探讨了如何配置企业风险投资 （CVC） 部门以有效地实现创新绩效，并在企业和风险领域交叉点面临的紧张局势中取得成功。使用对 30 个专门的 CVC 投资部门的模糊定性比较分析 （fsQCA），我们分析了成功的部门如何配置其内部安排以应对这些紧张局势，并为其母公司产生各种创新成果。我们确定了四种不同的有效 CVC 单元配置解决方案，强调探索性和开发性创新的成功需要不同的设置。此外，我们发现，更成熟和探索性的 CVC 部门通过与企业赞助商的缓冲来保持距离，同时通过与来自同一企业环境的代表建立联系，加大了保持刻意联系的努力。对于灵巧的 CVC 部门，一种更具活力的设置被证明是成功的，它允许企业领导层在有利的时候有选择地开始与企业核心部门合作，同时在其他时间促进保持距离。我们的研究为 CVC 部门如何在企业和风险领域界面上驾驭紧张局势并平衡竞争需求提供了新的证据和理论。