دانلود رایگان مقاله شتاب دهنده شرکت و ساخت پل بین شرکت و استارتاپ

Abstract

Today’s startups are a major source of innovation, as they employ emerging technologies to invent products and reinvent business models. Corporations that embrace an open innovation strategy increasingly look to startups as a source of external innovation. Corporate accelerators offer a potent approach to nurturing innovations from entrepreneurial ventures. However, the vast differences between corporations and startups make collaboration a challenge. Corporate accelerators need to be designed effectively to add value for startups and create innovation benefits for the company. Based on information obtained during interviews with managers and participants of corporate accelerators (n=40), managers receive a framework and strategies for designing corporate accelerators. To leverage startups’ innovation and to make corporate accelerators an effective part of a firm’s overall innovation strategy, managers need to systematically and thoughtfully consider the design dimensions of proposition, process, people, and place.

5. Limitations

Several limitations should be considered when designing corporate accelerators. Despite the potential of corporate accelerators, challenges result from immense gaps in work practices, substantial cultural differences, and different organizational clocks (Weiblen & Chesbrough, 2015). Critics question corporate accelerators for a number of reasons. First, the incentives between corporations and startups might not be aligned (Crichton, 2014). Being bound to a big corporation could limit startups’ freedom to pivot, and it is not always clear if the corporate accelerator has a hidden agenda that contradicts the startup’s goals. Second, corporate involvement might stifle the progress of startups. In addition to achieving product—market fit, startups must achieve product—corporate fit in corporate accelerators; hence, they could end up with a fitted solution to one company’s challenges rather than building a scalable solution to a general industry problem. Third, there is the risk of overprotection through corporate backing, which leads to dependency or increases the likelihood–—and sunk costs–— of later failure. If corporations shield startups from market forces, they could miss out on important feedback that would enable them to adapt. Fourth, close ties to the corporation hosting the accelerator could prevent startups from pursuing partnerships with competitors or from developing competing products that might disrupt the corporate backer. To address these challenges and concerns, corporate accelerators need to achieve mutual benefit. Effective corporate accelerators foster corporate innovation and offer valuable support for startups. Early examples of corporate accelerators do not represent the end of the story, but rather just the beginning. As startups look for ways to scale their ventures and corporations eagerly search for innovation, there will be more efforts to collaborate through corporate accelerators. With the framework described here, managers receive starting points to increase their chances of benefitting from the promising possibilities of corporate accelerators.