Internal Corporate Venture Planning Autonomy, Strategic Evolution, and Venture Performance

Abstract

Theory and research typically suggest that internal corporate venture (ICV) managers should be granted the freedom needed to manage their new business initiatives as they choose, with little or no interference from senior levels of corporate management. The current research investigates the relationship between venture planning autonomy and venture performance, arguing that this relationship is affected by the types (i.e., goal-related or value-proposition related) and levels (low-to-high) of strategic evolution occurring in the ICV. Data collected from 145 ICVs operating in 72 corporations indicate that venture planning autonomy is most positively related to venture performance when those ICVs’ goals remain stable over the course of venture operations, but the value propositions of those ICVs are evolving.