Program Configurations for Corporate Accelerators

Sammanfattning: The corporate accelerator phenomenon is increasing in popularity and is a common vehicle of external innovation for large organizations. But many initiatives fail, and what characterizes the programs that have had longevity, has not been addressed in existing research. This includes their adherence to operating models of corporate accelerators; accelerating strategic fit between startups and the corporate, and accelerating venture emergence to reserve-the-right-to-play driven by financial motives or a hybrid model between the two strategies This study focuses on corporate accelerators that have had a longevity in their programs and explore their program configuration, overarching strategic purpose and their connection to the parent organizations. The purpose of the study is to provide conceptual frameworks of corporate accelerator programs with a dual purpose where the corporate accelerator accelerates the startups emergence and simultaneously giving the corporate access to new solutions and services to be integrated in their business. To provide conceptual frameworks, four different organizations hosting their own corporate accelerator programs were interviewed, along with startups that had participated in one organization’s program and also subject matter experts. Based on the findings from existing literature and the empirical data collection two different hybrid models of strategic fit and venture emergence were identified. One model being suitable for early stage startups focusing on accelerating the ventures to a viable level for collaboration and initiating a collaboration with local business units and one model for scale-ups integrating their solution into local and global business units and being provided soft landings and access to new markets.