Bringing It All Back Home: Corporate Venturing and Renewal Through Spin-ins. (November 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hunt, Richard A.; Townsend, David M.; Asgari, Elham; Lerner, Daniel A.
• Is Part Of: Entrepreneurship theory and practice. Volume 43:Number 6(2019)
• Page Start: 1166
• Page End: 1193
• Publication Date: 2019-11
• Subjects: corporate entrepreneurship -- corporate venturing -- spin-ins -- acquisitions -- M&A; Small business -- Periodicals; New business enterprises -- Periodicals; Entrepreneurship -- Periodicals; 658.421
• DOI: 10.1177/1042258718778547
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1042-2587

Abstract

More often than not, corporate acquisitions are expensive and difficult, especially those transacted for the purpose of advancing the aims of corporate entrepreneurship (CE). Motivated by frequent, high-cost failures, firms are experimenting with novel organizational structures and fresh approaches to acquisition-driven CE. In this study, we examine the effectiveness of corporate spin-ins—acquisitions in which the acquired company is founded by former employees of the acquiring firm—in resolving key challenges of CE-motivated acquisitions Using a matched pairwise dataset of spin-in and non-spin-in acquisitions, we discover that spin-ins generate superior outcomes, positioning them as a high-potential facet of CE portfolios.