The Impact of Corporate Venture Capital: Potentials of Competitive Advantages for the Investing Company

This research project was driven by curiosity about the actual impact of Corporate Venture Capital activities on the investing company. At the end of 1998 when I developed the idea of analyzing CVC further, corporate venturing activities began to increase again after they had gone through two earlier boom and bust cycles. At that time, I did not envision how large the dimensions of CVC investments would become and how sharp the decrease afterwards would be. This latest cycle confirmed my desire to determine the impact of CVC and contribute to the understanding of CVC ,in theory and management practice. This research project was accepted as a dissertation by the "PromotionsauBschuss der Wissenschaftlichen Hochschule fUr Unternehmensfiihrung (WHU), -Otto-Beisheim Hochschule-", in Vallendar entitled "Impact of Corporate Venture Capital on Sustainable Competitive Advantage of the Investing Firm - A Resource Based Approach" in June 2002. I want to thank several people who contributed to this research project. I am grateful to Prof. Dr. Klaus Brockhoff and Prof. Dr. Markus Rudolf for their guidance and support. I want to thank several interview partners from industry for their time and insights. Thanks also to NVCA, EVCA and Asset Alternatives Inc. for the permission to cite Corporate Venture Capital figures.