To invest or not to invest? Leveraging external corporate venturing for strategic renewal

The study "To invest or not to invest?" examines how innovation through external partnerships via corporate venture capital and corporate venture clienting contributes to strategic renewal. Corporate Venture Capital identifies and captures future growth opportunities through equity investments, while Corporate Venture Clienting integrates start-up innovation into the company's core operations through equity-free acquisitions. Based on 83 semi-structured interviews with representatives of both corporate venturing approaches, the findings show that the combination of corporate venture capital to develop new competitive advantages and corporate venture clienting to enhance current competitiveness can drive comprehensive strategic renewal in different but complementary ways. This research extends the theory of strategic corporate venturing and open innovation through external partnerships and provides practical guidance for corporate decision makers on how to leverage innovation for strategic renewal.