The key determinants of innovation and financial performance of corporate venture capital.

Summary This thesis focuses on unexplored issues in corporate venture capital (CVC). This research mobilizes the resource-based approach, the knowledge-based approach, organizational learning with a particular focus on the concept of ambidexterity, the real options approach and network theory. The empirical analysis covers the period from 1998 to 2017 and is based on 4,206 U.S. companies for the first test, 1,547 U.S. biotech companies for the second test, and 12,895 investments made by 274 North American CVC investors for the third test. To test all our hypotheses, we use multiple regressions (OLS, negative binomial regression, double least squares method,...). In the first test, we show, using the real options approach, that when exogenous uncertainty is reduced, CVC-funded firms enjoy higher investment amounts and longer investment duration. Two factors reduce uncertainty and enhance the organizational learning process: the strength of the relationship and the geographic proximity between the investor and the funded firm. Additional investment inflows lead to more frequent IPO for independent VC-backed firms while longer investment duration leads to more frequent exit by acquisition for CVC-backed firms for reasons related to organizational learning. In the second test, CVC-supported firms exhibit higher innovation rates than their IVC-supported counterparts. The innovation performance of CVC-backed firms depends on their ability to leverage the complementary resources of their investors. We propose three mechanisms that improve the innovation rate: the absorptive capacity of the funded firms, the strength of the linkages, and the geographic proximity between the funding firms and the funded firms. In the third test, sequential ambidexterity leads to better financial performance for the investor than balanced or simultaneous forms of ambidexterity in VC investments. Finally, the combination of balanced and simultaneous forms of ambidexterity produces synergies and improves the financial performance of the CVC investment.