Enhancing selective capacity through venture bases

Abstract

Corporate venturing managers have the rule of thumb that only approximately one out of\nten investments really pay of in financial measures. These low odds for success, of course,\nput extremely high expectations to the profit yielded from the few investments that become\nsuccessful. In other words, the few successful investments carry the costs of many more\ninvestment decisions. It would obviously be attractive to improve the ability to "pick the\nwinners". In this paper, we develop a conceptual framework for understanding how firms`\ninvolvement in establishing and nurturing the venture base (the idea creation phase)\nenhances their ability to select ventures.\nKeywords: Corporate venturing, venture base, selection, network.