Corporate accelerators : a study on prevalence, sponsorship, and strategy

In recent years, corporate accelerators have emerged as a new method to foster collaboration between startups and established companies. This thesis presents, to my knowledge, the first comprehensive database of corporate accelerator programs across the globe. On the basis of this resource, I propose a definition for corporate accelerators and show that they follow the same basic principles as non-corporate accelerators. Further, I provide evidence that corporate accelerators have been growing considerably over the past few years and have reached a level of presence close to that of corporate venture capital funds. While growth has been slowing down recently, I argue that corporate accelerators are well-suited to becoming a permanent element in the startup ecosystem and that they are likely to capture market share from non-corporate accelerators. On the basis of a population of 847 largely capitalized corporations I show that corporate accelerators are more frequently sponsored by large, information-related firms that are also investing corporate venture capital. This study provides first indications that corporate accelerators are not likely to deliver direct operating profits to the sponsoring firms. However, I provide examples of significant strategic explorations, including companies that select portfolio firms to help them innovate along their supply chain and distribution channels or to provide them with strategic gains in the marketplace.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Heinemann, Florian, S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Scott Stern.

• Engineering Systems Division.
• System Design and Management Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/105309

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/105309