The effect of corporate venturing on knowledge acquisition and performance in small and medium-sized firms in Germany

Schulze, Arndt and Dada, Lola (2025) The effect of corporate venturing on knowledge acquisition and performance in small and medium-sized firms in Germany. Journal of Business Research, 188: 115080. ISSN 0148-2963

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Abstract

Although corporate venturing (CV) is associated with acquiring new skills and competencies and with achieving corporate vitalization, there are limited insights as to how CV activities in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) relate to knowledge acquisition and performance. To address these, we utilize survey data of 570 organizational members, up to the top management level, of SMEs in Germany. The results indicate that CV positively affects knowledge acquisition and performance. Additionally, we found positive moderation effects of transformational leadership and technological turbulence on the CV-performance relationship. Further analysis confirmed a strong mediation effect of knowledge acquisition (KA) on the CV-performance relationship. The results also suggest that firms practicing CV in high technology dynamism related industries face a triangle of tensions where high technology turbulence supports exploitation of existing competitive advantages, but the former dampens the exploration of future competitive advantages through new knowledge.