DESIGNING CORPORATE VENTURE PROGRAMS IN THE EMERGING ECONOMY: THE KOREAN EXPERIENCE

Since the financial crisis of late 1997, and spurred on by the successes of entrepreneurial start-ups and by increasing cynicism about the established firm’s entrepreneurial capabilities, large Korean firms have launched corporate venture programs. The purpose of this paper is to draw lessons from the Korean experience and offer guidelines about how to design corporate venture programs in the midst of shifting institutional contexts. We propose four design rules: a mechanism selection rule, an “internal versus external” rule, a separation rule, and a sharing rule. We conclude by discussing the managerial implications.