Learning Objectives and Uncertainty Resolution: An Examination of the Structure of Corporate Venture Capital Relationships

The search for external knowledge must necessarily be accompanied by effective organizational learning. The effectiveness of learning is dependent on quite dissimilar factors based on whether the learning objective is explorative or exploitative. Moreover, different types of uncertainty become salient with these two contrasting objectives, and need to be resolved in opposite ways. In the context of Corporate Venture Capital investments, investors seeking to explore were found to structure the timing and level of investment quite differently from investors seeking to exploit. Certain attributes of the investment which the investor has little control over, moderate these relationships.