IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ororsc/v20y2009i6p979-992.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Good Riddance? Spin-Offs and the Technological Performance of Parent Firms

Author

Listed:
  • David G. McKendrick

    (Durham Business School, Durham University, Durham DH1 3HP, United Kingdom)

  • James B. Wade

    (McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057)

  • Jonathan Jaffee

    (Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089)

Abstract

How do spin-offs---new ventures created by former employees of an incumbent firm---affect the technological performance of their parents? Conventional wisdom holds that spin-offs hurt parent firms: the parent loses key staff, routines are disrupted, and performance declines. Although having some basis in fact, we think the negative effects are overstated. We argue that spin-offs can enable parent firms to realign with their environment, thereby avoiding the oncoming obsolescence arising from the combination of organizational inertia and environmental drift. Using data from the hard disk drive industry, we find evidence that although the main effect of having a spin-off on a parent firm's technological performance is positive, the overall impact of a spin-off depends upon the technological sophistication of the spin-off and the time since the spin-off occurred. Indeed, parent firms of technologically sophisticated (successful) spin-offs initially suffer poorer technological performance, but over time they outperform firms that had no spin-offs. Both effects are amplified to the extent that the spin-off is more successful, which we attribute to both increased environmental realignment and the positive signal that successful spin-offs transmit to the broader labor market about the parent organization's reputation as an incubator of entrepreneurs and a desirable place to work.

Suggested Citation

  • David G. McKendrick & James B. Wade & Jonathan Jaffee, 2009. "A Good Riddance? Spin-Offs and the Technological Performance of Parent Firms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(6), pages 979-992, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:20:y:2009:i:6:p:979-992
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.1090.0480
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1090.0480
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/orsc.1090.0480?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniel A. Levinthal, 1991. "Organizational Adaptation and Environmental Selection-Interrelated Processes of Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 140-145, February.
    2. Cooper, Arnold C. & Woo, Carolyn Y. & Dunkelberg, William C., 1989. "Entrepreneurship and the initial size of firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 4(5), pages 317-332, September.
    3. Steven Klepper & Sally Sleeper, 2005. "Entry by Spinoffs," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(8), pages 1291-1306, August.
    4. Filippo Carlo Wezel & Gino Cattani & Johannes M. Pennings, 2006. "Competitive Implications of Interfirm Mobility," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(6), pages 691-709, December.
    5. D. Charles Galunic & Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, 1996. "The Evolution of Intracorporate Domains: Divisional Charter Losses in High-Technology, Multidivisional Corporations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 7(3), pages 255-282, June.
    6. Zeynep Ton & Robert S. Huckman, 2008. "Managing the Impact of Employee Turnover on Performance: The Role of Process Conformance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(1), pages 56-68, February.
    7. Hannan, Michael T & Burton, M Diane & Baron, James N, 1996. "Inertia and Change in the Early Years: Employment Relations in Young, High Technology Firms," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 5(2), pages 503-536.
    8. Scott Shane, 2000. "Prior Knowledge and the Discovery of Entrepreneurial Opportunities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(4), pages 448-469, August.
    9. James N. Baron, 2004. "Employing identities in organizational ecology," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 13(1), pages 3-32, February.
    10. Paul Gompers & Josh Lerner & David Scharfstein, 2005. "Entrepreneurial Spawning: Public Corporations and the Genesis of New Ventures, 1986 to 1999," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(2), pages 577-614, April.
    11. Steven Klepper, 2002. "The capabilities of new firms and the evolution of the US automobile industry," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 11(4), pages 645-666, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pearce, John A. & Patel, Pankaj C., 2022. "Reaping the financial and strategic benefits of a divestiture by spin-off," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 291-301.
    2. Bruno Cirillo & Stefano Brusoni & Giovanni Valentini, 2014. "The Rejuvenation of Inventors Through Corporate Spinouts," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(6), pages 1764-1784, December.
    3. Heinrichs, Simon & Walter, Sascha, 2013. "Don’t Step Into Your Parent’s Shoes – How Exploitation and Exploration Affect Spin-out Growth," EconStor Preprints 68591, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    4. Li Xiang & Xu Yanmei, 2020. "Can Positive Entrepreneurship Policies Always Improve Social Welfare?," Journal of Systems Science and Information, De Gruyter, vol. 8(2), pages 148-158, April.
    5. Walter, Sascha & Heinrichs, Simon & Walter, Achim, 2013. "Hostile Parent Firms and Child Firm Performance," EconStor Preprints 68592, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    6. Chila, Vilma, 2021. "Knowledge dynamics in employee entrepreneurship : Implications for parents and offspring," Other publications TiSEM a1f5d18c-783b-4af6-8414-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    7. Gjerløv-Juel, Pernille, 2019. "Executive turnover – Firms’ subsequent performances and the moderating role of organizational characteristics," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 794-805.
    8. Bahoo-Torodi, Aliasghar & Torrisi, Salvatore, 2022. "When do spinouts benefit from market overlap with parent firms?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(6).
    9. Saras D. Sarasvathy, 2021. "The Middle Class of Business: Endurance as a Dependent Variable in Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(5), pages 1054-1082, September.
    10. David Tan & Christopher I. Rider, 2017. "Let them go? How losing employees to competitors can enhance firm status," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(9), pages 1848-1874, September.
    11. Veldhoven, Joris & Cloodt, Myriam & Vanhaverbeke, Wim, 2008. "Modeling the set-up and management of a spin-out: Evidence from a case study," MPRA Paper 26489, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2010.
    12. Sascha G. Walter & Simon Heinrichs & Achim Walter, 2014. "Parent hostility and spin-out performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(13), pages 2031-2042, December.
    13. Agarwal, Rajshree & Shah, Sonali K., 2014. "Knowledge sources of entrepreneurship: Firm formation by academic, user and employee innovators," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(7), pages 1109-1133.
    14. Forough Zarea Fazlelahi & J. Henri Burgers & Martin Obschonka & Per Davidsson, 2023. "Spinoffs’ alliance network growth beyond parental ties: performance diminishing, then performance enhancing," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 743-773, June.
    15. Bruno Cirillo, 2019. "External Learning Strategies and Technological Search Output: Spinout Strategy and Corporate Invention Quality," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(2), pages 361-382, March.
    16. Christian Cordes & Peter Richerson & Georg Schwesinger, 2014. "A corporation’s culture as an impetus for spinoffs and a driving force of industry evolution," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 689-712, July.
    17. Ji Youn (Rose) Kim & H. Kevin Steensma, 2017. "Employee mobility, spin-outs, and knowledge spill-in: How incumbent firms can learn from new ventures," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(8), pages 1626-1645, August.
    18. Gjerløv-Juel, Pernille & Guenther, Christina, 2019. "Early employment expansion and long-run survival," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 80-102.
    19. Egle Vaznyte & Petra Andries & Sarah Demeulemeester, 2021. "“Don’t leave me this way!” Drivers of parental hostility and employee spin-offs’ performance," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 265-293, June.
    20. Ioannis Ioannou, 2014. "When Do Spinouts Enhance Parent Firm Performance? Evidence from the U.S. Automobile Industry, 1890–1986," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(2), pages 529-551, April.
    21. Robert P. Garrett & Chao Miao & Shanshan Qian & Tae Jun Bae, 2017. "Entrepreneurial spawning and knowledge-based perspective: a meta-analysis," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 355-378, August.
    22. Romel Mostafa & Steven Klepper, 2018. "Industrial Development Through Tacit Knowledge Seeding: Evidence from the Bangladesh Garment Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(2), pages 613-632, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andersson, Martin & Baltzopoulos, Apostolos & Lööf, Hans, 2012. "R&D strategies and entrepreneurial spawning," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 54-68.
    2. Alfonso Gambardella & Martin Ganco & Florence Honoré, 2015. "Using What You Know: Patented Knowledge in Incumbent Firms and Employee Entrepreneurship," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(2), pages 456-474, April.
    3. Gil Avnimelech & Maryann Feldman, 2010. "Regional Corporate Spawning and the Role of Homegrown Companies," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 27(4), pages 475-489, July.
    4. Chila, Vilma, 2021. "Knowledge dynamics in employee entrepreneurship : Implications for parents and offspring," Other publications TiSEM a1f5d18c-783b-4af6-8414-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    5. Argote, Linda & Fahrenkopf, Erin, 2016. "Knowledge transfer in organizations: The roles of members, tasks, tools, and networks," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 146-159.
    6. Heinrichs, Simon & Walter, Sascha, 2013. "Don’t Step Into Your Parent’s Shoes – How Exploitation and Exploration Affect Spin-out Growth," EconStor Preprints 68591, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    7. Boeker, Warren & Howard, Michael D. & Basu, Sandip & Sahaym, Arvin, 2021. "Interpersonal relationships, digital technologies, and innovation in entrepreneurial ventures," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 495-507.
    8. Mark J. O. Bagley, 2019. "Networks, geography and the survival of the firm," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 1173-1209, September.
    9. Hervas-Oliver, Jose-Luis & Lleo, María & Cervello, Roberto, 2017. "The dynamics of cluster entrepreneurship: Knowledge legacy from parents or agglomeration effects? The case of the Castellon ceramic tile district," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 73-92.
    10. Matt Marx & Deborah Strumsky & Lee Fleming, 2009. "Mobility, Skills, and the Michigan Non-Compete Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(6), pages 875-889, June.
    11. Lindholm-Dahlstrand, Asa & Andersson, Martin & Carlsson, Bo, 2016. "Entrepreneurial Experimentation: A key function in Entrepreneurial Systems of Innovation," Papers in Innovation Studies 2016/20, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    12. Natarajan Balasubramanian & Mariko Sakakibara, 2015. "Human Capital of Spinouts," Working Papers 15-06, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    13. Robert P. Garrett & Chao Miao & Shanshan Qian & Tae Jun Bae, 2017. "Entrepreneurial spawning and knowledge-based perspective: a meta-analysis," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 355-378, August.
    14. Baltzopoulos, Apostolos & Braunerhjelm, Pontus & Tikoudis, Ioannis, 2012. "Spin-off: Individual, Firm, Industry and Regional Determinants," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 265, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    15. Jonathan Levie & Erkko Autio, 2008. "A theoretical grounding and test of the GEM model," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 235-263, October.
    16. Yeganegi, Sepideh & Laplume, André O. & Dass, Parshotam & Huynh, Cam-Loi, 2016. "Where do spinouts come from? The role of technology relatedness and institutional context," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(5), pages 1103-1112.
    17. Helmut Fryges & Bettina Müller & Michaela Niefert, 2014. "Job machine, think tank, or both: what makes corporate spin-offs different?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 369-391, August.
    18. Basu, Sandip & Sahaym, Arvin & Howard, Michael D. & Boeker, Warren, 2015. "Parent inheritance, founder expertise, and venture strategy: Determinants of new venture knowledge impact," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 322-337.
    19. Bahoo-Torodi, Aliasghar & Torrisi, Salvatore, 2022. "When do spinouts benefit from market overlap with parent firms?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(6).
    20. Klepper, Steven & Thompson, Peter, 2010. "Disagreements and intra-industry spinoffs," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 526-538, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:20:y:2009:i:6:p:979-992. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.