This thesis explores the role of corporate venture capital (CVC) investment in business growth strategy. It is particularly concerned with identifying the CVC investment options for business development and growth. Business growth strategy involves choices of products (and services) or markets for an organisation to enter or exit. An organisation has a choice between penetrating its existing markets, developing new products for its existing markets, bringing its existing products into new markets, or diversifying its activities by introducing new products into new markets.

A framework linking CVC investment with business growth strategy is developed and is used for identifying the relevant contribution which the different CVC investments make to business growth. Firms interested in diversifying their investment portfolio utilise CVC for this purpose. These investments, however, support organisational growth when they are aligned to business strategy, defined by the goal of increasing demand for existing products (or services), bringing new products to existing markets faster, protecting against a competitive threat which involves offering existing products to new markets, and developing new products in new markets. There are instances where CVC investments can be used as a channel for later stage funding of corporate venturing projects.

This thesis highlights the fact that contrary to both popular wisdom and academic arguments, CVC funds can still be successful when they function like independent venture capital funds, with reliance on financial return on investment as critical to their success. They are, however, able to endure by executing this practice in line with the corporation’s business growth strategy. Using archival data collected from three case studies over a 34-year period, the framework developed from literature review is applied as a basis for understanding how CVC investment can be linked to business growth strategy.