Success Factors of Corporate Spin-Offs

Book excerpt: Corporate Spin-Off processes are very interesting phenomena formanagement theory and practice. In theory, Corporate Spin-Offs areboth a driver and a result of organisational change, offering thepossibility to investigate an area where companies are genuinelysharing experience and best practice. Although Corporate Spin-Offs canbe clearly distinguished from other types of start-ups and divestmentsand despite combining key-characteristics in a unique way, existinginvestigation is sparse and heterogeneous. In practice, CorporateSpin-Off processes are frequent and highly successful, but not aswell-regarded as Merger & Acquisition strategies and less understoodby the decision-makers.The present work was designed to meet these demands by analysing thesuccess factors of Corporate Spin-Offs, their relative contribution tothe process and the role of the different actors involved. Based on anextensive literature review and a new Spin-Off typology, a broad rangeof success factors and success dimensions is proposed. Using acombination of multivariate models, the responses from 211 Europeancompanies to a questionnaire are analysed and typologies derived.Among the single factors, customer participation, the transfer ofmanagerial and market-related experience and the main motivation arethe most important ones for the Spin-Off process and its success. Thetypologies reveal characteristic factors sets, showing for examplethat high-growth Spin-Offs benefited over-proportionally from sectorgrowth or the access to relations with customers or suppliers. Thisproduces a new and comprehensive perspective on the relativecontribution of each success factor, their interaction, and thebehaviour of both the parentand the Spin-Off companies in theprocess. These results are highly valuable for managers, scientists inthe field and policy-makers.