The view that a business unit can better compete against product-market rivals if granted funding from its parent firm’s internal capital market (ICM) has lost traction within strategy, despite conflicting evidence. We develop a theory to explain when funding from a parent firm’s ICM should enable a business unit to more effectively capture value (i.e., profit) from its investment opportunities under product-market competition. We depart from prior theories by examining how opportunities relate to competition. Specifically, we propose a typology of opportunities along two strategic dimensions. The first dimension is firm-specificity, a concept derived from the resource-based view. It refers to whether an opportunity stems from unique firm resources and capabilities and is therefore exclusive to a business unit rather than shared with (and contestable by) its product-market rivals. The second dimension is uncertainty about the investment path, a concept derived from the literature on investment under uncertainty and real options. When present, it is impossible (and undesirable) to commit upfront to a fully predetermined set of investments in an opportunity. These dimensions imply that different opportunities may have distinct critical needs in terms of funding—such as secrecy, timeliness, and reliability—that must be satisfied for a business unit to capture value. Ultimately, our theory indicates that receiving funding from a parent firm’s ICM increases a business unit’s chances of capturing value when those critical needs are present, suggesting that units with ICM funding may prevail in some competitive environments.

中文翻译：

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在产品市场竞争下从投资机会中捕捉价值：内部资本市场何时重要？


尽管证据相互矛盾，但认为如果从母公司的内部资本市场 （ICM） 获得资金，业务部门可以更好地与产品市场竞争对手竞争，这种观点在战略中已经失去了吸引力。我们开发了一种理论来解释何时来自母公司 ICM 的资金应该使业务部门能够在产品市场竞争下更有效地从其投资机会中获取价值（即利润）。我们通过研究机会与竞争的关系来偏离以前的理论。具体来说，我们提出了一个基于两个战略维度的机会类型学。第一个维度是公司特异性，这是一个源自基于资源的观点的概念。它指的是机会是否源于独特的公司资源和能力，因此是业务部门独有的，而不是与其产品市场竞争对手共享（并相互竞争）。第二个维度是投资路径的不确定性，这个概念源自关于不确定性和实物期权下的投资的文献。如果存在，则不可能（且不可取）预先承诺对 Opportunity 进行一组完全预先确定的投资。这些维度意味着不同的机会在资金方面可能具有不同的关键需求，例如保密性、及时性和可靠性，业务部门必须满足这些需求才能获得价值。最终，我们的理论表明，当存在这些关键需求时，从母公司的 ICM 获得资金会增加业务部门获取价值的机会，这表明拥有 ICM 资金的部门可能会在某些竞争环境中占上风。