The Unicorn Ecosystem - An Exploration of the External Domains Supporting the Growth Journey of Unicorns
(2022) MGTN59 20221Department of Business Administration
- Abstract
- Unicorns – privately-owned companies with a market valuation upwards of $1 billion – develop at an explosive growth rate. This hypergrowth forces unicorns to attract external partners enabling and supporting their development. Therefore, the right compilation of external growth domains allows unicorns to remain healthy and self-sustaining. To investigate external domains, a recent surge in literature proposes ecosystems as a novel way of cooperation. This stream outlines that the value of a network of partners can result in an increased system output that exceeds the value created in isolation. However, despite the growing interest in unicorns and ecosystems, the ecosystem of unicorns remains underexplored. Hence, arises the question of... (More)
- Unicorns – privately-owned companies with a market valuation upwards of $1 billion – develop at an explosive growth rate. This hypergrowth forces unicorns to attract external partners enabling and supporting their development. Therefore, the right compilation of external growth domains allows unicorns to remain healthy and self-sustaining. To investigate external domains, a recent surge in literature proposes ecosystems as a novel way of cooperation. This stream outlines that the value of a network of partners can result in an increased system output that exceeds the value created in isolation. However, despite the growing interest in unicorns and ecosystems, the ecosystem of unicorns remains underexplored. Hence, arises the question of the external domains influencing the health and self-sustenance of unicorns. As a result, this thesis addresses this research gap and aims to enhance the understanding of the overall unicorn ecosystem.
To succeed at this endeavor, this thesis is among the first to develop a framework investigating the constituents of the unicorn ecosystem, in other words, domains influencing the growth of unicorns. Herein, a qualitative embedded case study conducting nine expert interviews confirms the positive influence of financial capital, markets, human capital, policy, support, and culture on the growth of unicorn companies. Besides, our findings highlight the influence of unpredictable market conditions, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, that can have an outsized impact on the unicorn trajectory. Furthermore, this study outlines that the unicorn’s business model often determines the attraction of external domains. In addition, this study found an influence of networks on the correlational nature between the ecosystem domains. Therefore, networks play a significant role in connecting the domains with each other, thus supporting the unicorn in the attainment and retainment of further domains. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9093099
- author
- Funk, Marvin LU and Kramer, Nina Julia LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MGTN59 20221
- year
- 2022
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- Unicorns, Ecosystem, Entrepreneurship, Growth, Networks
- language
- English
- id
- 9093099
- date added to LUP
- 2022-06-27 13:50:41
- date last changed
- 2022-06-27 13:50:41
@misc{9093099,
abstract = {{Unicorns – privately-owned companies with a market valuation upwards of $1 billion – develop at an explosive growth rate. This hypergrowth forces unicorns to attract external partners enabling and supporting their development. Therefore, the right compilation of external growth domains allows unicorns to remain healthy and self-sustaining. To investigate external domains, a recent surge in literature proposes ecosystems as a novel way of cooperation. This stream outlines that the value of a network of partners can result in an increased system output that exceeds the value created in isolation. However, despite the growing interest in unicorns and ecosystems, the ecosystem of unicorns remains underexplored. Hence, arises the question of the external domains influencing the health and self-sustenance of unicorns. As a result, this thesis addresses this research gap and aims to enhance the understanding of the overall unicorn ecosystem.
To succeed at this endeavor, this thesis is among the first to develop a framework investigating the constituents of the unicorn ecosystem, in other words, domains influencing the growth of unicorns. Herein, a qualitative embedded case study conducting nine expert interviews confirms the positive influence of financial capital, markets, human capital, policy, support, and culture on the growth of unicorn companies. Besides, our findings highlight the influence of unpredictable market conditions, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, that can have an outsized impact on the unicorn trajectory. Furthermore, this study outlines that the unicorn’s business model often determines the attraction of external domains. In addition, this study found an influence of networks on the correlational nature between the ecosystem domains. Therefore, networks play a significant role in connecting the domains with each other, thus supporting the unicorn in the attainment and retainment of further domains.}},
author = {{Funk, Marvin and Kramer, Nina Julia}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The Unicorn Ecosystem - An Exploration of the External Domains Supporting the Growth Journey of Unicorns}},
year = {{2022}},
}