The role of ownership heterogeneity in influencing the extent and nature of innovation has been neglected but is an important omission as ownership differences can influence the goals, time horizons, and governance mechanisms relating to innovation. In this article I develop a novel framework that explores the potential impact and future research avenues in firms with a variety of ownership forms based on whether the organizational form in which innovation takes place is either a new venture or an existing business, and whether ownership involves new independent owners or existing independent owners of the organization. With respect to organizational form, new ventures are effectively locked into innovation by definition, while existing businesses may find a balance between investing in innovation and exploiting previous innovations, and engaging in more incremental innovation. Existing independent owners may be expected to take a more sustained view of innovation over time while new owners may be time delimited in their innovation. On the basis of this framework I analyze the following ownership types: academic spin-offs, private equity backed management buyouts, family firms and firms owned by habitual entrepreneurs. I identify the need for research to explore other ownership forms and the interaction between ownership types and different contexts.
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