They can come in many different sizes and flavors. Some work very well, some better than others and sometimes an accelerator can actually be bad for corporate innovation programs.

Here you get three examples on the latter:

There is no real connection between the accelerator and the core company:

Believe it or not, but some executives just don’t know enough about innovation to really turn this into a strong asset within their companies. When you are not fully sure how to make innovation happen (hint: the long haul matters and you can’t cut many corners) and if you become overwhelmed by this tsunami of new technologies and disruption, it is tempting to work with an established accelerator program or even build your own program.

But this is not going to work if you have not done your homework and know how to create a strong connection between the accelerator and the company.

Some questions to ponder in this context:

How does the accelerator fit into your overall corporate strategy? How can it challenge your business model and reasons to exists?

How do you manage to not only get new ideas and projects out of the accelerator, but also get a lasting impact on your organizational capabilities?

On new ideas and projects, how do you implement them into your organization knowing that internal resistance can be high? How do you seize control of the new value chain that your corporate accelerator helps develop?

How do you assess the current mindset and toolbox of your employees – and executives – in the context of innovation and what can you do to identify and develop the traits, characteristics and skills needed for the future? What is the role of the accelerator in this?

How can you experiment with your leadership, work force and organizational structures in order to capture the potential of the insights and learnings you get from your accelerator?

Just some questions to start a discussion.

If you want to look at corporate accelerators and related initiatives that seem to have addressed the above questions well – although in different ways – check out DBS Bank,Mobile Life by Danske Bank and the Plug & Play corporate program in Silicon Valley.

The accelerator program becomes an investment vehicle:

Too often, the excitement that comes with seeing so many interesting projects and even having an opportunity to invest in the startups blinds the people in charge in the core company. There is no doubt that large companies need startups in order to get access to new technologies, processes, services, business models – and at least, but not last – great talent. So it is tempting to invest in or outright buy the startups that flow through your corporate incubator, but let’s get back to reality.

Integrating new companies especially someone as different as startups into a large, more traditional structure is difficult. It is commonly accepted that more than half of mergers and acquisitions fails to deliver their objectives. So why do you think this should be different just because you got in touch with these startups through your own corporate accelerator? I am sure everyone else try to do their best possible due diligence on M&A activities, but too many still fail.

The third one – that is up to you…

I did promise three examples on how corporate accelerators can be bad for corporate innovation, but I will stop at two and challenge you to come up with other examples.

Who knows? Maybe this leads us to an opportunity in which you can contribute to or even help me co-author a white paper on corporate accelerator programs. Check my initiative for authors and organizers.