Practical Implications On How Established Companies Innovate With Startups

Abstract

The study addresses an important literature gap concerning open innovation and startups. The purpose of this article is to deliver tools and guidelines for innovation managers to support their decision-making when aspiring to openly innovate with startups. The study proposes five spectra that show the variance across different collaboration on the following parameters for analysis: 1) investment required; 2) risk level; 3) corporate control; 4) Startup support; 5) ecosystem leverage. The article arrives at a simple weighted decision matrix to be used as a decision-guiding tool in determining the best choice of a startup-collaboration option from a corporate perspective. The research builds on a framework of references to previous literature and follows an explorative approach based on field research and design science research.