Gabriel Linton

Business mating: when start-ups get it right

Abstract The importance of forming business relationships is critical for the prosperity of start-ups; still, few studies have examined how conditions inside and around the start-up together lead to business mating – occurrence of a new business relationship. To clarify the importance of proper fit among management style and invention features for high mating chances, this paper tackles this need by taking a configurational approach. We use qualitative comparison analysis (QCA) to analyze case studies from 16 invention-based start-ups seeking marketing partners. Findings indicate different solutions leading to high chances of forming business relationships. This study contributes with a typology to the business relationship and start-up literature, as well as discusses future directions to the emerging sub-domain of business mating research.

Trust in open innovation – the case of a med-tech start-up

Purpose The literature has shown great interest in open innovation (OI), and also discussed its degree of openness based on, for example, the number of parties involved. Less is known, however, about what makes OI processes work. The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss the importance of trust in OI, and the paper specifically focusses on a start-up company’s OI processes with collaboration parties. The paper points out how a lack of trust antecedents may disable such OI processes. Design/methodology/approach The empirical part of the paper consists of a case study on a medicine technology start-up. Interviews and analyses of secondary sources made up the main data capturing methods. Each collaboration between the start-up and another party is analysed through three trust antecedents: contractual, competence based, and goodwill. Findings The paper shows how either party may have chosen to discontinue the collaboration, based on the lack of competence or goodwill antecedents to trust. Specifically, the case indicates how the start-up discontinues the collaboration based on a perceived lack of goodwill, while the collaboration party bases its decision on competence deficits by the start-up. Originality/value The paper contributes to previous research through describing OI related to start-ups, and introducing trust antecedents as prerequisites for OI. To the literature on trust, trust mutuality makes a research contribution.

The value of failed relationships for the development of a Medtech start-up

A major drawback of start-ups is that they are known to have liability of newness and smallness. One way start-ups can overcome these liabilities is by forming relationships and building a network with other firms, where exchange of knowledge and resources can be facilitated. These relationships between firms can include a great deal of ambiguity, and it is not always known what type of value will come out of the relationship. This present study sets out to explore how start-ups pursue opportunities through networks, and more specifically through relationships with other firms, to co-create or co-destruct value. Based on the explorative nature of this study, a qualitative case-based research design has been developed. Contributions from the study are (1) that start-ups can gain value even from failed relationships; (2) the insight of the dynamic nature of the relationships and interaction episodes for start-ups; and (3) highlighting that interaction episodes can result in three different types of changes.