Tamara Oukes

A start-up in interaction with its partners

Purpose – Start-ups are companies that are not yet embedded in a pre-existing network of relationships. Studies that researched how start-ups act in their relationships focused on just one type of action and assumed that start-ups are autonomous in how they choose to act. However, organisational action in relationships is both interactive and dynamic. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how a start-up interacts with its partners over time. Design/methodology/approach – The research aim is addressed through a longitudinal case study of a start-up in the medical device business. It was analysed how this start-up and its six key partners acted and reacted during 18 interactions episodes, what triggered these actions and what the outcomes of their actions were. In addition, the researchers explored if and how the subsequent episodes were related. Findings – First, the case shows that the past and the future affect current episodes. Second, it shows that action was triggered by both internal...

Third actors initiating business relationships for a medical device start-up: effect on network embedding and venture creation processes

It is widely recognised that it is essential to the survival and growth of start-ups to initiate, develop and maintain business relationships (e.g. Aaboen, Dubois & Lind, 2011; La Rocca, Ford & Snehota, 2013). Only through establishing business relationships can start-ups embed themselves in the pre-existing developing, producing and using setting (Hakansson, Ford, Gadde, Snehota & Waluszewski, 2009). However, start-ups often experience difficulties in initiating the necessary business relationships (Prashantham & Birkinshaw, 2008). To cope with this challenge, Oukes and Raesfeld (2014) found that a start-up used the mediating function of its partners to initiate new relationships. They showed that after it was made aware of, introduced to or referred to a potential partner by one of its existing partners, the start-up could mobilise valuable resources from new partners.