Integration of Startups in Corporations : A qualitative case study on a tech company

Abstract: Today’s business environment is experiencing different types of collaboration between startup companies and big corporations. The aim of this research is to highlight the challenges that corporations are facing during the integration with startups and identify potential actions which are taken by corporations to address them. Existing literatures in this field have been reviewed to settle down an analytical model as the basis for this research study. This research has conducted a qualitative case study on a big tech corporation in energy sector. Six semi-structured interviews with top managers and decision makers in this corporation have performed to collect the primary data. The findings show that challenges in people integration, speed of integration, communication quality, complex processes and functional area fit do exist while the company under study is integrating with startups and they are taking certain actions to supress these challenges. These actions are utilization of middlemen, existing projects, training, and expert’s evaluation on startups’ maturity level. This research concluded that some of the identified challenges are interconnected and, moreover, it is possible to tackle several challenges with a common action. The results of this thesis can instruct other corporations and give them a better understanding of possible actions on challenges during the integration with startups.