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A study shows that corporations do not want to be “saved” by startups

Many startups are looking for cooperations with corporations – but they often have a different priority list. Indirectly, however, the young digital companies could still benefit.

The World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum is in full swing: through the snow-covered streets of Davos, CEOs, politicians – and lots of founders – will be operating until tomorrow. Whether blockchain, fintech or even the general power of technologies: Start-ups have been increasingly incorporated into the program of the conference over the past few years.

This year, many corporate leaders of global corporations have arrived with skeptical expectations for the future. And a survey by consulting firm PwC (here’s the results) now shows that working with start-ups is more at the bottom of the agenda when CEOs think about solutions to the expected crises.

In the annual survey, conducted among just under 1400 managers from 91 countries, the CEOs focus on cleansing from the inside out: Three-quarters of those surveyed want to improve internal processes in order to enable sales growth. Just behind it comes a growth on their own or the start of a new product.

Internal cleaning up instead of cooperation with start-ups

The explicit cooperation with start-ups only ends up in the penultimate place of eight options surveyed: 32 percent of executives see such cooperation as a rescue against crunching sales. Indirectly, of course, there can be even more opportunities: B2B start-ups, in particular, who want to help optimize the supply chain or work processes, have recently gained in profile – and could be valuable service providers to revamp their internal processes.

A surprising news from the study: German corporations want to be helped by start-ups much more often than the rest of the world. After all, there are 55 percent who rely on such cooperation. “Despite all the uncertainties, German corporate leaders should not now press on the investment brake, but rather invest selectively in order to move forward in the digital transformation,” says PwC Germany CEO Ulrich Störk.

A similar trend was already evident in older studies: The cooperation between Dax companies and start-ups had increased significantly over the past years. Another survey came last year to a proud 67 offers, with which the major German companies aimed at start-ups.


Also published on Medium.

Published inStartups
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