Case Studies

Case Study 1

4. Managing inter-organizational collaboration processes

4.1. Basics: What are inter-organisational collaboration processes and how can they be managed?

Country	Vienna
Title	Collaboration between big enterprises and start-ups: BMW Start-Up Garage
Summary	BMW Group is one of the world’s technology leaders in car manufacturing. They founded der Startup Garage, which has the role to search for start-ups outside the common range and act as a global matchmaker between cutting-edge start-up solutions and the innovation needs of BMW Business Units. The aim of the programme is to evaluate start-ups and enable them as long-term partners for the BMW Group, as a way of strengthening the company’s innovation leadership.
Key Issues	Collaborations between established companies and start-ups bring benefits for both parties and create a win-win-situation The established company keeps the organizational structure of the start-up in order to safeguard the velocity, adaptability and flexibility. The start-up benefits from the experience of the established company and gets market access.
Description of the case study	BMW Startup Garage has the role to search for start-ups outside the common range. As a global matchmaker between cutting-edge start-up solutions and the innovation needs of BMW Business Units it is seeking out innovations that deliver real benefits for the BMW Group’s products, services, systems and processes. The aim of the programme is to evaluate start-ups and enable them as long-term partners for the BMW Group, as a way of strengthening the company’s innovation leadership. (https://www.bmwgroup.com/en/innovation/open-innovation/startup-garage.html). The BMW Startup Garage is a “venture client”, which means that the BMW Group becomes a client of a start-up and buys the first units of a start-up’s product, service or technology at an early stage when its product, service or technology is not yet mature. This means that start-ups get a supplier status, supplier number, purchase order and revenue. In comparison to venture capital BMW Group does not ask for shares or equity. In an example Martin Bonfigt, developer Driving Dynamics, BMW group, states: “We thought we knew all technical solutions, but there was more…! When we started the new generation of road sensing technologies, that we feel are important for the car of the future, we knew only a few algorithms. Thanks to start-up garage we cot connected to a company from Israel, which does it in a completely different way, but very detailed and effective. A solution that we would never have thought of”. They built a proof of concept together with the start-up Tactile Mobility (https://tactilemobility.com/) – and the combination of the existing leading-edge technology, that BMW had already had, the new approaches of Tactile Mobility and the combined knowledge of the engineers of both companies, created finally a solution which brought substantial additional benefits to the customers. (Watch the video here: https://www.bmwstartupgarage.com/content/uploads/videos/bmw-sg-success-story-tactile.mp4; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xO8ldTjIJw) Which are the benefits for the start-ups? With the collaboration they can collaborate with the world’s best They can learn from experienced engineers from the automotive industry They have access to cutting-edge tools and cars They have a premium client They keep their IP Which are the benefits for BMW? Innovation leadership: For BMW the collaboration with start-ups helps them to strengthen their innovation leadership. Ahead of the market: The people of innovation garage identify products, technologies and services of start-ups in a very early stage. Their „venture client model “leads to solutions which are quickly scalable for both parts. Velocity: in a 4-month pilot project the solutions are validated and the start-up gets enabled to become a long-term supplier Summary: BMW start-up garage is a very good example of a collaboration between a large company and start-ups, creating a real win-win situation for both partners. The structured process helps to keep the goal in mind and to enable the start-ups to be able to become a supplier of a leading global car manufacturer. The Venture Client model is a highly efficient and effective way to integrate early-stage start-ups with a corporation like the BMW Group.

Case Study 2

4. Managing inter-organizational collaboration processes

4.2. SCRUM and agile development

Country	Austria
Title	sustainable food systems of the future Cooperation between 2 start-ups and local organic farmers – plan – act – do – learn – do better
Summary	The Online Platform markta (www.markta.at ) and the Sustainable-Food-Startup „Unverschwendet “(“Unwasted”; https://www.unverschwendet.at/), both from Vienna, Austria, showcase, how a growing city of almost 2 million inhabitants can be supplied with local and sustainable products. For more and more people in the city fresh and regional food means also quality of life and is therefore becoming increasingly important as an alternative to supermarket products and global trade.
Key Issues	Sharing a common vision and collaboration to reach common goals enable big step forward Constant workshops with partners, suppliers, customers and stakeholders lead to a constant further development A win-win-situation for all partners is created
Description of the case study	The Online Platform markta (www.markta.at ) and the Sustainable-Food-Startup “Unverschwendet” (“Unwasted”; https://www.unverschwendet.at/), both from Vienna, Austria, showcase, how a growing city of almost 2 million inhabitants can be supplied with local and sustainable products. For more and more people in the city fresh and regional food means also quality of life and is therefore becoming increasingly important as an alternative to supermarket products and global trade. That’s a good thing, because it helps the local economy and thus local farmers, small businesses and family businesses and the environment. For many, however, the question often arises, where can I find the offers on my doorstep? In 2018, Theresa Imre founded her start-up “markta” in Vienna and created a platform with shop for farmers and their organic products. In addition, a blog and a communication platform connect the customers and the producers, thus creating a possibility for know-how transfer. But not only the supply of organic food is an issue. Also, sustainable food production and the avoiding of food waste is of growing importance for customers as well as for local governments. This is especially true for fruit and vegetables. Too much gets thrown away, because it is “not beautiful enough for the market” or because of overproduction. Here jumps “Unverschwendet” in – since 2015 the siblings Cornelia and Adreas Diesenreiter create out of these formerly thrown but from the food quality perspective perfect resources jams, sirups, chutneys, sauces and spreads. In constant workshops with local shops, caterers and gas stations new products are developed, which are totally fitting the specific requirements of the target groups. New products are created in close collaboration between the farmers, the two companies and their customers.