Thibault Struye
SMEs & Entrepreneurship
0. Course overview
Chapter 1: Introduction
Powerpoint
Article Sharma & Chrisman (1999)
Chapter 2: SMEs perspective
Powerpoint
Article Van de Vrande et al. (2009)
Article Urbano et al. (2022)
Article Nason et al. (2015)
Article Hall et al. (2016)
Chapter 11 Fink et al. (2022)
Chapter 3: FBs perspective
Powerpoint
Article Kachaner et al. (2012)
Article Duran et al. (2016)
Article Diaz-Moriana et al. (2020)
Article Filser et al. (2018)
Article Ge et al. (2022)
Chapter 4: SUs perspective
Powerpoint
European startup monitor report 2019/2020
European Investment Bank study 2020
Chapter 5: Deep dive into CSC
Powerpoint
Article Bauke et al. (2015)
Article Weiblen & Chesborough (2015)
AMS CSC white paper 2019
AMS CSC white paper 2020
Chapter 6: Kickstarting your CSC
Powerpoint: only motives + pros & cons
AMS white paper 2021
Group assignment:
SME/FB - Startup matching.
Groups of 5 to 6 students.
Will be scored on 10 of the 20 points.
Score can only be used once.
Check separate PowerPoint for further instructions.
Exam:
Written.
Closed book.
Examining insight and ability to apply the learning content.
2-3 open questions.
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Try to be complete.
Quotation: 10 points.
CVC: Corporate Venture Capital, the practice of directly investing corporate funds into
external startup companies. This is usually done by large companies who wish to invest
small, but innovative, startup firms.
More than 99% of the companies are SMEs. SMEs have an important impact on the world
and the economy.
Henokiens Association: association bringing family businesses together that have existed for
more than 250 years. Some companies have been there for 26 to 47 generations (1000
years).
Family businesses are more long-term oriented and therefore quite solid.
CSC: Corporate Startup Collaboration, a strategic partnership between an established
corporation and an innovative, young startup. It's a give-and-take relationship that involves
pooling resources, expertise, assets, and capabilities to achieve shared business objectives
(e.g. growth, new revenue sources, etc.).
1. Introduction:
“Entrepreneurship refers primarily to an economic function that is carried out by individuals,
entrepreneurs, acting independently or within organizations, to perceive and create new
opportunities and to introduce their ideas into the market, under uncertainty, by making
decisions about location, product design, resource use, institutions, and reward systems. The
entrepreneurial activity and the entrepreneurial ventures are influenced by the socio-
economic environment and result ultimately in economic growth and human welfare.”
Entrepreneurship encompasses acts of organizational creation, renewal, or innovation that
occur within or outside an existing organization.
Entrepreneurs are individuals or groups of individuals, acting independently or as part of a
corporate system, who create new organizations or instigate renewal or innovation within an
existing organization.
Nascent entrepreneurship: people who are thinking about entrepreneurship and have
already taken some steps but haven’t created the company yet.
New entrepreneurs (new enterprise or take-over of an existing enterprise): people who are
active entrepreneurs but don’t have any experience yet. By building a company from scratch
or by buying a company. ETA: entrepreneurship through acquisition.
Serial entrepreneurs and portfolio entrepreneurs: someone who has been an entrepreneur
of different companies.
Habitual entrepreneurs (serial and portfolio entrepreneurs).
Accidental entrepreneurs: You become an entrepreneur by accident. It happens by meeting
some people.
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Fuckupreneurs: the company is a failure. Sometimes they go bankrupt, sometimes they still
exist but aren’t active anymore.
Authorpreneurs: people who write successful books and therefore become entrepreneurs.
Large (building a business with a growth-oriented strategy) vs. small entrepreneurship
(independents with their own business).
Interpreneurship (familiness = unique competences and means as a consequence of family
involvement and interaction between family members): transferring entrepreneurial spirit
through education and family businesses.
Intrapreneurship: inside organizations. But they work with other people’s money, they don’t
have a large risk.
A family business: the majority shareholder is from the family. This can be under 50% if the
company is public.
BMW case study:
The Quandt family bought BMW with the money they made from the war, collaborating with
the Nazis.
BMW has its own CVC, called iVentures, and BMW Startup Garage. They open their garage
and invite start-ups to come and explain their ideas.
BMW iVentures:
The video discusses BMW's venture capital arm, i Ventures, launched in 2011 to support the
BMW i brand and BMW in general through minority investments in startup companies. BMW
iVentures typically holds a 1% to 15% share in these startups, aiming to foster mutually
beneficial cooperation without integrating the startups into BMW directly. The focus is on
enhancing mobility solutions beyond vehicle ownership, supporting electric mobility, and
providing premium mobility services, especially in urban settings.
The video highlights the importance of external innovation and corporate investing as means
to bring innovation into BMW, noting the shift from traditional in-house innovation to
leveraging the agility and impact of smaller companies, particularly in software development.
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Examples of successful partnerships include Right Cell, which developed the backend for
BMW's car-sharing system, offering a B2B mobility-on-demand platform, and ChargePoint, a
leading charging infrastructure provider with 30,000 stations in the US, which helps improve
the infrastructure for electric mobility.
The video emphasizes sustainability and customer demand for responsible and sustainable
choices as driving factors in BMW's strategy, both in its core products and services. BMW i
Ventures plays a crucial role in aligning with these values by investing in startups that
contribute to the future of mobility, sustainability, and innovation.
BMW Startup garage:
The video introduces the BMW Startup Garage, a venture client unit within BMW that aims
to collaborate with startups having innovative products or services that can transform the
automotive industry. The BMW Startup Garage seeks to be an early adopter of these
innovations, offering startups a no-strings-attached partnership to integrate and apply their
solutions in real BMW innovation projects. This initiative is presented as a gateway into the
global trillion-dollar mobility market for startups.
Key highlights of the BMW Startup Garage program include:
No-Strings-Attached Partnership:** The program emphasizes a partnership model
that does not entail any equity demands from the startups, focusing instead on
integrating their solutions into BMW's projects.
Support and Resources: Startups are provided with resources directly at the BMW
headquarters, including access to BMW cars, tools, and engineering expertise.
Networking Opportunities: The program facilitates networking with BMW and its
suppliers, potentially opening up further opportunities for startups.
Objective: BMW's goal with this initiative is to harness innovative solutions from
startups to enhance its premium mobility solutions, acknowledging that startups can
make significant contributions to BMW's product offerings.
The video encourages interested startups to visit the BMW Startup Garage website to learn
more about the program and how to get involved, positioning BMW as a leading client
willing to adopt new solutions early, even in the prototype stage, to validate and refine these
innovations.
2nd video BMW Startup Garage:
The video features an interview discussing the BMW Startup Garage, BMW Group's venture
client unit based in Munich, Germany. This unit collaborates with startups at very early
stages, often when their products or technologies are not yet market-ready. The BMW
Startup Garage provides access to pilot projects, allowing startups to work on real-life use
cases within BMW, focusing on serious production at later stages. The initial pilot project
aims to prove the technology, ensuring the startup has the right solution for BMW.
Key points from the interview include:
BMW Startup Garage's Foundation: Founded in 2015, the BMW Startup Garage has
gradually scaled up its operations, reaching about 26 projects per year by 2018.
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