Gorillas Can Dance Lessons from Microsoft and Other Corporations on Partnering with Startups

Achieve exceptional results with your organization's next partnership for corporate innovation

In Gorillas Can Dance, distinguished international business strategy professor and expert Dr. Shameen Prashantham delivers a proven roadmap for large corporations collaborating with startups. Drawing on over a decade of international research, Dr. Prashantham explains the "why," "how," and "where" of corporate-startup partnering.

In this book, you’ll learn:

• How to focus on the three pillars of synergy, interface, and exemplar to achieve outstanding results in your partnership
• Why the very thing that attracts large corporations to startups—their significant differences—also makes it difficult to work together
• Where in the world to find your ideal startup partnerships and how to use them as a force for good

Perfect for C-suite executives, managers, business unit heads, and corporate innovation managers, Gorillas Can Dance is a must-have resource for business leaders seeking strategic guidance on partnering and collaborating with startups.

Dr. Shameen Prashantham is Professor of International Business & Strategy and Associate Dean (MBA) at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai, China. His research focuses on what he calls “dancing with gorillas”—how startups and large multinational corporations partner with each other as a means to improve their prospects of innovation and growth. Spanning a decade-and-a-half, this work has involved conducting fieldwork, teaching executives or giving talks around the world, including in Accra, Bangalore, Beijing, Berlin, Edinburgh, Johannesburg, Lagos, London, Mexico City, Munich, Nairobi, New Delhi, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv, and Zurich. At present, his focus is on partnerships that contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Foreword by David Cohen, Co-Founder, Techstars

Preface

Prologue: Microsoft’s Startup Partnering Journey

PART 1: WHY

Chapter 1: Why entrepreneurship matters for large corporations

Chapter 2: Why partnering with startups isn’t easy

PART 2: HOW

Chapter 3: How to partner with startups systematically

Chapter 4: Building the capability to partner with startups

PART 3: WHERE

Chapter 5: Partnering with startups around the world

Chapter 6: Partnering with startups as a force for good

Epilogue: Three Mindsets for the SDG Decade of Action

References

Acknowledgements

About the Research

About the Author

Index

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