Research work on the development of a cooperation canvas using the example of the automotive industry

As part of his master’s degree at the ESB Business School in Reutlingen, Robin Neff researched the validation and development of a cooperation canvas using the example of the automotive industry. Ambivation is also concerned with the question of how cooperation can become more successful and how a Co-Canvas can methodically contribute to this and has therefore supported the work. In the following article Robin presents his approach and results. In the meantime Robin works in the corporate venture capital sector.

Key Takeaways:
– It’s all about the Problem: If the pilot does not solve a relevant problem, it will fail!
– Startup Problem Fit: Does the startup have the appropriate maturity level to solve the problem beyond the pilot?
– Fail fast: launches as soon as possible to find out if the startup is capable of solving the problem

What’s the challenge?
Collaboration between startups and corporations seems promising because of complementary capabilities. Nevertheless, both sides are often dissatisfied with how the collaboration is going. Therefore, several authors in the literature recommend giving more attention and structure to the initiation phase. Derived from this, the master thesis aimed to develop a Cooperation Canvas that can be used in the initiation phase of pilot projects between startups and automotive OEMs.

How was the goal achieved?
In order to achieve the described goal, the first step is to identify general success factors of cooperations between startups and large companies through a systematic literature research. Based on this, the specific success factors during the initiation phase of pilot projects between automotive OEMs and startups are collected with the help of ten expert interviews. The collected data will be evaluated by qualitative content analysis according to Mayring. As a result of the discussion of the state of research and empirical findings, the Cooperation Canvas will be developed.

What are the key findings?
Four central success factors of collaborations between startups and large companies are identified through the systematic literature research. The results determined on the basis of the literature can be further differentiated into seven main categories and 25 subcategories through expert interviews and the subsequent evaluation. Resulting from the discussion of the general and specific success factors, the categories are: Problem, Solution, Pilot Goals and Success Metrics, Vision, Startup- Problem-Fit, Skin in the Game, and Stakeholders emerge as the essential ones. The aforementioned categories form the content framework, for the Cooperation Canvas described in the objective of the paper. In order to support the user in processing the mentioned canvas fields, the identified subcategories are formulated as guiding questions in the respective field. In this way, the user can be provided with an intuitive template that is reduced to the essential points in order to be able to successfully master future pilot projects.

Iteration of the cooperation canvas based on interviews in the automotive industry

About the autor:
Robin Neff (Linkedin) gained his first experience in the startup ecosystem in an innovation lab of an automotive supplier. After completing his studies at the ESB Business School in Reutlingen, he worked in corporate venture capital.