How can procurement foster ICT innovation with startups?

Abstract

Motivation: Organisations are increasingly fostering open innovation efforts, whereby they include suppliers like startups in their innovation activities. These innovations are mainly ICT-driven. Collaborating with startups on innovative topics is challenging for the corporate entrepreneur and the startup. Particularly, the information asymmetry and asymmetric trust as well as the cultural (mis-)fit between the corporate entrepreneur and the startup are highlighted in that regard. The procurement function could be seen as the missing link between the startup and the corporate entrepreneur since it is at the interface between these two (e.g., Luzzini et al., 2015). The main research question of this paper is: how can ICT innovation procurement support corporate entrepreneurship ICT innovation projects with startups? Problem Statement: Although it is likely that procurement is becoming a crucial entity for innovations in organisations, there is a research gap in this field ((Elsevier – Call for Papers, Purchasing & Innovation, 2020)....