COLLABORATIVE INNOVATION

Shruti Kasat

REASONS FOR COLLABORATIVE INNOVATION

CORPORATIONS

STARTUPS

SCALE

Access to funds
and network that can
help startups to scale

Lack of strategic
resources to help
them grow

CULTURE

Conservative style
of management to
ensure stability

Foster creativity by
hiring explorers to
spur new ideas

Designed to execute a
predictable business
model

Agile nature ensures

risk taking attitude to
innovate

INNOVATION

CREDIBILITY

Have credibility to
bargain for deals and
have millions of clients

Faces challenges in
building credibility and
are thus require venture
capitalists, investors etc.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report aims at highlighting the importance of collaborative innovation between a corporate company and a startup or a
small medium firm. The unfulfilled innovation needs of organization are highlighted and an analysis is carried out on the
changes acknowledged that led to creation of new products or services. The key lessons learnt are summarized to conclude
the research. The exploratory research is done in context of synergies built in order to achieve a shared goal.
Region : United States of America
Industries Covered: Retail, Automobile & Hospitality

Wal-Mart

Seventh
Generation

General Motors

Lyft

Airbnb

Vayable

WALMART AND SEVENTH GENERATION

Firm Name
Walmart
100,000,000+
employees

Seventh
Generation
51-200
employees

Collaboration: Structure and

Lessons Learned
Results
A leader in sustainability, corporate As part of its broad sustainability goal to sell
Founder of Seventh
Structure:
Hollender was reluctant in
philanthropy and employment
products that sustain people and the
Generation Jeffery
Wal-Mart launched a new retail partnering up with Walopportunity, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. or environment, Walmart was looking to expand
Hollender was attracted concept - Marketside - operated Mart for selling its
Walmart serves customers and
their number of sustainable offerings.
by Walmart's efforts in and staffed independently from environment friendly line
members more than 200 million
sustainability. Wal-Mart Wal-Mart. Marketside is a wholly of household products.
times per week at more than 8,400
improved the efficiency owned subsidiary. Although
However, he realized that
retail units under 55 different
of its sprawling truck fleet Seventh Generation was selling that stocking Seventh
banners in 15 countries.
by 15 percent. It
to Marketside they were doing Generation products in
launched experimental, business with Wal-Mart.
Walmart stores can bring
energy-conserving stores
increased visibility to the
Seventh Generation is committed to Seventh Generation, a niche player in
that feature wind
Results:
company's green products,
being the most trusted brand of
environmental friendly household products
Seventh Generation also
which can already be
household and personal-care
needed to extend its influence in the industry . It turbines, solar panels,
and xeriscape gardens. It partnered with Walmart on
found in chains like Whole
products for living home. Their
also wanted to extend its leadership in
became the world's
several key initiatives, including Foods, Target, and
products are safe for both people
transparency and consumer education on the
Amazon.com.
and environment.
environmental footprints of its products, where largest buyer of organic participation in Walmarts
Chemical Intensive Products
Seventh Generation required to engage with big cotton.
Sustainable Network, which has On the other hand, Walretailers and companies working to develop the
developed an ingredient
Mart revived its image
science to support a sustainability index through This enticed Hollender
who was initially a huge screening program for household taking in consideration the
The Sustainability Consortium.
Wal-Mart critique to
and personal care products sold environmental
partner with them.
at Walmart. This has resulted in sustainability as one of its
achievement of shared
goals.
sustainability goals for the pair.
Firm Description

Innovation Needed

Search Method

Sources:
i. (2010, July 22). Retrieved from corporate.walmart.com: http://corporate.walmart.com/_news_/news-archive/2010/07/26/seventh-generation-walmart-announce-strategic-partnership-to-offer-environmentally-friendly-sustainableproducts-at-more-than-1500-stores
ii. Dominguez, A. (2010, August 6). GreenBiz. Retrieved from www.greenbiz.com: https://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/08/06/why-walmart-doing-business-seventh-generation

GENERAL MOTORS AND LYFT

Firm Name

Firm Description

General General motors is a global

Motors automotive company. Earning
215,000+ customers for life is the
employees foundational promise of
General Motors. It has over
20,000 dealers in 140
countries.

Lyft
Lyft is a digital startup that
500 + matches drivers with
employees passengers who request rides
through its app for iPhone or
Android.

Innovation Needed

Search Method

Collaboration: Structure and Results

Lessons Learned

A network of self driven cars is to

Lyft was seeking $1
GM President Dan Ammann's vision of seeing the
The pair launched its first
established.
billion in funding.
future of personal mobility as connected, seamless
service together called
GM hatched the deal to exclusively General Motors funded and autonomous, is being rapidly implemented with Express Drive.
use the Chevrolet Bolt as its first self with $500 million to
GM and Lyft working together.
driving vehicle. The collaboration
bring Lyft's post money
Both GM and Lyft believe
with Lyft was done in hopes to shape valuation to $5.5 billion. Key elements of the GM and Lyft alliance include:
that Express Drive will
the future of the global auto
- Autonomous On-Demand Network: The joint
help the pair lay the
industry.
development of a network of on-demand autonomous infrastructure for fleets of
GM also aims at enlisting Lyft as one
vehicles will leverage GMs deep knowledge of
self driving cars
of their primary customers for the
autonomous technology and Lyfts capabilities in
upcoming release of the electric Bolt
providing a broad choice of ride-sharing services.
GM also realizes the
sedan.
- Rental Hub: Beginning immediately, GM will become markets for personal
a preferred provider of short-term use vehicles to Lyft transportation has
drivers through rental hubs in various cities in the U.S. fundamentally shifted.
Future of transportation needs to be
- Connectivity: Lyft drivers and customers will have
Young adults are buying
changed. An autonomous on
access
to
GMs
wide
portfolio
of
cars
and
OnStar
fewer cars. Many are also
demand network was to be created.
services, leveraging two decades of experience in
migrating to cities where
connectivity. This will create a richer ride-sharing
the combination of public
experience for both driver and passenger.
transit and ride hailing
- Joint Mobility Offerings: GM and Lyft will also
services like Lyft are
provide each others customers with personalized
making car ownership less
mobility services and experiences through their
necessary.
respective channels.

Sources:
i. GM and Lyft to Shape the Future of Mobility. (2016, January 4). Retrieved from http://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/home.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2016/Jan/0104-lyft.html
ii. Griswold, A. (2016, January 4). Why General Motors is making a $500 million bet on Lyft. Retrieved from http://qz.com/585520/why-general-motors-just-made-a-500-million-bet-on-lyft/
iii. Lunden, I. (2016, March 14). Lyft and GM partner on Express Drive, a rental service that paves the way for autonomous cars. Retrieved from http://techcrunch.com/2016/03/14/lyft-gm-express-drive/

AIRBNB AND VAYABLE

Firm Name

Firm Description

Innovation Needed

Airbnb AirBnB is a global peer to peer network

2000+ that matches tourists
employees with local residents who are offering
cheap accommodations.
In addition, they may offer extra
services, such as preparing
breakfast or acting as an impromptu
tour guide.

The world is quickly filling up

with myriads of "Airbnb of X".
Thus, Airbnb needs to find a
way to tap into them. Airbnb
wanted to launch a
experiences features within
their application.

Vayable Vayable is an international tourism

1-10
platform in which local residents offer
employees tours of a specific nature based on their
personal expertise or experience

In the business model of

Vayable, the window of
opportunity for making a
transaction was very small
since travelers usually go for
instant bookings and hosts
have day jobs. Thus, the
demand for tour service did
not kick off. An innovative
solution to this was needed.

Search Method
Both of these
companies are
sharing economy
websites. Thus,
Vayable was in
Airbnbs radar for a
partnership.

Collaboration: Structure and Results

Structure:
While startups are not formally
related financially or through
partnerships to Airbnb, guests and
hosts may often interact with them to
foster a better experience. Vayable
will be able to list services on Airbnbs
platform and operate on a revenue
sharing mechanism.

Lessons Learned
Airbnb has unintentionally crafted a
blossoming ecosystem of value-added
service providers throughout their
growing marketplace.

For Vayable product-market fit was

inherently flawed. They were targeting
independent, adventurous travelers
looking for unique experiences and
willing to take a chance with nonResult:
professional, unlicensed guides. These
Both Airbnb and Vayable were able to travelers were least likely to book in
explore the untapped market and
advance, or at all. On the flip side hosts
increase consumer base.
could never rely on it for an income and
passion only stretches so far, so
engagement and drop-off was an issue.
This was sorted by a sharing a platform
with already known player Airbnb.

Sources:
i. Cros, T. T. (n.d.). 50 examples of business collaborations.
ii. Owyang, J. (2014, April 21). Collaborative Economy. Retrieved from http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2014/04/21/airbnb-blooms-an-entire-ecosystem-of-startups/: http://www.webstrategist.com/blog/2014/04/21/airbnb-blooms-an-entire-ecosystem-of-startups/
iii. Vayable Overview. (n.d.). Retrieved from LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vayable