University of Twente Student Theses
Media attention as a facilitator of the relationship initiation between startups and their potential partners
Kleinberns, M.S. (2017) Media attention as a facilitator of the relationship initiation between startups and their potential partners.
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| Abstract: | A study on how a startup initiated partnerships through the support of intermediaries revealed that in one case the startup found a partner by the help of media attention, which acted as a facilitator of the relationship initiation by taking a passive position. This paper aims to further investigate this phenomenon by finding out whether startups perceive media attention as important, whether it increases their reputation and whether startups can indeed find partners through it. Thus semi-structured interviews with six Dutch and German startups were held. The findings showed that startups are aiming to get into the media since through it a greater audience is reached which results in new customers, is good for getting new funding and for simply be known. Startups either actively approach media outlets or passively get attention since media outlets recognize their newsworthiness through events, funding rounds or existing articles. Moreover media attention can indeed lead to an increased reputation, mostly in the sense that the startups became more visible. The startups also agreed that they got feedback after being covered by the media and five startups got requests from potential partners. Three startups started an interaction with those: In none of the cases did that already result in a partnership, but two startups still negotiate with potential partners. Thus the outcomes of this study showed that media attention can indeed support a startup in finding suitable partners since through it other parties get aware of the startup and it is also in hindsight an information source to insure that the startup is an existing, reputable and credible company. However the study revealed that the importance of media coverage for a startup depends on its development stage, that media attention also has disadvantages and that it is actually perceived as more useful for finding customers instead of business partners. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 85 business administration, organizational science |
| Programme: | International Business Administration BSc (50952) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/72609 |
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