Abstract
Large companies seek innovation outside organizational boundaries in partnerships with startups. Corporate Accelerator Programs (CAPs) represent a recent and emerging way to engage with startups. However, in addition to willingness, relational capabilities (RCs) are needed to interact with other firms, coordinate competencies, and combine knowledge. This study investigates the presence of RCs in CAPs. For this, qualitative research was conducted with two PACs from Brazilian industries. The results reveal the importance of RCs to identify opportunities, to combine and to manage resources, to adapt to partners' needs, to learn with (and together) with them, to communicate transparently, and to develop collaborative innovations. This study opens up new research opportunities by using the lens of RCs to analyze aspects of cooperation in the programs in question. In a practical way, the findings can assist managers in cooperating with startups, as well as entrepreneurs of startups who want to pursue partnerships with large corporations.
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