Motorola: Building and Participating in Partnership Ecosystems

The case covers the use of partnerships by a business development group of Motorola to gain quick access to new, complementary technologies and highlights how Motorola manages collaborations with smaller, entrepreneurial firms. The case ends with questions about how Motorola will jockey for position in an ecosystem formed by its customer, BT. customer’s ecosystem, which regrouped firms such as Vodafone, a mobile operator, and Ericsson and Alcatel, competitors in some of Motorola’s markets.

This case illustrates the role of business development in creating and managing partnership networks. It also explores: 1) the tension between value creation and value capture in partnerships ecosystems and 2) how entrepreneurial companies cooperate with large established companies.