Venture Capital’s main aim is to financially and professionally support start-ups who are able to concretely develop innovative products and services from ideas and insights, transforming them into companies. Venture Capital is therefore a fundamental element of the innovation ecosystem, it is involved in “building” innovative companies who are in turn able to give concrete answers to the new needs generated by the technological and social change of our society.
In performing the function of an “Innovation Factory” provides all consolidated companies the possibility of being able to draw from them to feed growth that can be hard to develop internally. Each established company is in fact faced with the conflict between management culture and the optimization of the existing with the need to innovate in order to respond positively to challenges posed by change. This conflict is the cornerstone in defining each company’s strategy. Today the theme is no longer the subject of intellectual debate but the imperative that dominates the agenda of each managing director, since the traditional barriers to entry to the various markets, ……..
In the meantime the “Blue Oceans” of opportunity open up, generated by the same factors that question the norm: technological development, the possibility of outsourcing, new markets, and new distribution platforms. The strategy therefore oscillates schizophrenically between the two aspects; the optimization of the existing and the conquest of the new. But is it possible to realize a strategy of innovation within a structure built and optimized for the management of a consolidated business? Media is one of the sectors today most exposed to a discontinuity phenomenon that calls into question its assets.
In my opinion, Venture Capital, for the Media sector, can represent the “innovation laboratory“, able to put into play those elements necessary for a concrete and positive response to the challenges posed by technological development. Established companies can integrate internal innovation processes, so a targeted acquisition strategy ensures innovation is effectively imported through the acquisition of start-ups. A strategy that knows how to combine established company management and innovation (generated both internally and through acquisitions), is probably key in continuing to play a leading role in a sector so strongly exposed to the forces of change.
Massimiliano Magrini
Published in Advertising Italy.