With a difficult financing environment, growth and tech firms may often search for strategic partnering alongside the value chain. Strategic partners can limit the choice for future industry-sourced funding, but at the same time it can offer credibility to an otherwise small company, it can offer channels to market, access to research and development resources, etc. For big corporations, such partnering can provide an insurance against disruptors: having a foothold in a small company, or having a partnership can act as a cheap option that can be increased once certain technology takes of in a changing market.
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