What is Power Up?

The UK economy has proven its resilience many times throughout history. But we cannot take this ability for granted. It is critical that the UK remains competitive, that we retain our strength in innovation, and that we develop and attract the skills our economy needs so that we can achieve inclusive growth.

The Power Up series explores the critical challenges facing business, UK government and wider society. Using insights and analysis, the series looks at the pragmatic actions we can take to make a difference now, and power up the future ahead - to ensure the UK remains globally competitive, as an attractive and inclusive place in which to do business today and tomorrow. For each research piece in the series, we’ve developed a short story to bring the key findings to life and help you identify the actions your business should take. Explore the challenges through our stories and dive into the detail at any point for deeper insight into these critical issues.

If you’d like to find out more about the Power Up series or how we are experimenting with new ways of bringing insight to life, please contact Jo Ouvry, Director of Corporate Affairs at Deloitte or Jemma Venables, Head of Innovation and Corporate Insight at Deloitte.

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Acquisition

Acquisition

What is the deal? A business acquires a controlling stake in another company.

Best for: Big businesses wanting to diversify their offering and smaller businesses wishing to scale their market presence.

Works best when: Smaller businesses are open to the culture and identity of the larger firm, but are allowed to keep their own identity and operating style.

Reality check: Small businesses can get lost in a big company unless they receive top level sponsorship.

Key implementation steps include:

Establish clear objectives for the scaleup and for the acquiring company and define responsibilities of the acquired team.
Define clear testing phases of the acquired company to overcome fragmentations.
Create a new and different channel of communication for the start up to help them to avoid part of the corporate complexity that internal employees have to face.

Corporate Venture Capital

What is the deal? Businesses invest their money in aspiring external scaleups either to obtain a financial return or for strategic advantage. Scaleups benefit from funding and also from credibility by association, access to new customers and potential support for growth.

Best for: Big businesses who are looking to invest in the future of their business in a lean way, by taking multiple small bets, and early stage businesses who have a viable market proposition and are looking to scale up.

Works best when: The big business allows its innovative partner to operate and develop with minimal constraints associated with the investment.

Reality check: Aligning objectives, culture and timelines too rigorously can dilute the impact of collaboration.

Key implementation steps include:

Ensure that the Corporation has a “bridge” between the technical and non-technical people involved if it is not a technology company.
Ensure that clear expectations are set up at the beginning of the venture.
Ensure that you are able to influence company direction and decisions in order to achieve the desired outcome.