Corporations are making more minority investments in strategic partners.
Good partnerships can make the difference between success and failure in the information age.
Their equity stakes in numerous other technology companies combine with their Wintel alliance to influence how the computer and software industries evolve. Business leaders, both inside and outside technology industries, have noticed that kind of power, and they are making strategic venture investing a fixture in corporate America. The concept isn't new. During the 1980s many technology companies, Xerox Corp. among them, made direct investments and created their own corporate venture capital operations. These operations allowed them to retain people and ideas that might otherwise have sought seed money elsewhere.