Make-or-Buy Dilemma

The strategic choice organizations face when acquiring critical capabilities: whether to develop them in-house (build) or obtain them externally (buy/invest). When external capabilities offer superior speed and cost-effectiveness that outweigh the competitive moat value of internal control, the rational choice is external investment over building from scratch.

Articles on this principle

• Honda's Bet on Helm.ai: The Traditional Automaker's "Buy vs. Build" Dilemma

  When a century-old car manufacturer doubles down on a Silicon Valley AI startup again, it's admitting not just a capital commitment, but where the limits of in-house autonomous driving development truly lie.

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