Bizdev – Corpdev

We see a lot of people and we often receive business cards from persons whose job is a mystery to us. And then we often try to work on certain projects with people who don’t have expertise in that area. One of the reasons is that we don’t recognize their positions and what they mean, especially in American culture. So let’s see what BizDev and CorpDev are.

BizDev – short for Business Development – are those people who deal with strategic internal projects that are supposed to bring growth to the company. In different companies these people have different priorities but they generally deal with introducing new projects/products in the portfolio. They talk with clients, with suppliers, with any partner and they come with recommendations regarding new products / services / partnerships.

CorpDev – short for Corporate Development – are the people who decide on the company’s new acquisitions. They receive (generally from those above – BizDev) a list of priorities for the year. In other words, they are told that new products need to be developed in directions X, Y and Z. And CorpDevs look left and right for opportunities to buy more efficiently than in-house development.

M&A – Mergers & Acquisitions – an older name for those who buy companies. They are much less involved in the business side of the purchase decision; I would even say that, generally, they are not involved at all. They negotiate the price and the contracts. In general they are finance and negotiation people.

In conclusion, if you want to do business with a company, you contact a BizDev. He has all the knowledge of the future strategy of the company; he will guide you exactly where you need to be and tell you what to do in order to be able to work together. Once the joint project is completed or planned, if there is willingness, the project can turn into a closer collaboration or it can enter CorpDev’s area of expertise.

(English version by Teodora Popescu)