Why a big corporation like Otto Group collaborates with a coworking space? (2011)

The Otto Group is multi-billions € turnover German based company, with a worldwide-operating retail and services group with 123 companies of primary significance in 20 countries. In 2011, Otto Group started to have staff located at Betahaus coworking in Berlin. Why? It faced a lack of specialized workforce. Freelancing or working in start-ups had become a good alternative for many people we would love to employ. “It would be arrogant to think that innovation can or should only come from inside a company – we need the crowd (…) Using coworking spaces makes it easy to get used to the „Trial and Error“- idea and test tools, work environments etc. without heavy investment in the beginning.” These slides were used in a presentation at Coworking Europe 2011 in Berlin