Business Development is not Corporate Development

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Business Development is not Corporate Development

"Corporate Development" as the function at the company that is responsible for M&A (i.e., acquiring smaller companies) and investments (i.e., investing money off the company's balance sheet into smaller companies).  This is a transactional function that requires finance skills, and as a result, it is typically staffed by former investment bankers.

In many companies, the Business Development team will be part of the Corporate Development team and vice versa (meaning Corp Dev will be part of Biz Dev).  For example, when I was VP of Corp Dev at Gerson Lehrman Group, my responsibilities included Biz Dev (meaning partnerships).  And this happens for a reason – both Biz Dev and Corp Dev are responsible for engaging with organizations outside of the company, and the DNA of a good Biz Dev and a good Corp Dev professional can be similar.  But as I will explain, Corporate Development is not Business Development, as the BD function is not responsible for M&A and investment activities at the company.

Now that we have identified what Biz Dev is not, let's discuss what Biz Dev IS.


Source: http://jamescohane.com/wtf-is-biz-dev-aka-what-is-business-development/