Page 111 - Grow from Within Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

98 grow from within

Zimmer hip replacement products, but the resulting improve-
ment in patient outcomes created an innovative opportunity
for Zimmer in the value capture dimension of new business
design. Improved patient functionality and recovery times
using the minimally invasive procedure meant lower total
medical costs for hip and knee replacement procedures. These
long-term savings allowed Zimmer to persuade certain private
insurers to pay a premium for these procedures.
So what works at Zimmer? The essential element in the min-
imally invasive surgery example was a willingness to establish
quasi-autonomous entrepreneurial teams to focus on the dis-
ruptive innovation, with top leadership support for investi-
gating new ways of doing business. The concept was not
subject to ordinary new product development processes or
reviews, but rather was allowed to evolve on its own terms.
This kind of flexibility was facilitated by the fact that Zimmer
focuses on internal talent development and has many people
in the ranks who have worked with the company for a decade
or two. These veterans have learned how to find what they
need around the organization, based on long-term relation-
ships. They know how to move ideas forward based on infor-
mal communication and tacit approval. Finally, the U.S.
medical device industry has been centered for many years in
Warsaw, Indiana, creating a special industrial network in that
area that over the years has maintained a delicate balance of
collective support for the industry as a whole while engaging
in intense competition within specific segments.
In general, the Opportunist Model works well only in trust-
ing corporate cultures that are open to experimentation and
that have diverse social networks behind the official hierarchy.
In other words, there need to be multiple executives who can
say yes to a new business concept. Without that type of envi-
ronment, good ideas can easily fall through organizational