Page 119 - Grow from Within Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

106 grow from within

CEO’s strong direction and personal interest was sufficient to
make business units and regional offices attentive to new ideas;
he rarely had to use corporate funds.) Midstage funding for
innovation or corporate entrepreneurship projects was con-
trolled primarily by new oversight and review bodies known
as I-boards. I-boards consisted of business leaders of various
types. Some were populated by senior executives, others
by product teams, business unit leadership, or brand teams.
I-boards created multiple executives who could say yes to a
new business concept, which, as noted earlier, is a key element
of an Opportunist culture that Enabler processes seek to
exploit. People with innovative project concepts are free to
shop their ideas around to different I-boards for funding.
The key change that made all of this work was a top-level set-
aside of a fixed percentage of the capital expenditure budget for
innovation projects. To make this incentive even more salient,
business units that did not generate enough worthy innovation
or corporate entrepreneurship concepts would see their alloca-
tion of capital funds reduced. This set up an internal competi-
tion for new ideas. Dedicated resources were a key component
of making the innovation program successful.
By 2006, Whirlpool’s transformation effort was bearing sig-
nificant fruit. The company tracks innovation projects carefully
after launch. In 2006, these projects created $1 billion of new
revenues, out of a total of about $18 billion. In 2007, that figure
rose to $2.7 billion out of $19.4 billion. In 2008, it was $4 billion
out of $19 billion. Growing revenues from innovation are
allowing Whirlpool to maintain its top-line corporate revenue
level, despite a significant drop in the housing market and a
broad overall recession.
Whirlpool’s accomplishments are impressive, but it is impor-
tant to emphasize the depth and persistence of senior executive
commitment required to make it happen. As noted in Chapter 1,