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Emerging Models of Corporate Entrepreneurship 119

tunities.” In its relationships with the business units, “We go
where the energy is. We don’t fight battles.”
Focusing on project transition to business units could lead
the CTO group to become too timid in its project goals. To
counter this, starting in 2003, it initiated annual Game Changer
initiatives: innovative programs with significant transformative
potential and at least $50 to $100 million of expected bottom-
line impact. Game Changer projects go through three stages
that each last about a year: (1) ideation and evangelization, (2)
pilots and scale-up, and (3) transition to business units. By 2005,
the CTO office had three Game Changers running concurrently.
During the ideation and evangelization stage, the CTO staff
undertakes a complete market analysis, looking at every entity
it can identify that is involved in the technology. The staff mem-
bers talk to end users, locate executives at other companies who
are willing to discuss the benefits and costs of implementation,
and visit technology providers and research groups. The CTO
office then conducts proof-of-concept tests with the business to
ascertain whether the technology can be expected to achieve the
value propositions hypothesized for BP. To date, all but one
Game Changer have been pursued to a successful outcome.
Many BP executives were initially skeptical about the role and
potential impact of a small group like the CTO office. As busi-
ness successes mounted, skepticism gave way to support, and
the office’s brand and impact grew. Based on its reputation for
solving problems (without becoming too caught up in bureau-
cratic processes), the CTO office began receiving unprompted
questions from business unit managers. It increasingly came to
be perceived as a strategic contributor to BP business units.
In 2006, the team formalized a more business-led process
into what became known as Business Unit Partnering. Business
Unit Partnering engages business unit leaders early, obtaining
sponsorship for workshops focused on what they believe to be