Page 134 - Grow from Within Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Emerging Models of Corporate Entrepreneurship 121

Keep in mind that Advocate organizations cannot compel busi-
ness units to do anything, and they are, by design, unable to
pursue projects themselves beyond initial concept develop-
ment and due diligence. Their power rests in their ability to
educate, connect, and persuade.
In order to broker connections for business units, an Advo-
cate organization must first make and maintain those connec-
tions itself. It must build knowledge and trust among both
internal networks and the external ecosystem. Recall the quote
from Professor Andrew Hargadon in the introduction: “Pur-
suing a strategy of technology brokering means recognizing
that a key role of corporate R&D is bridging the many differ-
ent industries and markets that exist, and building the neces-
sary combinations of technologies and people to make
potential breakthroughs possible.”
Advocate organizations must also tend to their own corpo-
rate-level viability by maintaining awareness and support
among corporate leadership. Of course, testimonials from busi-
ness unit leadership about bottom-line results are most persua-
sive. But Advocate organizations can also reassure the top
leaders that the company is being exposed to leading-edge
thinking and technologies. More important, a well-staffed Advo-
cate team can sort “the wheat from the chaff” in emerging tech-
nologies, where visions are often quite different from substance.
For Advocate organizations that are focused on bringing
emerging external technologies to bear on business unit prob-
lems, their primary role is to serve as a translator between the
priorities of the (usually) small firm and those of a large cor-
poration, helping to overcome what can otherwise tend to be
a fundamental mismatch for many small-to-large-corporation
negotiations. Small firms are often eager to display their capa-
bilities to a major potential customer, and the large company
can gain a competitive advantage by serving as the proving