Page 16 - Grow from Within Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Organic Growth 3

Steve Jobs who recognized that the potential of portable digi-
tal music in the Internet age could be unlocked only through
the creation of a new business, not just a better MP3 player.
Apple was late to the digital music game. Its success with the
iPod and iTunes had less to do with the design of the product,
however elegant, than with the fact that it developed a com-
prehensive solution to consumers’ needs. It transformed the
music supply chain to provide a better customer experience. In
other words, Apple designed a new business.
To be effective at corporate entrepreneurship, most firms
need to do more than just create a separate group for coddling
and prototyping disruptive or radical innovations. Incubation
is not enough. The right solution for your enterprise might not
include creating a separate development organization. It may
not make strategic sense for your business to focus on break-
throughs. For instance, if your objective is to find new cus-
tomers and markets for your existing technologies and
capabilities, you may wish to establish a group that coaches
and supports your business units in discovering and exploit-
ing adjacent markets. If your objective is to discover and retain
the entrepreneurial employees who are already working for
you but are not realizing their potential, then you may benefit
from a program that moves these people into high-growth
areas of your existing businesses.
We’ll focus frequently on objectives—your objectives—
throughout the book, making sure that you know exactly what
you’re trying to accomplish before you select tools and
approaches. In our experience, corporate entrepreneurship ini-
tiatives often become overly focused on generating creative
ideas. There are plenty of creativity experts who would be
delighted to help you jump-start innovative thinking. This can
be a breath of fresh air, but it won’t amount to much if there
are no management structures and processes in place to turn