Page 170 - Grow from Within Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Which Model Is Right for You? 157

Neutralize the Naysayers

Although it may be possible to achieve support from most
business units and other corporate leaders, there will always
be latent resistance, particularly as the group starts to come
into being and begins calling on corporate resources such as
marketing or production for support. Continuing communica-
tion is essential, not only to build support for the new initia-
tive, but also to prevent internal stakeholders from regarding
corporate entrepreneurship as a drain on or threat to the com-
pany’s established businesses. New leaders of corporate entre-
preneurship initiatives are often surprised by how much time
they spend talking with corporate and business unit manage-
ment, beyond the initial discussion when the effort was first
being formulated. As we stated at the beginning of the chap-
ter, people—particularly those who need to be your allies—are
going to wonder what exactly this cost center is trying to
accomplish. In some companies, they may passively work to
derail the fledgling effort.
To some extent, such resistance can be limited by simply
telling people what you are doing and keeping them in the
loop consistently. In addition, an early set of “quick wins” cre-
ates credibility. The bottom line is that building new businesses
requires contributions from people across the firm, especially
during launch and scaling, so communication remains critical
even after a corporate entrepreneurship program has estab-
lished a proven track record.

Select and Support a Corporate Entrepreneurship Model
After consideration of strategic objectives and contextual fac-
tors, and after extensive socialization, the right structure for
your corporate entrepreneurship effort will probably be quite
clear. Once a structure is selected, it is critical that the appro-