Page 173 - Grow from Within Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

160 grow from within

needs and are poised to recognize and technically validate
promising new ideas. “Hunters have technical training, but
they are more likely to be experienced in marketing or busi-
ness development” (in an industrial environment) or in high-
level systems management (in government). “Perhaps as
important, a successful hunter knows how to articulate the
opportunity in compelling terms that gain the attention of
higher management—something that few bench scientists are
skilled at doing.” Gatherers, on the other hand, “have the tech-
nical sophistication to assess what they encounter. In addition,
their life experiences have engendered a certain . . . awareness
of markets and social and scientific trends. . . . First-line and
midlevel research managers and senior scientists [often play]
the role of gatherer.”
People with the disposition and orientation to be hunters or
gatherers can be hard to find. Recall from the BP example in
Chapter 3 that Darukhanavala would spend as long as a full
year to make a single hire, since effective networking with the
IT community was essential to the corporate entrepreneurship
model of his group. For those he hired externally, he knew that
he could teach them what they needed to learn about the oil
industry, but he could not teach them how to be effective inno-
vation networkers.
Finally, implementing a Producer Model organization
clearly requires serious capital and staffing and typically a
direct line to top management. Understaffed, part-time, or
underfunded Producer teams are set up for failure. Clearly, the
dedicated team and capital required by the Producer Model
make it the most resource-intensive choice. As discussed ear-
lier, the kind of people needed for such an organization are
those with an entrepreneurial aptitude, strong knowledge in
market strategy and business model definition, and skills in
networking. As with an Advocate organization, the leader of