Page 18 - Grow from Within Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Organic Growth 5

range of activities within the parent company, from operating
and investment procedures to talent development and corpo-
rate mindsets. This book is about overcoming these impedi-
ments and building paths to the future.
Of course, investments in the future are typically a difficult sell
for businesses that are under pressure to make their numbers
today. It can be an even greater challenge when economic times
are tough. A few brave and resilient companies manage to take
advantage of economic hardship to expand their market share,
but most companies hunker down. Andrew Razeghi of the Kel-
logg School of Management notes that some forms of unmet cus-
tomer needs are easier to discern during a period when
customers are thinking harder about their spending, particularly
those that promise to conserve capital. New value propositions
can keep your company relevant in people’s lives when they are
otherwise scaling back. Moreover, in the volatile industry of
telecommunications equipment, Cisco Systems’s CEO, John
Chambers, directs his management to “prepare for the upturn”
during hard times. If you wait to build growth paths until times
are good, you’ll find yourself behind those companies that took
a consistent, disciplined approach to long-term growth.
Perhaps most important, a corporate entrepreneurship pro-
gram can help keep your most creative, passionate employees
from walking out the door. A serious corporate entrepreneur-
ship effort does not have to be expensive in order to unleash
those with exploratory spirits and keep your best talent
focused on helping your enterprise grow from within.

Entrepreneurship and Corporate Entrepreneurship

Which great companies were not founded to exploit some fun-
damental innovation and built through the drive and deter-