Page 216 - Grow from Within Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Leadership from All Le vels 201

A Producer Produces at Baxter International

Smart companies actively develop potential corporate entre-
preneurs, or at least offer those within the organization who
have company-building experience the opportunity to further
refine and leverage those capabilities. Most companies should
have dedicated new business creation programs and/or teams,
but even companies without such entities typically have some
personnel who possess these skills and interests. These people
can be either enabled to create growth opportunities on a case-
by-case basis or included as part of a larger corporate entre-
preneurship initiative.
The story of Andrea Hunt and her Non-Traditional Research
and Innovation (NTRI, pronounced “entry”) team at Baxter
International illustrates how corporate entrepreneurs emerge,
develop, and ultimately affect a company’s bottom line. Hunt
joined Chicago area–based medical products company Baxter
International in 1988 and rose through the ranks, leading com-
panywide change programs such as TQM and Customer Satis-
faction. The breadth of the trusted relationships she built across
the company during these successful initiatives prepared her for
her eventual role as vice president of NTRI. Founded in 2000,
NTRI was charged by the CEO, Harry Kraemer, with identify-
ing, validating, and building entirely new businesses for Baxter
that were consistent with the company’s long-term vision but
were not opportunities that would typically be pursued by busi-
ness units. Concurrently, Baxter initiated an innovation leader-
ship team (ILT) made up of six top functional executives and the
presidents of each of the business units to oversee the growth
portfolio.
In 2002, Kraemer named senior Baxter R&D executive Nor-
bert Riedel as corporate chief scientific officer (CSO). When
Riedel first joined Baxter in 1998, he was surprised at the com-