Page 27 - Grow from Within Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

14 grow from within

worrying about possible barriers to success. While managing
the cost of failure (rather than the probability of failure) should
indeed be a guiding principle for corporate entrepreneurs, this
does not mean that corporate entrepreneurship initiatives
should not be carefully designed. To be successful, your com-
pany will need to define domains for new business develop-
ment that are closely linked to the overall corporate strategy.
For most firms, the answer will not simply be “Innovation
should come from anywhere in the company.” Think about it.
Do you really want your quality control group to be innova-
tive? Sure you do, to some extent, and ideas can come from
anywhere, but the primary objective of a quality control team
is to ensure that everything works properly and that the prod-
ucts are right every time. To make innovation happen regu-
larly, let alone achieve the new business creation that comes
from corporate entrepreneurs, a corporation must be
absolutely clear about its objectives.
Also, contrary to popular belief, structures and processes are
not the enemies of innovation. Structures and processes are
beneficial as long as they are matched to the risk and com-
plexity of the project and the culture and structures of the par-
ent company. Most companies do not need a lot of new ideas.
What they need are better ways to select likely winners and
bring the most promising concepts to fruition. In some cases,
you will want to have a group that is dedicated to testing, nur-
turing, and harvesting new business concepts. In other cases,
you will want to facilitate potential corporate entrepreneurs
throughout the company to motivate resources and garner
management attention.
As noted earlier, corporate entrepreneurship does not have
to be based on the creation of something that’s new to the
world or even a radical improvement in terms of performance
or cost. It does not necessarily have to be based on a “disrup-