Page 52 - Grow from Within Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Understanding Corporate Entrepreneurship 39

uncoordinated battles. Clarity regarding innovation and cor-
porate entrepreneurship objectives is a more nuanced and crit-
ical question than most managers realize.
Other researchers have found the same results. Andrew
Campbell and his colleagues in the United Kingdom focused
on corporate venture capital, a related pursuit to corporate
entrepreneurship, and reported in MIT Sloan Management
Review in 2003 that corporate venture groups whose invest-
ments strayed from their strategic objectives were, on average,
less successful than those that stayed the course. Lack of clar-
ity regarding objectives leads to venturing initiatives in which
“the structure and staffing decisions are out of alignment, and
the unit’s managers find themselves being pushed in several
different directions.” The solutions the researchers offered
included tying success metrics to value provided to the com-
pany’s existing businesses, and giving those operating busi-
nesses significant authority over the venture unit’s decisions.
Similar metrics can help focus corporate entrepreneurial
groups, but defining and applying metrics depends on the rea-
sons a particular team was created in the first place.
Once you know specifically what you’re trying to accom-
plish, the necessary tools and resources become much clearer.
Chapter 4 will delve into the problem of which model is right
for you and how to start.

The Culture Change Trap

Building a culture of innovation should be an objective of every
company that is seeking growth and relevance in the long
term. However, many dedicated corporate entrepreneurship
teams end up with the responsibility, either intentionally or by
accretion, for building a culture of innovation companywide.
This can be a trap. What team, no matter how dynamic, inno-