Page 55 - Grow from Within Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

42 grow from within

Unfortunately, this means that new business concepts are by
definition at a disadvantage vis-à-vis investments that the com-
pany better understands and that are based on proven success.
Separate new business creation teams with their own funding
and sponsorship from senior executives have an enhanced abil-
ity to pursue truly new paths to growth.
But separation must not mean isolation. When a company
intends to pursue new paths requiring limited contributions
from the core businesses, with no plans to fold the new busi-
nesses into the company’s established units, a separated ven-
tures group may make the most sense. In businesses that
depend on sophisticated technology integration, a develop-
ment and prototyping organization—that is, a “skunk
works” —can be beneficial. Otherwise, corporate entrepre-
1
neurship teams that are separated from the core businesses
must be especially vigilant against insularity. This is the trap
of a well-funded separate innovation organization, where the
funds and staffing are available to pursue large-scale projects
with limited external interaction. This is a central challenge for
the Producer Model of corporate entrepreneurship, which we
will address in detail in Chapter 3.
Without consistent, deliberate engagement with important
players across the company, the new business creation team
will become isolated. An isolated corporate entrepreneurship
team will find it difficult, if not impossible, to move a new busi-
ness out of incubation into an appropriate line of business.
Even if the objective is to create brand-new business units,
these units will eventually need to compete with other units
for resources and attention.
Isolation also enhances the naysayers’ case. The corporate
entrepreneurship team appears to be a cost center, investing in
projects that are of apparently limited value to a company’s
business units. Detractors argue that the business units would