Page 81 - Grow from Within Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation

68 grow from within

concrete business through networking innovation.
Traditionally, CEMEX offered a three-hour delivery
window for ready-to-pour concrete, with a 48-hour
advance ordering requirement. Unfortunately,
construction is an unpredictable business. Over 50 percent
of CEMEX’s customers would cancel orders at the last
minute, causing problems for CEMEX and financial
penalties for its customers. The company installed GPS
systems and computers in its fleet of trucks, a satellite
communication system that links each plant, and a global
Internet portal to track order status worldwide. This
integrated network allowed CEMEX to offer a 20-minute
time window for delivering ready-to-pour concrete with
98 percent reliability. CEMEX also benefits from better
fleet utilization and lower operating costs.
12. Brand. Brands are the symbols, words, or marks with
which a company communicates a promise and an image
to its customers. Branding innovation leverages or
extends the brand in creative ways. Europe-based
easyGroup has been a leader in this respect. Founded by
serial entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou, easyGroup
owns the “easy” brand, licensing it to a range of “easy”
branded businesses. The core promises of the brand are
good value and simplicity. The “easy” moniker has been
extended to more than a dozen industries, introducing
offerings such as easyJet, easyCar, easyInternetCafe,
easyMoney, easyCinema, easyHotel, and easyWatch.
Stelios sees himself more as the steward of the brand
than as the manager of a group of operating companies.

Every aspect of what companies do to add value in the mar-
ketplace is represented by the Radar. Every dimension is rele-
vant to any industry, although each dimension acquires a