Over the past while, organisations have swung away from employing marketing people as CEO, and moved towards the employment of financial people as CEO instead. While this trend is another debate in itself, the truth is that the corporate culture under these two very different CEOs will vary just as much as they do in their personalities. The reason quite simply being that the CEO invariably drives the corporate culture.
So how do you encourage an open innovative culture if the CEO is driving a different and less open culture?
The senior marketing person in the organisation will need to drive innovation and attempt to develop an entrepreneurial culture in the marketing department, as a sub-culture within the firm. This is not easy nor a simple process. However, the marketing department is the logical driving force for this sub-culture.
However, to do this, the senior marketing person will need to be a fairly strong personality with a fair degree of charismatic leadership style, in order to have the strength of character to develop this sub-culture. This would need to be done so as not to compromise the main corporate culture, but rather to blend with it.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Corporate entrepreneurship and innovation - is benchmarking an answer
Corporates normally have the capacity to benchmark themselves against industry standards. The first question is whether they belong to groups that encourage benchmarking.
Firms often become introspective and do not participate in industry groups. Certain firms are also unable to overcome their fear of industrial espionage and therefore do not join these groups.
However, whether it an industry specific group, eg. automotive industry, or a broader group such as manufacturing, membership is almost essential. It is sometimes only once a firm can identify that is DOES have weaknesses, that innovation will be seen as the beneficial tool it is.
However, a further opportunity for firms is to execute cross-industry benchmarking. Therefore a view of say the logistics industry benchmarks will provide an insight into the logistics department within your own firm.
Look at benchmarks for the retail industry to gain an insight into customer care within your own organisation.
Simply put, do not be shy, join as many groups as is practicable and likely to add value to your firm.
Firms often become introspective and do not participate in industry groups. Certain firms are also unable to overcome their fear of industrial espionage and therefore do not join these groups.
However, whether it an industry specific group, eg. automotive industry, or a broader group such as manufacturing, membership is almost essential. It is sometimes only once a firm can identify that is DOES have weaknesses, that innovation will be seen as the beneficial tool it is.
However, a further opportunity for firms is to execute cross-industry benchmarking. Therefore a view of say the logistics industry benchmarks will provide an insight into the logistics department within your own firm.
Look at benchmarks for the retail industry to gain an insight into customer care within your own organisation.
Simply put, do not be shy, join as many groups as is practicable and likely to add value to your firm.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Corporate entrepreneurship and innovation - facing up to the corporate culture
Corporate culture can be a major disincentive for entrepreneurship and innovation in large organisations.
Large businesses by default tend towards a culture of conformity, and entrepreneurship and innovation are often perceived as being counter-intuitive to this culture.
The 3M example of internal efforts at entrepreneurship and innovation are unfortunately only too rare. They obviously exist but are seldom written about.
Another example I read about involved mixing the open plan office. They put the staff from debtors, creditors, stock and sales who serviced the same clients together in mini clusters. This allowed for a greater interaction and flow of ideas and had many positive benefits in all functional areas.
There is no doubt that entrepreneurs and innovators are seen as disruptive forces, as this is exactly what they are. The secret lies in the ability to harness these disruptive forces in a positive manner, and therein lies the challenge.
Large businesses by default tend towards a culture of conformity, and entrepreneurship and innovation are often perceived as being counter-intuitive to this culture.
The 3M example of internal efforts at entrepreneurship and innovation are unfortunately only too rare. They obviously exist but are seldom written about.
Another example I read about involved mixing the open plan office. They put the staff from debtors, creditors, stock and sales who serviced the same clients together in mini clusters. This allowed for a greater interaction and flow of ideas and had many positive benefits in all functional areas.
There is no doubt that entrepreneurs and innovators are seen as disruptive forces, as this is exactly what they are. The secret lies in the ability to harness these disruptive forces in a positive manner, and therein lies the challenge.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Corporate entrepreneurship and innovation - examples
Corporate entrepreneurship and innovation are often a function of different departments or business units, or even enterprises, set up specifically to address the need for corporate entrepreneurship and innovation.
Some fail and some succeed, with the best example of success possibly being 3M. They drive this need for corporate entrepreneurship and innovation, by setting turnover goals linked to new product development. However, there are few known examples of this strategy working well.
Another strategy, used by Cisco, is designed to take advantage of the fact that entrepreneurs are often drivers of innovation. Cisco has a strategy that specifically avoids large scale Research and Development (R&D) and drives innovation through the acquisition of entrepreneurially driven SMEs. What is not clear is whether Cisco attempt to keep these entrepreneurs in house, or whether they allow them, consciously or unconsciously, to depart Cisco, hopefully to drive the innovation process once again in a new field.
These are two very different approaches. The first is much more difficult to achieve in a large business, and requires s special kind of management team and a deep culture of entrepreneurship. The second is a lot easier, and poses the dilemna of what to do with the entrepreneurs once you have them, particularly when you have limited R&D efforts on an ongoing basis.
Would you be able to choose the best strategy for your enterprise?
Some fail and some succeed, with the best example of success possibly being 3M. They drive this need for corporate entrepreneurship and innovation, by setting turnover goals linked to new product development. However, there are few known examples of this strategy working well.
Another strategy, used by Cisco, is designed to take advantage of the fact that entrepreneurs are often drivers of innovation. Cisco has a strategy that specifically avoids large scale Research and Development (R&D) and drives innovation through the acquisition of entrepreneurially driven SMEs. What is not clear is whether Cisco attempt to keep these entrepreneurs in house, or whether they allow them, consciously or unconsciously, to depart Cisco, hopefully to drive the innovation process once again in a new field.
These are two very different approaches. The first is much more difficult to achieve in a large business, and requires s special kind of management team and a deep culture of entrepreneurship. The second is a lot easier, and poses the dilemna of what to do with the entrepreneurs once you have them, particularly when you have limited R&D efforts on an ongoing basis.
Would you be able to choose the best strategy for your enterprise?
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